Eric Gadd

Eric Gadd is a Swedish soul-pop singer who broke through to mainstream success in 1991 with his first English-language album, Do You Believe in Gadd, and proceeded to hit the upper reaches of the charts time and time again in subsequent years. Born Carl Erik Gudmund Sojdelius on July 31, 1965, in Visby, Sweden, he made his commercial recording debut in 1987 with Hello!, a bilingual album on Mistlur Records. In 1988 he signed a major-label recording deal with Mercury and released the single "Kom Hit Och Ta." The full-length album Hurra Du Lever, Pang Du Är Död! (1989), a Swedish-language effort, was released the following year, along with single "Bara Himlen Ser På." After switching labels again, Gadd broke through to mainstream success in 1991 with his third album, Do You Believe in Gadd, an English-language effort released in association with Warner Music. Do You Believe in Gadd was a commercial blockbuster, reaching number two on the Swedish albums chart and spawning the Top Ten hit "Do You Believe in Me?" The follow-up albums On Display (1993), Floating (1995), and The Right Way (1997) were chart-topping smashes. These albums spawned numerous hit singles, among them "Wish I," "Why Don't You, Why Don't I?," "The Right Way," "My Personality," and "Summer Is Here," all of which were compiled on the chart-topping compilation Greatest Hits (1998). Another round of albums, Spirit (1999), Life Support (2002), and Eric Gadd (2006), was similarly popular and likewise followed by a greatest-hits collection, the double-disc compilation Gaddamn -- The Ultimate Collection (2006). A couple years later Gadd issued his first Swedish-language release in two decades, Stockholm Står Kvar Men Jag Ligger (2008). It reached the Top Ten of the albums chart and spawned the Top Five hit single "Tvåhundratusen." ~ Jason Birchmeier