Thomas Gustafsson is a Swedish composer and musician from Skövde, Västergötland, Sweden, north-east of Göteborg. However, he is much more known nationally and internationally simply as Thomas G:son, his artistic name, though in Spain he uses the pseudonym Antonio Sanchez Ohlsson. Since 1998, Thomas has worked full time as a songwriter for the company G:songs. In addition to writing and composing songs for a living, he plays the guitar in a hard rock band. Thomas G:son is mostly known for the 34 songs he has written for national finals of six different countries for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC): 21 for Sweden, five for Norway, four for Finland, two for Spain, one for Latvia and one for Romania. He has also reached the Eurovision Song Contest four times, twice for Sweden, once for Norway and once for Spain.

Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Thomas G:son wrote Lyssna till ditt hjärta for the 2001 edition of Melodifestivalen. The upbeat ABBA inspired song was to be performed by the young quartet Friends. From its Melodifestivalen victory, they went on to have a successful performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark, placing fifth with the English version Listen To Your Heartbeat. The song sounded very much like the 1996 Belgian entry Liefde is een kaartspel, causing some controversy and earning it the nick name Listen to your Kaartspel among some Eurovision fans.

Eurovision Song Contest 2006

This year, Thomas G:son has delivered the record amount of eight selected entries to three national finals - Sweden, Norway and Latvia. Six of them participated in the Swedish Melodifestivalen, sung by such Melodifestivalen and Eurovision veterans as Carola, Kikki Danielsson and Roger Pontare (each represented Sweden at past ESCs twice), as well as former Afro-Dite member Kayo (Afro-dite represented Sweden in 2002) and Jessica Folker, a singer who already enjoyed international success. Such proliferation proved effective, as both Kikki and Carola reached the final stage of the contest, ironically taking both the first and the last place. Carola, who famously won the ESC back in 1991 was the luckier of the two ladies. Her and G:son's winning song was "Evighet" (Swedish for eternity), and it was performed in Athens in English as "Invincible".

In the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix, his entry performed by the drag queen duo Queentastic made it to the Super Final, but it lost to Christine Guldbrandsen, a folk-ballad singer from Bergen. Elina Furmane of Latvia also did not make it through Eirodziesma; consequently, Thomas G:son had only one entry in this year's ESC. "Invincible" came fifth in the ESC final, just like his 2001 entry "Listen To Your Heartbeat" did.

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

In 2007, Thomas G:son is experiencing the peculiar situation of having two of his songs compete in Helsinki and neither of them is for his home country. Instead, the Norwegian, nationally famous musical artist Guri Schanke performed his fiery latino song "Ven a bailar conmigo", (Come Dance With Me). The song, which contains some elements of Argentine tango, was specifically ordered by the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK who invited Thomas G:son, who had already successfully composed three entries previously for Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian national final. Spain's 2007 entry "I love you mi vida" was also co-written by G:son, and was performed by boyband D'NASH.

National final entries

Melodifestivalen entries (Sweden)

• "Natten är min vän" by Cleo Nilsson (1999)
• "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" by Friends (2001)
• "Vem é dé du vill ha?" by Kikki, Lotta & Bettan (2002)
• "Ingenting är större än vi" by Arvingarna (2002)
• "Världen utanför" by Barbados (2002)
• "What Difference Does It Make?" by Poets (2002)
• "Hela världen för mig" by Sanna Nielsen (2003)
• "C'est la vie" by Hanson, Carson & Malmkvist (2004)
• "Tango Tango" by Petra Nielsen (2004)
• "Säg att du har ångrat dig" by Anne-Lie Rydé (2004)
• "Långt bortom tid och rum" by Mathias Holmgren (2005)
• "As If Tomorrow Will Never Come" by Katrina & The Nameless (2005)
• "Så nära" by Anne-Lie Rydé (2005)
• "Evighet" ("Invincible") by Carola (2006)
• "Ge mig en kaka till kaffet" by Östen med Resten (2006)
• "Idag & imorgon" by Kikki Danielsson (2006)
• "Innan natten är över" by Kayo (2006)
• "When Loves Coming Back Again" by Jessica Folcker (2006)
• "Silverland" by Roger Pontare (2006)
• "Amanda" by Jimmy Jansson (2007)
• "Samba sambero" by Anna Book (2007)

Melodi Grand Prix entries (Norway)

• "Din hånd i min hånd" by Kikki, Lotta & Bettan (2003)
• "Anyway you want it" by Ingvild Pedersen (2004)
• "Absolutely Fabulous" by Queentastic (2006)
• "Ven a bailar conmigo" by Guri Schanke (2007)
• "Rocket Ride" by Jannicke Abrahamsen (2007)

Euroviisut entries (Finland)

• "Who Cares About A Broken Heart?" by Johanna (2002)
• "Say You Will, Say You Won't" by Ressu (2002)
• "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Kirsi Ranto (2004)
• "Till The End Of Time" by Arja Koriseva (2004)

Misión Eurovisión entries (Spain)

• "I love you mi vida", demoed by Rebeca (2007)
• "Bailame", demoed by Arkaitz (2007)
• "Piénsame", Anael (2008)
• "Te Prefiero", Baltanás (2008)

Eirodziesma entry (Latvia)

• "Heaven In Your Eyes" by Elina Furmane (2006)

Selecţia Naţională entry (Romania)

• "Lovestruck" by Indiggo (2007) [disqualified]

The girl duo Indiggo which was going to perform the song was disqualified because they didn't turn up in time for a rehearsal. Additionally, an instrumental version of the song was not sent in time to the TV company.

Piosenka dla Europy entry (Poland)

• "Viva la musica" by Men Meadow (2008)

Eurosong 2008 entry (Belgium)

• "Addicted to you", Tanja Dexters (2008)

External links

• G:songs website