Ace of Base

Profile and Story. Their labels are Universal Music/Playground Music (2008 present), Arista Records/BMG (Americas/Japan, 1993-2000), Barclay Records (France 1993-95), Metronome Records (Europe, 1993-98), Polydor Records (Europe, 1998-2002) and Mega Records (Scandinavia, 1992-2002). Pop, Ska pop, Dance, Eurodance and Europop are their genres. The story was written on Wikipedia, Ace of Base is Swedish singer (Band Group Musician). They were active 1987 - present (Gothenburg, Sweden). In 1987, following a number of years as part of a new romantic and punk covers band called G Konrad, Jonas Berggren formed a band with two friends, Johnny Lindén and Niklas Tränk for a school project; his sisters Linn and Jenny joined as singers. The new band went through several names: Kalinin Prospect (after an avenue in Moscow); CAD (Computer-Aided Disco); and Tech-Noir (French for black technology, after a nightclub in the film The Terminator). They toured the clubs of Sweden with their new self-written material, techno inspired by the likes of The KLF and Snap!. Johnny left the group in 1989. Niklas made his departure known by failing to appear at a gig at Bältesspännarparken on 6 August 1990; he preferred to attend a Rolling Stones concert on the other side of town. Jonas asked his friend Ulf Ekberg to stand in for Niklas. The new quartet sought a new name to make a fresh start; Linn was reported saying: "No one could pronounce the name of the group and nobody could remember it". They settled on Ace of Base, because they were the "masters of their studio", the basement of a car-repair shop. However the band continued to struggle to gain any recognition, partly due to the preference of heavy metal over techno in their home town, according to singer Jenny. In 1991 they responded to a newspaper ad by producer John Ballard who was looking for new talent. He was somewhat unsure about their potential, but did pass them on to Klas Lunding at Telegram Records who helped them record an early demo for the song "Wheel of Fortune" in their newly renovated studio. But it did not convince Telegram to sign the band, and other labels in Sweden still showed no sign of interest. In the end, the unfinished demo was sold for a small price to the independent Danish label Mega Records in March 1992. "Wheel of Fortune" was re-recorded and released as a single in Denmark in May but failed to hit the charts. A small-budget music video was shot and directed in a small studio by Viking Nielsson and in September, after two failures, the single finally reached the charts. It was another song that was to help Ace of Base's career take off internationally. After hearing Swedish top 20 hit "Another Mother" by Kayo, the band decided that was exactly the sound they wanted to create. They contacted the song's producer Denniz PoP and sent him a demo of a song called "Mr Ace". Coincidentally, the tape got stuck in the cassette tape player in his car, so he was forced to listen to it over and over again, which helped him decide to produce the track. The song became "All That She Wants", a dark fusion of dub-reggae with pop which became the band's trademark sound. On release in October 1992, it quickly climbed to #1 on the Danish chart while the previous single was still sitting at #2. Keen to rush out an LP for the Christmas market, Mega Records pressed the band for an album and it was hastily recorded, mixed, and released within a few weeks. Preceded by a single of the same name, the album, titled Happy Nation was an instant hit in Denmark, and its success prompted interest elsewhere in Europe. A Pan-European license 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 number 3 in Sweden and had spent eight weeks at number 1 in Germany. In April 1993 the band performed alongside Inner Circle and Dr. Alban in Tel Aviv, Israel at what would be their biggest audience ever, 55,000 people. In May, "All That She Wants" continued to be a hit all around the world and topped the chart for three weeks in the United Kingdom. However, despite Mega Records' hard efforts to secure a distribution deal in the United States the response was always the same: "this band will never work in the States". Eventually, however, Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, thought otherwise, and by the end of 1993 "All That She Wants" had made its way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In order to freshen up the album for US release, Davis insisted that some new tracks were recorded, including "The Sign" which became the new title for the album and the second American single. It was even more successful than the first, spending six weeks at #1 and becoming the best-selling single of 1994. It was also a major hit in Europe, peaking at #2 in the UK and Sweden and doing one better in Germany. PolyGram re-released the album under the name Happy Nation (US Version). Two more singles were released: "Don't Turn Around" and "Living in Danger", by Diane Warren. The former was originally recorded by Tina Turner on the b-side of a single she released which went on to become a UK #1 hit for the reggae band Aswad. Davis suggested that the band record the song and it was yet another worldwide hit. By the end of 1994, they were an international commercial success. The Ace of Base version of "Don't Turn Around" is distinguished from other versions by its use of a minor key.... reference and read more detail Ace of Base on Wikipedia

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