Anderson Taps Abba Legacy: Swedish Label Finds Early Success. By Paul Sexton

Stockholm

The ABBA legacy has been passed from father to daughter, with spectacular results. Anderson Records, formed here one year ago by Marie Ledin, the daughter of former Abba managerial guru Stig Anderson, is celebrating a remarkable first few months in business.

Before 1996 was out, the label distributed by Warner Music Services and with a staff of just two had scored two local No.1's with its first two albums, and a third with one of its protégées on another label. Not to mention coaxing a member of Sweden 's most famous pop group out of retirement.

Djupa Andetag, the first album in 12 years by former ABBA singer Frida, nee AnniFrid Lyngstad, was released in September with the catalog number Anderson 1, and topped the Swedish sales chart within seven days. The 12 track, Swedish-language release, which contains a duet with Marie Fredriksson of Roxette, has remained in the top 30 ever since, selling 95,000 copies, according to Ledin, the label's managing director and owner.

In addition to her famous parental connection, Ledin is the wife of the veteran Swedish artist who then provided her new company with its second chart-topping triumph last November. Tomas Ledin's T album went on to be Sweden 's best-selling album of the year, according to Ledin, with sales of 110,000 copies.

Between those two successes, label discovery Uno Svenningsson hit big on BMG with her Doue album, which has sold some 60,000 units locally.

Ledin modestly remarks that Anderson 's releases have been limited to Scandinavia thus far because of the language barrier and because "I don't know if anyone else is interested." But discussing the label's plans, she adds, "We are going to sign new artists, and if they're good enough in English we will sign them. But I'm more interested in Swedish. It's more personal." Signings due to emerge on Anderson this year include local artists Lars Demein, Jenny Ohlund, and Eva Dahlgren.

Anderson's success is a reminder that there is more to the current Swedish music industry than the oft-cited waves of modern rockers, such as the Cardigans and Popsicle, and singer/songwriters, such as Sophie Zelmani and Rebecka Tornqvist. In addition to Frida's time-honored popularity as a member of Abba, Tomas Ledin has been a recording artist since 1972, with a wealth of Scandinavian hits to his name. "This is the adult side of the market," says his wife.

"I think Sweden today is just exploding with talent," says Tomas Ledin. He believes that the country is strong in modern rock output because "it's a very American country culturally. We're a country that is very inspired by Britain and America since World War II."

Of the Swedish pop industry that has produced worldwide pop heroes from ABBA to Ace Of Base, he adds, "ABBA had an extremely big impact on the business confidence here. They created the feeling that it's possible to do it."

Nevertheless, Ledin describes his wife's decision to start Anderson as "quite a brave move. She'd been talking about it for a couple of years, and it grew naturally. I've worked with Marie since the early 1980s and apart from her being my wife, I have quite a big experience of people at different companies, so I know she's one of the best people I could work with."

Ledin adds that he works his Swedish-language releases in Norway, Finland, and Denmark, as well as at home, and is planning a Scandinavian tour this Summer. He recorded some English-language albums in the early 1980s and says that if he can find a suitable lyricist, he may do so again.

Marie Ledin believes that many buyers of Djupa Andetag (Deep Breaths) are original ABBA fans. Such die-hards have had an exciting few months in Sweden: Last fall also saw the Scandinavian release by Columbia of My Love My Life by Agnetha Fältskog, a 37-track, double-CD compilation of the singer's favorite songs recorded before, during, and since her time in ABBA. Fältskog also had a biography published.

Frida was the only former ABBA member absent when Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus joined up at Benny Andersson's 50th-birthday party in Stockholm December 16th, 1996.

"They will never play together again, I'm sure of that," says Marie Ledin. "They have different lives now. Benny and Björn are very involved in musicals." The cast recording of their Kristina Från Duvemåla musical was released locally last year by Mono Music.

Of Djupa Andetag, Frida's first album since Shine on Epic in 1984, Ledin comments, "It's a really good album, first of all, and people recognize her voice immediately. She's been discussing [such a comeback] for very many years, and she finally decided to do it when she met Anders Glenmark, who produced the album. She's happier doing a Swedish-language album. If you're doing international, you have to travel and do all this promotion."

Nonetheless, Frida did conduct considerable promotion for the album and, its first single, Aven En Blomma, which became a radio hit in Norway (her country of birth) and Finland. She also performed, with Tomas Ledin and Lionel Richie, at a Swedish telethon for children in Zaire and Rwanda November 29th 1996.

The Djupa Andetag CD also contains an interactive element, Frida Interaktiv, for PC and Macintosh formats, featuring biographical information, the video for the single, interviews with the artist and producer, and excerpts from a documentary produced by Sveriges Television, Frida-mitt I Livet (In the Middle of Life) about the 51-year-old singer.

The album was produced at ABBA's celebrated recording home in Stockholm, Polar Studios, which is part-owned by Marie and Tomas Ledin. Marie began her career at sister label Polar Music before launching the successful label the Record Station in 1987. At the turn of the 1990s, it was purchased by BMG, for which she worked for six years before founding Anderson.

As for her father, Ledin says that he has been "pretty much retired" since selling Polar Music and sister publishing company Sweden Music to PolyGram.

But he is unable to completely shake off the pop bug. "He's just found a girl that's excellent, she sings in English; I got the tape today," Marie Ledin says. "So he's still interested in the business." Transcribed for ABBA World

Billboard (USA) · 1 February 1997 (Pages 10 & 86)

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