Lasse Stefanz

With a career spanning five decades, Swedish dansband Lasse Stefanz play music in a country style. One of the most popular dansbands of its era, the group broke through to mainstream success in 1982 with the hit single "Oh Julie" and remained reliably popular in the years thereafter, releasing a new album each year and topping the Swedish charts with regularity after the turn of the century. Founded in 1967 in Kristianstad, the band comprised Olle Jönsson (vocals), Christer Ericsson (guitar), Anders Pettersson (keyboard, accordion), Lars Sigfridsson (bass), Hans Sigfridsson (guitar, saxophone), and Gunnar Nilsson (drums). Lasse Stefanz made their commercial recording debut in 1970 with the single "Kära Rut." Several years later the band made its album debut with Vad Tiden Går (1974). While Lasse Stefanz released an album more or less annually throughout the remainder of the 1970s, they didn't break through to mainstream success until 1982 with the hit single "Oh Julie" and the accompanying album of the same name. From this point onward, Lasse Stefanz remained successful, continuing to release new music at a remarkably consistent pace. In the 2000s, Lasse Stefanz's popularity had risen to such heights that their new full-length releases regularly topped the Swedish albums chart. Such was the case with Vagabond (2007), Rallarsväng (2008), and Truck Stop (2009), all of which were number one hits. Amazingly, the band remained consistently viable during its fifth decade, with nearly every release topping the charts and the 2015 album Whiskey Barrel going gold in Sweden. Following a 2015 Greatest Hits collection, Lasse Stefanz quickly followed up with 2016's Road Trip, once again reaching number one. Former keyboard player Anders Pettersson died on August 4, 2021 at his home in Thailand, where he settled after retiring from music; he was 69 years old. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi