<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Alcazar is a Swedish pop group who had a string of hit singles during the early 2000&apos;s decade and are continuing successfully today.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The group was created in 1998 with three members: Andreas Lundstedt, Tess Merkel (born Therese Merkel, 18 April 1970, Nykoping, Sweden), and Annikafiore Kjaergaard (born 18 May 1971, Bjarnum, Sweden). Their first single, &quot;Shine On&quot;, was successful in Sweden but it was with their second release, &quot;Crying At The Discoteque&quot; (which heavily sampled from Sheila B. Devotion&apos;s 1979 hit, &quot;Spacer&quot;), that they achieved success across Europe. Both singles appeared on their debut album Casino. Later editions of Casino contained a cover of the Human League&apos;s hit &quot;Don&apos;t You Want Me&quot;, which also served as the album&apos;s third single. In the United States, Alcazar gained moderate success. &quot;Crying At The Discoteque&quot; peaked at #44 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and &quot;Don&apos;t You Want Me&quot; peaked at #30.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In December 2002, Magnus Carlsson joined the group. The second album Alcazarized was released in Sweden in 2003 and became a big hit. It got an international release in 2004.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In Autumn 2004 Alcazar released &quot;This Is The World We Live In&quot;. The track samples Diana Ross&apos;s 1980 number one &quot;Upside Down&quot; and uses lyrics from Genesis&apos; 1986 single &quot;Land Of Confusion&quot;. Their follow-up single was entitled &quot;Physical&quot;. They released the album Dancefloor Deluxe in Sweden in August 2004. In the winter of 2004 they released the Christmas single &quot;Here I Am&quot;. Alcazar enjoyed considerable success in 2004 in their home country Sweden. This Is The World We Live In, Physical, Dancefloor Deluxe and Here I Am all achieved solid sales.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">2005 saw the release of their single &quot;Start The Fire&quot;. During the making of its music video, Kjaergaard had an accident in which she broke her foot.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Alcazar are currently taking a break from releasing music as a band, and the boys are launching solo careers. Lundstedt had appeared in Eurovision 2006, as a member of six4one, a multi-national band founded for the sole purpose of representing Switzerland at the contest, whilst Carlsson has taken part in the Swedish Melodifestivalen.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Melodifestivalen</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Alcazar have twice taken part in the Melodifestivalen, the competition that selects Sweden&apos;s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2003 Not A Sinner, Nor A Saint came third overall. But it became the biggest hit of all the songs in Melodifestivalen 2003 and won the National Finals Song Contest. It became Alcazar&apos;s first #1 single in Sweden and did sell gold. In 2005 Alcastar failed to qualify for the final automatically, but eventually made it through after a second chance semi-final. However, the group again had to settle for third in the final, which was won by Martin Stenmarck&apos;s song Las Vegas. But the song became a hit and only needed three days in stores to became Alcazar&apos;s second #1 single in Sweden.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Break</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The band claimed that they needed a break during the autumn of 2005. Male lead singer, Andreas Lundstedt claimed that the band will be back in the summer of 2007.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Alcazar reformed in July 2007 to perform at the London Astoria as part of a celebration of Swedish music. They headlined the G-A-Y event on Saturday 21st July 2007 alongside BWO. They performed three songs, &quot;This Is the World We Live In&quot;, &quot;Start the Fire&quot; and &quot;Crying At The Discoteque&quot;. However when pressed at the end of their set by club proprietor Jeremy Joseph on whether the band would reform, Andreas avoided offering a commitment other than that they would do future one-off appearances at G-A-Y.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Lina Hedlund has been announced as the replacement for (Mi Amore) Annikafiore. Linda Hedlund has previously entered Melodifestivalen on two occasions (2002, with her sister Hanna Hedlund, with the song &apos;Big Time Party&apos; and the 2003 solo effort &apos;Nothing Can Stop Me&apos;).</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Andreas&apos; &apos;Expressen&apos; blog was recently updated, telling Alcazar fans that the group will now be back together permanently, they will take part in a concert in Sweden in December and will then head into the studio to produce the groups third studio album, with new member, Lina Hedlund. Rumours of the group taking part in Melodifestivalen 2008 were recently aired in the Swedish paper, Aftonbladet.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>