Sweden

2008 sees the 40th anniversay of Sweden's first Eurovision entry, and few countries have a better record in the contest, with four victories, including the competition's most famous winners, Abba in 1974. Apart from "Big 4" members, France, Spain and U.K., Sweden is the only country to have taken part in every Eurovision final in the past 15 years.

Sweden's Eurovision selection process is the biggest and most successful in any country, with four regional semi-finals and a "second chance" round before the final. All of the shows are staged in large arenas and are sold out. The shows also attract high ratings for Swedish broadcaster SVT, and songs from the show dominate the Swedish charts for weeks after the selection, with the compilation album also become a chart topper.

This year's Swedish selection had two former Eurovision winners trying to return to the contest; Carola the winner in 1991 and Charlotte Perrelli who won in 1999. While Carola didn't even make it to the final, Charlotte won the ticket to Belgrade, where she will try to emulate Ireland's Johnny Logan, by singing two Eurovision winners.

When Charlotte first heard her 2008 entry "Hero" she immediately agreed to participate in the Swedish Melodifestival again. She had turned down many offers over the nine years previously, but now the song and timing was right in Charlotte's mind.

Charlotte was born on October 7th 1974.At the age of 13 she started singing, and a few years later she enrolled at Scenskolan (Stage school) in Växjö. After her school years in southern Sweden, she moved to Stockholm where she started studying jazz and pop. In the next few years Charlotte performed as the lead singer in different bands.

Charlotte also won a Grammis (Swedish Grammy), and was awarded Gold and Platinum disks for her work.In 1999 Charlotte entered the Swedish Melodifestival as solo singer, and won with "Take Me To Your Heaven". In Jerusalem at the Eurovision Song Contest, Charlotte quickly became a media darling, and the audience´s favourite and went on to win the competition, finishing ahead of the other favourite entry, from Iceland.

In the following years Charlotte toured, not only in Sweden, but in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. She launched her own line of beauty products and in 2003 Charlotte had a leading role in "Jesus Christ Superstar" with West End Ensemble. 1973 also saw Charlotte have her first Top 10 hit in Sweden since "Take Me To Your Heaven", with the song "Broken Heart"

In 2004, Charlotte and her husband Nicola Ingrosso who have two sons changed their last names to Perrelli, following a family feud and later that year she hosted the Swedish national selection, Melodifestival for the Eurovision Song Contest with great success with a total viewing audience of more than 15 million people.

Two years later she was nominated for Guldmasken for her role as Belle in the Disney musical Beauty And The Beast. Later that year she, finally, paid tribute to her idol, the jazz icon Monica Zetterlund, by releasing an album with songs of Monica.

The songwriters behind "Hero" are well known names in the Swedish music industry. Fredrik Kempe was born in 1972 and has a well established career as both a singer and a songwriter. He has taken part is several Swedish Eurovision selections both as a performer and as a songwriter. Last year his song Cara Mia" was the runner-up in the Swedish final, and went on to win OGAE's "Second Chance" competition for songs that didn't make it to Eurovision. As a recording artist, Fredrik has released four albums and several singles.

Bobby Ljunggren who co-wrote the music of "Hero" is a familiar name to Eurovision fans, having written four previous entries. "Se På Mej" finished 3rd in 1995, "Kärleken är" came 10th in 1998, "Invincible" was 5th in 2006. The only poor result was "Little By Little" the Lithuanian entry that finished last in the semi-final in 2005. Bobby has had an amazing 32 entries in Swedish Eurovision selections. Only Ingela "Pling" Forsman, with 33 entries has had more songs in the competition.

"Hero" has seen Charlotte Perrelli return to Swedish charts, with the single and the album of the same name both reaching #1 in Sweden. The song is considered to be one of the favourites to win the contest in Belgrade, with bookmakers quoting short odds, despite a poor draw in the running order in the semi-final. The song is also topping many internet fan polls.