Ted Gärdestad

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Ted Gärdestad
Cover for the CD "Sol, vind och vatten: Det bästa"
Cover for the CD "Sol, vind och vatten: Det bästa"
Background information
Birth name Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad
Born February 18, 1956
Origin Sollentuna, Sweden
Died June 22, 1997

Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad (February 18, 1956 – June 22, 1997 in Sollentuna, Sweden) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician.

Contents

[edit] Early career

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 ABBA, 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. Not well-known, but Ted was actually also a very promising tennis-player. As a fourteen year old he was second best in Sweden after one Björn Borg.

Ted released his first single "Hela världen runt" (All Over the World) in late 1971 but it was his second single "Jag vill ha en egen måne" (I Want a Moon of My Own) 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. 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'" the song finished seventh in the contest but became another hit single. Ted and brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 with the song "Det Bästa Som Finns", but that time they employed Polar Music labelmate Lena Andersson to perform the song.

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, French chanson, Swedish folkmusic as well as contemporary English and American pop, rock and R & B. The early Swedish albums all 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.

By 1975, Ted had become a big star in Sweden, 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 had plans to launch him internationally. 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" with the title "Gonna Make You My Angel". Neither were a significant hit. Australian pop singer Mark Holden did however have a major hit in Australia with "Jag ska fånga en ängel" under the title "I Wanna Make You My Lady" in 1976.

By 1977 Ted was 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 folkparks was quickly fading 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 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), 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" and "Klöversnoa" (a folk dance pastiche 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 ABBA - The Album - as an indirect consequence no Ted Gärdestad album was released that year.

[edit] International career

Stig still could see international potential for Ted, and since the Polar Music economy at this stage only could be equalled to that of Volvo, Ted and brother Kenneth travelled to Hollywood, California in the summer of 1978 to record Ted's first English language album Blue Virgin Isles. The rock-orientated album featured contributions from an impressive number of famous American and English musicians, among them Jeff 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 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 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 two weeks on the chart. Blue Virgin Isles remains the only Ted Gärdestad studio album not to have been re-released on CD by Polar Music/PolyGram/Universal Music.

In 1979, Ted and Kenneth had a fourth attempt at Melodifestivalen and this time they won with the song "Satellit", performed by Ted. Consequently, he represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem, the song finished seventeenth of nineteen entries, but the Swedish language single became another Top 10 hit in Sweden. 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 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, 4 weeks), internationally released as I'd Rather Write A Symphony on the Polydor label in a few countries and equally unsuccessful, Ted dropped out of the music scene - at the age of 25.

[edit] Adulthood

Having left the music business he began exploring meditation and Eastern religions. For a period of time he was involved with the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh movement, widely considered as a cult and he publicly renounced his earlier life. In an interview with Swedish paper Aftonbladet in July 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 pink. 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. His wife, actress Ann Zacharias, divorced him and he lost the custody of their two young children and after some time he left Sweden and moved to the cult's headquarters in Oregon, USA. In 1986, after the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho, was convicted for tax fraud 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 something happened that would affect the entire nation 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 Yugoslavia 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.

[edit] Later career

In the early 1990s, Ted was briefly coaxed out of retirement by his friend and fellow Swedish pop star Harpo. Ted joined Harpo on a concert tour and in 1992, they released the duet "Lycka" (Happiness) as a single. This became the starting point to Ted's return to music.

In 1993, the compilation album Kalendarium 1972-93, promoted by a sold-out summer tour in the Swedish folkparks, was a huge hit as was Ted's first brand new song in twelve years "För kärlekens skull" (For Love's Sake). The 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) - now 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 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 work as adults, and his body of work has since come to be regarded as a national treasure of the same importance as 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 resulted in 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, harmonic 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. The news on June 23rd 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 years of his life. In the book Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne, published eight years after Ted's passing, Kenneth revealed that his brother had fought against anxiety ever since his late teens and that he had become convinced that his brother as an adult actually had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, indirectly caused 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. Kenneth also pointed out that Ted never received the proper diagnosis of his condition during his lifetime - nor the medical or psychotherapeutic treatment that could have saved him.

The only colleagues from Ted's musical career attending his funeral were Janne Schaffer, Michael B. Tretow , Barbro 'Lill-Babs' Svensson and Agnetha Fältskog.

[edit] 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 2001 both Michael B. Tretow and Kenneth Gärdestad personally took part in the production of the 4 CD box set Solregn, 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 sessions. The album closes with Janne Schaffer's instrumental version of "Jag Vill Ha En Egen Måne", 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 "Sol, vind och vatten", "För kärlekens skull", "Jag vill ha en egen måne" and "Come Give Me Love" 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 the 2004 2 CD set Sol Vind Och Vatten - Det Bästa (see above), which peaked at #4 on the Swedish albums chart.

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 of contemporary Swedish artists such as Håkan Hellström, Helen Sjöholm, Patrik Isaksson, Viktoria Tolstoy and Josefin Nilsson of Ainbusk Singers interpreting some of Ted's most loved songs was released, called Fånga En Ängel - En hyllning till Ted Gärdestad (Catch An Angel - A tribute to Ted Gärdestad). The album was released on the Anderson Records label, run by Stig Anderson's daughter Marie Ledin. Both country singer and Eurovision winner 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 some of Ted's closest friends, such as actor Per Ragnar, guitarist Janne Schaffer, singer Harpo, hockey player Mats Ulander, as well as his first wife, 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. [1]

[edit] Caramba

In 1981 Ted and ABBA 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 (Anderson Records) 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.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

  • "Hela Världen Runt"/"Sommarlängtan" (Polar Music 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)
  • "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'"(Swedish version)/"Gonna Make You An Angel" ("Jag Ska Fånga En Ängel") (Polar Music POS 1201, 1975)
  • "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'"(English version)/"Gonna Make You An Angel" (Polar Music POS 1202, 1975)
  • "Take Me Back To Hollywood"/"Back In The Business" (Epic Records, 1978)
  • "Love, You're Makin' All The Fools"/"Puddle Of Pain" (Polar Music POS 1243/Polydor Records/Epic Records, 1978)
  • "Satellit" (Swedish version)/"Blue Virgin Isles" (Polar Music POS 1247, 1979)
  • "Satellite" (English version)/"Blue Virgin Isles" (Polar Music POS 1248/Polydor Records/Epic Records, 1979)
  • "Låt Solen Värma Dig" (duet with Annika Boller)/"Back In The Business" (Polar Music POS 1261, 1980)
  • "Låt Kärleken Slå Rot"/"Mindblower" ("Stormvarning") (Polar Music POS 1275, 1981)
  • "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot"/"Donna Maya" (as Caramba, Trash Records TRAS 1, 1981)
  • "Hare Christmes"/"Ali Baba" (as Caramba, Trash Records TRAS 2, 1981)
  • "Lycka" (duet with Harpo)/"Trubaduren" (Harpo)/"Himmel" (Harpo) (Warner Music 9031-77723-2, 1992)
  • "För Kärlekens Skull"/Låt Kärleken Slå Rot" (Polar Music/PolyGram 865 552 - 2, 1993)
  • "Himlen Är Oskyldigt Blå"/"Satellit"/"Låt Kärleken Slå Rot" (Polar Music/Polygram, 1993)
  • "Ge En Sol"/"Lyckliga Dagar" (Polar Music/PolyGram, 1994)
  • "Om Du Ville Ha Mig"/"Jag Bygger Ett Torn" (Polar Music/PolyGram, 1994)
  • "Hon Är Kvinnan" (Polar Music/PolyGram 853 818-2, 1995)
  • "Himlen Är Oskyldigt Blå" (Polar Music/Universal Music, 1997)
  • "I'd Rather Write A Symphony" (Polar Music/Universal Music, 2001)

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Compilation Albums

  • Spotlight (Sonet SPCD-32, 1989)
  • Ted Gärdestad Collection (Polar Music/PolyGram 511 969-2, 1992)
  • Kalendarium 1972-93 (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)

[edit] Sources, references and links