Monica Kristina Ingeborg Törnell (born 3 June 1954) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. After being discovered by Cornelis Vreeswijk 1971, she was a prominent singer in several genres, mainly folk and rock music, for over two decades. Together with Lasse Holm, she represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 in Bergen, Norway. She is the mother of Tobias (born in 1973) and Mattias Törnell (born in 1980).
Biography
Childhood
Monica Törnell lived her first years in Trönö (in the Norrala municipality), but she later moved with her family to Söderhamn. In this city, she started to visit Folkets Park, where she heard artists such as Lill-Babs, Jerry Williams, and many others. Early in her life, Törnell had her public debut before audience of 700 people at the 1962 Ericsson Christmas party in Söderhamn, where her father Jöns Törnell was an employee. followed by a series of performances in public parks at home. She was also good at drawing, and in 1965, she became one of five first-prize winners in the drawing competition "Ung Fantasi" (Young Fantasy), in which 1500 schoolchildren took part. In her early teens she played fiddle and sang both solo and in choir. In the late 1960s she was in the singing groups He, She and You and TJI. These groups consisted only of guitars and bass and sang mostly American folk music. On 20 February 1971, she won a vocalist contest in society Ljusne, Söderhamn Municipality, where she sang the song Summertime.
Discovery
In 1971, Törnell sang at the opening of the local restaurant in Söderhamn that her father then opened along with a friend. At the same time, Cornelis Vreeswijk was across the street, which led to him discovering Törnell, although she was already relatively well known in the area. After meeting Vreeswijk, she quit as a photography student, which she had been for seven months after primary school. During the latter part of 1971 and beginning of 1972 she made a major tour in both Sweden and Denmark. together with Vreeswijk. Other musicians on the tour were Björn J:son Lindh, Palle Danielsson, Kenny Håkansson, Björn Ståbi and Pers Hans Olsson. Cornelis arranged a demo, which he presented to Göte Wilhelmson for his new record company Phonogram Records. She was offered a recording contract for a single, but turned it down because she wanted to do an LP album, which she did later in 1972. At the beginning of Törnell's time in the chaotic world of entertainment, Cornelis and his former wife Bim Warne gave her significant guidance. She also appeared on the television programmes Halvsju and Strapetz, and thus reached a wider audience.
Her real breakthrough came on 10 July 1972 at Visfestivalen in Västervik. The same year she made her record debut with a folk music inspired LP, Ingica, which was issued by Phonogram with the label of Philips Records. Other musicians on the disk were Björn J:son Lindh, Janne Schaffer, and Vreeswijk himself. She also sang a duet with Cornelis in the song Jenny Jansson on his 1972 album Visor, svarta och röda, and a duet with Ola Magnell in the song, Man ska vara två from his first LP, Påtalåtar (published in 1974). She continued in the same style in their second LP, Alrik (1973), which was also a success. Both of her first albums were produced by Lill-Babs's brother Lasse Svensson, a former drummer in the bands Tages and Blond. That same year, she made a number of appearances with Tomas Ledin. She also sang the leitmotif to Per Oscarsson's controversial film Ebon Lundin (1973) along with Arne Olsson's big band Vieux Carré.