Originally founded as "Jicco & the Vikings," Vikingarna spent their first decade in relative obscurity, going through name changes and honing their skills at Swedish dansband music, a dance-centric genre that incorporated everything from country & western to swing to disco, and all points in between. By 1974, the band had settled upon the name Vikingarna and found its way onto the Svenkstoppen charts with a cover of the Carpenters' "Top of the World." From this point, Vikingarna only burned brighter, topping the charts the next year with "Du Gav Bara Loften" and beginning their long march of albums (all 24 titled Kramgoa Latar), a fairly new phenomenon in a genre dominated by live performance only. Personnel changes occurred often during their first few years, capped off by the replacement of vocalist Stefan Borsch with Christer Sjogren in 1979. With additional personnel changes over the years, the band branched into Germany in 2000, trying their hand at German dance music. After only a few years of multilingual performances however, the band went into retirement after a 2004 concert in their hometown of Arvika. Their albums continue to sell well throughout Scandinavia, still touching the Top Ten in multiple countries years after their last release. ~ Adam Greenberg, Rovi
