Swedish singer Tommy Körberg, 78, has described how he turned a prison cleaning assignment into access to musical instruments, in an interview broadcast on the TV4 programme "Här är ditt kylskåp" and reported by Expressen. Speaking about his time behind bars, Körberg said he worked each morning between six and eleven o'clock cleaning at the home of the prison director, where he noticed a large number of empty bottles. He told the programme he used that observation as leverage, quoting himself as saying that if the director did not want him to take the matter further, he could be given a room and instruments.
Why it matters
The remarks add a personal anecdote to a public record that already includes two prison sentences for the artist. According to Expressen, Körberg was sentenced to three months in 1981 for cocaine possession and to one month in 2002 for aggravated drunk driving. His account of the instruments offers a rare, matter-of-fact glimpse of how he spent part of that time, and it comes from the singer himself rather than from court or prison records.
What Körberg said about the sentence
Körberg characterised the experience in mild terms. "Det var inte så farligt," he said, according to Expressen — it was not so bad — and he explained that he read a great deal during the period. The cleaning shift at the director's residence was, by his account, a regular morning routine running from six until eleven.
It was during that work that he noticed the bottles, which he described as numerous and empty. In the programme he recounted his approach: he said he told the director that if he did not want the matter passed on, he could receive a room and instruments. Expressen quotes him saying: "Om du vill att jag inte ska föra det här vidare så…" — if you don't want me to take this further, then…
A room with a guitar, a bass and a tambourine
The arrangement, as Körberg describes it, produced a space equipped with a guitar, a bass and drums. It also produced at least one less welcome addition: a tambourine that someone kept striking with determination. His verdict on the result was dry — there was more noise than music, he said.
The anecdote is consistent with the picture Körberg paints of the period as relatively uneventful, spent reading and, on his telling, making use of whatever musical outlet the prison would allow. Expressen's report does not say which of the two sentences the episode relates to, nor does it identify the prison or the director involved.
A long public career
Körberg is one of Sweden's best-known stage and recording artists, with a career spanning decades. Expressen gives his age as 78. The interview programme "Här är ditt kylskåp" is the setting for the remarks, and the article was published on 29 October 2026.
The report is based on Körberg's own recollections as aired in the programme. No independent confirmation of the bottle incident or the instrument arrangement is included in the material, and the prison service has not commented in the account as published.
What to watch: whether Körberg expands on the episode in further interviews, and whether any of the institutions involved respond to his account.
