Maltese singer Kevin Borg overwhelmingly won the Swedish Pop Idol final this evening before a crowd of 15,000 people at the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

His victory came a year to the day since he left Malta to live in Sweden with his girlfriend Sofia. That was all the time it took him to learn Swedish and sing his way into Swedish hearts.

Marie Micallef, a Swede married to a Maltese, said Kevin had produced very confident performances.

"He can sing anything, he is really incredible, and he speaks Swedish so well after just one year...he is always happy and genuine" she said...in Maltese.

"This contest will do Malta a lot of good, now all the girls will want to go to Malta looking for more boys like him..." she added .

Some 8,000 contestants had entered the Swedish Idol contest.

The first audition was held in March and was followed by another four within a few weeks which saw the field narrowed to 16. Another phase of the contest in the Canary Islands saw the public eliminating another six contestants.

The final two contestants were selected in weekly TV shows which saw Kevin singing songs such as Gimmie Gimmie, Gimmie, Footloose, Living on a Prayer, Nathalie, All I wanna do is make love to you and Lyssna till ditt hjarta.

He sang three times this evening – one song of his own choice, another selected by the people and an original song which both contestants were required to sing. The selection of the winner was by televoting with Kevin winning 82% of the vote.

The other finalist was Alice Svensson.

Kevin had been a favourite to carry the winner’s trophy – and a prestigious contract with a record label – and Swedish journalists were in Malta last week to learn more about his background and interview his family.

Another Maltese, Nathalie Gauci, won the Australian Idol contest in November last year.

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