Articles

I'm addicted to coffee - 1993

What vices do popstars have?

Of course, Malin, the blond singer of Ace Of Base, has one too. She's addicted to coffee! "I'm really addicted to it. Everyday I drink a vast number of coffee. It started back in the time of school", the beautiful Swedish said.

And how about smoking?

Not that well. I'd love to quit smoking but I still do smoke some cigarettes. But if I had children, I would forbit smoking in the entire house immediately.

Does this reveal the teacher inside the singer?

"A little, of course. Sometimes I just have to be a little Authoritan - even though we have so many freedoms we allow other people to have." By the way, just as her sister Jenny, Malin speaks German very well!

Taken from: Bravo Magazine

 

Birgitta talks about her daughter - 1994

Little Malin was born on a frosty and clear morning, just as Halloween started. She came quickly and had the umbilical cord wrapped a few times around her neck. The nurse had to cut it before Malin could come out! The first day, she stopped breathing and started to turn slightly blue. I had to push her a few times so that she would wake up and start to breathe again. Babies often do this their first few days. After this, I kept an eye on her 24 hours a day and kept her on her side so she could breathe easily. She was so smooth and nice to hold, and had very "round" baby legs. The other mothers picked her up and said that she was so nice.

She was a harmonious child and loved to sit on people's laps or be carried in their arms. She learned very quickly to laugh and make high-pitched sounds. Big brother Jonas was 3 1/2 and very proud of her. He wanted to give her all his things. She was called "the Doll", "cutie", and "little sweetie". Even though she had such tiny feet that we had to buy doll shoes for her, she was walking without problems when she was 11 months old. Just like her brother, she also started to jump, laugh and sing when she heard music. Very few things broke, even though she ran around at high speeds!

Linn became a big sister when she was 18 months old. At that time she was already a little girl who could swing and dig at the playground for hours, and say small phrases. She would say "I sit you," to people and then climb up on their knee. Later, she told fantastic stories. It was easy to bring Jonas and Linn with me to parties and other places, because they were very interested in things. If they were sleepy, they slept on a blanket on the floor or on a couch like two kittens.Linn loved to feed Jenny, and wouldn't let her cry. If it happened, she always made her stop. Linn sang songs for Jenny to make her stop, but they didn't always sound right : Bä ,bä vita a,ja ja käja ja ...... (Bah Bah black sheep, do you have any wool)

Right after her second birthday the singing got better, and she could sing half of the song from Pippi. Grandma taught her many old songs, that had been in the family for generations.

She became a happy, funny, independent child full of energy who loved to play with other kids and went to Sunday School. Her beloved Daddy took all 3 of them to Sunday School every Sunday morning for many years.

She played with a girl named Marie. her big brother was Jonas' friend. They lived close to each other, and had a great time together. They [Malin, Jenny and Jonas] grew up like fairytale children near a forest. They had names for the trees, the rocks, and the caves. They used their imaginations. I made a book about each of them, and I wrote them like fairytales.

When she was 4 1/2 years old she could swim 15 meters and read words like "coffee-cream" and "co-operative society" She learned to read from food boxes and stuff. Grandpa asked if she knew all the letters, and she answered: "Not little q!" At this age she played whole songs on the piano. Her grand-ma, who is a music teacher in organ and violin, later helped her so she could play perfectly. She played flute in school for many years. She tried to play violin, but played it in her own way. She also sang in school, and made a fine Mary in the Christmas play.

Linn and another girl, Anna-Karin were the only girls in their class. The rest was comprised of 22 boys. They were asked if they wanted to move to another class, with more girls, but they liked being with the nice boys, so they stayed. Linn has always been interested in other people, and she worked a year with taking care of people after she left high school. She is one of the kids that had the most foreign friends during her childhood. This might have something to do with her language interest.Besides German, English, Spanish and Latin in high school, she also learned a little Russian in college before she started teacher education. She finished 3 and a 1/2 years before the AOB thing started, and she had to apply for a study break. She is a big artist like many in the family. (e.g. her dad and grandpa) She might start to paint or make beautiful things with her hands in the future, when Ace of Base slows down a bit.

Taken from: Ace of Base Paradise - Translated by: Rune Henriksen

 

I don't want to be in this bussiness for too long - 1995

There's a lot more to Ace Of Base than their Swedish good looks, polished, reggae-influenced dance sound and multi-million selling debut The Sign. That's the impression you get after a half-hour with chatty, fair-haired singer Linn Berggren on the phone from the industrial Swedish town of Gothenburg. Linn seems to have much more in common with gloomy Swedish director Ingmar Bergman than '70s pop predecessors ABBA - to whom Ace Of Base is so often compared - as she obsesses on the slave-like record industry, disappointing meetings with drug-taking music idols and drugs in general.

"I don't have a certain quest or goal with just Ace Of Base," said Linn. "I feel like I could sing in a bathtub because it's a physical thing. You do it to feel well. And I like meeting journalists. But performing, going on a real tour, a huge one and being out for months, I don't think we'll ever do that because it takes a lot of energy and maybe drugs." So touring any time soon isn't a likely possibility despite the band's followup record The Bridge, which has already spawned a Top 20 Billboard single Beautiful Life. Not if Linn, who is joined by siblings Jenny and Jonas "Joker" and family friend Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg in the band, has any say. "This business, I don't want to be in it for too long...

I've seen a lot of suffering people. Pop stars often suffer, because they are under hard contracts, deals with the record companies, and they can put them under any pressure at all; they don't look upon them as human beings." Instead, Linn sees herself "making music" at home and producing other Swedish bands, like for instance fledgling local punkers Fireside. "The singer is very, very good with lousy lyrics," she says cheerfully. Linn is a big fan of punk, particularly The Clash, and classical music, and hopes Ace Of Base's next album will have a rougher, messier sound. "I'd like to be much more instrumental the next time.

If I get another chance to make my own music again, I would do it in a much more experimental way," she says. "Our special sound, me and Jenny, we sing with quite tiny Scandinavian voices. I mean, we are not big, black American singers who can sing anything." Ace Of Base became a phenomenon when The Sign exploded in Europe in 1992 and was released in North America two years later. It ended up selling 20 million worldwide and made the group the best-selling debut artists EVER. The band also successfully weathered a media storm about Buddha's past as a drug and alcohol-abusing teenager, when he was a member of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang.

"We have this Christian way of living to understand people and say `Okay, you've got a problem here, let's take care of it.' Instead of turning your back on somebody," says Linn. She's also not bothered by the endless comparisons to ABBA, but feels Ace Of Base have a long way to go before reaching similar heights. "They were pioneers and we're not. They are the pop group. They are THE group. I think in a 100 years people are going to remember ABBA. We're really not up to that level."


Taken from: Jam ShowBiz - Written by: Jane Stevenson

 

I want to try what Jenny has done - 1997 (Listen to this article in MP3 format: )

As many people have noticed, not only fans, Linn has given up her duties of being the front vocalist and handed it over to her sister Jenny. Linn has had recurrent troubles with her voice (MTV said it was a cyst) since the second album and said that she couldn't withstand another tour or many performances. Due to this major change, Ace Of Base have chosen to concentrate all visual attention on Jenny.

Jenny: "I never realized if I pushed Linn with saying ‘hey let's do that’ and she said ‘no I’ve got the main responsibility for singing, so I can’t do it’ and through the pressure that she... I mean, if she doesn’t do it good the whole group looks like nothing to have."

Ulf: "She didn't even get any time to breathe during the first album and she had a lot of responsibility because she was singing most of the songs and the spotlight was most on her."

Jonas: "Linn doesn't want to be in the spotlight as much now, she wants Jenny to be that more and I think that's a good move both as a person and for the performance."

Linn: "I'm not quitting. That's the point. I want to sing. And Jenny wants to try what I have done and I want to try what she has done."

Ulf: "I saw a Jenny I've never seen before when she took the step to the front. She was incredibly strong. She did it so well and I was so impressed."


Taken from: Our Story Documental - Filmed on: Summer 1997

 

Top of The Pops Questionnaire - 1998 (thanx to Ben from www.aceofbase.co.uk)

 

 

All of Ace of Base are coming back, and Malin is back in the spotlight - 2005

Göteborg. Malin Berggren is making a comeback in Ace of Base.

After seven years in the shadows, the star is stepping out into the spotlight again. She will now sing on the band's new album. "It feels incredibly good", sister Jenny Berggren says.

Ace of Base broke through overnight when they released the debut album "Happy Nation/The Sign" from 1993. Hits such as "All That She Wants" and "The Sign" have taken the group around the world a considerable amount of times and have helped keep the cash registers ringing.

Collapsed on tour
But fame has a backside. Ulf Ekberg was forced to confront the sins of his youth, Jenny Berggren's life was threatened by a german woman who broke into her home, and brother Jonas Berggren's hit machine began to simmer down.
In addition, the quartet became a trio. The pressure, attention, and a fear of flying resulted in a collapse by Malin Berggren and a broken Asian tour. Since then she has had a hidden roll and has been branded Ace of Base's answer to ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog.

But now she is coming back Ace of Base is now working on a new album where Malin Berggren is taking part and singing for the first time in many years.

Back to their sound
"It is so much fun! It feels so great not to have to be the solitary front figure", Jenny Berggren says. The band has recorded five songs up to this point and in February will continue recording after the Christmas break.

And the fans will be able to recognize the band:

"Oh yes. We are really going back to the sound from the first album. It feels very nice, says Jenny Berggren".

According to Ace of Base's homepage the goal is that the album will be in stores in the summer. Furthermore, the band wants to go out and tour again.


Taken from: Aftonbladet - Written on: January 30, 2005