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SCMP Reporter

It was once said, not altogether light-heartedly, that the pop group Abba was Sweden's biggest export after Volvo. But the phenomenon of the Super Swedes did not end with Abba's break-up.

   First Roxette, who performed in Hong Kong last year, inherited Abba's title and now Ace of Base, from Gothenburg, is enjoying even greater fame.

   The group sold 19 million copies of its debut album, Happy Nation (The Sign), which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling debut album in music history.

   It reached the top five in 30 countries while the hit, All That She Wants, was Europe's best-selling single in 10 years, topping the charts in 10 countries. Last year's long-awaited album, The Bridge, was another chart topper.

   Ace of Base has even surpassed Abba by topping the US album charts - an achievement which evaded the European Song Contest winners.

   The band began in 1987 when sisters Malin and Jenny Berggren, who sang in a church choir together, formed Technoir. In 1992, they were joined by their brother, Jonas, and his friend, Ulf Ekberg.

   Computer wizards Jonas and Ulf came up with the name Ace of Base because, according to Jenny, 'we're the aces and we see the studio as a base to work in, like a military base'.

  Another reason, said Malin, was because 'no one could pronounce the name Technoir and no one could remember it'.

  The Berggren siblings come from a musical family with childhood influences ranging from jazz to classical and reggae.

   But their biggest inspiration came from the hip hop and sampling boom of the 1980s, which they have incorporated into their Euro-pop sound.

  They won their first recording contract not in Sweden but in neighbouring Denmark, where Wheel of Fortune reached No. 3 in the charts.

   The Ace of Bass phenomenon took off, however, with its second Danish single, All That She Wants, which became an international hit.



Ace of Base lifts Euro-pop mantle