The Sign Ace Of Base
. Metronome. Website Past members. Julia Williamson Ace of Base was a Swedish pop group, originally consisting of and three siblings:, and. The group released four studio albums between 1992 and 2002, which sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it the third-most successful Swedish band of all time, after and.
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(reissued as ) is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, and was certified nine times platinum in the United States. It was the first debut album to produce three No. 1 singles on the chart: ', ' and '. Following the formal departure of singer Linn in 2007, the band performed a series of concerts as a trio in Europe and Asia between 2007 and 2009. Jenny Berggren said in November 2009 that she would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the band to focus on a solo career. In 2009, Jonas and Ulf recruited two new female vocalists, and Julia Williamson, and released in September 2010. Clara and Julia departed from the group in 2012, and in March 2015, the compilation album featuring unreleased songs and B-sides from the group's inception through 2005 was released, with promotion for the album being handled solely by Jonas and Ulf.
Ace of Base was influenced by 'Another Mother' to write and compose 'All That She Wants'. While 'Wheel of Fortune' was a modest success, a different song led Ace of Base to take off. After hearing 's 'Another Mother', a top 20 hit in Sweden, the band decided that it was exactly the sound they wanted to create. They contacted the song's producer, and sent him a demo of a song they called 'Mr Ace'. The tape got stuck in the cassette tape player in his car, so he listened to it over and over again, which helped him decide to produce the song. The song became ', and upon its release in October 1992, it quickly climbed to No. 1 on the Danish chart while the previous single was still sitting at No.
Keen rushed out an for the Christmas market, pressed the band for an album and it was hastily recorded, mixed and released within a few weeks. The album, was an instant hit in, and its success prompted interest elsewhere in Europe. A Pan-European license was signed with (now ), but they were turned down by the American division. Within a few months, 'All That She Wants' had reached No. 3 in and had spent eight weeks at No.
1 in Germany. In various European countries, ' and ' were released as further singles following the release of the album. 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. In November 1993 it repeated the feat in Australia, where it also peaked at No. 1 for three weeks. However, despite 's 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, founder of, thought otherwise, and by the end of 1993 'All That She Wants' had made its way to No. 2 on the in the United States. In order to freshen up the album for American release, Davis insisted that some new tracks be recorded, including ', which became the new title track for the album and the second American single. It was even more successful than the first, spending six weeks at No. 1 and becoming the best-selling single of 1994. It was also a major hit in Europe, peaking at No.
2 in the UK and Sweden and at No. 1 in Germany; in Australia, 'The Sign' spent the entire month of May in the No. 1 position, becoming the country's fifth highest-selling single of 1994. Due to fears of imports from the United States, the original European album was re-released with new tracks under the name. This was the first version of the album to chart in Australia, in April 1994. Collectively, the different versions of the album reached the No.
1 position in at least 14 countries, and sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Two more singles were released: ' and '. The former was originally recorded by, as the of her single '. Davis suggested that the band record the song and it was yet another worldwide hit. The latter was a moderate chart hit in most countries where it was released, and was performed at the first ever MTV Europe Music Awards held in Germany. By the end of 1994, they were an international commercial success.
The Bridge (1995–96). Main article: Even though the band members were exhausted from two long years of international promotion, they could hardly believe how successful they had become. In April 1994, an obsessed German fan broke into the Berggren family home, brandishing a knife. After managing to restrain her, the band decided they needed. However, they were unable to take time to reflect before starting work on a second album because their record companies all over the world were demanding a swift follow-up.
To speed up the process, instead of Jonas and Ulf writing the bulk of the album, each member was encouraged to submit their own tracks for consideration. In the end, 17 tracks made the cut of the second album, titled.
It marked a considerable change of direction in sound; out were the reggae and club sounds that made the group so popular in favor of a more experimental sound and several ballads. The lead single, ', however, was a mainstream pop record, and upon its release in October 1995, it became the band's first No. 1 single in Sweden. This came as a pleasant surprise to the members, as they had found that their fellow Swedes had been their harshest critics. It charted at a more modest No. 13 in Germany, No. 20 in the United Kingdom and No.
30 in Australia. Arista Records instead opted for the pulsating dance beat of ' for the first single in the US, where it peaked at No. 'Beautiful Life' was released as the second single from the album in most countries, reaching No. 15 in the UK and No.
11 in Australia, while 'Lucky Love' was remixed in a new acoustic form along with a new video for the second US single from the album, peaking at No. The Bridge was certified platinum in 14 countries, but the phenomenal success of the band's first album proved difficult to follow.
' was released as the third single from the album and achieved moderate success in Europe, but it failed to chart on the Hot 100 in the US. In February 1996, the band performed at the Festival de la Cancion in, topping the bill alongside. Flowers / Cruel Summer (1997–99). Linn's image was blurred on the cover art of and. After this, Ace of Base disappeared from the limelight for a while, emerging only in April 1997 for a performance at the World Music Awards and in July 1997 to perform at a concert to celebrate the 20th birthday of of Sweden.
They were given as much time as they wanted to produce their third album, much of it being recorded in Jonas's own studio, 'The Barn'. When it was finally released in June 1998, the band declared it their best album yet. It was titled because they believed that the songs, wildly different in style including and influences, resembled a varied bouquet of flowers. Fans were surprised to see that singer Linn had relinquished lead vocal duties to sister Jenny, and on many promotional photos, Linn's face was blurred. They were reassured that Linn was happy with her new backing role in the group, and many reasons were given for her decision, including her having damaged her voice, fear of flying putting her off from traveling around the world and her dislike of fame. Linn has relinquished the role of front vocalist and delegated her singing duties to sister Jenny. Linn has had recurrent problems with her voice since album II, The Bridge, and would not be able to withstand the rigors of touring.
As it represents a significant change, the band has decided to concentrate all visual attention on Jenny for the time being. —Ace of Base website, 1998 The radio-friendly single ' was certified the most-played track on European radio for 1998 and sold more than 250,000 copies in the UK, peaking at No.
5; the colorful video of the same name was produced and directed by Andreas Neumann. British label had requested the band record the 1983 hit ', by and it was selected as the second European single.
Deciding that 'Life Is a Flower' was 'too European in nature', Clive Davis pushed 'Cruel Summer' as the lead-off single for the United States, and it brought Ace of Base back into the US Top Ten for the first time in four years, being certified gold. The album was also renamed and featured a different track list compared to the European release.
For this version of the album, Davis persuaded a reluctant Linn to record the Billy Steinberg-penned ballad '. 'Life Is a Flower' was re-recorded as ' and four other songs originally on Flowers were remixed and edited for the US release.
'Whenever You're Near Me' was released as the second single from Cruel Summer, peaking at No. ' and ' were further singles in Europe while 'Everytime It Rains' was issued as a single in the UK along with a repackaged edition of Flowers released only in the UK. Singles of the 90s and Greatest Hits (1999–2000) , a compilation of sixteen hit singles, was released in November 1999. Its first single, ', charted modestly in most places where it was released and went on to become a surprise No. 1 hit in Spain. Attempting to capitalize on the success of the previous single, ' was released with special remixes just for the Spanish market. The album's marketing push closed with the limited radio-only single release of '.
Was released for the American market in March 2000. 'Hallo Hallo' was initially planned to be the first single from the compilation, but in the end, it was not included at all. 'C'est La Vie (Always 21)' served as the only new recording on the American release. ', previously included on the album, was released in a new remixed form as a radio single in the US, becoming the only form of promotion for Greatest Hits. With minimal promotion, the album and the single failed to chart, with the former selling fewer than 5,000 copies in its first week. Da Capo (2002–03). Jonas, Jenny and Ulf during a concert in, 2007.
Ace of Base reunited as a trio to perform their first full-length concert since 1996 in, on November 15, 2007. Further concerts followed throughout both 2008 and 2009; these were mainly in eastern Europe and, although and the were visited briefly. The set list included various songs from their past albums and a new remake of their first single, 'Wheel of Fortune'.
Linn was absent from the tour, and Jenny confirmed her departure from the band. 'She hasn't been part of Ace of Base for several years', she said in magazine. The remaining band members promised Linn that they would never ask her to rejoin the band again. While touring, the group performed live a new song called 'Sparks from a Fire'.
The Sign Ace Of Base Meaning
While on tour, the band recorded material for a new studio album to consist of seven new songs and seven remakes of old hits. However, this album did not see a release and a new greatest hits set, was released on November 12, 2008, instead, reportedly due to record company obligations.
The set was their second release with this title. The 3-disc set included one CD with hits, a second CD containing remixes, and a DVD containing music videos. Four re-recorded songs were released from the album in various forms: 'Lucky Love 2009', 'Don't Turn Around 2009', 'The Sign (Freedom Bunch Mix)' and 'Wheel of Fortune 2009', which was released worldwide on October 24, 2008, as a digital single.
A fifth reworking, 'Happy Nation 2009', was released separately as a remix kit. A remake of 'All That She Wants' was recorded around this period and featured guest vocals by that stemmed from her own 2007 cover of the song. This remake was never officially released, but leaked online in June 2016. Following the release of the compilation, the band continued to record songs for a fifth studio album.
A new record contract agreement was never reached, and Jenny announced that she was working on her own solo album, which later materialized as. On November 13, 2009, Ulf, acting as a guest judge on, announced that the band was negotiating with labels and was planning on releasing a new album in the beginning of the following year. New members, The Golden Ratio, and Ace Thursdays (2010–12).
Happy Nation U.S. Version to Europe With Ace of Base nothing has ever been simple, when a band has such huge success there are always different players involved, when the original album was put out, it was changed to the Sign for the American market, those new songs that were included on the sign were re-released in Europe as Happy Nation U.S. But they also assed new bonus tracks that weren't released in the USA. This is a record collectors dream, so many bonus tracks, there is a reason Acers try to collect them all.