Music

SWEDISH PRIDE
SWEDISH MUSIC

Sweden is a rather small country, but in spite of that we have produced many good musicians.
Some of them have manage to do very well abroad. Here is some of them.

Roxette

Roxette started in 1986, rightly assuming that the combination of Per Gessle’s songs and Marie Fredriksson’s voice would take them further than they could go one their one. They started to sing together on their first single "Neverending Love" (which was a hit in Sweden) and the history of the worlds most famous pop group was about to begin.
Their breakthrough album was "Look Sharp!" which they started to record in the summer of 1988. This was Roxette’s second album and it had an incredible success in Sweden, but nobody knows it abroad.
Everything changed when an American exchange student took "Look Sharp!" to a local radio station in Minneapolis. DJs loved the single "The Look" and soon copies of the song spread from a radio station to another, and suddenly everybody knew the song. When the official single was released it went straight up to no.1. "Look Sharp!" has sold 8 million copies worldwide. You can say that this was the big start for Roxette and their first European tour began on November 11^th 1989. It was the premiere of Roxette abroad. One of their most probably "It Must Have Been Love". Per Gessle wrote the song as early as 1987, and they thought that it could be the lead single and also the name of a new Roxette album. But than Touchstone Pictures from Hollywood contacted EMI and the song got into a movie called "Pretty Woman". "It Must Have Been Love" was no.1 in the US. Worldwide the soundtrack album sold over 9 million units. In nine years they have sold over 36 million albums and 15 million singles.

The Cardigans

A strange thing happened in October 1992 in Jonkoping, Sweden.
Two heavy metal guys decided to switch from the bad to the good guys and their new mission in life became to be "as good as the Beatles".
The band "The Cardigans" were formed and it now contains the singer Nina Persson (21), on lead vocals and finger snapping, Peter Svensson (22, and one of the bad guys) on guitar, Magnus Sveningsson (23, the other bad guy) who plays the bass and frequents the internet, Bengt Lagerberg on (22) the drums and Lars-Olof Johansson (22) who plays the guitar and the keyboards. On the previous albums, it’s been Peter who’s composed the music and Magnus the lyrics, but on "The First Band On The Moon" Nina has written half of the lyrics. Last summer they all decided to move to a more central location and chose Malmo in southern Sweden. The Cardigans signed with Stockholm Records in the spring of 1994. The first album "Emmerdale" was released in May same year. I’m sure most of you have heard their no.1 smash "Lovefool". It’s also on the soundtrack for Romeo and Juliet. The song topped the charts and was the no.1 most played song for over 8 weeks on the Mainstream Monitor chart. Their second album "Life" bloomed into an international success with worldwide sales exceeding 1,5 million. They’ve lately gained popularity among all age groups in the United States with their song "Lovefool".

Ace of Base

.,mm,..l Ace of Base started out under another name "Tach Noir"and were mainly a Techno-oriented group, then luckily they changed their style altogether and became Ace of Base. Within a very short time they became famous with sales of their first album "Happy Nation". It sold 23 million units across the globe.
Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg met eachother around Goteborg and decided to work together on a musical project. The two of them started dabbling eith synths, rhythm, boxes and samplers. Soon they wanted vocals for their frenetic grooves and started looking for singers. They didn’t find what they wanted so they made Jonas’ two sisters members of the band. At first they continued writing and recording Techno tracks, but soon began experimenting with Reggae grooves. Early on, the top Swedish producer Denniz Pop became interested in Ace of Base. He produced their first international hit "All That She Wants". They were the best-ranked Swedes in the USA and the only Scandinavian artists to enjoy a no.1 album on the Billboard sales chart.
At persent, 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.

Stina Nordenstam

Born in Stockholm 1969. Her father dabbled in jazz, mostly trad. and swing and introduced her to piano and violin. At the age of fifteen, encourage by teachers inpressed by her talent and persistence, she was singing a terrifying range of contempory classical pieces. Still in her teens, she formed her own jazz band "The Flippermen".
1991 came her first album "Memories of a colour". And after that she has released another two album "And she closed her eyes" and "Dynamite"
Her music is harmonic and peaceful, she experiments with allot of sounds but she never loses the soft sound. Her second album "And she closed her eyes" is perfect to fall asleep to, but if you like more electric guitars, "Dynamite", the latest album, is better for you.
You can also find one of her songs "Little star" on the soundtrack to the movie "Romeo and Juliet".