Active 1973-1979 · Sweden · fronted by Björn Skifs
Blue Swede formed in 1973 around singer Björn Skifs, and their 1973 recording of the song, issued in Sweden in May 1973 and in the United States through EMI in February 1974, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1974 and the top ten in Australia (No. 4), Canada (No. 2) and New Zealand (No. 7). Theirs is a genuinely inspired arrangement — brass, a hard backbeat and the chanted vocal hook — and Thomas himself called it a great production that deserved its success. The only error in the popular memory is chronological: the record is a cover, and its most famous element was borrowed from a third artist.