Sven-Bertil Taube

Sven-Bertil Gunnar Evert Taube (born 24 November 1934) is a Swedish singer and actor. Born in Stockholm, he is the son of songwriter Evert Taube and sculptor Astri Taube.

At age 14, Taube began playing guitar. While traveling throughout Europe, he developed an interest in folklore and folk music. He performed in concerts and on Swedish and Norwegian radio while a student at the Royal Beskow School in Stockholm.

Taube graduated in 1954 from the Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Connecticut.While he was a student at the school, Folkways Records invited him to record an album of Swedish folk songs.

Taube has been married four times, and has four children, born in 1960, 1965, 1979, and 1994. He belongs to an untitled branch of the Baltic German noble Taube family, introduced at the Swedish House of Nobility in 1668 as noble family No. 734.

Taube released his first album in 1954; it included a cover of one of his father's songs. He has since released many albums which include songs written by his father. Several of his most well-known versions of Evert Taube songs come from albums recorded in the 1970s, but he recorded more of them at later stages, including his 2007 album Alderville Road.Referring to that album, reviewer Peter Dahlgren said, "Evert had the yarns and Sven-Bertil had the voice."

He has recorded songs from both Fredman's Epistles and Fredman's Songs by the popular Swedish 18th-century songwriter Carl Michael Bellman, Paul Britten Austin wrote in his 1967 biography of Bellman that Sven-Bertil Taube's two Bellman albums (released in 1960 and 1963) "have sold more copies than any other disc, popular or classical, ever released in Sweden". Göran Forsling wrote that Taube helped to start "a new era in Bellman interpretation around 1960", like Fred Åkerström giving the songs "a hitherto unheard earthbound realism".

Taube recorded work by the poet Nils Ferlin (1898–1961), whose poems were mostly put to music by Lille Bror Söderlundh. Taube also recorded an album with songs by the Swedish songwriter and musician Ulf Peder Olrog, one with Swedish translations of songs by French songwriter Léo Ferré, and one with Swedish translations of songs by Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

Selected discography

Others

• 1960: Carl Michael Bellman
• 1960: Sven-Bertil Taube sjunger Evert Taube
• 1961: Nils Ferlin
• 1962: Skillingtryck och andra fina visor från flera sekler
• 1963: Carl Michael Bellman, Vol. 2
• 1964: Tiggarens opera
• 1964: Erik Axel Karlfeldt
• 1965: Pastime with Good Company
• 1967: Carl Jonas Love Almqvist
• 1968: Peter och vargen/Orkesterguide för ungdom
• 1968: Visor
• 1970: Evert Taube
• 1972: 12 visor av Evert Taube
• 1973: Ulf Peder Olrog
• 1974: Sjunger Mikis Theodorakis
• 1975: Caballero! Visor och ballader av Evert Taube
• 1976: Sings Mikis Theodorakis
• 1977: A Swedish Musical Odyssey
• 1978: Borta bra men hemma bäst. Visor och ballader av Evert Taube
• 1979: Närmare dig
• 1980: Många hundra gröna mil – på Berns Salonger (Live album)
• 1981: Sjunger Leo Ferré
• 1981: I and Albert. A New Musical
• 1983: Inbjudan till... Ord och toner av Evert Taube
• 1985: Årstider
• 1990: Tango
• 1993: ¡Inspiración Argentina!

Other albums (compilation)

• 1993: Sven-Bertil Gunnar Evert Taube sjunger Evert Taube 1950–93 (5-CD set)
• 2013: Taube tolkar Taube
• 2014: Hommage
• 2015: Hommage Vol. 2

Taube also started an acting career that took him to London, where he performed in theater and musicals, notably as Prince Albert in I and Albert. He won a role on the television series Upstairs, Downstairs. In the 1970s, Taube tried to find work as a film actor, and had some minor roles, most notably in the 1976 World War II drama The Eagle Has Landed and a starring role as a US agent in the 1971 film version of Alistair MacLean's novel Puppet on a Chain.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Taube starred in a number of Swedish films and television series, while keeping his music career alive.

Taube starred in the Swedish film version of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in the role of Henrick Vanger.The film was released in early 2010.He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Guldbagge Award for his role in the film.

Awards

• 1995: Guldbagge Awards – "Best Actor in a Leading Role" for role in Händerna

Selected filmography

• Hugs and Kisses (1967)
• Sixtynine 69 (1969)
• The Buttercup Chain (1970)
• Puppet on a Chain (1971)
• The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
• Game for Vultures (1979)
• Codename: Kyril (1988, TV)
• Händerna (In The Hands, 1994)
• Jerusalem (1996)
• London Voodoo (2004)
• Arn – The Knight Templar (2007)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Theatre

• 1999: Annie as Oliver Warbucks – piece directed by Trond Lie