Ted Gärdestad
Encyclopedia
Ted Gärdestad internationally known as Ted Gardestad, Ted Gaerdestad or just Ted (born Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad, 18 February 1956 – 22 June 1997 in Sollentuna, Sweden
) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician.
. He was the youngest of three siblings, he had two older brothers; Kjell (1944–2000) and Kenneth (b. 1948).
Ted was only 15 years of age when he and his eight year older brother Kenneth Gärdestad decided to knock on the door of Polar Music
in 1971. Ted was appointed composer and singer, while Kenneth was lyricist to Ted's melodies. Their collaboration proved successful, and they stuck to it for the rest of Ted's career. Stig Anderson
, later the mastermind behind jumpstarting ABBA
's career, recognised Ted's talent and signed him to the label. Stig assigned Ted to in-house producers Benny Andersson
and Björn Ulvaeus
. The multitalented Ted could play just about every instrument he could put his hands on; piano, keyboards, guitars, mandolin, ukulele, accordion etc. and he was often described as a 'musical wonderchild' in the Swedish media - he had in fact made his TV debut at the age of six playing accordion. In 1966, as a 10-year-old, he had also made his debut as an actor in the TV advent calendar
En småstad vid seklets början (A Small Town at the Turn of the Century) and in 1970 he had gone on to have a minor role in the American movie Story of a Woman, directed by Leonardo Bercovici and featuring Bibi Andersson
, Robert Stack
and James Farentino
in the starring roles. Not well-known, but Ted was also a very promising tennis-player; as a fourteen year old he was in fact second best in Sweden after one Björn Borg
, and he had at one point considered a career as a professional tennis player, his love for music however took the overhand as he was signed to Polar.
Ted released his first single, the gospel-influenced "Hela världen runt" ("All Over the World"), in late 1971 but it was the follow-up, the acoustic ballad "Jag vill ha en egen måne" ("I Want a Moon of My Own"), a song he had written at the age of twelve, that got him noticed by the Swedish public and almost overnight he became the country's first proper teen idol. Benny and Björn produced Ted's debut album Undringar (translated as Wonderings), released on the Polar Music
label in early 1972, and Agnetha Fältskog
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
also provided backing vocals. All four members of ABBA continued to work with Ted in different capacities throughout the 1970s, his albums Undringar
(1972), Ted
(1973), Upptåg
(1974) and Franska Kort
(1976) are of particular interest to fans of the band since they were produced with the same recording and production techniques, engineers (Michael B. Tretow
) and musicians as contemporary ABBA recordings.
In February 1973, Ted entered Melodifestivalen
, the competition to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
. The song "Oh, vilken härlig dag" ("Oh What a Lovely Day") came equal fourth. A quartet at the time known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid finished third with a song called "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)". Ted had another attempt in 1975 with the song "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'", Svenne & Lotta
placed third with "Bang en boomerang
", and Ted finished seventh but the song became another hit single on the important radio charts Svensktoppen
, Heta Högen and Kvällstoppen. Ted and brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 with the song "Det bästa som finns" ("The Best of All"), but that time they employed another Polar Music labelmate, Lena Andersson, to perform the song which finished 8th out of 10 entries, and Ted himself never recorded the track.
Musically Ted's songs combined the heritage of the Scandinavian acoustic and narrative 'visa' tradition with influences from the Anglosaxon singer-songwriter
wave of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but his repertoire also includes a wide variety of genre exercises including pastiches of swing, jazz
, ragtime
, boogie-woogie
, reggae
, country and western, French chanson
, Swedish folkmusic as well as contemporary English and American pop, rock, soul and R&B. Like most musicians and songwriters of their generation, both brothers were also big fans of The Beatles
and they were particularly influenced by the fact that John Lennon
and Paul McCartney
wrote their own material and played it themselves, a commonplace today, but revolutionary for the time. The early Swedish albums with Gärdestad all also contain one or two English-language tracks, usually slightly rougher and rockier than the rest of the material and many of them featuring Janne Schaffer
on electric guitars.
Lyrically the songs reflected the world of an average young teenager, no longer a child but not yet an adult, and his personal development; the dreams, hopes and desires as well as the fears and frustrations, infatuation and rejection ("När du kommer", "Räcker jag till"), existential ponderings ("Universum", "Snurra du min värld", "Gitarren och jag") alongside typical adolescent fantasies and daydreams of historical figures like the viking
s ("Viking"), "Buffalo Bill
", Goliath ("Goliat från Gat") or becoming a super hero like The Phantom
("Fantomen"), and naturally, as with most teenagers, also playful hints at an increased interest in the opposite sex. His Melodifestivalen entry "Oh vilken härlig dag" for instance includes phrases like "I snuck down to the lake, to spy on you when you went skinnydipping" and "I ran naked in the blazing sun" and most importantly "And I could see what you're hiding under your skirt"; a line that was considered particularly risqué when sung by a seventeen year old boy in the pre-selections for the Eurovision Song Contest
in the year of 1973. Despite the fact that all lyrics were the work of Ted's eight year older brother Kenneth and not Ted himself they were specifically written to reflect Ted's personality and his world, and the feelings of a teenager, not those of his older brother. Just like Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus during the ABBA era, Ted usually wrote "pidgin
" English demo lyrics when he composed his songs and it was subsequently Kenneth's task to translate them into Swedish while staying true to Ted's original idea for a particular song. Kenneth spent a considerable amount of time getting the words exactly as Ted wanted them, with the right number of syllables to the bar, rhymes and alliteration
s emphasizing the rhythm of the music, and then also with the specific language of a boy in his teens, occasionally including slang
expressions. Just like sound engineer Michael B. Tretow, Ted was also known for his prankish sense of humour, he was a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus
and loved practical jokes, which also is reflected in the lyrics in the form of clever pun
s, word play
, and double entendre
s. Kenneth's skills as a lyricist paradoxally resulted in the fact that some of Ted's audiences, in the 1970s and even to the present day, were under the impression that he wrote both the music and all lyrics, which Kenneth since has revealed that he only took as a sign that he had done Ted's music justice and the best compliment that he could get.
By 1975, Ted had become a big star in Sweden, with his boyish good looks he was prominently featured in teen magazines like Starlet, Mitt Livs Novell and Poster, his love life and teenage romances were even covered by the national dailies, he had his own fan club, all his albums had gone gold and had also sold well in the rest of Scandinavia, besides Björn Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid/ABBA and Anni-Frid Lyngstad he was the Polar Music
label's best-selling artist. Stig Anderson had plans to launch him internationally and Ted recorded both Swedish and English versions of "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" as well as an English version of an earlier hit, "Jag ska fånga en ängel" ("I'm Going to Catch An Angel"), with the title "Gonna Make You My Angel", the latter with lyrics by Gary Osborne
; neither were a significant hit. Australian pop singer Mark Holden
did however have a major success in Australia
with "Jag ska fånga en ängel" under the title "I Wanna Make You My Lady" in 1976.
By 1977 Ted was however faced with a dilemma common to many a child star and teen idol, both before and after him; as he grew up and became more mature - so did his audiences. The time of teen mania and screaming crowds in the folkpark
s was beginning to fade away and his record label was also presented with another problem. The Polar in-house producers Björn and Benny, who had played such an important part in Ted's early success both as arrangers and musicians were now busy writing, producing and promoting ABBA and could understandably no longer give Ted or other Polar artists like Svenne & Lotta and Lena Andersson their full attention. 1975 had only resulted in one single being released, the Melodifestivalen
entry "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'". 1976 had seen the release of the album Franska Kort (French Cards - a fairly innocent type of late 19th century pornography), only partly recorded with Björn and Benny and co-produced by Michael B. Tretow
and Janne Schaffer. The album did provide further hits like "Angela", "Chapeau-Claque" (French for top hat
), "När showen är slut" ("When the Show is Over") and "Klöversnoa", a novelty folk dance parody with both Benny Andersson and Ted playing accordion, but it peaked at #3, making it the first Ted Gärdestad album not to top the Swedish charts, and it dropped out of the listing after 22 weeks, a moderate success compared to his previous releases. The year of 1977 saw ABBA and also most of the Polar Music crew including musicians and sound engineers on their first world tour, making ABBA: The Movie
and recording The Album - as an indirect consequence no Ted Gärdestad album was released that year.
, Ted and brother Kenneth travelled to Hollywood, California in the autumn of 1977 to record Ted's first English language album Blue Virgin Isles
. The 'west coast rock' orientated album featured contributions from an impressive number of famous American and English musicians, among them Jeff Porcaro
, Steve Porcaro
, Jim Keltner
, David Hungate
, Jay Graydon
, Lee Ritenour
, Steve Lukather
, Fred Tackett
, James Newton Howard
, Dr. John
and John Mayall
, many of them Ted's personal heroes. The Blue Virgin Isles album was released worldwide in the autumn of 1978 on the Epic Records
label, accompanied by the singles "Take Me Back To Hollywood", an English version of "Chapeau-Clacque", and "Love, You're Making All The Fools". Despite the no-expenses-spared production and the big push to launch Ted, even with some promotional appearances alongside ABBA, his Swedish success did not translate internationally and in Sweden the album peaked at #29 and only spent one week on the chart. Some thirty years later after its original release, Blue Virgin Isles still remains the only Ted Gärdestad studio album not to have been re-released to CD by Polar Music
/PolyGram
/Universal Music.
In early 1979, Ted and Kenneth had a fourth attempt at Melodifestivalen and this time they won with the song "Satellit
", a mid-tempo rock track whose arrangement bore more than a few resemblances to Toto
's 1978 hit "Hold the Line
". The similarities caused some speculation in the Swedish media of plagiarism and even disqualification from the contest. The connection between the two songs was that producer Janne Schaffer had heard four of the future Toto members, Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather, experimenting with a guitar and bass riff during the Blue Virgin Isles sessions in Los Angeles which eventually evolved into "Hold the Line". Schaffer was inspired by what he had heard when he wrote the arrangement for "Satellit", but at that point neither "Hold the Line" nor Toto's debut eponymous album
had been released, and as Jeff Porcaro himself told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet
in February 1979: " - No, it's not a rip-off, Ted didn't steal our song. That piano intro and that bass and guitar line goes back to the 1950s and the fact that we both have happened to use variations on the same theme in our songs right now is purely coincidental." Consequently, Ted represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem in March 1979, and after having competed four times in the pre-selections before winning and his personal connections with ABBA, who had won the contest with "Waterloo" five years earlier and gone on to international fame and success, the hopes and expectations were naturally high. Unfortunately, the song scored a disappointing total of eight points and finished seventeenth out of nineteen participating entries, making it Sweden's then second lowest placing in the contest ever. The Swedish language single still became another Top 10 hit back home in Sweden and today "Satellit" counts as one of Ted's signature tunes. The English language version of the track however never charted, and neither did the re-issue of the Blue Virgin Isles album which included both versions, making it clear that Ted's Scandinavian audiences favoured his Swedish-language material.
After an unsuccessful return to Melodifestivalen in 1980 with "Låt solen värma dig" ("Let the Sun Warm You") with then girlfriend Annica Boller and disappointing sales of his 1981 album Stormvarning
(#31, 2 weeks), internationally released as I'd Rather Write a Symphony
on the Polydor label in a few countries and equally overlooked, Ted dropped out of the music scene - at the age of 25.
movement, widely considered as a cult
and he publicly renounced his earlier life. In an interview with Swedish paper Aftonbladet
in the summer of 1983 he declared that he no longer wanted to be addressed as "Ted Gärdestad", his name was now Swami Sangit Upasani. Like all Bhagwan disciples he only wore clothes in a specific shade of orange. During this time he began distancing himself from his friends in the music business and also his own family. His involvement in the cult and the teachings of the Bhagwan gradually took over his life and his personality dramatically changed. In June 1983, just one month before his second child with his then girlfriend actress Ann Zacharias was born, he unexpectedly left his family and friends and moved to the cult's headquarters in Oregon
, USA. Only three years later, after the Bhagwan
, also known as Osho
, was convicted for immigration fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement of his disciples' funds and subsequently deported from the USA, Ted's family finally managed to persuade him to move back to Sweden. At this time, severe mental health problems became more and more apparent.
Shortly after Ted's return to Sweden in 1986 something happened that would affect the entire nation as a whole as well as having tragic effects on Gärdestad personally; Olof Palme
, the Swedish Prime Minister, was murdered. Ted was wrongly mentioned in the Swedish media as the 33-year-old, a suspect in the investigation of the assassination
, an accusation that naturally hit him hard. Although Gärdestad was not even in the country when the murder was committed but on vacation in Greece
and despite the fact that he was never questioned by the Swedish police or under any sort of suspicion by the authorities at any time the speculations and rumours were to follow him and his family for the rest of the 1980s. A few years later he was again the victim of vicious rumours as he was accused of being the so called Lasermannen
, a bank robber and serial killer and again it was groundless rumours with no foundation in fact, proven when the real perpetrator of the crimes was caught. This however clearly took its toll on the sensitive and already unstable former star. The lines between Ted's worst fears and now sometimes also delusions and reality began to blur. The once so creative and outgoing Gärdestad withdrew even further within himself and went into a deep depression.
. Ted joined Harpo on a concert tour and made a few guest appearances and in 1992, they released the duet "Lycka" ("Happiness") as a single. The song passed fairly unnoticed but this became the starting point to Ted's return to music. In the spring of that same year Gärdestad embarked on his very first tour since 1977 and played a series of dates with Plura Johnsson, Tove Naess, Totta Näslund and Dan Hylander and received overall positive reviews from the press.
In 1993, the compilation album Kalendarium 1972-93
, promoted by a sold-out summer tour in the Swedish folkpark
s, was a tremendous success, as was Ted's very first composition in twelve years, "För kärlekens skull" ("For Love's Sake"), which topped the Svensktoppen
chart. The Kalendarium collection also included a Swedish language re-recording of the title track from the overlooked Blue Virgin Isles album, "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" ("The Sky is Innocently Blue"), which fifteen years after its original release became another Svensktoppen hit, and now counts as one of his best-known songs. In early 1994 Kalendarium 1972-93 was awarded a platinum disc. All of Ted's albums from the 1970s and early 1980s, with the exception of Blue Virgin Isles, were re-released on CD by Polar and a generation of Swedes who grew up listening to his music now re-discovered and re-evaluated his back catalogue as adults, and his body of work has since come to be regarded as a national treasure of the same importance as those of Evert Taube
, Carl Michael Bellman
and Cornelis Vreeswijk
- both by fans and Swedish music critics.
The following year, Ted released a full-length album of new material on the Polar label with the title Äntligen på väg
(Finally on My Way), produced by longtime friend Janne Schaffer
. The album included contributions from ABBA drummer Per Lindvall, Björn J:son Lindh
, Gladys del Pilar and Marie Bergman
among other renowned Swedish musicians and spawned a series of singles like "Ge en sol" ("Give a Sun"), "Om du ville ha mig" ("If You Wanted Me"), "I min radio" ("On My Radio") and "Hon är kvinnan" ("She's the Woman") entering the Svensktoppen chart. The lyrics were light, harmonious and hopeful and it seemed as if Ted's future was looking brighter than in a very long time; his name was finally cleared, he remarried and he was back to doing what he loved most of all - making music. He made several TV appearances promoting the Äntligen på väg album, including an unplugged
concert on TV channel ZTV
, and he toured extensively all through 1994, 1995 and 1996. The news on 23 June 1997 that Ted at the age of 41 suddenly had decided to end his life by jumping in front of a train therefore came as a shock to the entire nation.
Since Ted's passing his brother Kenneth has spoken frankly, both in the press and later also in a book, about Ted's mental health problems during the last decade of his life. In the biography Jag vill ha en egen måne, published eight years after Ted's death, Kenneth revealed that his brother had fought against anxiety ever since his late teens and that he had become convinced that Ted as an adult had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, if not caused, clearly aggravated by the indoctrination during his time with the Bhagwan cult and what can only be described as the witch hunt by the press and the subsequent public persecution of an innocent man incapable of defending himself, following the murder of Olof Palme and the Lasermannen case. In the book Janne Schaffer mentions an especially horrific and sadly also significative incident describing the trauma that Ted, and also his family and friends, was experiencing in the late 1980s. The event took place as Schaffer attended a dinner party with a large number of Swedish dignitaries, including leading politicians and statesmen and representatives of the diplomatic corps, as well as the then chief editor of Sweden's largest daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter
, himself a both respected and highly influential man in Swedish society, who in front of all the prominent guests blurted out: " - You know that it's your pal Ted Gärdestad who murdered Olof Palme don't you?!"; Schaffer immediately left the dinner party. In the book Kenneth Gärdestad also points out that Ted never received the proper diagnosis of his condition during his lifetime, nor the medical or psychotherapeutic treatment that could have saved his life.
The only colleagues from Ted's musical career attending his funeral were Janne Schaffer
, Björn J:son Lindh
, Michael B. Tretow
, Barbro 'Lill-Babs
' Svensson and Agnetha Fältskog
.
In 2000 "Jag vill ha en egen måne" and "Come Give Me Love" were featured in Swedish film director Lukas Moodysson
's comedy drama Tillsammans (international title: Together
).
In 2001 both Michael B. Tretow
and Kenneth Gärdestad personally took part in the production of the 4 CD box set Solregn (Sun Rain), a comprehensive career retrospective of 71 tracks, including two previously unreleased recordings, "I'd Rather Write a Symphony" and "Nobody Loves You Now", from the Stormvarning
/I'd Rather Write a Symphony
sessions. The album closes with Janne Schaffer's instrumental interpretation of "Jag vill ha en egen måne", first performed at Ted's funeral and recorded especially for the box set.
Some ten years after Ted's passing his music is more popular than ever in his native Sweden. Many of his songs such as "För kärlekens skull", "Sol vind och vatten", "Satellit", "Låt kärleken slå rot", "Jag vill ha en egen måne", "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" and "Eiffeltornet" feature on compilations and have been covered by a wide range of other artists and are now considered modern Swedish pop classics. Ted's original studio albums still sell well, as do best of compilations such as 2001's Droppar av solregn which reached #2 and spent 47 weeks on the Swedish albums chart and the 2004 2 CD set Sol vind och vatten - Det bästa (see above), which peaked at #3 and charted for no less than 56 consecutive weeks.
In 2004 an all-star line-up of Swedish artists headed by Janne Schaffer
and including performers as diverse as Mats Ronander
, Björn J:son Lindh
, Jennifer Brown
and rapper Dogge Doggelito
performed a ten-minute medley of Gärdestad's best-known songs as the interval act of that year's Melodifestivalen
, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Ted winning the contest with "Satellit".
Also in 2004 an album called Fånga En Ängel - En hyllning till Ted Gärdestad (Catch An Angel - A tribute to Ted Gärdestad) was released, featuring contemporary Swedish artists such as Håkan Hellström
, Helen Sjöholm
, Patrik Isaksson, Viktoria Tolstoy
, Mikael Rickfors
, Fredrik Kempe
, Fame
, Lisa Miskovsky
and Josefin Nilsson
of Ainbusk
interpreting some of Ted's best loved songs. The album was released on the Anderson Records label, run by the late Stig Anderson
's daughter Marie Ledin. Both country singer and fellow Eurovision contestant Jill Johnson
's acoustic version of Ted's 1973 Melodifestivalen entry "Oh vilken härlig dag" and Helen Sjöholm
's recording of "Come Give Me Love" became sizeable radio hits and were also issued as singles.
In 2005, a musical based around Ted's songs opened in Stockholm called Sol, vind och vatten.
Also in 2005, as mentioned above, Ted's brother Kenneth wrote a biography about Ted's life called Jag vill ha en egen måne, named after Ted's breakthrough single. The book gives a detailed account of the brothers' childhood, Ted's rise to fame as a teenager, the following years of teen mania and media attention, the pressure of constantly touring and recording, and Ted's difficulties in finding an identity out of the limelight as an adult in the early 1980s. The book also describes the Gärdestad family's constant struggle with Swedish psychiatry during the last years of Ted's life; that he didn't receive the treatment he was entitled to, that Ted's condition and the obvious symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia - in the last stages severe delusions, Ted constantly hearing voices in his head and even self-harm - weren't taken seriously, and the unwillingness of the psychiatric authorities to take responsibility for Ted's personal safety. Jag vill ha en egen måne - Boken om Ted Gärdestad also includes extensive interviews with Ted's family and some of his closest friends such as tennis players Björn Borg
, Tenny Svensson and Kjell Johansson, actors Per Ragnar
and Jan Waldecranz, guitarists Janne Schaffer
and Staffan Astner, singer Harpo
, TV personalities Bengt Bedrup and Tommy Engstrand, pianist Robert Wells
, sound engineers Michael B. Tretow
and Lennart Östlund, photographer Barry Levine, hockey player Mats Ulander, American pianist and composer Mike Melvoin
, as well as his former girlfriend and the mother to his two children, actress Ann Zacharias.
In 2006 British bassist Andy Bell
- of Oasis
fame - who lives in Sweden and is a great admiror of Gärdestad's work, took part in the annual tribute concert held in Stockholm.
On 16 October 2006 Kenneth Gärdestad received a special award from SKAP, The Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers, for his "outstanding contributions to Swedish performing arts as a lyricist", in memory of his brother Ted.
In June 2009 Universal Music, the company that now owns the rights to the Polar Music
back catalogue, released an 8 CD box set entitled Helt Nära Dig - Samlade Album (Close to You - Collected Albums). The 91 track box set includes all six of Gärdestad's Swedish language albums, Undringar
, Ted
, Upptåg
, Franska Kort
, Stormvarning
and Äntligen på väg
, as well as the Blue Virgin Isles
album in its entirety. The eighth disc features selected tracks from Gärdestad's second English language album I'd Rather Write a Symphony
and non-album singles like "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" (Swedish version only), "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" and "För kärlekens skull". The box set reached #34 on the Swedish albums chart in July 2009 and re-entered the chart a full year later, in July 2010, and then reached #12.
sound engineer Michael B. Tretow
had a surprise hit single with the novelty track "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" in Sweden, released under the anonymous group moniker Caramba
on the equally anonymous record label Trash Records (#1 June 1981, 26 weeks on the singles chart). The liner notes to Tretow's 1999 CD compilation Greatest Hits carry the following dedication: "This album is dedicated to Ted Gärdestad, who should be here now, rolling on the floor in paroxysms of laughter as usual."
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician.
Early career
Ted was born to Arne and Margit Gärdestad in 1956 and grew up in Sollentuna, Stockholm CountyStockholm County
Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...
. He was the youngest of three siblings, he had two older brothers; Kjell (1944–2000) and Kenneth (b. 1948).
Ted was only 15 years of age when he and his eight year older brother Kenneth Gärdestad decided to knock on the door of Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
in 1971. Ted was appointed composer and singer, while Kenneth was lyricist to Ted's melodies. Their collaboration proved successful, and they stuck to it for the rest of Ted's career. Stig Anderson
Stig Anderson
Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the pop group ABBA.- Polar Music:Anderson was the founder of the Polar Music record label in 1963...
, later the mastermind behind jumpstarting ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
's career, recognised Ted's talent and signed him to the label. Stig assigned Ted to in-house producers Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
. The multitalented Ted could play just about every instrument he could put his hands on; piano, keyboards, guitars, mandolin, ukulele, accordion etc. and he was often described as a 'musical wonderchild' in the Swedish media - he had in fact made his TV debut at the age of six playing accordion. In 1966, as a 10-year-old, he had also made his debut as an actor in the TV advent calendar
Advent calendar
An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content...
En småstad vid seklets början (A Small Town at the Turn of the Century) and in 1970 he had gone on to have a minor role in the American movie Story of a Woman, directed by Leonardo Bercovici and featuring Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson
Bibi Andersson is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Bibi Andersson was born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, the daughter of Karin , a social worker, and Josef Andersson, a businessman...
, Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
and James Farentino
James Farentino
James Farentino is an American actor. He has appeared in almost one hundred roles, among them in The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.-Career:...
in the starring roles. Not well-known, but Ted was also a very promising tennis-player; as a fourteen year old he was in fact second best in Sweden after one Björn Borg
Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg is a former world no. 1 tennis player from Sweden. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles...
, and he had at one point considered a career as a professional tennis player, his love for music however took the overhand as he was signed to Polar.
Ted released his first single, the gospel-influenced "Hela världen runt" ("All Over the World"), in late 1971 but it was the follow-up, the acoustic ballad "Jag vill ha en egen måne" ("I Want a Moon of My Own"), a song he had written at the age of twelve, that got him noticed by the Swedish public and almost overnight he became the country's first proper teen idol. Benny and Björn produced Ted's debut album Undringar (translated as Wonderings), released on the Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
label in early 1972, and Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...
also provided backing vocals. All four members of ABBA continued to work with Ted in different capacities throughout the 1970s, his albums Undringar
Undringar
Undringar was the debut album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1972 on the Polar Music label. It contains breakthrough single "Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne" as well as "Hela Världen Runt", "När Du Kommer" and "Snurra Du Min Värld". The album was produced by Benny Andersson and...
(1972), Ted
Ted (album)
Ted was the second album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1973 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Jag Ska Fånga En Ängel", "Sol, Vind Och Vatten", "Come Give Me Love" as well as his 1973 Melodifestivalen entry "Oh Vilken Härlig Da'" . The album was produced by...
(1973), Upptåg
Upptåg
Upptåg was the third album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1974 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Fantomen", "Silver", "Eiffeltornet" and "Viking". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Ted, engineered by Michael B...
(1974) and Franska Kort
Franska Kort
Franska Kort was the fourth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1976 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Angela" "Chapeau-Claque", "När Showen Är Slut" and "Klöversnoa". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Michael B...
(1976) are of particular interest to fans of the band since they were produced with the same recording and production techniques, engineers (Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
) and musicians as contemporary ABBA recordings.
In February 1973, Ted entered Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio . It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959...
, the competition to select the Swedish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
. The song "Oh, vilken härlig dag" ("Oh What a Lovely Day") came equal fourth. A quartet at the time known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid finished third with a song called "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)". Ted had another attempt in 1975 with the song "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'", Svenne & Lotta
Svenne & Lotta
Svenne & Lotta is a pop duo with Svenne Hedlund and Lotta Hedlund. They met in 1967, when Svenne Hedlund was the vocalist in the band Hep Stars. Charlotte Walker, which was Lotta Hedlund's name at that time, toured Sweden with the all-girl American trio The Sherrys...
placed third with "Bang en boomerang
Bang en boomerang
"Bang-A-Boomerang" is a song by ABBA, first released by Svenne & Lotta . The track was first recorded as a demo with English lyrics in September 1974 by the ABBA musicians for their forthcoming eponymous album ABBA...
", and Ted finished seventh but the song became another hit single on the important radio charts Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen is a record chart at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. Svensktoppen airs once a week...
, Heta Högen and Kvällstoppen. Ted and brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 with the song "Det bästa som finns" ("The Best of All"), but that time they employed another Polar Music labelmate, Lena Andersson, to perform the song which finished 8th out of 10 entries, and Ted himself never recorded the track.
Musically Ted's songs combined the heritage of the Scandinavian acoustic and narrative 'visa' tradition with influences from the Anglosaxon singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
wave of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but his repertoire also includes a wide variety of genre exercises including pastiches of swing, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
, boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, country and western, French chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
, Swedish folkmusic as well as contemporary English and American pop, rock, soul and R&B. Like most musicians and songwriters of their generation, both brothers were also big fans of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and they were particularly influenced by the fact that John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
wrote their own material and played it themselves, a commonplace today, but revolutionary for the time. The early Swedish albums with Gärdestad all also contain one or two English-language tracks, usually slightly rougher and rockier than the rest of the material and many of them featuring Janne Schaffer
Janne Schaffer
Jan Erik Tage Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams...
on electric guitars.
Lyrically the songs reflected the world of an average young teenager, no longer a child but not yet an adult, and his personal development; the dreams, hopes and desires as well as the fears and frustrations, infatuation and rejection ("När du kommer", "Räcker jag till"), existential ponderings ("Universum", "Snurra du min värld", "Gitarren och jag") alongside typical adolescent fantasies and daydreams of historical figures like the viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s ("Viking"), "Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
", Goliath ("Goliat från Gat") or becoming a super hero like The Phantom
The Phantom
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many media, including television, film and video games, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating from the fictional African country Bengalla.The Phantom is...
("Fantomen"), and naturally, as with most teenagers, also playful hints at an increased interest in the opposite sex. His Melodifestivalen entry "Oh vilken härlig dag" for instance includes phrases like "I snuck down to the lake, to spy on you when you went skinnydipping" and "I ran naked in the blazing sun" and most importantly "And I could see what you're hiding under your skirt"; a line that was considered particularly risqué when sung by a seventeen year old boy in the pre-selections for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in the year of 1973. Despite the fact that all lyrics were the work of Ted's eight year older brother Kenneth and not Ted himself they were specifically written to reflect Ted's personality and his world, and the feelings of a teenager, not those of his older brother. Just like Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus during the ABBA era, Ted usually wrote "pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
" English demo lyrics when he composed his songs and it was subsequently Kenneth's task to translate them into Swedish while staying true to Ted's original idea for a particular song. Kenneth spent a considerable amount of time getting the words exactly as Ted wanted them, with the right number of syllables to the bar, rhymes and alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
s emphasizing the rhythm of the music, and then also with the specific language of a boy in his teens, occasionally including slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
expressions. Just like sound engineer Michael B. Tretow, Ted was also known for his prankish sense of humour, he was a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
and loved practical jokes, which also is reflected in the lyrics in the form of clever pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s, word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
, and double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s. Kenneth's skills as a lyricist paradoxally resulted in the fact that some of Ted's audiences, in the 1970s and even to the present day, were under the impression that he wrote both the music and all lyrics, which Kenneth since has revealed that he only took as a sign that he had done Ted's music justice and the best compliment that he could get.
By 1975, Ted had become a big star in Sweden, with his boyish good looks he was prominently featured in teen magazines like Starlet, Mitt Livs Novell and Poster, his love life and teenage romances were even covered by the national dailies, he had his own fan club, all his albums had gone gold and had also sold well in the rest of Scandinavia, besides Björn Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid/ABBA and Anni-Frid Lyngstad he was the Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
label's best-selling artist. Stig Anderson had plans to launch him internationally and Ted recorded both Swedish and English versions of "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" as well as an English version of an earlier hit, "Jag ska fånga en ängel" ("I'm Going to Catch An Angel"), with the title "Gonna Make You My Angel", the latter with lyrics by Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne is an English singer and songwriter from the United Kingdom.-Career:Osborne was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and followed his father into the music industry at the age of fifteen....
; neither were a significant hit. Australian pop singer Mark Holden
Mark Holden
Mark Holden is an Australian singer, television personality and barrister. He was one of a panel of three judges on the television series Australian Idol.-Acting career:...
did however have a major success in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with "Jag ska fånga en ängel" under the title "I Wanna Make You My Lady" in 1976.
By 1977 Ted was however faced with a dilemma common to many a child star and teen idol, both before and after him; as he grew up and became more mature - so did his audiences. The time of teen mania and screaming crowds in the folkpark
Folkpark
In Sweden, a folkpark is a public recreation space, usually featuring large grassed areas, trees, children's play facilities, etc. Most towns and cities have a folkpark. These parks were originally created by the labour movement so that workers and their families could have a place to unwind...
s was beginning to fade away and his record label was also presented with another problem. The Polar in-house producers Björn and Benny, who had played such an important part in Ted's early success both as arrangers and musicians were now busy writing, producing and promoting ABBA and could understandably no longer give Ted or other Polar artists like Svenne & Lotta and Lena Andersson their full attention. 1975 had only resulted in one single being released, the Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio . It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959...
entry "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'". 1976 had seen the release of the album Franska Kort (French Cards - a fairly innocent type of late 19th century pornography), only partly recorded with Björn and Benny and co-produced by Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
and Janne Schaffer. The album did provide further hits like "Angela", "Chapeau-Claque" (French for top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
), "När showen är slut" ("When the Show is Over") and "Klöversnoa", a novelty folk dance parody with both Benny Andersson and Ted playing accordion, but it peaked at #3, making it the first Ted Gärdestad album not to top the Swedish charts, and it dropped out of the listing after 22 weeks, a moderate success compared to his previous releases. The year of 1977 saw ABBA and also most of the Polar Music crew including musicians and sound engineers on their first world tour, making ABBA: The Movie
ABBA: The Movie
ABBA: The Movie is a 1977 film about the pop group ABBA's Australian tour. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed most of the group's videos. The film has become a cult film among ABBA fans...
and recording The Album - as an indirect consequence no Ted Gärdestad album was released that year.
International career
Stig Anderson still could see international potential for Ted, and since the Polar Music economy at this stage only could be equalled to that of VolvoVolvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, Ted and brother Kenneth travelled to Hollywood, California in the autumn of 1977 to record Ted's first English language album Blue Virgin Isles
Blue Virgin Isles
Blue Virgin Isles was the fifth album and the international debut from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in late 1978 on the Epic Records label in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia....
. The 'west coast rock' orientated album featured contributions from an impressive number of famous American and English musicians, among them Jeff Porcaro
Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Porcaro was an American session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. Porcaro was one of the most recorded drummers in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions...
, Steve Porcaro
Steve Porcaro
Steven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro is an American keyboardist and composer, who was an original member of the rock/pop band Toto....
, Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
, David Hungate
David Hungate
David Hungate is a bass player noted as a member of Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1977-1982. Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees album of 1976 included Hungate and several other future members of Toto...
, Jay Graydon
Jay Graydon
Jay Graydon is a Los Angeles songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards with twelve Grammy nominations, among them the title "Producer of the Year" and "Best Engineered Recording". Jay Graydon has mastered many...
, Lee Ritenour
Lee Ritenour
Lee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
, Steve Lukather
Steve Lukather
Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
, Fred Tackett
Fred Tackett
Fred Tackett, an American native of Arkansas, is an accomplished songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known for his longevity as a member of the band Little Feat....
, James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard is an American composer best known for his scores to motion pictures. He is one of the most popular and respected composers for cinema, and has scored over 100 films...
, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
and John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
, many of them Ted's personal heroes. The Blue Virgin Isles album was released worldwide in the autumn of 1978 on the Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
label, accompanied by the singles "Take Me Back To Hollywood", an English version of "Chapeau-Clacque", and "Love, You're Making All The Fools". Despite the no-expenses-spared production and the big push to launch Ted, even with some promotional appearances alongside ABBA, his Swedish success did not translate internationally and in Sweden the album peaked at #29 and only spent one week on the chart. Some thirty years later after its original release, Blue Virgin Isles still remains the only Ted Gärdestad studio album not to have been re-released to CD by Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
/PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
/Universal Music.
In early 1979, Ted and Kenneth had a fourth attempt at Melodifestivalen and this time they won with the song "Satellit
Satellit
"Satellit" was the Swedish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in Swedish by Ted Gärdestad.Gärdestad's first four albums were produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, featured backing vocals by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and were released on the Polar...
", a mid-tempo rock track whose arrangement bore more than a few resemblances to Toto
Toto (band)
Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
's 1978 hit "Hold the Line
Hold the Line
Hold the Line is a song written by David Paich and recorded by the American rock group Toto. The song was the band's first single, and was featured on their debut eponymous album...
". The similarities caused some speculation in the Swedish media of plagiarism and even disqualification from the contest. The connection between the two songs was that producer Janne Schaffer had heard four of the future Toto members, Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather, experimenting with a guitar and bass riff during the Blue Virgin Isles sessions in Los Angeles which eventually evolved into "Hold the Line". Schaffer was inspired by what he had heard when he wrote the arrangement for "Satellit", but at that point neither "Hold the Line" nor Toto's debut eponymous album
Toto (album)
Toto is the first studio album by the American band Toto. It was released in 1978 and includes the hit singles "Hold the Line", "I'll Supply the Love" and "Georgy Porgy", all three of which made it into the top 50 in the USA. "Hold the Line" spent six weeks in the Top 10, and reached number 14 in...
had been released, and as Jeff Porcaro himself told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
in February 1979: " - No, it's not a rip-off, Ted didn't steal our song. That piano intro and that bass and guitar line goes back to the 1950s and the fact that we both have happened to use variations on the same theme in our songs right now is purely coincidental." Consequently, Ted represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem in March 1979, and after having competed four times in the pre-selections before winning and his personal connections with ABBA, who had won the contest with "Waterloo" five years earlier and gone on to international fame and success, the hopes and expectations were naturally high. Unfortunately, the song scored a disappointing total of eight points and finished seventeenth out of nineteen participating entries, making it Sweden's then second lowest placing in the contest ever. The Swedish language single still became another Top 10 hit back home in Sweden and today "Satellit" counts as one of Ted's signature tunes. The English language version of the track however never charted, and neither did the re-issue of the Blue Virgin Isles album which included both versions, making it clear that Ted's Scandinavian audiences favoured his Swedish-language material.
After an unsuccessful return to Melodifestivalen in 1980 with "Låt solen värma dig" ("Let the Sun Warm You") with then girlfriend Annica Boller and disappointing sales of his 1981 album Stormvarning
Stormvarning
Stormvarning was the sixth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released on the Polar Music label in Sweden in early 1981. Stormvarning was an expanded and partly re-recorded version of the international album I'd Rather Write a Symphony, released in West Germany and the Netherlands...
(#31, 2 weeks), internationally released as I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write A Symphony was the sixth album and the second international release from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1980 on the Polydor label in West Germany and The Netherlands, promoted by the single "Don't Treat Me This Way" backed with "Mindblower"...
on the Polydor label in a few countries and equally overlooked, Ted dropped out of the music scene - at the age of 25.
Adulthood
Having left the music business Ted had a brief and unsuccessful stint at acting and shortly thereafter began exploring meditation and Eastern religions. For a period of time he was involved with the Bhagwan Shree RajneeshOsho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
movement, widely considered as a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
and he publicly renounced his earlier life. In an interview with Swedish paper Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
in the summer of 1983 he declared that he no longer wanted to be addressed as "Ted Gärdestad", his name was now Swami Sangit Upasani. Like all Bhagwan disciples he only wore clothes in a specific shade of orange. During this time he began distancing himself from his friends in the music business and also his own family. His involvement in the cult and the teachings of the Bhagwan gradually took over his life and his personality dramatically changed. In June 1983, just one month before his second child with his then girlfriend actress Ann Zacharias was born, he unexpectedly left his family and friends and moved to the cult's headquarters in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, USA. Only three years later, after the Bhagwan
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
, also known as Osho
Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
, was convicted for immigration fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement of his disciples' funds and subsequently deported from the USA, Ted's family finally managed to persuade him to move back to Sweden. At this time, severe mental health problems became more and more apparent.
Shortly after Ted's return to Sweden in 1986 something happened that would affect the entire nation as a whole as well as having tragic effects on Gärdestad personally; Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
, the Swedish Prime Minister, was murdered. Ted was wrongly mentioned in the Swedish media as the 33-year-old, a suspect in the investigation of the assassination
Olof Palme assassination
The assassination of Olof Palme , the Prime Minister of Sweden, took place on 28 February 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden, at 23:21 hours Central European Time . Palme was fatally wounded by gunshots while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbet Palme on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen...
, an accusation that naturally hit him hard. Although Gärdestad was not even in the country when the murder was committed but on vacation in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and despite the fact that he was never questioned by the Swedish police or under any sort of suspicion by the authorities at any time the speculations and rumours were to follow him and his family for the rest of the 1980s. A few years later he was again the victim of vicious rumours as he was accused of being the so called Lasermannen
John Ausonius
John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius , known in the media as Lasermannen is a Swedish convicted murderer, bank robber, and attempted serial killer. From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring...
, a bank robber and serial killer and again it was groundless rumours with no foundation in fact, proven when the real perpetrator of the crimes was caught. This however clearly took its toll on the sensitive and already unstable former star. The lines between Ted's worst fears and now sometimes also delusions and reality began to blur. The once so creative and outgoing Gärdestad withdrew even further within himself and went into a deep depression.
Later career
In the early 1990s, Ted was briefly coaxed out of retirement by his friend and fellow Swedish pop star HarpoHarpo (singer)
Harpo is a Swedish pop star known under the stage name Harpo. He was popular in Sweden and around Europe in the 1970s and is best known for his worldwide hit "Moviestar", which reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 2 in the Australian Singles Chart in 1976...
. Ted joined Harpo on a concert tour and made a few guest appearances and in 1992, they released the duet "Lycka" ("Happiness") as a single. The song passed fairly unnoticed but this became the starting point to Ted's return to music. In the spring of that same year Gärdestad embarked on his very first tour since 1977 and played a series of dates with Plura Johnsson, Tove Naess, Totta Näslund and Dan Hylander and received overall positive reviews from the press.
In 1993, the compilation album Kalendarium 1972-93
Kalendarium 1972-93
Kalendarium 1972-93 was a compilation album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad released in 1993 which included the best-known songs from his early career as well one new recording, "För Kärlekens Skull", his first in twelve years...
, promoted by a sold-out summer tour in the Swedish folkpark
Folkpark
In Sweden, a folkpark is a public recreation space, usually featuring large grassed areas, trees, children's play facilities, etc. Most towns and cities have a folkpark. These parks were originally created by the labour movement so that workers and their families could have a place to unwind...
s, was a tremendous success, as was Ted's very first composition in twelve years, "För kärlekens skull" ("For Love's Sake"), which topped the Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen is a record chart at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. Svensktoppen airs once a week...
chart. The Kalendarium collection also included a Swedish language re-recording of the title track from the overlooked Blue Virgin Isles album, "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" ("The Sky is Innocently Blue"), which fifteen years after its original release became another Svensktoppen hit, and now counts as one of his best-known songs. In early 1994 Kalendarium 1972-93 was awarded a platinum disc. All of Ted's albums from the 1970s and early 1980s, with the exception of Blue Virgin Isles, were re-released on CD by Polar and a generation of Swedes who grew up listening to his music now re-discovered and re-evaluated his back catalogue as adults, and his body of work has since come to be regarded as a national treasure of the same importance as those of Evert Taube
Evert Taube
Evert Axel Taube was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is best known for his folk songs, and is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians.-Biography:...
, Carl Michael Bellman
Carl Michael Bellman
was a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....
and Cornelis Vreeswijk
Cornelis Vreeswijk
Cornelis Vreeswijk , was a singer-songwriter, poet and actor born in IJmuiden in the Netherlands.He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at...
- both by fans and Swedish music critics.
The following year, Ted released a full-length album of new material on the Polar label with the title Äntligen på väg
Äntligen på väg (Ted Gärdestad album)
-Personnel:* Ted Gärdestad - lead vocals, piano* Janne Schaffer - guitars, electric sitar* Staffan Astner - guitars* Lasse Englund - guitars* Leif Larsson - synthesizer, keyboards* Peter Ljung - synthesizer, organ, piano* Backa Hans Ericsson - bass guitar...
(Finally on My Way), produced by longtime friend Janne Schaffer
Janne Schaffer
Jan Erik Tage Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams...
. The album included contributions from ABBA drummer Per Lindvall, Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh is a Swedish flautist, keyboardist and composer. Lindh has scored music for films including Mannen på taket, directed by Bo Widerberg and Jägarna, directed by Kjell Sundvall...
, Gladys del Pilar and Marie Bergman
Marie Bergman
Marie Bergman , 1950 in Stockholm) is a Swedish singer. Between 1969 and 1972, she was a member in the pop group Family Four, which represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971 and 1972. She started her solo career in 1974. She has during the years released 13 own-written records and 2...
among other renowned Swedish musicians and spawned a series of singles like "Ge en sol" ("Give a Sun"), "Om du ville ha mig" ("If You Wanted Me"), "I min radio" ("On My Radio") and "Hon är kvinnan" ("She's the Woman") entering the Svensktoppen chart. The lyrics were light, harmonious and hopeful and it seemed as if Ted's future was looking brighter than in a very long time; his name was finally cleared, he remarried and he was back to doing what he loved most of all - making music. He made several TV appearances promoting the Äntligen på väg album, including an unplugged
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
concert on TV channel ZTV
ZTV
-History:The channel started in Sweden as a daily afternoon show in TV3 and TV4 in February 1991. The channel got its name as it was a simulcast version of the radio station Z Radio. There was also a Z magazine available for some time....
, and he toured extensively all through 1994, 1995 and 1996. The news on 23 June 1997 that Ted at the age of 41 suddenly had decided to end his life by jumping in front of a train therefore came as a shock to the entire nation.
Since Ted's passing his brother Kenneth has spoken frankly, both in the press and later also in a book, about Ted's mental health problems during the last decade of his life. In the biography Jag vill ha en egen måne, published eight years after Ted's death, Kenneth revealed that his brother had fought against anxiety ever since his late teens and that he had become convinced that Ted as an adult had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, if not caused, clearly aggravated by the indoctrination during his time with the Bhagwan cult and what can only be described as the witch hunt by the press and the subsequent public persecution of an innocent man incapable of defending himself, following the murder of Olof Palme and the Lasermannen case. In the book Janne Schaffer mentions an especially horrific and sadly also significative incident describing the trauma that Ted, and also his family and friends, was experiencing in the late 1980s. The event took place as Schaffer attended a dinner party with a large number of Swedish dignitaries, including leading politicians and statesmen and representatives of the diplomatic corps, as well as the then chief editor of Sweden's largest daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter
is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It has the largest circulation of Swedish morning newspapers, followed by Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet, and is the only morning newspaper that is distributed to subscribers across the whole country. In 2009 DN had a circulation of 316,000, reaching 881...
, himself a both respected and highly influential man in Swedish society, who in front of all the prominent guests blurted out: " - You know that it's your pal Ted Gärdestad who murdered Olof Palme don't you?!"; Schaffer immediately left the dinner party. In the book Kenneth Gärdestad also points out that Ted never received the proper diagnosis of his condition during his lifetime, nor the medical or psychotherapeutic treatment that could have saved his life.
The only colleagues from Ted's musical career attending his funeral were Janne Schaffer
Janne Schaffer
Jan Erik Tage Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams...
, Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh is a Swedish flautist, keyboardist and composer. Lindh has scored music for films including Mannen på taket, directed by Bo Widerberg and Jägarna, directed by Kjell Sundvall...
, Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
, Barbro 'Lill-Babs
Lill-Babs
Lill-Babs is a Swedish singer and actress.-Biography:Lill-Babs was born in Järvsö, Gävleborg County, as the first daughter of Britta and Ragnar Svensson...
' Svensson and Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
.
Ted's legacy
A scholarship was set up in Ted's name in 1997 to promote unsigned singer/songwriters and is awarded annually along with a tribute concert.In 2000 "Jag vill ha en egen måne" and "Come Give Me Love" were featured in Swedish film director Lukas Moodysson
Lukas Moodysson
- External links :*...
's comedy drama Tillsammans (international title: Together
Together (2000 film)
Together is a 2000 comedy/drama film. It is Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's second full length film. Set in a Stockholm commune called "Tillsammans" in 1975, it is a satirical view at socialist values and a bittersweet comedy....
).
In 2001 both Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
and Kenneth Gärdestad personally took part in the production of the 4 CD box set Solregn (Sun Rain), a comprehensive career retrospective of 71 tracks, including two previously unreleased recordings, "I'd Rather Write a Symphony" and "Nobody Loves You Now", from the Stormvarning
Stormvarning
Stormvarning was the sixth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released on the Polar Music label in Sweden in early 1981. Stormvarning was an expanded and partly re-recorded version of the international album I'd Rather Write a Symphony, released in West Germany and the Netherlands...
/I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write A Symphony was the sixth album and the second international release from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1980 on the Polydor label in West Germany and The Netherlands, promoted by the single "Don't Treat Me This Way" backed with "Mindblower"...
sessions. The album closes with Janne Schaffer's instrumental interpretation of "Jag vill ha en egen måne", first performed at Ted's funeral and recorded especially for the box set.
Some ten years after Ted's passing his music is more popular than ever in his native Sweden. Many of his songs such as "För kärlekens skull", "Sol vind och vatten", "Satellit", "Låt kärleken slå rot", "Jag vill ha en egen måne", "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" and "Eiffeltornet" feature on compilations and have been covered by a wide range of other artists and are now considered modern Swedish pop classics. Ted's original studio albums still sell well, as do best of compilations such as 2001's Droppar av solregn which reached #2 and spent 47 weeks on the Swedish albums chart and the 2004 2 CD set Sol vind och vatten - Det bästa (see above), which peaked at #3 and charted for no less than 56 consecutive weeks.
In 2004 an all-star line-up of Swedish artists headed by Janne Schaffer
Janne Schaffer
Jan Erik Tage Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams...
and including performers as diverse as Mats Ronander
Mats Ronander
Mats Ronander, born 1 April 1954 in Sundsvall, Sweden, is a Swedish rock musician, guitar player, producer and composer.- Biography :Mats was born in Sundsvall, but grew up in Örebro. At the age of sixteen he succeeded Peps Persson as singer in the band Blues Quality. He was a member in the band...
, Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh is a Swedish flautist, keyboardist and composer. Lindh has scored music for films including Mannen på taket, directed by Bo Widerberg and Jägarna, directed by Kjell Sundvall...
, Jennifer Brown
Jennifer Brown
Jennifer Brown is a Swedish singer. She was born in Hjällbo, northeast of Gothenburg.When she moved to Stockholm in the 1990s, she started working as a phone receptionist for influential Swedish record label Telegram records and this eventually led to a record deal...
and rapper Dogge Doggelito
Dogge Doggelito
Douglas León, known by his stage name Dogge Doggelito is a Swedish rapper, lecturer, social commentator and author. He is one of the founders Sweden's most successful rap group The Latin Kings . Doggelito is one of the most acclaimed artists in Sweden...
performed a ten-minute medley of Gärdestad's best-known songs as the interval act of that year's Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio . It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almost every year since 1959...
, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Ted winning the contest with "Satellit".
Also in 2004 an album called Fånga En Ängel - En hyllning till Ted Gärdestad (Catch An Angel - A tribute to Ted Gärdestad) was released, featuring contemporary Swedish artists such as Håkan Hellström
Håkan Hellström
Håkan Hellström is a Swedish musician. He got his Swedish breakthrough in the year 2000 with the song "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg"...
, Helen Sjöholm
Helen Sjöholm
Marie Helen Sjöholm is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Swedish conductor Kjell Lönnå...
, Patrik Isaksson, Viktoria Tolstoy
Viktoria Tolstoy
Louise Viktoria Tolstoy is a Swedish jazz singer. She is the daughter of Erik Kjellberg, and the great-great-granddaughter of writer Leo Tolstoy.- Discography :...
, Mikael Rickfors
Mikael Rickfors
Mikael Rickfors was born in Stockholm, Sweden, 4 December 1948. From 1968 he was the lead singer and bass guitarist in popular Swedish band Bamboo. The band released two singles before breaking up in 1970. Rickfors would later perform with the British rock group The Hollies for about two years....
, Fredrik Kempe
Fredrik Kempe
Fredrik Kempe, born in Vårgårda in 1972, is a Swedish songwriter and opera and pop singer. He has participated in Swedish versions of the musicals Les Misérables and Chess. In 2002, Kempe had a hit with Vincerò, where he mixed opera and disco....
, Fame
Fame (duo)
Fame is a Swedish duo consisting of Jessica Andersson and Magnus Bäcklund . They met each other at the televised arts school and contest Fame Factory, which aired in autumn 2002. Bäcklund was the overall winner, while Andersson dropped out to give birth to her son Liam...
, Lisa Miskovsky
Lisa Miskovsky
Lisa Miskovsky is a Swedish musician. Her mother is Finnish and her father is from the Czech Republic.-Biography:...
and Josefin Nilsson
Josefin Nilsson
Josefin Nilsson is a Swedish singer and actress.Her debut album titled Shapes was released on 23 March 1993. The music and lyrics were written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus...
of Ainbusk
Ainbusk
Ainbusk are a pop/folk vocal group from Gotland, Sweden. Formed in 1983, Ainbusk are best-known for their single "Jag mötte Lassie" - frequently referred to simply as "Lassie" - which was the Christmas chart-topper in Sweden in 1990...
interpreting some of Ted's best loved songs. The album was released on the Anderson Records label, run by the late Stig Anderson
Stig Anderson
Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the pop group ABBA.- Polar Music:Anderson was the founder of the Polar Music record label in 1963...
's daughter Marie Ledin. Both country singer and fellow Eurovision contestant Jill Johnson
Jill Johnson
Jill Anna Maria Johnson, , is a Swedish country- and pop-singer and songwriter. She performed the Melodifestivalen 1998 winning song Kärleken är, and represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with that song, which finished 10th with 53 points. In 2003 she again entered Melodifestivalen...
's acoustic version of Ted's 1973 Melodifestivalen entry "Oh vilken härlig dag" and Helen Sjöholm
Helen Sjöholm
Marie Helen Sjöholm is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Swedish conductor Kjell Lönnå...
's recording of "Come Give Me Love" became sizeable radio hits and were also issued as singles.
In 2005, a musical based around Ted's songs opened in Stockholm called Sol, vind och vatten.
Also in 2005, as mentioned above, Ted's brother Kenneth wrote a biography about Ted's life called Jag vill ha en egen måne, named after Ted's breakthrough single. The book gives a detailed account of the brothers' childhood, Ted's rise to fame as a teenager, the following years of teen mania and media attention, the pressure of constantly touring and recording, and Ted's difficulties in finding an identity out of the limelight as an adult in the early 1980s. The book also describes the Gärdestad family's constant struggle with Swedish psychiatry during the last years of Ted's life; that he didn't receive the treatment he was entitled to, that Ted's condition and the obvious symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia - in the last stages severe delusions, Ted constantly hearing voices in his head and even self-harm - weren't taken seriously, and the unwillingness of the psychiatric authorities to take responsibility for Ted's personal safety. Jag vill ha en egen måne - Boken om Ted Gärdestad also includes extensive interviews with Ted's family and some of his closest friends such as tennis players Björn Borg
Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg is a former world no. 1 tennis player from Sweden. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and six French Open singles titles...
, Tenny Svensson and Kjell Johansson, actors Per Ragnar
Per Ragnar
Per Ragnar, Per-Erik Ragnar , is a Swedish actor, director and author.-Biography:Per Ragnar trained at Dramatens elevskola in 1962-65...
and Jan Waldecranz, guitarists Janne Schaffer
Janne Schaffer
Jan Erik Tage Janne Schaffer is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and Tony Williams...
and Staffan Astner, singer Harpo
Harpo
Harpo may refer to:*Harpo Marx, an actor and musician best known as a member of the Marx Brothers*Harpo Productions, a multimedia company founded by Oprah Winfrey...
, TV personalities Bengt Bedrup and Tommy Engstrand, pianist Robert Wells
Robert Wells (composer)
Robert Henry Arthur Wells is a Swedish pianist, composer and singer, best known for his highly successful musical extravaganza Rhapsody in Rock which has achieved great prominence in Scandinavia, a mixture of rock, Sunden, classical and boogie-woogie.-Early life and career :A child prodigy, Wells...
, sound engineers Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
and Lennart Östlund, photographer Barry Levine, hockey player Mats Ulander, American pianist and composer Mike Melvoin
Mike Melvoin
Mike Melvoin is an American jazz pianist.Melvoin began on piano at age three. He studied English at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1959, but decided to pursue a career in music. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he played with Frank Rosolino, Leroy Vinnegar, Gerald Wilson, Paul Horn, Terry...
, as well as his former girlfriend and the mother to his two children, actress Ann Zacharias.
In 2006 British bassist Andy Bell
Andy Bell (musician)
Andrew Piran "Andy" Bell is a Welsh musician, currently playing guitar in the band Beady Eye. He is a songwriter, singer, producer, DJ and former member of the early 1990s shoegazing band, Ride, and later, Hurricane #1...
- of Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
fame - who lives in Sweden and is a great admiror of Gärdestad's work, took part in the annual tribute concert held in Stockholm.
On 16 October 2006 Kenneth Gärdestad received a special award from SKAP, The Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers, for his "outstanding contributions to Swedish performing arts as a lyricist", in memory of his brother Ted.
In June 2009 Universal Music, the company that now owns the rights to the Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
back catalogue, released an 8 CD box set entitled Helt Nära Dig - Samlade Album (Close to You - Collected Albums). The 91 track box set includes all six of Gärdestad's Swedish language albums, Undringar
Undringar
Undringar was the debut album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1972 on the Polar Music label. It contains breakthrough single "Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne" as well as "Hela Världen Runt", "När Du Kommer" and "Snurra Du Min Värld". The album was produced by Benny Andersson and...
, Ted
Ted (album)
Ted was the second album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1973 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Jag Ska Fånga En Ängel", "Sol, Vind Och Vatten", "Come Give Me Love" as well as his 1973 Melodifestivalen entry "Oh Vilken Härlig Da'" . The album was produced by...
, Upptåg
Upptåg
Upptåg was the third album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1974 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Fantomen", "Silver", "Eiffeltornet" and "Viking". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Ted, engineered by Michael B...
, Franska Kort
Franska Kort
Franska Kort was the fourth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1976 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Angela" "Chapeau-Claque", "När Showen Är Slut" and "Klöversnoa". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Michael B...
, Stormvarning
Stormvarning
Stormvarning was the sixth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released on the Polar Music label in Sweden in early 1981. Stormvarning was an expanded and partly re-recorded version of the international album I'd Rather Write a Symphony, released in West Germany and the Netherlands...
and Äntligen på väg
Äntligen på väg (Ted Gärdestad album)
-Personnel:* Ted Gärdestad - lead vocals, piano* Janne Schaffer - guitars, electric sitar* Staffan Astner - guitars* Lasse Englund - guitars* Leif Larsson - synthesizer, keyboards* Peter Ljung - synthesizer, organ, piano* Backa Hans Ericsson - bass guitar...
, as well as the Blue Virgin Isles
Blue Virgin Isles
Blue Virgin Isles was the fifth album and the international debut from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in late 1978 on the Epic Records label in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia....
album in its entirety. The eighth disc features selected tracks from Gärdestad's second English language album I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write a Symphony
I'd Rather Write A Symphony was the sixth album and the second international release from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1980 on the Polydor label in West Germany and The Netherlands, promoted by the single "Don't Treat Me This Way" backed with "Mindblower"...
and non-album singles like "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" (Swedish version only), "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" and "För kärlekens skull". The box set reached #34 on the Swedish albums chart in July 2009 and re-entered the chart a full year later, in July 2010, and then reached #12.
Caramba
In 1981 Ted and ABBAABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
sound engineer Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
had a surprise hit single with the novelty track "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" in Sweden, released under the anonymous group moniker Caramba
Caramba
Caramba was a Swedish music group. It released one self-titled album in 1981. The album is chiefly notable because it is recorded entirely in nonsense language. Songs which imitate certain regional styles of music generally imitate the phonemic structure of languages from the appropriate regions. ...
on the equally anonymous record label Trash Records (#1 June 1981, 26 weeks on the singles chart). The liner notes to Tretow's 1999 CD compilation Greatest Hits carry the following dedication: "This album is dedicated to Ted Gärdestad, who should be here now, rolling on the floor in paroxysms of laughter as usual."
Singles
- "Hela världen runt" / "Sommarlängtan", Polar MusicPolar MusicPolar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...
POS 1146, 1971 - "Jag vill ha en egen måne" / "När du kommer", Polar Music POS 1155, 1972
- "Oh, vilken härlig da'" / "Sol vind och vatten", Polar Music POS 1170, 1973
- "Kaliforniens guld" / "Ramanagaram", Polar Music POS 1174, 1973
- "Come Give Me Love" / "Skolsång", Polar Music POS 1177, 1973
- "Gonna Make You My Angel" ("Jag ska fånga en ängel") / "Can't Stop the Train", Epic RecordsEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
EPC S 3126 (West Germany & UK), 1974 - "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" (Swedish version) / "Gonna Make You My Angel" Polar Music POS 1201, 1975
- "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" (English version) / "Gonna Make You My Angel", Polar Music POS 1202, 1975
- "Take Me Back to Hollywood" / "Back in the Business", Epic Records SEPC 6976 (UK), Polydor RecordsPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
2001 843 (West Germany & The Netherlands), RCA RecordsRCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
103 271 (Australia), 1978 - "Love, You're Makin' All the Fools" / "Puddle of Pain", Polar Music POS 1243, Polydor Records 2001 891 (West Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria), Discomate DSP-130 (Japan), 1978
- "Love, You're Makin' All the Fools" / "Love Lies Free", Epic Records SEPC 7477 (UK), 1978
- "Love, You're Makin' All the Fools" / "505 to Casablanca" RCA Records 103 395 (Australia), 1978
- "Satellit" (Swedish version) / "Blue Virgin Isles", Polar Music POS 1247, 1979
- "Satellite" (English version) / "Blue Virgin Isles", Polar Music POS 1248, Epic Records SEPC 7243 (UK), Polydor Records 2001 865 (The Netherlands), Carnaby (Spain), Polydor Records 2001 868 (Portugal), Carrere Records/Bagad 49476 (France), Durium DE 361 (Italy), Pan-Vox (Greece), Discomate (Japan), 1979
- "Satellite" / "Back in the Business", Polydor Records 2001 868 (West Germany, Switzerland, Austria), 1979
- "Låt solen värma dig" (duet with Annica Boller) / "Back in the Business", Polar Music POS 1261, 1980
- "Don't Treat Me This Way" / "Mindblower" ("Stormvarning"), Polydor Records 2002 003 (The Netherlands), 1980
- "Låt kärleken slå rot" / "Mindblower", Polar Music POS 1275, 1981
- "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" / "Donna Maya" (as CarambaCarambaCaramba was a Swedish music group. It released one self-titled album in 1981. The album is chiefly notable because it is recorded entirely in nonsense language. Songs which imitate certain regional styles of music generally imitate the phonemic structure of languages from the appropriate regions. ...
), Trash Records TRAS 1, Epic EPC A1644 (UK), Toledo/Intercord Records 112 532 (West Germany), 1981 - "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" / "Donna Maya" (as Caramba), RKM/Disques VogueDisques VogueDisques Vogue was founded in France in 1947, the same year that the USA Vogue closed shop. They originally specialized in jazz recordings, featuring such artists as Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhardt, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Errol Garner. In the late 1950s Vogue expanded into pop music,...
310923, 12" single (France), Durium Records DEX 13018, 12" single, white vinyl (Italy), 1981 - "Hare Christmes" / "Ali Baba" (as Caramba), Trash Records TRAS 2, 1981
- "Lycka" (duet with Harpo) / "Trubaduren" (Harpo) / "Himmel" (Harpo), Warner Music CD 9031-77723-2, 1992
- "För kärlekens skull" / "Låt kärleken slå rot", Polar Music/PolyGramPolyGramPolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
CD 865 552 - 2, 1993 - "För kärlekens skull" / "Låt kärleken slå rot", Polar Music/PolyGram 7" 865 552-7, 1993
- "Himlen är oskyldigt blå" / "Satellit" / "Låt kärleken slå rot", Polar Music/Polygram CD, 1993
- "Ge en sol" / "Lyckliga dagar", Polar Music/PolyGram CD 855 382-2, 1994
- "Om du ville ha mig" / "Jag bygger ett torn", Polar Music/PolyGram CD 851 314-2, 1994
- "Hon är kvinnan" / "Ruva min själ", Polar Music/PolyGram CD 853 818-2, 1995
- "Himlen är oskyldigt blå", Polar Music/Universal Music CD, 1997
- "I'd Rather Write a Symphony" (Radio Edit) / "Lyckliga dagar", Polar Music/Universal Music CD 855 383-2, 2001
Studio albums
- UndringarUndringarUndringar was the debut album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1972 on the Polar Music label. It contains breakthrough single "Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne" as well as "Hela Världen Runt", "När Du Kommer" and "Snurra Du Min Värld". The album was produced by Benny Andersson and...
, Polar Music POLS 234, 1972 - TedTed (album)Ted was the second album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1973 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Jag Ska Fånga En Ängel", "Sol, Vind Och Vatten", "Come Give Me Love" as well as his 1973 Melodifestivalen entry "Oh Vilken Härlig Da'" . The album was produced by...
, Polar Music POLS 241, 1973 - UpptågUpptågUpptåg was the third album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1974 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Fantomen", "Silver", "Eiffeltornet" and "Viking". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Ted, engineered by Michael B...
, Polar Music POLS 253, 1974 - Franska KortFranska KortFranska Kort was the fourth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1976 on the Polar Music label. It contains the hits "Angela" "Chapeau-Claque", "När Showen Är Slut" and "Klöversnoa". The album was produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Michael B...
, Polar Music POLS 259, 1976 - Blue Virgin IslesBlue Virgin IslesBlue Virgin Isles was the fifth album and the international debut from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in late 1978 on the Epic Records label in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia....
, Polar Music POLS 284, Epic Records 383 653 (UK), 1978 - Blue Virgin Isles (re-release with "Satellite" & "Satellit" included), Polar Music POLS 300
- Blue Virgin Isles (re-release with "Satellite" included), Epic RecordsEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
(UK), Polydor RecordsPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
(West Germany, The Netherlands & Portugal), Carnaby (Spain), RCA RecordsRCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
(Australia), Discomate (Japan), 1979 - I'd Rather Write a SymphonyI'd Rather Write a SymphonyI'd Rather Write A Symphony was the sixth album and the second international release from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1980 on the Polydor label in West Germany and The Netherlands, promoted by the single "Don't Treat Me This Way" backed with "Mindblower"...
, Polydor RecordsPolydor RecordsPolydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
2344 164, (West Germany & The Netherlands), 1980 - StormvarningStormvarningStormvarning was the sixth album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released on the Polar Music label in Sweden in early 1981. Stormvarning was an expanded and partly re-recorded version of the international album I'd Rather Write a Symphony, released in West Germany and the Netherlands...
, Polar Music POLS 310, 1981 - CarambaCarambaCaramba was a Swedish music group. It released one self-titled album in 1981. The album is chiefly notable because it is recorded entirely in nonsense language. Songs which imitate certain regional styles of music generally imitate the phonemic structure of languages from the appropriate regions. ...
, Trash Records TRASLP 1, 1981 - Äntligen På VägÄntligen på väg (Ted Gärdestad album)-Personnel:* Ted Gärdestad - lead vocals, piano* Janne Schaffer - guitars, electric sitar* Staffan Astner - guitars* Lasse Englund - guitars* Leif Larsson - synthesizer, keyboards* Peter Ljung - synthesizer, organ, piano* Backa Hans Ericsson - bass guitar...
, Polar Music/PolyGramPolyGramPolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
523 835-2, 1994
Compilation Albums
- Spotlight, Sonet SPCD-32, 1989
- Ted Gärdestad Collection, Polar Music/PolyGram 511 969-2, 1992
- Kalendarium 1972-93Kalendarium 1972-93Kalendarium 1972-93 was a compilation album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad released in 1993 which included the best-known songs from his early career as well one new recording, "För Kärlekens Skull", his first in twelve years...
, Polar Music/PolyGram 519 052-2, 1993 - Svenska Popfavoriter, Karussell/PolyGram 552 270-2, 1996
- Solregn (4 CD box set), Polar Music/Universal Music 543 985-2, 2001
- Droppar Av Solregn (selected tracks from Solregn), Polar Music/Universal Music 549 881-2, 2001
- 15 Klassiker 1972-1981, Polar Music/Universal Music 018 405-2, 2002
- Sol, Vind Och Vatten - Det Bästa (2 CD set), Polar Music/Universal Music 986 647-5, 2004
- 18 Ballader, Polar Music/Universal Music, 2005
- För Kärlekens Skull (3 CD box set), Polar Music/Universal Music, 2007
- Helt Nära Dig - Samlade Album (8 CD box set), Polar Music/Universal Music 06025270733-0, 2009
Filmography
- 1966 - En småstad vid seklets början (Translated: A Small Town at the Turn of the Century. TV advent calendarAdvent calendarAn Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content...
.) - 1970 - Story of a Woman (Italian title: Storia di una donna. Director: Leonardo Bercovici.)
- 1973 - Stenansiktet (English title: The Stone Face. Director: Jan Halldoff.)
Sources, references and external links
- Official home page, The Ted Gärdestad Society
- Blue Virgin Isles, A page of Ted Gärdestad in english
- Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne - Boken Om Ted Gärdestad, Kenneth Gärdestad & Keijo Liimatainen, Forum Sweden 2005. ISBN 91-37-12733-0.
- Ted Gärdestad och musiken, Kenneth Gärdestad, Ehrlingförlagen Sweden 2005. ISBN 91-85662-04-6.
- Topplistan: The Official Swedish Single & Album Charts, Wille Wendt, Premium Publishing 1993, ISBN 91-971894-2-1. Svensktoppen.nu, chart positions 1972-1994 Swedish charts, album chart positions 1976 -
- Liner notes Greatest Hits, Michael B. Tretow, Anderson Records 1999. Aftonbladet.se Expressen.se
- Detailed discography, Bluedesert.dk
- IMDB.com, filmography
- Ted Gärdestad discography, Discogs.com
- Caramba discography, Discogs.com
- Ted Gärdestad discography, Rateyourmusic.com
- Ted Gärdestad & Annica Boller discography, Rateyourmusic.com
- Caramba discography, Rateyourmusic.com
- [ Ted Gärdestad biography and discography, Allmusic.com]