A*Teens

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The A*Teens (pronounced 'A-Teens') were a pop music group from Stockholm, Sweden, formed in 1998 as an ABBA tribute called ABBA Teens and later renamed to A*Teens. The band's debut album became a success around the world and in 2001 it was reported that the band had sold 6 million albums worldwide.^[1]

After six years together, the band announced they would take a break in 2004 after the release of their Greatest Hits album. Each song from that album became a Top 20 hit in at least one country around the world.^[2] The split of the band was officially announced on 15 April 2006 and the band members have all started to pursue solo careers.

[edit] Biography

In 1998, Marie, Amit, Dhani, and Sara were musically united as the ABBA Teens. However, upon the request of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of the legendary Swedish group ABBA, the group's name was changed to the A*Teens to avoid confusion.^[3] This choice allowed the band more freedom in creating their own style of music and not be solely based around ABBA.

[edit] The ABBA Generation

In early 1999 the band started the recording process of what would be their debut album, The ABBA Generation, consisting purely of ABBA covers reinterpreted with a modern pop and techno flair to appeal to a new generation of young pop fans. Their first single, Mamma Mia, topped the charts in over ten countries including their home country Sweden where it stayed at number one for eight consecutive weeks. The album hit the pole position in Sweden & Chile and became a top ten hit throughout the world. Further singles enjoyed similar success ensuring top ten placings across the globe.

The band's music video for Dancing Queen features a plot very similar to the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. In addition, the principal seen in the music video was played by Paul Gleason, the same actor who was the principal in the movie. The single reached ninety-five on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone, being certified Gold.^[4]

The album sold over 3 million copies worldwide. It was certified Gold and Platinum in over 22 different countries.^[5] It also reached number three on the World Album charts.^[6]

In early 2000, the band embarked on a U.S. promotional tour, and on the verge of the release of their album in America, the band was invited to tour with Britney Spears that summer in her U.S. Tour. The band's debut became a hit in North America, where the album reached seventy-one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart being certified Gold in September 2000,^[7] but its sales reached the million mark in 2001.^[8]

That month, the A*Teens won a Viva Music Award for Best International Newcomer, competing with the likes of Christina Aguilera and Blink-182,^[9] and also the band announced what would be the lead single from their second album and their first to be an original song, "Upside Down", the song was released to Swedish radios on October 23 2000,^[10] and was later unleashed worldwide, when the single was commercially released, it reached number-two in Sweden and was later certified 2x Platinum.^[11] The song became the band's biggest hit, when it reached the top ten in several countries and when the single was released in the United States, the physical single reached number-six on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales Chart,^[12] selling over 500,000 copies in three weeks and being certified Gold.^[13] In January 2001, the band was nominated for "Best Swedish Group" at the NRJ Awards,^[14]

[edit] Teen Spirit

The band's second album, entitled "Teen Spirit", featured a compilation of tracks that were not ABBA covers and when it was finally released in February 26, 2001, it debuted at number-two in the Swedish Charts. This pop sensation hit reached the top ten in other countries and entered at number eighty-three on the World Charts,^[15]number-thirteen on the European Albums Chart,^[16] number-fourteen on CNN'S WorldBeat Album Charts^[17] and peaked at number-fifty in the United States selling over 60,000 copies in its first two weeks,^[18] ensuring Gold Status for sales exceeding the 500,000 copies in the United States alone.^[19] Prior to the release of the album, the A*Teens became one of the first bands to broadcast one of their shows on MSN's Websites^[20]

The U.K. releases were delayed due to A*Teens' failure with their previous album in that country,^[21] when "Upside Down" was released there in May 2001,^[22] it became their biggest hit ever in the country,^[23] the single peaked at number-ten in the United Kingdom becoming their only top ten hit in that country,^[24] the album was delayed and released after the second single, "Halfway Around The World" in late October 2001, the single barely made the top thirty and the album did not chart in the top 75.

Before they started their concert tour in the U.S. the band went to promote their album to Asia, with stops in Japan,^[25] Singapore,^[26] Malaysia where they did show for MTV Asia^[27] and Thailand, with great success, especially in the former where Coca-Cola signed the band to become the face of the brand there and promote, "We were the first international artists ever to appear on a soda can there. They printed 15 million of them; we went home with ten!" Remembers Sara,^[28] The cans were distributed around the country that year.^[29]

The group promoted their album with a forty-three-date tour with Aaron Carter around the U.S.,^[30] back in Europe, the band toured with No Angels in Germany.^[31][32] By the end of 2001, "Teen Spirit" went on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide and were invited by Walt Disney/Buena Vista to record the European soundtrack for the movie "The Princess Diaries", as the movie had already been released in North and South America, the movie was set to be released in Europe in the winter 2001, "Heartbreak Lullaby" a song written by Cathy Dennis (famous for writing Kylie Minogue's number-one hit, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head") and Kasmanaut, the video was shot in Germany in late October, in the middle of their tour,^[33] the single was released in December 2001 and it became another top ten hit for the band in their home country spending four months inside the charts.^[34]

[edit] Pop 'Til You Drop!

In early 2002 the band started working on what would be their third studio album, in January a press conference was held in Stockholm with American rock musician Alice Cooper, the announced they would do a collaboration recording Cooper's classic, "School's Out".^[35] The song was recorded on January 25 in Stockholm, Sweden, two versions were recorded, a Pop Version and a Harder Version both were planned to be included on A*Teens' third album due to release on Spring/Summer 2002.^[36]

During the start of the year, many updates and reports about were published on the band's official website anticipating the release of the album.^[37] By March 2002, the band reported they had over fifteen tracks already recorded, giving names of tracks and telling the fans the direction they were going musically.^[38] The band finished recording their album in late March that year with meeting with MCA executives to plan what would be the promotion and tour for the album.^[39]

In May 2002 the band announced the first single to be taken from the album would be Elvis Presley's cover "Can't Help Falling In Love" to be launched to radios that month, and would also serve as the soundtrack of the then new, Disney's movie "Lilo & Stitch".^[40] A series of promotional stops in different TV Shows throughout the United States followed, to promote both, the movie and the album.^[41][42]

On June 18 their third studio album, "Pop 'Til You Drop!" was released exclusively in the United States.^[43] The album was aimed to the American market putting on hold the release for the international markets, the album debuted at number forty-five on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart^[44] and their single reached the pole position on the Radio Disney Chart.^[45] The single also received a commercial release in Australia and Sweden in September 2002.^[46] In July, "Lilo & Stitch" soundtrack reached number-eleven on the Billboard 200 albums chart^[47]

The band announced their first headlining tour in the United States, the Pop 'Til You Drop! Tour was a thirty-date tour around the U.S. was held in the summer of 2002 with Baha Men, LMNT and Play.^[48][49]

Later in 2002, due to public demand, the album was released in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, where the band promoted in November,^[50][51] the band had a concert planned in the Auditorio Nacional but was latter canceled due to some problems with the set, the band was also invited to do a show for the King and Queen of Sweden and the then president of Mexico, Vicente Fox.^[52] Their album reached number-three on the international albums chart and number fourteen on the main album charts.^[53][54] After the promotion in Mexico, the band headed to Europe to release their single "Floorfiller", the song became a top five hit in ther home country^[55] and reached the top forty in most European countries as well as becoming a hit in Latin America, but did not match the success of their previous releases.

The band appeared on CNN's The Music Room on December 2002, talking about the pop music in Sweden.^[56]

[edit] New Arrival

By the end of 2002 the A*Teens were in Europe, on the verge of what would be the international release of their third album, the band performed their hit single, "Floorfiller" at the 2002 Swedish Hit Music Awards as part of the promotion for their new album.^[57]

In January 2003 the band announced the release dates of their third album for the international market^[58] The band promoted in Germany and The Netherlands prior to the album's release.^[59][60] On January 27 the album, entitled New Arrival (a throwback to the ABBA album entitled Arrival), was released. It combined tracks from the last effort "Pop 'Til You Drop" and new tracks, making a whole new album, or a "half-new album," as they described it. Some of the material on these two albums was co-written by the members of the A*Teens. The majority of tracks, while recorded in Sweden, were the work of producers from the United States, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.^[61] The album debuted at number-four in Sweden and was certified Gold a few weeks after its release.^[62] The second single taken from the album (first in some countries), was "A Perfect Match", the band shot the video for the song in Cuba,^[63] the video was premiered on February 26 on ZTV.^[64] When the single was released, it reached number-two in Sweden and ensured top forty placings all over the world.^[65] Worldwide releases of the album followed, including a release in Mexico, on March 24, the band promoted in the country for almost a month,^[66] their album reached number-seven on the international album charts and number-fifteen on the main album charts in late April that year.^[67][68]

Back in their homeland, the band embarked in their New Arrival Tour across Europe doing shows all over Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Slovakia.^[69][70][71]

The band signed a promotional deal to promote Popdrinks in Sweden, with the song "Bounce With Me",^[72] Amit graduated from High School and Marie Serneholt was named the third sexiest woman in Sweden.^[73]

The third single from the album (second in some countries), "Let Your Heart Do All The Talking" was meant to be commercially released, but after the lack of sales of the A*Teens album in a worldwide scale, the record label canceled the release, and just unleashed the song to radios.^[74] Sales for "New Arrival" were lower than expected, selling less than 350,000 copies worldwide. The band still got a nomination in the Swedish Hit Music Awards for "Swedish artist/group of the year".^[75]

The album also contains a cover from Murray Head's One Night In Bangkok (from the musical Chess). The music of this song is written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (2 previous ABBA-members), while the lyrics are written by Tim Rice.

[edit] Greatest Hits

By the beginning of 2004 the band announced their first Greatest Hits compilation was going to be released, a cover of Nick Kamen's "I Promised Myself" became the last single from the band.^[76]

The band shot the video for the song in March 2004,^[77] and was premiered on ZTV in early April, the song went to international radios on late April/May becoming a the last hit of the band.^[78] The album was a compilation of thirteen singles, which each one of them made the top twenty in at least one country^[79] and three new tracks, two of them were written by the band members.

Promotion for the album was slow, the band did a few shows in Sweden and international interviews to magazines.^[80][81] Many were reporting the band was splitting up after six years in the pop world.^[82] The band quickly denied the rumours on their official website.^[83]

The single became another top-two hit for the band in Sweden, it became one of the band's biggest hits in South America and the album became the band's first to not make the top ten in their homeland while it brought back the attention to them in other countries in Latin America and Eastern Europe.^[84]

The album was just released in selected European countries, Asia and Latin America. It did not receive a U.S. release, although, when MCA Records went to bankrupt and was absorbed by both Geffen and Interscope, the former had plans to release it in November, ready for the Christmas sales, but plans were scrapped when the band finished their tour and Dhani released his first solo single.^[85]

[edit] Break-up

After "Greatest Hits" was released, the band announced a 2 years break.On April 15, 2006, Marie Serneholt's Swedish website officially announced that the A*Teens have parted their ways. A reason for the departure has yet to be announced. In one magazine Marie Serneholt stated, "The A*Teens are nothing but a memory now, we have all started our own projects." Another member of the group, Dhani Lennevald, confirmed his former group-mate's comment. Amit wrote on his website: "Well for starters we figured that it’s better to stop when you’re still on top. And during all the traveling we’d done we had worn on each other. For me personally though the main reason was that I had started writing songs during the years, and I was beginning to feel that I wanted to do something just for me, in my way.”

[edit] Solo careers

In September 2004, Dhani Lennevald released his first single as a solo artist titled "Girl Talk" in Sweden, where it peaked at number twenty-nine, ensuring Gold status after nine weeks on the charts.^[86][87] Dhani and Universal Music parted ways in 2005, now he's preparing the release of his first solo album.

In 2005, Marie Serneholt signed with SonyBMG and in early 2006, she released her first single as a solo artist titled "That's The Way My Heart Goes". It reached number-two in Sweden in February, and was later released in Europe and certified Gold^[88]. This was followed by the album Enjoy the Ride which peaked at number-nine in her homeland. According to her personal MySpace she is recording her second album.

Amit Paul is also preparing for his debut as well, "Songs In A Key of Mine" is a mini-album with eight demos.^[89]

Sara Lumholdt released a cover of Olivia Newton John's song "Let's Get Physical" for a compilation album. She released the song under the name of Sara Love, and according to her official MySpace she is working with producers from the United States and Europe to release more music this year. She has released "Glamour Bitch" to her MySpace and is said to be her debut single.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

• 1999: The ABBA Generation
• 2001: Teen Spirit
• 2002: Pop 'Til You Drop!
• 2003: New Arrival
• 2004: Greatest Hits

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• A*Teens Official Website
• A*Teens at Discogs