Harpo - Movie Star (1975) plus bonus singles

(Sweden 1973 - Present)

Jan 'Harpo' Svennson started working as an actor in his home country of Sweden in the late 1960s, but music remained a distraction. He recalled to Mojo August 2009: "I began writing music for the plays I was in. All my friends said, 'You should make a record.'"

In 1972, Harpo signed with Polar (the company that homed ABBA) and began a children's album with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. It wasn't completed, so Polar released Harpo from the contract but he stayed in contact with ABBA. In 1973, he signed with EMI Sweden and his debut single "Honolulu" was a Swedish hit. His stage name was a homage to his idol, the American comedian Harpo Marx.

The same year, he'd visited London and linked up with English producer Mickie Most, who was sure international success was beckoning. Harpo recorded this song with ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad on backing vocals singing the words "Moviestar Moviestar." It became an international hit, topping the charts in Sweden and Germany and peaking at #24 in the UK. However, the Swede explained to Mojo that he became the second Swedish act after ABBA to achieve success against the odds as EMI, "didn't even send the records to other countries. 'Moviestar' was released by DJM in England, where EMI had said, 'No, we don't release anything from Sweden.'"

After the song's success EMI took notice and wanted him back. However ensuing business wrangles prevented Harpo from fully capitalizing on his hit and despite some sporadic success in other European countries, "Moviestar" was to be his one and only UK chart entry.

Harpo released a number of follow up singles, notably "Motorcycle Mama" (number 9 in Germany) and "Horoscope" (number 1 in Denmark and number 3 in Germany).

In 1977, Harpo travelled to Los Angeles, U.S. with his wife and producer Bengt Palmers. The result was the album The Hollywood Tapes which spawned the hit single "Television". Also, in 1977, Harpo made the news when he refused to take part in the Swedish Military Service. As a result, he went to prison for one month.

In 1978, Harpo revisited the songs he was originally going to work on with Andersson and Ulvaeus in 1972. The result was the children's album 'Jan Banan och hans flygande matta'. He followed this with an album of his favourite rock and roll songs. Both these projects were in the Swedish language.

In 1980, Harpo was ready to get back into mainstream pop music. He signed to Mickie Most's label, RAK and released one single, "She Loves It Too". In fact, Harpo had the chance to be on RAK as far back as 1973. He met with Most in London, but decided not to move to London at that time.

Harpo had an accident in August 1980. As well as being a musician, he is also a horse trainer and one of his horses, Starter, suddenly lashed out and kicked Harpo in the face several times. The injuries were so severe that Harpo lost his sense of smell and the sight in one eye. To show there were no hard feelings, Harpo dedicated his next album to his horse, Starter. He is also committed to animal welfare.

Harpo continued to record throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. After his 1992 album, things were quiet on the recording front. He released a single, "Sounds Like Love", in Germany only in 1994. In 1997, Harpo contributed two new songs to a greatest hits compilation album, Harpo Hits!

Harpo released his latest album of new material, Jan Harpo Svensson 05 in April 2005. He had an extensive tour of Germany in 2007.

Harpo (2nd left) with Velvet Insane

Stop Press: Harpo is still performing and working with the 70's Swedish Glam Band 'Velvet Insane'. For more details see a recent interview by Pete Devine with Harpo and the band HERE

Single Facts

"Moviestar" by Swedish pop singer Harpo is about someone who thinks he’s a real big star, but in reality only did some acting in a TV commercial.

It was recorded on 27 February 1975, and features Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida) from ABBA on backing vocals.

Moviestar reached #1 on the Swedish charts and #24 on the UK charts. It also topped the charts in Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

In July 1976, a Swedish language version of Moviestar was released. It also reached #1.

The song has been covered by a number of little known bands and was used on the Swedish TV Channel TV4 the mid-90s for Nissan commercials.

His 1973 debut single "Honolulu" featured the B-Side track "Harpo's Helicopter" and was actually the name of his first band. A promo photo of this 1973 band is shown below. This track later appeared on his Movie Star LP.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from vinyl (thanks to Antichubais for the LP RIP) and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD (only released in Sweden).  I have chosen to provide some bonus tracks - firstly, the Australian B-Side to his single Movie Star titled "Teddy Love" (which was lifted from his first LP 'Leo The Leopard'), his 1976 follow up hit single "Horoscope" and his debut single "Honolulu".  

Although most people have heard Harpo's hit "Movie Star", I suspect few have not explored his discography and at the risk of being accused of 'harping' (LOL), I highly recommend you give these tracks a listen.

Tracklist

01 Moviestar 3:22

02 I Wrote A Love Song 3:41

03 Harpo's Helicopter 2:17

04 Valerie 2:53

05 Beautiful Christmas 3:29

06 Motorcycle Mama 3:25

07 Dancing Child 3:31

08 Happy Birthday 3:12

09 Freedom Bird 1:59

10 Japanese Winter 3:52

11   Teddy Love (Bonus Single)  3:25

12   Honolulu (Bonus Single)   3:02

13   Horoscope (Bonus Single)  3:15 

Musicians:

Lead Vocals - Harpo

Backing Vocals [Uncredited] – Frida

Bass – Mike Watson, Rutger Gunnarsson

Drums – Derek Skinner, Erik Romantschicz, Roger Palm

Guitar – Finn Sjöberg, Göran Fristorp, Harpo

Guitar, Bass – Bengt Palmers

Oboe – Lorentz Larsson

Percussion – Jan Bandel

Piano – Kjell Öhman, Per-Erik Hallin

Steel Guitar – Jan Lindgren 

Harpo Link (272Mb)