She is a Swedish singer and actress. Zetterlund, who learned classical jazz pieces by listening to them on the radio and records, made excellent performances based on melody, rhythm, and emotion, although she did not have a good command of English at the beginning.
She has made Swedish covers of songs such as "Walking My Baby Back Home", "Little Green Apples", "Waltz for Debby", and "Hit the Road Jack" and performed by famous Swedish singers and composers such as Evert Taube, Olle Adolphson, and Povel Ramel.
Zetterlund, who has performed the works of American and other international jazz musicians and composers throughout her life, has worked with important artists such as Louis Armstrong, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn and Quincy Jones. We can also add well-known names from the Swedish jazz world such as Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen, Arne Domnérus, Svend Asmussen, and Jan Johansson.
In 1964, the artist recorded the album "Waltz for Debby" with Bill Evans, which she described as "the best I've ever done" and of which she was most proud. Zetterlund, who represented Sweden in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the jazz ballad "En gång i Stockholm" ("Winter City"), unfortunately (or normally(!)) came last.
Monica Zetterlund (born Eva Monica Nilsson; 20 September 1937 – 12 May 2005) was a Swedish jazz singer and actress. Through her lifetime, she starred in over 10 Swedish film productions and recorded over 20 studio albums. She gained international fame through her collaborative album with Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby.
Her work with the comedy duo Hasseåtage in the 1960s and 1970s paved the way for a revue and film career, for which she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Jan Troell's Utvandrarna (aka The Emigrants; starring Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow). .
Monica Zetterlund has appeared in more than twenty films and television series throughout her life. The artist, who had to end her singing career in 1999 as a result of serious scoliosis, went on her last tour in 1997 and gave one of her last concerts at Sweden's Hultsfred Festival.
Zetterlund, who spent her last years confined to a wheelchair, died in a fire in her apartment in Stockholm on May 12, 2005.
Let's finish this section with a few examples from the unfortunate artist's discography: Swedish Sensation (1958), Ahh! Monica (1962), Waltz for Debby (1964) (with Bill Evans), Ohh! Monica (1965), Chicken Feathers (1972) (with Steve Kuhn), It Only Happens Every Time (1977) (with Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra), For Lester And Billie (1983) (Lester Young - Billie Holiday tribute album), Topaz (1993), Bill Remembered (2000) (Bill Evans tribute album).