Ace of Base

In 1987, following several years as part of a new wave and punk cover band called G Konrad (named after Hungarian author György Konrád), Jonas Berggren formed a band with two friends, Johnny Lindén and Niklas Tränk, for a school project; his sisters Linn and Jenny later joined as singers. The new band went through several names: New Arbat Avenue after an avenue in Moscow; CAD (Computer-Aided Disco); and Tech-Noir, French for black technology, after a nightclub in the film The Terminator.[10] They toured the clubs of Sweden with self-written material, techno inspired by 1980s Italo disco and house music.

Johnny left the group in 1989, and Niklas made his departure known by failing to turn up to a gig at Bältespännarparken in Gothenburg on August 4, 1990, instead attending a Rolling Stones concert on the other side of town. Jonas asked his friend Ulf Ekberg to stand in for Niklas.

Inspired by a Jamaican reggae band who resided in a studio next door to theirs, they experimented with a fusion of reggae and pop – dubbed "China reggae" by their Jamaican friends – which became the band's trademark sound.[11]

After responding to an ad in the paper Göteborgs-Posten, the new quartet started working in the studio with record producer John Ballard,[12] and decided to come up with a new name in order to make a fresh start, as well as to avoid confusion with another band with the same name who were attracting bad reviews. Linn said: "No one could pronounce the name of the group and nobody could remember it." They settled on Ace of Base in early 1991, after Ulf was inspired by the Motörhead song "Ace of Spades".[13][14]

In an interview in 2018, Ulf explained:

The name came out of a hangover I had on New Year's Day. So, I was hungover, watching MTV and I saw Motörhead's video for their song "Ace of Spades". I liked the name and I thought I'd play around with those words. We're four members in this band, so I thought, "Good. Four aces. I'll keep the ace." Then I thought of our studio and how it's our base.[15]

The group continued performing in the clubs of Gothenburg, but struggled to gain recognition, partly due to the preference of heavy metal music over techno in Gothenburg. They also sent out demo cassettes to numerous record companies but everybody refused to sign them. In May 1991, Jonas and Ulf made a trip to various record companies in Stockholm, including Polar Music, who wanted them to record more songs first, and SweMix, who were interested but didn't have the time to do anything with them until autumn.[16]

In July, Klas Lunding at Telegram Records arranged for them to record a new version of "Wheel of Fortune" in their newly renovated Decibel Studio, but did not offer them a recording contract. Jonas recounts:

When it had just been finished, Martin Dodd (Head of A&R at independent Danish label Mega Records) called and shouted: "Do not sign anything, do not sign anything!" They wanted everything from us, while Telegram only wanted the reggae songs and no up-tempos. We had already recorded a single with Telegram, but hadn't signed anything. Klas is not the fastest in the world, so to speak – and that was perhaps lucky for us. So Mega bought the master tape from Klas for 34,000 SEK.[14][17]

"Wheel of Fortune" was serviced to radio and nightclubs in Sweden in early 1992, with it reaching Gothenburg's local Jockeytoppen chart in March, and prompting an invitation to perform on music television channel ZTV.[18] However, the record failed to gain traction in Sweden, so Mega switched focus to Denmark. After servicing the single to media three times, it was finally released commercially at the end of June 1992, entering the Danish singles chart at No. 6, before rising to No. 2.[19]

Following the success of "Wheel of Fortune" in Denmark, the group continued working on music. After hearing Kayo's "Another Mother" in a record store, a top 20 hit in Sweden in 1990, Jonas and Ulf decided that it was exactly the sound they wanted to create.

In early 1992, they sent producer Denniz PoP a demo tape including a song called "Mr. Ace". At first he wasn't particularly impressed, but the tape got stuck in the cassette player in his car. This resulted in him having to listen to it repeatedly and gradually he realized the song's potential. He'd lost the band's contact details but when they called him a few months later, he invited them to his SweMix studio to re-record the song in July 1992.[20] The song became "All That She Wants" and upon its release at the end of August, it quickly climbed to No. 1 on the Danish chart, while the previous single was still sitting at No. 2. Keen to rush out an LP for the Christmas market, Mega Records pressed the band for an album, which was quickly recorded and mixed within a few weeks.[21]

The album, Happy Nation, was released on November 2, 1992 in Denmark and its success prompted interest 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 No. 3 in Sweden and had spent eight weeks at No. 1 in Germany. In various European countries, "Happy Nation" and "Waiting for Magic" were released as further singles following the release of the album.

In May 1993, "All That She Wants" consolidated on its European success by topping the chart for three weeks in the United Kingdom.[22] However, despite Mega Records's efforts to secure a distribution deal in the United States, the response was always the same: "This band will never work in the States."[20] Eventually, Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, heard the song playing on the radio whilst on vacation on his yacht, and rushed to sign a licence with Mega for the Americas.[23] In October/November 1993, "All That She Wants" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100,[24] as well as in Australia.

The group had already started work on a second album, with the working title of The Sign, named after one of the new tracks they had written. Worried about sales of import copies of Happy Nation however, Davis opted to tweak the track list of the original LP by adding three new tracks and re-titling it The Sign. Released in the US on November 23, 1993, it remained in the top three of the Billboard Top 200 for 26 consecutive weeks, and was nominated for Best Pop Album at the 1995 Grammy Awards. The refreshed album was released in Europe as Happy Nation (US Version). Collectively, the different versions of the album reached the No. 1 position in at least 14 countries and sold over 21 million copies worldwide making it one of the best-selling debut albums of all time.[25][26] It was also one of the best selling albums of 1994.[27]

The second U.S. single was the album's title track "The Sign", released on December 14. It was even more successful than the first, spending six weeks at No. 1 and becoming the best-selling single of 1994. It was also a major hit internationally, peaking at No. 2 in the UK and Sweden and at No. 1 in Germany; whilst in Australia it topped the charts for four weeks.[28]

Recorded at the request of Clive Davis, "Don't Turn Around", was the group's next single.[21] The song had previously been released by Tina Turner as the B-side of her single "Typical Male" (1986), and had been a UK No. 1 hit for Aswad in 1988. The cover version reached the top 5 in the US, UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Promotion for the album concluded with the final single release "Living in Danger", which was yet another top 40 hit internationally and was performed in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the first ever MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin in November 1994.[29]

The band were caught up in controversy when on 27 March 1993, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Ulf had been a member of a skinhead gang in his teenage years, before his association with Ace of Base. Linn remarked in 1993: "Ulf gave all that up long ago and my family had nothing to do with any of that in the first place."[30] In 2013, the story was revisited in a report by Vice, referring to an unauthorized CD released in 1998 called Uffe Was a Nazi!, containing songs with racist content which were claimed to have been recorded by Ulf's former band "Commit Suiside".[10] Ulf was described as "a drug and alcohol-abusing teenager, when he was a member of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang".[31] In an interview with E!, Ulf remarked: "I have always been deeply regretful of that period in my life, as I strive to bring happiness to people, and during that period I did not live up to that standard. [...] I'm truly deeply sorry for any hurt and disappointment this has caused for our fans, and I really hope that we clearly have stated that Ace of Base never shared any of these opinions and strongly oppose all extremist opinions on both the right and left wing."[32]

In April 1994, an obsessed German fan broke into the Berggren family home, brandishing a knife.[33][34] After managing to restrain her, the band decided they needed bodyguards. Recalling the attack in a 2016 interview, Jenny said:

"She woke me up with a knife to my throat. She broke into my parents’ house when I was staying there after two years away. I woke up and she was standing over me with the knife. I was terrified. That was the darker side of fame. I remember just after I was attacked I found out that we were Number 1 in the United States. All I could think was that I almost got killed. Everyone was like, 'wow, let's have a huge party'. I didn't want a party. I was broken."[35]

Following the substantial success of the first album, the group were offered the chance to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York, and were asked to front brands such as Pepsi and Reebok in promotional campaigns, but after two years of travelling around the world to promote the first album, the band were too exhausted and declined all offers.[36] Simultaneously, their various record companies around the world were demanding a second album promptly. To hasten the process, instead of Jonas and Ulf writing most of the album, each member was encouraged to submit their own tracks for consideration.

In the end, 17 tracks were chosen for the second album, titled The Bridge. It marked a considerable change of direction in sound; alongside the reggae and dance sounds that had made the group so popular were more experimental tracks and several ballads. The lead single, "Lucky Love", however, was a mainstream pop record, and was premiered in August 1995 at the World Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg. It debuted at No. 1 in Sweden upon release in October, becoming their first chart-topper in their homeland. It was also a top 20 hit across Europe, peaking at No. 1 in Finland, No. 2 in Denmark, No. 13 in Germany and No. 20 in the United Kingdom.

Arista Records instead opted for the more up-tempo track "Beautiful Life" as the first single in the US, where it peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first American and UK hit for its co-producer Max Martin.[37] It was released as the second single from the album in most countries, also reaching No. 15 in the UK and charting in at least 17 countries. An alternative acoustic mix of "Lucky Love" was chosen as the second U.S. single, peaking at No. 30.

The Bridge was certified platinum in 14 countries, but did not match the sales of the group's first album. "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" was released as the third single from the album and achieved moderate success in Europe, but failed to chart on the Hot 100 in the USA. In February 1996, the band performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, topping the bill alongside 2 Unlimited.

After touring Asia and Australasia in April 1996, the group temporarily retreated from the limelight, scrapping plans to release either "My Déjà Vu" or "Edge Of Heaven" as a single, and emerging only in 1997 for an April performance at the World Music Awards, and at a July concert celebrating the 20th birthday of Princess Victoria of Sweden.

Linn's image was blurred on the cover art of Flowers and Cruel Summer.

Having felt rushed to record a second album, the group were given as much time as they need to produce their third, with much of it being recorded in Jonas's own studio, "The Barn". Declaring it their best album yet, the group titled it Flowers because they believed that the songs, wildly different in style, including Motown and gospel influences, resembled a varied bouquet of flowers. In live performances in support of the album, Linn relinquished lead vocal duties to sister Jenny, and on many promotional photos, Linn's face was blurred.[38] Fans 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, her aerophobia deterring her from international travel, dealing with depression, and her dislike of fame.[39][40][41]

The album's lead single "Life Is a Flower" was released in mainland Europe in April 1998, and became the most-played track on European radio of the year. It reached the top 5 in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Hungary and in the UK, where it was certified silver. The album followed in June, hitting the top 20 in at least a dozen countries.

The group's British label London Records had requested the band record the 1983 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 single for the United States, and it brought Ace of Base back into the U.S. Top 10 for the first time in four years, being certified gold. The album was also renamed Cruel Summer and featured a different track list from the European release. For this version of the album, Davis persuaded a reluctant Linn to record the Billy Steinberg-penned ballad "Everytime It Rains".

"Life Is a Flower" was re-recorded as "Whenever You're Near Me" and chosen as the second single from Cruel Summer, peaking at No. 76. "Travel to Romantis" and "Always Have, Always Will" were further singles in Europe whilst "Everytime It Rains" was issued as a single in the UK along with a repackaged edition of Flowers.

The group went back into the studio in 1999, writing several tracks together as a quartet for the first time, and recording enough demo tracks for consideration for a fourth studio album. Ulf later revealed that they had hoped to release a track called "Pole Position" as the lead single, with a music video that would have featured the Formula One champion driver Jacques Villeneuve.[42] Several of the tracks recorded for the scrapped studio album were eventually released in demo form by Jonas via Facebook in 2011.

In November 1999, Mega Records released the best-of album Singles of the 90s, a compilation of 16 hit singles. A new single taken from it, "C'est La Vie (Always 21)", was a modest chart hit in Sweden, Finland, Germany and Switzerland, and topped the charts in Spain. "Hallo Hallo" followed as the second single in parts of Europe, but only found minor success.[43]

Arista Records fulfilled the group's four-album contract in the Americas by releasing Greatest Hits in March 2000. A new dance mix of "Everytime It Rains", previously included on Cruel Summer, was released as a radio single to promote the album. Both the single and album failed to chart in the USA.

Linn after a performance in 2002

Following a long time away from the pop scene, a new single called "Beautiful Morning" was serviced to radio in Europe in July 2002. Polydor Records reported that it was their fastest-added track to radio playlists of the year, and it went on peak at No. 38 in Germany[44] and No. 14 in Sweden upon its commercial release in September.

After several delays due to requests from the record label, Ace of Base finally released their fourth studio album, Da Capo, on September 30, 2002, in Europe, and in Japan through Toshiba EMI with a different cover and three bonus tracks. The album received only a soft release in the United Kingdom and was not released in the Americas.[21] The title comes from the musical term da capo, which translates as "back to the beginning", chosen as the sound of the album was seen as a return to the group's early blend of reggae and europop.[45]

Although the album charted across much of Europe, it was not as successful as previous releases. Only Jenny and Ulf went on a promotional tour of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Poland and Austria. Jonas chose to forego promotional activities because "it was better to be two then" and led to "less questions" about Linn's lack of participation.[46] Linn attended only one performance in Germany, which was her last public appearance.[47]

"The Juvenile" was selected as the album's second single in Germany, and was used for a Christmas campaign by TV channel RTL Television. The song was a re-written version of a track originally submitted for the James Bond movie GoldenEye in 1995. However, Clive Davis persuaded the band that it was not the best move for the band at the time so they withdrew it from consideration.[48]

In Scandinavia, Edel-Mega released "Unspeakable" as the second single, but its poor chart performance ended the promotion of the album prematurely.

Linn left the band in 2002.[49][50][14]

The group remained out of the spotlight throughout 2003 and 2004. During this time, Jenny performed solo live performances in several Christian shows with her husband Jakob Petrén and released an album as a vocalist with the Swedish group Arose.

In 2005, several songs featuring vocals by both Jenny and Linn were recorded with producer Tommy Ekman, including "Would You Believe" and "Make My Day". Jonas and Ulf later explained that the group did not have the energy to finish the project, though the tracks that were recorded eventually surfaced.[51]

At the end of 2005, the group reunited, without Linn, for several live performances at the Night of the Proms in Belgium, alongside other artists such as Donna Summer.[52]

Jonas, Jenny and Ulf during a concert in Saint Petersburg, 2007.

Ace of Base reunited as a trio to perform their first full-length concert since 1996 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on November 15, 2007. They embarked on a world tour called Ace Of Base - Redefined!, which continued throughout 2008 and 2009. The set list included several new versions of their greatest hits.

While touring, in September 2008, the group performed a brand new song called "Sparks From A Fire".[53]

The group teamed up with Jenny's husband Jakob to record material for a new studio album, which would consist of seven new songs and seven remakes of old hits.[54]

However, this album was not released. A new compilation, Greatest Hits, was released on November 12, 2008.[55]

Five re-recorded songs were released from the album in various forms: "Lucky Love 2009", "Don't Turn Around 2009", "The Sign (Freedom Bunch Mix)" and "Wheel of Fortune 2009", which was released worldwide on October 24, 2008, as a digital single.[56][57] A fifth reworking, "Happy Nation 2009", was released separately as a remix kit. A remake of "All That She Wants" was also recorded and featured guest vocals by Britney Spears that stemmed from her own 2007 cover of the song. This remake was never officially released, but leaked online in June 2016.[58]

Three of the new tracks recorded in this period ("Sparks From A Fire", "The Mask" and "Wish You Were Mine") were posted on YouTube in 2017.

Ace of Base performing during a fan meeting in Toronto, Canada (2010).

In August 2009, in an interview with Digital Spy, Ulf mentioned adding another singer to the group alongside Jenny, explaining: "We're just deciding now whether to add a fourth member to the group again or to bring it out under a new name. At the moment we think it would be stronger with two female singers, so it's a little technical problem to solve."[59] During this time, Ulf and Jonas began recording songs with singer Julia Williamson, whom they met through Martin Dodd, who had originally signed the group to Mega Records.[60] Meanwhile, a new remix of "Cruel Summer" by Rico Bernasconi charted at No. 69 in Germany.

Jenny published her autobiography Vinna hela Världen in Sweden in September and announced that she was recording a solo album, which materialized in October 2010 as My Story. In November 2009, Jenny confirmed via Twitter that she would not be involved with the upcoming album,[61] but later clarified that she had not left, saying that "other constellations will have other names".[62]

Two new singers were revealed in February 2010[63] as Clara Hagman, a contestant from Idol 2009, who Ulf met whilst appearing as a guest judge on the show, and Julia Williamson.[60][64][65][66]

In a 2010 interview with Aftonbladet, Jenny claimed "They didn't want to be with me", and that she was not allowed to participate in songwriting.[67] Jonas and Ulf then said in an interview with Scandipop that Jenny wasn't happy with plans to introduce a new member, and while she never formally quit the group, they felt that they had no choice but to proceed without her.[60]

The new quartet maintained the original band name, but it was stylized as "Ace.of.Base" on the artwork of single and album releases.[67] In July 2010, a track called "Mr. Replay" appeared on a Polish promo compilation for DJs, becoming the first release from the new line-up.[68][69] The first official single from the line-up, "All for You", was premiered on radio station Antenne AC on July 22, and was released on CD and download on September 10, debuting at No. 38 in Germany.

The album The Golden Ratio followed on September 24, entering the German album charts at No. 20. In Sweden, the album failed to chart, backed only by a radio release of the album's title track "The Golden Ratio" in October, followed by a performance of "Southern California" on Bingolotto in April 2011. An acoustic version of the album was being considered but never materialized.[70] No further singles were released in support of the album.

In March 2011, Jonas began releasing previously unreleased material to fans via the band's official Facebook page and the website ReverbNation on a semi-regular basis, in events they referred to as "Ace Thursdays".[11] Writing sessions for new material took place throughout the same year,[71][72] though following the group's tour of Canada and Brazil in 2011, new music was put on hold.[73][74]

Ace Thursdays continued throughout 2012, but were discontinued in May 2013. In November 2012, Jenny was quoted as saying, "The rest of the band are doing other things. ... We're just wishing each other luck at this stage. I have a dream that we'll get back together, so I don't want to bang anyone on the head".[75] Jenny began touring as "Jenny from Ace of Base" alongside popular Eurodance acts from the decade.[76]

In January 2014, Julia announced that she had left the group in 2012. She later confirmed that Clara had also left, saying "I never really left the group, one day I just didn't hear anything from them and it's the same with Clara. Like it went up in smoke; really strange".[50] Clara has since released several solo singles, and has collaborated with various EDM producers such as KREAM and R3hab.[77][78]

A remix EP was released in July 2014, featuring new remixes of "All That She Wants".[79][80]

The band filmed a multi-part documentary titled "The Story" at Google Headquarters that was posted on YouTube in March 2015.[19] It was also aired on Swedish television.

In December 2014 and January 2015, remastered versions of their first four studio albums, in both European and American editions, were released digitally. This was followed in March by Hidden Gems, a compilation album consisting entirely of demos and b-sides.[81] "Would You Believe", one of the last tracks recorded by the original quartet in 2005, was released as a promotional single.[82]

In a 2015 interview with ABC News, Ulf said of a future reunion, "With the right elements in the next few years, I don't think it's impossible";[49] however, in July 2016, Jenny remarked: "We won't re-form. [...] We're finished working together but we're not finished being family together. We have a lot of fun plans in the future but no musical plans".[83] In 2018, Jonas said a potential reunion had been discussed, but noted "We always got the same question "where is Malin?". I am still writing music, maybe one song each fortnight or something. It's a lot of fun, like therapy. And maybe if we do a reunion... I have songs for it!"[84]

In 2019, Demon Music Group began releasing new compilations of the band's material in the United Kingdom. The first of these releases was Ace Of Base – Gold, which charted at No. 59 in the UK, marking the group's first return to the UK charts in 20 years.[85][86]

To mark the group's 30th anniversary, a 12-disc box set called All That She Wants: The Classic Collection was released in July 2020. The set includes expanded versions of the group's original four studio albums and Hidden Gems, Hidden Gems, Vol. 2 – a new follow-up to the original Hidden Gems –, a new EP containing previously unreleased remixes of "Edge Of Heaven", and a DVD containing all of the group's music videos. Included among the 195 tracks are previously unreleased demos from the original line-up's final recording sessions in 2008 and live recordings of the group's first gig at Bältespännarparken in 1990. There is also a 4 LP coloured vinyl version of the box set, which only includes the four studio albums.[87]

Hidden Gems, Vol. 2 was released digitally in August 2020.[88][89]

In 2020, Playground Records began releasing standalone digital singles which feature new remixes of the group's tracks. In November 2021, a remix EP was released for the album track "Dancer in a Daydream" which first appeared on Happy Nation in 1992. The EP features remixes by producer Trace Adam and was released alongside a new video with previously unseen footage.[90]

On 28 April 2023, the group released a 26-compact disc singles box set, Beautiful Life: The Singles.[91]