Debby Rönne

**Debora Maria** "**Debby**" **Rönne** (born 3 August 1975) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She competed in *Svensksong 1* with the song "Chains".

## Life and career

### Early life

Rönne was born on 3 August 1975 in Ängelholm, Ängelholm Municipality. Her father, Mads, is Danish (original surname Rønne), while her mother, Sofia, is Swedish. She grew up with two younger brothers.

Rönne graduated from compulsory schooling in 1991, and then moved to the nearby city of Helsingborg to attend music school. She graduated from music school in 1994, and began her professional music career.

### 1994–2000: Dansband career

After graduating from music school, she began singing with the dansband Milton Ficks. She left the band in 1996, and began performing with very popular dansband Helio, moving to Stockholm to perform with them.

With Helio, she released two albums, *Debby och Helio*, in 1997, and *Jag vill tro*, in 1999, which both peaked within the top five in Sweden. In 2000, she left the group after signing a solo career with Universal Music Sweden. She later announced that she'd be abandoning the dansband genre in order to create more mainstream pop music.

### 2000–2006: Early pop career

After being signed to Universal Music Sweden as a solo artist, Rönne began work on a debut solo studio album. She released her first English-language song, "Arabian Nights", in 2000, which became a chart-topper in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Her debut studio album, *On My Own*, was released the following year, and reached the top ten in Sweden.

Rönne released another album in 2002, titled *Independent*, which largely consisted of pop rock music. It also included the top twenty single, "Bye Bye". Her third studio album, *Night Time*, was released in 2005, and reached the top five in Sweden.

### 2006–2010: Massive success

In 2007, Rönne released her first dance-pop album, *Smoke & Mirrors*. The album contained her international hit, "Discotheque", which became a number-one hit in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Germany. The album was also a large success throughout the Nordic countries.

Her fifth studio album, *Looking for Alice*, was released in 2009, which also contained the hit singles, "Schoolhouse Rock" and "Heroes". She released her greatest hits album, *The Greatest*, in 2010.

### 2010–2016: Career decline

In 2011, Rönne released her sixth studio album, *Unbreakable*. The album saw a sharp decline in the dance-pop featured in her previous releases, and instead took influence from R&B. It was not as successful as her previous releases, and only reached the top forty in Sweden, while its lead single, "Mistake", did not chart at all.

Her followup album, *A Night in Paradise*, was released in 2013, and saw the same R&B sound that was present in her previous release. The album peaked at number-27 in Sweden. She later announced that she'd be going on a hiatus to prioritize motherhood.

### 2016–present: *Svensksong*

In 2016, Rönne was confirmed to be taking part in *Svensksong 1*, with the song "Chains". She performed the song in the fourth semi-final, and advanced to andra chansen. In andra chansen, she advanced to the final, where she placed second.

## Personal life

Rönne married Swedish music producer Anthony Nilsson in 2007. They have two children together; Olivia, born in 2008, and Simon, born in 2010. The couple divorced in 2011. She later married Norwegian disc jockey Elias Richardsen in 2015. They have one child together, Astrid, born in 2016. The family resides in Djursholm, Danderyd Municipality.