He has finished top ten four times out of five attempts in Eurovision, but never for his home country nor for the country where he has lived for over 40 years. Who is John Ballard? The legendary lyricist behind such songs as "Hold Me" and "You're the Only One"?

In this first episode we find out why he moved from his native Scotland to the west coast of Sweden, and how he became a household name there with several participations in Melodifestivalen. We of course get to listen to these songs, as well as a version that John hasn't even heard himself, in addition to several attempts that were not selected to compete.

We also talk extensively about, and get to listen to several rare demos from, his long and successful career as a producer and songwriter. He was the guy who discovered one of the biggest bands ever, Ace of Base, and he also is the man behind other groups such as Yaki-da and Bubbles. However, despite all of this success he never again was invited to Melodifestivalen, and he sternly denies any involvement in the Melodifestivalen entry "Nattens änglar" by Jonas Berggren from Ace of Base!?

This is the first of two episodes, where we look at John's rise to fame from a pub musician in Scotland to a very successful producer in Sweden and all over the world, and in the second episode we will take a look at his adventures in Eurovision.

Legend: John Ballard

Songs: Hold Me (Azerbaijan 2013), Shine (Russia, 2014) You're The Only One (Russia 2016), This Is Love (Greece 2017) & My Lucky Day (Moldova 2018)

Host: Emil Löfström

Contact: emil@schlagervannerna.se

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