Ace of Base is a dance-pop band from Gothenburg,
Sweden, comprised of Ulf Ekberg (Buddha) and siblings
Jonas Berggren (Joker), Linn Berggren, and
Jenny Berggren. They released their debut album in 1992 and went on to major chart
success throughout the 1990s. Their worldwide album sales exceed 32 million[citation needed].
Formation
After a few years in a new romantic and punk covers
band called G Konrad, in 1987, Jonas Berggren formed a band with two friends, Johnny Lindén and Niklas Tränk; his sisters Linn
and Jenny joined as singers. The new band went through several names: Kalinin Prospect (a street in Moscow); CAD (Computer-Aided Disco); and Tech-Noir (French for black
technology, after a nightclub in the film The
Terminator).[1] They toured the clubs of Sweden
with their new self-written material, techno inspired by the likes of The KLF and Snap!.
Johnny left the group in 1989. Niklas made his departure known by failing to appear at a gig at the Bältesspännarparken on 6
August 1990; he preferred to attend a Rolling Stones concert on the other side of
town.[2] Jonas asked his friend Ulf Ekberg to stand in for
Niklas. The new quartet sought a new name to make a fresh start; Linn was reported saying: "No one could pronounce the name of
the group and nobody could remember it". They settled on Ace of Base, because they were the "masters of their studio", the
basement of a car-repair shop.[3]
However the band continued to struggle to gain any recognition, partly due to the preference of heavy metal over techno in their home town, according to singer
Jenny.[4] In 1991 they responded to a newspaper ad by producer John Ballard who was looking for new talent. He was somewhat unsure about their
potential, but did pass them on to Klas Lunding at Telegram Records who helped them record an early demo for the song
"Wheel Of Fortune" in their newly renovated studio. But it did not
convince Telegram to sign the band, and other labels in Sweden still showed no sign of interest. In the end, the unfinished demo
was sold for a small price to the independent Danish label Mega Records in March 1992.[5] "Wheel Of Fortune" was re-recorded and released as a single in
Denmark in May but failed to hit the charts. A small-budget music video was shot and
directed in a small studio by Viking Nielsson[6] and in
September, after two failures, the single finally reached the charts.
International success
But it was another song that was to help Ace of Base's career take off internationally. After hearing Swedish top 20 hit
"Another Mother" by Kayo, the band decided that was exactly the sound they wanted to
create.[7] They contacted the song's producer
Denniz PoP and sent him a demo of a track called "Mr Ace". The tape got stuck in his car's
cassette player so he was forced to listen to it over and over again which helped him decide to produce the track. The song
became "All That She Wants", a unique dark fusion of dub-reggae with pop which became the band's trademark sound. On release in October 1992, it quickly climbed to
number 1 on the Danish chart whilst the previous single was still sitting at number 2. Keen to rush out an LP for the
Christmas market, Mega Records pressed the band for an album and it was hastily recorded,
mixed and released within a few weeks. Preceded by a single of the same name, the album, titled Happy Nation was an instant hit in Denmark, and its success prompted interest from elsewhere in Europe.
A pan-European licence was signed with Metronome/PolyGram (now Universal Music) but they were turned down by the American division. Within a few months, "All
That She Wants" had reached number 3 in Sweden and had spent eight weeks at number 1 in
Germany.
The band were briefly caught up in controversy when on 27 March 1993 the Swedish newspaper
Expressen reported that Ulf had once been a member of a white
power band called Commit Suiside who sang songs with racist lyrical content. He
was also a member of the controversial far-right political party Sverigedemokraterna. Ulf was quick to admit that most of the details printed were true, but denied that
he was racist. In the 1997 documentary "Our Story", Ulf said "I told everyone I really regret what I done. I closed that book. I
don't want to even talk about it, that time does not exist in me any more. I closed it and I threw the book away. I took the
experience from it, I learned from it. But that life is not me. It's somebody else."
The revelations did not harm the band's career and in April 1993 the band performed alongside Inner Circle and Dr Alban in Tel Aviv,
Israel at what would be their biggest audience ever - 55,000 people.
In May, "All That She Wants" continued to hit all round the world and topped the chart for three weeks in the United Kingdom. However, despite Mega Records' hard efforts to secure a distribution deal in the
United States the response was always the same "this band will never work in the States".
But Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records and the
man who had discovered Whitney Houston, thought otherwise, and by the end of 1993 "All
That She Wants" had made its way to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In order to freshen up the album for US release, Davis insisted that some new tracks were recorded, including
"The Sign" which became the new title for the album and the second American single. It
was even more successful than the first, spending six weeks at number 1 becoming the best-selling single of the year 1994. It was
also a major hit in Europe, peaking at number 2 in the UK and Sweden and doing one better in Germany. PolyGram re-released the
album under the name Happy Nation (US Version).
Two more singles were released; "Living in Danger" and "Don't Turn Around". Originally a Tina Turner b-side which went on to become a UK number 1 hit for reggae band Aswad, Davis asked Ace of Base to record the Diane Warren-penned
track and it was yet another worldwide hit. By the end of 1994, there was barely a country in the world where they were not
successful.
Subsequent releases
The band, who by now were not only tired of being compared to fellow Swedish group ABBA, but
exhausted from two long years of international promotion, could hardly believe how successful they had become. In April 1994, a
crazed German fan Manuela Behrendt broke into the Berggren family's home brandishing a knife. After managing to restrain her, the
band decided that from then on they needed bodyguards. But they were not
allowed to take time to reflect before starting work on a second album because their record companies all over the world were
demanding a swift follow-up. To speed up the process, instead of Jonas and Ulf writing the bulk of the album, each member was
encouraged to submit his or her own tracks for consideration.
In the end, 17 tracks made the cut of the second album entitled The
Bridge. It marked a considerable change of direction in sound; out were the reggae and club sounds that made the group
so popular in favour of a more experimental sound and several ballads. The lead single "Lucky
Love" however was a mainstream pop record and on release in October 1995 became the band's first number 1 single in
Sweden, which came as a pleasant surprise as they had found that their fellow Swedes had been their harshest critics. It charted
at a more modest number 13 in Germany and number 20 in the United Kingdom, but Arista Records decided that it wasn't appropriate
for US release so they opted for the pulsing dance beat of "Beautiful
Life" which peaked at number 15 both in the US and UK. The album was still certified platinum but the phenomenal success
of the band's first album proved difficult to follow. In February 1996, the band performed at the Viña del Mar concert in Chile, topping the bill alongside
2 Unlimited.
After this, Ace of Base disappeared from the limelight for a while, only emerging in July 1997 to perform at a concert to
celebrate the 20th birthday of Princess Victoria of Sweden. They were
given as much time as they wanted to produce their third album, much of it being recorded in Jonas' own studio "The Barn". When
it was finally released in June 1998, the band declared it their best album yet. It was titled Flowers because they believed that the songs, wildly different in style including
Motown and gospel influences, resembled a varied bouquet
of flowers. Fans were surprised to see that blonde singer Linn had relinquished lead vocal duties to sister Jenny, and on many
promotional photos Linn's face was blurred. They were reassured that Linn was happy with her new backing role in the group, and
many reasons were given for her decision including her having damaged her voice, fear of flying putting her off from travelling
round the world, and her dislike of fame.
The radio-friendly single "Life Is a Flower" was certified the most-played track on
European radio for 1998 and sold more than 250,000 copies in the UK, peaking at number 5. British label London Records had requested the band record the 1984 hit "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama and it was selected as
the second European single. Deciding that "Life Is a Flower" was "too European in nature", Clive Davis pushed "Cruel Summer" as
the lead-off single for the United States and it took Ace of Base back into the US Top 10 for the first time in four years, being
certified gold. The album was also re-named Cruel Summer and
featured a slightly different tracklist to the European release. Davis persuaded a reluctant Linn to record a Billy Steinberg
ballad "Everytime It Rains" and "Life Is a Flower" was re-recorded as
"Whenever You're Near Me" and was the second single, but it could only peak at
number 76. "Always Have, Always Will" and "Travel to Romantis" were further hits in Europe whilst "Everytime It Rains" was issued as a single in
the UK along with a re-packaged edition of Flowers. However, it was not released as a radio single in the US until the
following year in remixed-form (pushed by Clive Davis) in order to promote a new Greatest Hits album, which failed to chart, selling fewer than 5,000 copies in its
first week. The band's large fanbase were not fond of both a "Greatest
Hits" album being released too prematurely in the band's career and the single and past decisions chosen by Clive Davis.
It completed the band's four-album contract with Arista Records and was not renewed.
Singles Of The 90s, a compilation of sixteen hit singles was released in
November 1999. Its first single, "C'est La Vie (Always 21)," went on to become
a surprise number 1 hit in Spain. Attempting to capitalize on the success of the previous single, "Hallo Hallo" was released with special remixes just for the Spanish market. The album's
marketing push closed with the limited radio-only single release of "Love in
December".
Their most recent album Da Capo was released in 2002 only in Asia
and parts of Europe. The single "Beautiful Morning" reached the top ten of the
national airplay chart in Germany. The band were last seen in November 2005, when they performed
about 20 concerts at the "Night of the Proms" show in Belgium, their first orchestrated
work.[8]
Future plans
As of 2007, Ace of Base are recording a new album, stating on their official website: "we are
now back in the studio again, with more inspiration than ever".[9] The band's manager Lasse Karlsson has suggested that it will be released in Spring 2008,
and could be accompanied by a world tour.[10]
In April 2007, Ace of Base launched their official
MySpace page. It promises updates on the progress of their new album and other information
concerning the band.
On August 14, 2007, Lasse Karlsson announced that the band
will be playing their first full-length concert since 1996 in Bangalore, India, on November 24, 2007. Later was
announced on www.aceofbase.com that concert will be in St.Petersburg, Russia, on November 17, 2007 and in
Copenhagen, Denmark on November 23, 2007.[9][11] The tickets for
the event are being sold since September 19.[12]
In a recent interview in Sweden, Jenny Berggren
revealed information about the band's future plans. She said there is "a lot" happening in the Ace of Base camp and that "we have
to wait and see". The next album is shaping up to be really good; with some good songs, but with no producers or renewed contract
as yet.[13]
Achievements
Ace of Base have won a number of awards and broken records. Their first album The
Sign was given the Guinness World Record for "Best-Selling Debut
Album".[14] Combined sales of Happy Nation and
The Sign are thought to have now reached 23 million. It reached the number 1 position in at least thirteen countries:
Argentina, Canada, Denmark,
France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Israel, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States.[15]
In 1994, The band were awarded two American Music Awards including "Best Single"
for "The Sign", which was also certified the year's best-selling single at the Billboard Music Awards.[16] In addition, they received three Grammy nominations,
including "Best New Artist" which was awarded to Sheryl Crow.
Four of the group's singles have received gold or platinum certification by the RIAA in the United States. These are[17]
- "All That She Wants"
- Platinum RIAA certification (over 1,000,000 copies sold), awarded November 12, 1993.
- "The Sign"
- Platinum RIAA certification, awarded April 6, 1994. BMI Million-Air award, October 16-th 2007.[18]
- "Don't Turn Around"
- Gold RIAA certification, awarded June 29, 1994.
- "Cruel Summer"
- Gold RIAA certification, awarded September 1, 1998.
Two of the band's albums also received multi-platinum certication in the United States:[19]
- The Sign
- (10 RIAA platinum certifications = diamond), awarded May 21, 2002.
- The Bridge
- (2 RIAA platinum certifications), awarded May 21, 2002.
In addition, "The Sign: Home Video Collection" was also certified gold.
In Europe, Ace of Base won the award for "World's Best-Selling Scandinavian Artist" at the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997
World Music Awards in Monaco, at which they performed
each year. They also won the "Pop Newcomer of the Year" award at the 1994 World Music Awards. Also, "Life Is a Flower" was
Europe's most played single on radio in 1998.
In the United Kingdom, the "All That She Wants" single sold more than 600,000 copies, making it the third-best selling single
of 1993 (behind Meat Loaf and UB40). The band scored twelve
UK top 40 singles and performed on the BBC's long-running
music show Top Of The Pops ten times.
Discography
- For detailed Ace of Base discography, including B-sides, see Ace of Base
discography.
Singles and Albums
DVD and VHS
See also
External links
References
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