Carola Standertskjöld

Carola Christina Standertskjöld-Liemola (23 March 1941 – 12 November 1997), professionally known as Carola, was a Finnish jazz and pop singer.

Carola Christina Standertskjöld was born on 23 March 1941 to Elin Christina Fazer and Johan Standertskjöld, into a Swedish-speaking noble family in Helsinki.

They left the harsh Finnish post-war conditions and settled in Switzerland.

From a very young age Carola was interested in learning foreign languages.

Later her family moved to Spain, where her first public jazz performance took place; she also performed the French chansons at school parties and small occasions, accompanying herself on the acoustic guitar.

Her style was partially inspired by American singers of the 1950s.

Simultaneously, it was in the spirit of the modal jazz scene going down in Europe in the 1960s.

Mostly, Carola's jazz repertoire consisted in idiosyncratic versions of American songs in English, while her most famous jazz track "The Flame" was an original composition by Esa Pethman and the lyrics by the singer herself.

As the vocalist for Esa Pethman's quartet and Hazy Osterwald's sextet in the early 1960s, Carola made fame in Finland and Sweden, and toured Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland.

In late 1960s and early 1970s, she performed in nine languages and a wide variety of styles, including chanson, schlager, Latin, rock'n'roll, and soul.

When Carola returned to Finland, she was spotted by Esa and Anssi Pethman, brothers who led a jazz quarter that was popular in Finland and Sweden in 1962.

As the lead singer of Esa Pethman's quartet, Carola gained fame in Sweden, Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1963 and released her first track in Finland.: the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila", published by the RCA as the B-side of Laila Halme's version of "Telstar".

After leaving Esa Pethman's quartet Carola became the vocalist for the Swiss Hazy Osterwald Sextet.

During 1964 she toured the Central European scene and performed on television programs.

Returning to Finland in 1965, Carola released a single in German, "Warum Willst Du Das Alles Vergessen" and also performed with a backup band, The Boys, who mostly recorded cover versions of songs in the English language, including The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" and Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World".

Carola starred both as a singer and actress in the musical television film The Cold Old Days, with the film winning the Golden Rose of the Montreaux Film Festival.

Her performances in the film included a cover of Manos Hadjidakis's song "All Alone Am I", for which she herself composed the French lyrics.

Her most significant recording is a session with the Heikki Sarmanto Trio from 1966, which the Finnish Music Information Centre considers among the original blueprints of Finnish jazz.

Carola's recordings have been credited for the accosting tone of her contralto voice and her phrasing.

The singer also co-produced the groovy approach of her supporting orchestras.

In 1966, Carola returned to performing jazz music.

As the vocalist of the Heikki Sarmanto Trio, she gave a number of concerts in Finland and recorded a session in the studios of Yle on 5 June 1966.

Yle considered the material as uncommercial, aired the tracks once on Finnish radio, and shelved them.

Carola's popularity in Finland peaked with her interpretations of the songs "Hunajainen", "Kielletyt leikit", "Agua de Beber", "Rakkauden jälkeen", "Jerusalem", "Mä lähden stadiin", and the traditional Finnish song "Herrojen kanssa pellon laidassa".

She also covered 3 winning songs from the Eurovision Song Contest ("La, la, la" 1968, "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" 1971, "Après Toi" 1972).

In 1969, Carola tried out rhythm & blues, recording a television video of Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools".

The tongue-in-cheek choreography by Heikki Värtsi included girl group dancing and Carola whipping a man in a cave.

Her rhythm & blues covers continued with the television videos of Elaine Brown's "Seize the Time" and "The End of Silence" (in Finnish as "Sanaton hiljaisuus").

In the mid-1970s, tired of living constantly in the public eye, Carola retired from the music industry and concentrated on work in her husband Georg Liemola's grocery store.

Throughout the 1970s, she made selected appearances at jazz clubs in Helsinki, including performances with the UMO Jazz Orchestra.

Carola made a comeback in 1980 by publishing the Latin style album Maria, Maria, receiving a golden record certificate in Finland.

After that, she refused to appear to audiences.

In 1985, Carola was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

In 1987, Carola gave an exclusive concert with the UMO Jazz Orchestra and two years later one with pianist Iiro Rantala.

In the early 1990s, she performed alone at a few charity concerts.

After her death of Alzheimer's disease in 1997, Carola's music was revived in 2004 with two Best of albums and Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio reaching the Finnish charts.

After her long battle with the disease, Carola died on 12 November 1997 in Kirkkonummi.

On stage, Carola concentrated to singing fully and living with the music, usually oblivious of her audience.

The Finnish public usually reacted to her concentrated act, accusing her of being drunk.

Carola enjoyed being on stage, but after her shows she usually felt depressed by and unsatisfied with her voice and performance.