ULF EKBERG - ACE OF BASE - All That She Wants, Stardom, a Crazed Fan, and a dark secret past!

Ulf Ekberg tells the extraordinary story of Ace of Base—from repeated rejection and sleeping in their studio to becoming one of Sweden’s most successful international pop groups.

Ulf discusses growing up surrounded by jazz and early computers, discovering ABBA and Kraftwerk, meeting Jonas Berggren and developing the mixture of pop, house, reggae and electronic music that would define Ace of Base.

He also speaks candidly about becoming involved with extremists as a teenager, why he considers it a terrible mistake and how a difficult relationship with his father left him searching for acceptance in the wrong places.

Ulf remembers working dangerous jobs to finance the band’s equipment, sending more than 100 demo tapes, being told never to contact one record company again and finally finding producer Denniz Pop—whose gift for simplification helped create the classic Ace of Base sound. In the second half of the interview, Ulf discusses the group’s phenomenal American success, Clive Davis’s crucial intervention, the pressures of fame and the horrifying attack on Jenny Berggren that changed the lives of everyone in the band.

This is the story of ambition, rejection, regret, worldwide fame and the consequences of becoming one of the biggest pop groups of the 1990s.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Preview
00:51 The interview begins
01:55 Childhood, jazz and early computers
04:15 Discovering ABBA and Kraftwerk
07:02 His parents’ expectations
08:18 His extremist teenage past and regret
09:38 Searching for acceptance in the wrong places
11:29 Learning computer programming
12:47 Meeting Jonas and Jenny Berggren
13:16 From Tech Noir to Ace of Base
15:58 Sweden’s support for aspiring musicians
17:02 Cleaning oil tanks to finance the studio
17:58 Working as a chef on a ferry
18:15 Living and working in the studio
20:06 How Jenny and Linn joined the group
22:10 Creativity as the centre of Ulf’s life
22:53 The long journey through rejection
23:43 Hitchhiking to Stockholm with their demos
24:34 Being told never to send another demo
27:03 Discovering producer Denniz Pop
27:36 Signing with Mega Records
29:27 Wheel of Fortune becomes a hit
30:34 The demo trapped in Denniz Pop’s car
31:13 Surviving repeated rejection
33:35 The confidence that kept them going
35:51 How Denniz Pop transformed their sound
37:32 Testing tracks in nightclubs
38:32 MTV and the journey into America
41:03 The extraordinary scale of American fame
41:27 Believe the hype and you are in trouble
41:57 Clive Davis demands two more hits
42:45 The pressures created by worldwide success
43:48 Hostility from the Swedish media
46:12 The attack on Jenny Berggren
48:28 How the attack changed their lives
49:00 Hearing the news and the media leak
50:13 Continuing after the attack
51:08 Was this the beginning of the end?
52:32 Linn Berggren’s growing distance from the band
53:54 Ace of Base’s influence on modern pop
55:40 Ulf’s move into technology
57:18 Supporting entrepreneurs through investment
57:45 His relationship with the other members today
59:19 Closing thoughts

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