Malin Sofia Katarina Berggren (now known as Sofia Malin Wennerberg) was born on October 31, 1970 in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is the former member and lead singer of Ace of Base. Having been interested and involved in music since her childhood, she formed the band in 1990, along with her sister Jenny, her brother Jonas, and their friend Ulf Ekberg. Before becoming a singer, Malin studied to become a teacher at the Chalmers University of Technology in her native Gothenburg, and sang in her church's choir.
When Ace of Base was signed to Danish label Mega Records in 1990, Malin, or Linn as she became known, chose to put her teaching career on hold. But while her sister Jenny has stated she would like to be a singer forever, Linn has never said anything similar. On the contrary, in 1997 Linn said: "I wanted to sing; I never wanted to be a singer".
During Ace of Base's first two albums Happy Nation/The Sign and The Bridge, Linn was the lead singer in all tracks released. The spotlight was on her all the time and suddenly in 1996, during their Asian tour, Malin went back home and Jenny had to replace her vocals during live performances. The stress of almost 4 years of non stop studio sessions, concerts, interviews and even private aggressions made Linn collapse, leading her to a more studio-only role, while Jenny taking the lead of the band.
Since 1997 Linn has appeared at her band's concerts only to perform in the dark or from behind objects such as curtains or pillars. In the band's music videos, her image is often blurred or missing altogether. Linn frequently appears unhappy, upset, or even ill in pictures taken of her. Linn has not granted an interview since that year. The other band members, too, have been somewhat reluctant to explain what has happened to Ace of Base's former lead singer. Linn frequently avoids cameras.
The band's management and record companies have explained Linn's odd behaviour variously over the years. In 1997, when Linn did not perform at the World Music Awards, Claes Cornelius at Mega Records said it was because she did not wish to wear the heavy make-up the performance would have required. The band performed "Ravine" with Linn pretending to play keyboards in the far background of the stage. In 1998 when Linn walked off the set of the "Cruel Summer" video in Rome, her manager said it was because she did not wish to appear in the foreground of the video. Director Nigel Dick later revealed she would not have appeared at all, were it not for his insistence. Jenny ended up singing both her own and Linn's parts in the video. Bravo magazine claimed later that year that Linn was seriously ill, a claim which appeared to be true, based on Linn's odd, shaking appearance on Germany's television spot The Dome, and photos appearing in Bravo. Ulf Ekberg once claimed Linn had a "camera phobia", but other sources have cited her long-time fear of flying as the reason she doesn't appear at the band's concerts. Yet Linn also did not appear at events in Gothenburg and Copenhagen, where she would not have had to fly.
In Linn's last interview, from 1997, she stated her wish to simply remain in the background, and the eight videos filmed after this interview (mostly) comply to her wishes. Other promotional materials, such as album covers and inserts, also feature blurred, unsmiling, distinctly unhappy photographs of her. The Flowers album uses the infamous 'blue lines' photograph, where Linn's unhappy image is bizarrely hidden behind the booklet's blue line design.
In stark contrast to the other members of the band, other details of Linn's life, such as any detail of her life outside the band, are completely unknown. Whereas the other band members have been open about their relationships (Jonas and Jenny are both married, each with two small children, and Ulf has two boys with his long-time girlfriend).
Linn has written a number of songs, some of which have been released as Ace of Base songs, and some of which have never been released to the public. During the mid-1990s, Linn wrote and produced several songs, among them "Just 'N' Image", "Whispers in Blindness", and "Strange Ways" for the band's The Bridge album. Some fans believe Linn's odd behavior is explained in the lyrics of "Strange Ways". There's also a song she wrote for the third album called "Lapponia" that talks about the style of life of Lapland's Samis, but record companies rejected it due to it's political message. This hurted Malin after giving a long speech and presenting the song in cassette format. The demo version surfaced to the internet 8 years later, here you can watch a fan-made video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LREgB8t5QoI
In Spring of 2005, interviews with Linn's sister Jenny seemed to indicate Linn's desire to return to the spotlight again, but Linn still remained hidden from the public and has not granted an interview with any news agency or media organization since the release of the "Our Story" documentary in 1998. The public has not caught a glimpse of her in several years. The last appearance was during the promotion of the "Da Capo" album in 2002, where she oddly showed up to a German television performance, and pretended to play synthesizer in the background. A fan snapped a picture of a calm, smiling Linn outside the studio.
In October and November of 2005, the band made appearances at a series of fifteen concerts at the Night of the Proms in Belgium; as usual, Linn was unable to attend, and only Jonas, Ulf, and Jenny made appearances at these concerts. During the same year she participated in the recording of backing vocals for Arose's first album, a swedish band where sister Jenny also sang some leads.
Also during that year, Malin apparently had a relationship with Isreali bussinessman and hair stylist Guy V. which could be the reason why she didn't attend Night of the Proms. Isreali media even reported about Malin's desire to move to that country, where she secretly visited Tel Aviv 5 times.
Two years have passed, and in November 2007 Ace of Base returned to the music scene announcing a series of concerts and a world tour to promote their upcoming album. According to an interview given by Ulf Ekberg on June 20, 2006, Malin returned to the University and would record vocals on the new band's album. However, on November 30, 2007, a fan discovered a radio interview from Estonia where Ulf stated that Malin Berggren had left the band and she would not be featured on the band's new album. Since then, Linn's image has been removed from all promotional material on the band's official web-site. Her band-mate and sister Jenny confirmed Linn's departure in the Danish press: "She hasn't been part of Ace of Base for several years," she stated in Se & Hør magazine. In the aceofbase.com's official spartner site Ace of Base Returns, it's said that the band will be coming with a statement about Linn soon. Many fans ask themselves why has this info been so slow and not cleared up from the beginning, complaining on the now infamous reason "fear of flying", to name one of the many.
To be continued...
© 2005, 2008 SmiLinn!