Frans was born in Ystad, Sweden. Frans's father Mark was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian mother and a British father.[1] At the age of eight, Mark moved to London. Frans' mother is Swedish. He was thus raised speaking both English and Swedish.[2] During most of his life, Frans has been a part-time resident in London and he also studied music there for an entire year when he was 15 at The Norwood School.[3][4] He has a younger brother named Casper and a twin sister, named Filippa.[5] He is best known for his football anthems with the band Elias, including the 2006 hit "Who's da Man",[6] dedicated to Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović.[7][8] The song, credited to Elias and featuring vocals by Frans, stayed at the top of Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart, for 13 weeks.[8]
For Christmas 2006, he scored a minor hit with his song "Kul med Jul" (English: Fun with Christmas),[9] which peaked at number 24 on the Swedish singles chart.[10] Another sports-related chart entering by Frans was the 2008 song "Fotbollsfest",[11] a song launched in support of the Sweden men's national football team.[12] The song peaked at number one on the Swedish singles chart, which it did in its second week of charting.[13]
2016–present: Melodifestivalen and Eurovision
After years of absence from music, Frans returned with his participation in Melodifestivalen 2016 in a bid to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "If I Were Sorry",[14][15] which he co-wrote with Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell and Fredrik Andersson. He performed it in Gävle during the fourth and last semi-final leg of the competition on 27 February 2016, going on to secure a place in the final on 12 March 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden.[15][16]
Immediately after his performance, the single was released. It became very popular and went straight to number one of Sverigetopplistan during the first week following its release.[17] It also charted on the Spotify Viral charts in Switzerland, Taiwan, Iceland, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, France, Denmark, Turkey and Germany.[18] He won the Melodifestivalen final on 12 March 2016 with 156 points, and went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, also held in Stockholm.[19][20] At the age of 17, Frans became the second youngest ever Melodifestivalen winner after Carola Häggkvist, who was 16 when she won in 1983.[21] In the Eurovision final, "If I Were Sorry" placed fifth overall.[22][23]