thumb|45-RPM single of Jag väntar vid min mila purchased in Denmark around 1964–1965. Built-in center adapter is still attached.
thumb|B side of 45-RPM record with "Ave Maria No Morro"
The Hootenanny Singers are a popular folk group from Västervik, Sweden, founded in 1961. The group included Björn Ulvaeus, who later became a member of ABBA. Other band members were Johan Karlberg (b. Karl Johan Hilding Karlberg, 14 April 1943, Vimmerby, Sweden d. 16 August 1992, Västervik, Sweden), Tonny Rooth (b. Sven Villy Tonny Rooth, 30 November 1943, Västervik, Sweden) and Hansi Schwarz (b. Hans Carl Schwarz, 16 March 1942, Munich, Germany d. 10 January 2013, Lund, Sweden). The group was named "The Northern Lights" for a US-released LP in 1966.
Early debut
In 1964, they gave their first performance on the Swedish TV programme Hylands Hörna with locally well-known Swedish poet Dan Andersson's "Jag väntar vid min mila" (translated as "I'm Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln").
The band had an early hit in the song Gabrielle, based on the Russian song "May There Always Be Sunshine" by Arkady Ostrovsky. A lack of international copyright agreements meant that songs from the Soviet Union were then considered to be in the public domain. After reaching number five on the Swedish charts, the band translated and recorded versions of Gabrielle in German, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, and English.