Ted Gärdestad (born February 18, 1956 in Sollentuna - died June 22, 1997) was a Swedish singer, composer and musician.
Gärdestad composed his first song, Sollentunavalsen, at the age of six. Gärdestad broke through as an artist as a fifteen year old and he was on the height of his career in the 1970s. He himself wrote the music for his songs, and his brother Kenneth Gärdestad wrote the lyrics. He often made upbeat and catchy pop, which wasn’t considered serious in the 1970s and he was regarded as a commercial rather than the serious artist. Some of Ted Gärdestad best-known songs are Jag vill ha en egen måne, Sol, vind och vatten and För kärlekens skull. He won Melodifestivalen 1979 with the song Satellit.
He worked together with Michael B. Tretow in the studio project Caramba which released a record 1980. That same year he came into contact with the religious leader Osho, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, which eventually led that he joined the Bhagwan sect and distanced himself from his previous life. He called himself Swami Sangita Upasani and made many trips to the movement’s headquarters in Oregon where he was a disc jockey. 1986 he moved back to Sollentuna.
Ted resumed his music career in 1994 and released the album Äntligen på väg, which was his first since 1981 and which became his last.|The last decade of Gärdestad’s life was marked by mental illness. He was in a period on suspicion of the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. His brother Kenneth later said that Ted heard voices and probably suffered from schizophrenia. He died by committing suicide at age 41, June 22, 1997. |
