Sven-Olof Walldoff

Biography
Sven-Olof Walldoff worked as a studio arranger and conductor in the 1960s and 1970s, accompanying such artists as Lars Berghagen, Lill-Babs, Lena Andersson, and Östen Warnerbring. He also wrote the orchestrations for instrumental albums recorded by trumpet virtuoso Arne Lamberth after the latter’s return to Sweden in the 1970s. Walldoff was called upon regularly by ABBA to write string arrangements to their songs, including the hit singles ‘Honey, honey’, ‘Mamma mia’, and ‘Dancing queen’. Moreover, Walldoff also composed film scores. In 1980, he worked with the Lerums Storband ensemble to release the album ‘String & Sweet’.

Sven-Olof Walldoff is part of the ABBA legend; when the group won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with the song ‘Waterloo’ (1974), Walldoff conducted the orchestra dressed up as Napoleon, an idea of the band’s manager Stig Anderson. This was Walldoff’s only participation as a conductor in the contest, but he also wrote the orchestration to the 1962 Swedish entry ‘Sol och vår’ as well as conducting the orchestra for Björn Skifs in the 1972 Swedish Eurovision heats. In 1975, Walldoff was the musical director of the Swedish preselection.

In due course, a more extensive biography of Sven-Olof Walldoff will be published on this website