Ace of Base History
Taken from Mega Record's Profile
The most fantastic fairy-tale story of the '90s is all about the
Swedish Pop wonder Ace of Base, the brother-and-sisters team of Jenny,
Jonas and Malin Berggren with their family friend Ulf Ekberg.
The Ace of Base members
Jonas Petter Berggren was born March 21st, 1967 in Gothenburg. His
parents Birgitta and Goran raised Jonas as well as Malin Sofia
Katarina, known now as Linn, born October 31st, 1970, and Jenny
Cecilia,born May 19th, 1972. Ulf Gunnar Ekberg was born December 6th,
1970, his parents being Mats and Monika Ekberg. As his father was a
tennis coach for some years, in charge of the national tennis team of
Denmark for a time, young Ulf traveled quite a lot and still speaks
Danish nearly faultlessly. Growing up, Ulf was quite a scruffy youth
and became quite involved in youth gangs in and around Gothenburg
before meeting Jonas and changing his life completely, dedicating it
afterwards to music and anti-violence causes. He now regrets certain
facets of his past. "One of my closest friends was killed ... I had
to awaken and follow the help of family and friends, in order to
change my ways. Now I am against violence and drug abuse," he
declared in 1993. While the Berggrens have stayed in their native
Gothenburg, Ulf has recently relocated to Marbella, Spain.
The Berggrens grew up in a happy environment, in a family that
loved music and singing. The children were encouraged to study
classical music. Jenny and Linn both took up the violin, but that did
not last for very long. They also learned folk and childrens' songs,
some taught to them by their grand-parents. Linn and Jenny went on
to a school teacher education before Ace of Base started to make it
internationally.
Tech Noir, the proto-Ace of Base
Ace of Base started out under another name- Tech Noir- and were
mainly a fast-paced, high-energy, and Techno-oriented group whose
heritage is apparent in later Ace of Base tracks such as "Just Chaos"
or "Hear Me Calling." They changed their style altogether, however,
and became Ace of Base, inventing their trademark Pop & Reggae
grooves.
Within a very short time, they moved from obscurity to international
fame and recognition, with sales of their first album, Happy Nation
soaring to a cumulative 23 million album units sold across the globe.
Their second offering,The Bridge, now stands at approximately five
million units sold. On the basis of the exceptional performance of
the first album, the Guinness Book of Records proclaimed Ace of Base
as the "best-ever debt album artists."
Ace of Base originated in the harbor city of Gothenburg, known
affectionately as the "Liverpool of the north," due to its industries,
oil refineries, and its thriving music scene. Just as in the UK
between Liverpool and London, there is a distinct rivalry in Sweden
between the capital city of Stockholm and the far-away Gothenburg.
Ace of Base thus experienced a lack of interest, due to the lukewarm
reception their material received in Stockholm's A&R circles.
After having recorded and initial version of "Wheel of Fortune" on a
studio's down-time, the original record label they were signed to
didn't wish to pursue the recording and mixing of the track; hence,
Ace of Base decided to do something atypical for Swedish artists:
contact a Danish label and present "Wheel of Fortune" to Mega in
Copenhagen. They chose Mega since it had released music for the UK
group The KLF, whom they admired.
The demo tape Mega received generated an immediate buzz of interest,
leading both to a swift buy-out of the master tapes of "Wheel of
Fortune" and to a deal with Mega.
The Formative Years
Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg had met each other around Gothenburg,
and decided to work together on a musical project. Ulf had been a
scruffy youth for some time, hanging around dubious gangs in town.
Several traumatic experiences- fights, and the death of a friend-
convinced Ulf to change his life completely, opting for a career in
music rather than becoming a street hoodlum.
The two of them started dabbling with synths, rhythm boxes, and
samplers, applying their newly-honed skills to Techno styles. They
soon found themselves wanting vocals to copmlement their frenetic
grooves and started looking for suitable singers. Jonas and Ulf didn't
come up with anything substantial for a time, however, and decided to
recruit Jonas' two musically-endowed sisters Jenny and Malin. Just
like the rest of the Berggren family, Jenny and Malin had studied
music at school and were members of the local church choir as well.
They were drafted in as members of Ace of Base, completing the famous
foursome. At first they continued writing and recording demo Techno
tracks, but soon began experimenting with Reggae grooves, inspired by
a collaboration with a local Rap and Reggae outfit. "Wheel of Fortune"
was the result.
By this point, Ace of Base had assembled a sizable quantity of
synthesizers and associated recording hardware at a rehearsal and
recording facility, housed in a ramshackle building at the outskirts
of Gothenburg, a space shared with a car repair facility and a posse
of computer nerds. Jonas and Ulf had a particular liking for vintage
analog synths, used prominently in all their subsequent recording
sessions. They managed thus to forge an original sound and style
distinctly their own, with the trademark Pop-Reggae leanings evident
in later recordings, such as the smash hits "All That She Wants,"
"The Sign," "Don't Turn Around" (a cover version of an Aswad original),
and others.
Early on, top Swedish producer Denniz Pop became interested in
Ace of Base. In fact, their demo cassette got stuck in Denniz's car's
tape player, and for some time it was the only recorded music
available to him while driving. Denniz produced their first
international hit, "All That She Wants."
Conquering Scandanavia
"Wheel of Fortune" was released twice in Denmark without achieving
either airplay or sales. Mega was undeterred by this early set-back,
however, and decided to release it for the third time. The tide
changed, and the debut single started up the chart, achieving a peak
position at #2, only to be overtaken that same week by its follow-up,
"All That She Wants," which streaked up to the #1 spot. This gave
Ace of Base a taste of what was to come, and paved the way for more
action in Scandanavia and the rest of the world. Norway was quickly
conquered, while Sweden watched from the sidelines.
The Danish people soon started considering Ace of Base as
"adopted Danes," a fact reenforced by Ulf Ekberg's perfect command of
Danish, the result of a lengthy stay in the country while his father
coached the Danish national tennis team.
Before long, Sweden also was conquered, and Ace of Base and Mega
started looking in earnest for an international release.
Conquering Europe
In the wake of their two initial successful singles, Ace of Base
recorded their debut album Happy Nation, which statred a veritable
flood of number one ratings and platinum awards in Scandanavia. The
rest of the world remained distinctly unfazed and unimpressed,
dismissing Ace of Base as merely a local phenomenon that couldn't
possibly work anywhere else.
Every major record company declined the group's offers at first,
rejecting the material as being "too poppy." Metronome Musik,
however, a PolyGram company based in Hamburg, decided to reconsider
the matter and took a chance in signing Ace of Base for an
international deal covering Europe and the Far East with an option
for the USA. The single "All That She Wants" was thus released in
Germany, achieved a #1 chart position, and paved the way for platinum
sales of the album Happy Nation (which also achieved the coveted #1
slot).
Their success in Germany was repeated in the remainer of Europe,
with sensational results to follow- heavy MTV rotation and all the
hoopla associated with stardom.
The USA
Despite their tremendous success in Europe, Ace of Base were not
seen as fit for the USA for some time. Again, all the major labels
held the opinion that Ace of Base would not get airplay in the States,
and hence missed a most important vehicle for launching successful
cross-over singles. Mega still kept trying, however, hoping to
eventually be able to convince the Americans of Ace of Base's
potential and worth.
A significant break-through occurred as legendary A&R honcho
(and now Arista president) Clive Davis grew interested in Ace of Base.
He had travelled in Europe on his way to a vacation aboard a yacht
sailing in the Mediterranean, and couldn't fail to notice the intense
MTV rotation of "All That She Wants" and its airply on all European
radio stations. Thus, he called up Mega in Copenhagen to inquire as
to the availability of the licensing rights for the USA and other
American countries, as well as Japan. Following the usually complicated
negotiations needed to achieve a good deal for the USA, Mega was
subsequently able to sign with Arista for the Americas and Japan.
As massive imports of the European Happy Nation album had already
started to pour into the States, it was decided jointly to record
some additional tracks, to differentiate the US release from its
European counterpart. The revised album took its title from one of
the new tracks, "The Sign." To complicate matters further, the US
album was released also in Europe, this time reentitled Happy Nation-US
Version, with yet another additional track not present on the US
album The Sign. (This track's was entitled "Hear Me Calling").
"All That She Wants" was released as the initial single for the
States, and became a huge hit for Ace of Base, making it to #1 on the
Billboard Sales Chart. It was promptly followed by the album, which
also achieved an incredible shart run, including multiple platinum and
the prestigious #1 chart position.
The Ace of Base team
After making it to #1 in both the single and album categories in
the USA (and with the massive success already achieved in Europe and
elsewhere), it became clear that Ace of Base were not just pretty
faces. The two leading Ace of Base composers Jonas Berggren and Ulf
Ekberg were acclaimed as innovative composers and skilled producers
and arrangers, ably assisted in the studio by the aforementioned
Denniz Pop, and also having on board the production team T.O.E.C.,
Pop crony Douglas Carr, the producer duo Adebratt & Ekman, and
several re-mix teams, including David Morales.
The new wave of Swedish Pop
Ace of Base were hailed as the new big thing out of Sweden, a
country that had achieved an incredible number of Pop super-stars
over the years. They followed in the footsteps of earlier acts such
as The Spotnicks, Blue Swede, Abba, Roxette, and many others...
Ace of Base were also acclaimed for revitalizing the then somewhat
stagnant Reggae genre, and were invited to celebrate Bob Marley's
anniversary memorial concert where they were to appear with a
plethora of Reggae acts. This was an invitation Ace of Base reluctantly
had to decline due to other, clashing committments.
They were also the best-ranked Swedes in the USA and the only
Scandanavian artists to enjoy a #1 album on the Billboard sales chart.
Actually, they made it three times to #1, as the album soared high
on the strength of the singles released, this going back into the Top
Spot on the Billboard chart twice again after its initial feat. Their
singles were subject to massive doses of airplay across the pond,
winning the BMI million performances award twice, for "The Sign" and
"All That She Wants."
Far-reaching hits
While achieving sensational results in Europe and the USA, Ace of
Base created a stir in the far-away territories, such as the Far East,
South America, Australia, South Africa, and Israel. In Malaysia,
for example, they were particularly successful in being awarded
Octuple Platinum for the Happy Nation- US Version album.
The European trade publication Music & Media, the complier of the
Euro Chart, announced that "All That She Wants" was the European #1
for the decade of 1984-1994. No wonder that their home city of
Gothenburg hailed the Ace of Base members as honorary citizens, and
invited the group to perform live at the 1995 World Games in
Gothenburg. In France, the album went #1 for the third time, earning
the prestigious Disque de Diamant award for sales in excess of one
million units. The musicians magazine Keyboard USA also nominated Ace
of Base in the category of "best new synthesizer artist," while the
engineer and producer magazine EQ USA ran an interview detailing their
production techniques.
The massive success of Ace of Base on the world stage, and all
the glitz associated with fame and fortune, left them quite unfazed.
They had their share of false rumors, concerning an impending group
split that never materialized and queries about Ulf's past. There
were also some dramatic moments, as a deranged German female would-be
fan trespassed into the Berggrens' home in the middle of the night
and threatened Jenny, her mother, and her father with a machete. The
Berggrens were able to overpower the woman after a brief but bloody
scuffle in Jenny's parents' bedroom. Soon subdued, the woman was
taken in custody by the police, and albulances came to the rescue of
Jenny's wounded mother.
Notwithstanding these episodes, Jenny and Malin still regularly
sing in the local church choir on Sundays. The whole Ace of Base
operation shuts down for a couple weeks each summer while Jenny keeps
her volunteer job, helping disabled children in a Swedish summer camp.
Preparing their next album
At Mega, the demos needed for the preparation of the next Ace of
Base album were anxiously awaited. Jonas phoned up one day, stating
that he had the bulk of his contributions ready and would turn up the
next day at Mega's office to present them. He came equipped with an
acoustic guitar and proceeded to sing and explain the new songs live,
rather than presenting the usual cassette demo. This harkens back to
the grand old days of songwriters and goes to show that Ace of Base
are definitely not in a state of dependency on new-fangled synthesizers,
samplers, and sequencing techniques. They would certainly hold their
own in an "unplugged" situation.
Ace of Base went on to record their new material, at times using
up to four studios simultaneously, with Jenny and Malin trekking back
and forth in order to record their vocals. Their composition "Lucky
Love" was premiered at the Gothenburg World Games mentioned earlier,
and broadcast all over the world by satellite. The album The Bridge
also signaled a more prominent writer's role for Jenny and Malin,
both represented on the album through several of their own original
compositions. "Lucky Love" was followed up by the singles Beautiful
Life and Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry, yielding more hits and pushing
the album to a cumulative five million units.
Ace of Base yet again went back to promotional appearances all
over the world, spending time also in South America and the Far East.
Meanwhile, both Ace of Base albums were released in China, a first for a
Scandanavian artist.
The hits recorded by Ace of Base became vehicles for other artists
in a variety of languages, and were popular for cover versions and
for the Karaoke set. Their compositions have also shown an incredible
longevity, enjoying airplay even in their chart aftermath, while the
release of the new album signaled a resurgence of sales for their
first.
At present, with countless gold and platinum awards to their name,
the future of Ace of Base looks bright. Both Jonas and Ulf have grown
significantly as composers, contributing songs to other artists besides
Ace of Base.
HOME