The story of Ace of Base — how the cult pop group of the 90s appeared and why it broke up

It just so happens that the Swedish land is extremely rich in musical talents. Popular performers from Sweden thundered all over the world in the 70s, 80s and, of course, 90s. ABBA, Roxette, Europe, Dr. Alban — who doesn't know the music of these teams? Ace of Base group occupies a worthy place in this list, whose music in the 90s was heard from every window.

The band, which was destined to become a cult, was created at the very beginning of the 90s by two guys from Gothenburg, Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg. The guys were inspired by the success of their fellow countrymen from ABBA and the desire to go down in music history. Aspiring musicians had everything they needed to succeed. Jonas was given an electric guitar by his parents, and Ulf was a happy owner of a computer. Of course, this was accompanied by a passionate desire to create and, of course, talent.

At first, the Swedes played techno, calling their team Kalinin Prospect. Despite all the efforts, success did not rush to them, and concerts gathered mostly friends and acquaintances. They later changed their name to Tech Noir, but that didn't help. Then it was decided to change the style and it finally worked.

The music became softer and more melodic, and the new name Ace of Base sounded much more attractive. But two guys with guitars is not what the audience wanted to see. After a little thought, Berggren and Ekberg decided to dilute the team with girls and invited the sisters of Jonas. Lynn and Jenny, who had experience performing in a church choir, raised their vocals to a new level and now the Ace of Base quartet has begun its march to success.

In the new line-up, the band successfully performed not only in their native Gothenburg, but also in other cities of the country. The guys chose Mega Records studio to record their first album. The first song recorded on professional equipment was Wheel of Fortune. It was one of the first compositions by Berggren and Ekberg and it was always received coolly. But performed in a new line-up and recorded in the studio, the song suddenly "shot". She hit the leaders of the Norwegian chart and the 2nd place in the charts of Denmark and the Netherlands.

After her were All That She Wants and the famous Happy Nation, which secured the group the status of rising stars. The Swedish Quartet was best received at home, in Russia and Asian countries. The American market was indifferent to the ambitious young group. Therefore, it was the USA that the musicians began to storm especially actively.

It was decided to take the overseas audience as an exclusive. Especially for the USA, Ace of Base has released a special edition of the debut record called The Sign. The album received not only a new cover, but also 4 additional tracks. This attempt to melt the hearts of Americans was successful, and the triumph of the team became worldwide.

The group from Gothenburg came to the desired fame in just a couple of years. They had everything you could only dream of. Millions of album sales, dizzying royalties, full stadiums and the most prestigious music awards. The American edition of Billboard recognized Ace of Base as the most popular non-American band in the world.

The Sign album was included in the Guinness Book of Records, thanks to a fantastic circulation of 23 million copies! But in Sweden it was considered a failure and even included in the top worst albums of the year. But the musicians were not upset at all — they stopped betting on their compatriots a long time ago.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly and there was only prosperity ahead. But the outwardly prosperous star team cracked. At first, Lynn Berggren began to move away from the group. She soloed less and less and more often Sister Jenny sang instead of her. Even on the Flowers album cover, Lynn is in the background. Later, the girl refused to go on another world tour at all, creating serious problems for the group.

The team was forced to justify themselves to the public, assuring that everything was fine. The reasons for the absence of the main soloist were called either a disease of the vocal cords, or a fear of air travel. All this looked very unconvincing and further increased the number of rumors and fans' discontent.

And then suddenly it turned out that without Lynn, luck left the group. For the first time in several years, Da Capo's new album was received with absolutely no enthusiasm. A series of failures led to a split within the group, about which almost nothing is known. We only know the result — Ace of Base went on the next European tour... as a duet.

Only Jenny and Ulf went to perform. Jonas stayed in Sweden, citing fatigue. Lynn joined the band only once, in Germany. But this was, alas, her last appearance as part of Ace of Base. After the end of the tour, she officially announced that she was leaving.

The band almost broke up and was not heard from for two years. Then Ace of Base started performing again, however, as a trio. But soon Jenny left the team. She started a solo career and even took part in the selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. However, the attempt was unsuccessful and Berggren did not even make it to the finals.

Despite a series of failures, Jonas and Ulf were not going to give up. They found new soloists Julia Williamson and Clara Hagman, with whom they began performing in 2009. Having updated the line-up, the group also corrected the name. From now on it was called Ace of Base. In 2010, a new album, The Golden Ratio, was recorded, which, unfortunately, few people noticed.

The band tried to flirt with their audience by releasing new tracks in the good old style of the 90s. But their time has finally gone. In 2014, Williamson and Hagman left the team and Ace of Base remained in its first, male line-up. Until 2016, Jonas and Ulf made desperate attempts to climb the charts, but without success. Their time was gone and the project was closed.

So ended the story of the legendary Swedish band, which left behind a lot of first-class hits. Ace of Base songs are still being listened to, and some of their stuff formed the basis of good dance covers.