The Hep Stars | |
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Hep Stars, 1967. Left to right, Pettersson, Hedlund, Andersson, Frisk, front Hegland |
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Background information | |
Origin | Sweden |
Genres | Beat, psychedelic rock |
Years active | 1963–1969 |
Labels | Olga Records |
Website | thehepstars.se |
Past members | |
Svenne Hedlund Benny Andersson Janne Frisk Charlotte Walker Christer Pettersson Lelle Hegland |
The Hep Stars was a Swedish Pop group, formed in 1963. During 1965-1966 the band was the most successful of contemporary 1960s Swedish pop groups performing in English language. Outside the Nordic countries the band is best known as a launching point for keyboard player and composer Benny Andersson who went on to enjoy worldwide success with ABBA.
The band was founded by drummer Christer "Chrille" Pettersson (d.2006) and bass guitarist Lennart "Lelle" Hegland in 1963 with keyboardist Hans Östlund and guitarist-singer Jan "Janne" Frisk joining. At their height of popularity the line-up consisted of Hegland, Pettersson, Frisk and Sven "Svenne" Hedlund on lead vocals and Benny Andersson on keyboards.
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Upon founding the band called themselves Quartet Yep. Their repertoire included various styles of music from Latin-dance to rock in order to get as many gigs as possible in varying venues. They started to get support gigs also closing in after the headline act. Typical gig could see them playing around four hours with one set of rock.[1] Mainly on the influence by Jan Frisk their music started to veer towards rock 'n'roll and pop. The band decided a more intriguing name was in order and on Frisk's suggestion Hep Stars was chosen. The idea came from Bill Haley song "Razzle Dazzle" line "It's the hipster's dance" with slight alteration on written form.
Hegland called to Hedlund to fill in the singer's slot for Frisk who temporarily joined to a tour backing band for some extra money for new guitar amp. The band quickly noticed Hedlund's abilities as both singer and frontman. Upon Frisk's return they shared lead vocal duties for a period of time with Frisk singing the more straightforward rockers and Hedlund dealing with the ballads.
By summer 1964 they could be performing to audiences in size of 2000. The rock-scene took a note on them after one evening in Nalen which was the most important rock-club in Sweden during 1960's. The main act failed to appear at all and originally hired to be support act Hep Stars filled in going down a storm[2] especially among rockers (or raggar as they were known in Nordic countries)[3] and the reputation started to spread through word-of-mouth.
At this point Hegland managed to talk musicbusiness man and Olga-recordlabel owner Åke Gerhard over to be their manager.
After the group's first single "Kana Kapila" (1964) the original keyboardist Hans Östlund was asked to leave the relations growing sour especially with Hedlund and founder member Pettersson, who left the band being fed up with squabbles. He was asked to rejoin and the band continued as a fourpiece for a short time in autumn 1964.[4]
Hedlund owed a van and occasionally drove other bands to gigs. One of these bands was Elverkets Spelmanslag where Hedlund saw Benny Andersson performing making an impression with his quick runs and fill-ins. On Hedlund's suggestion Andersson was called for audition. In turn Andersson had earlier read a tabloid article over Hep Star's camp car they used on touring and which could take in both band and the equipment ensuring him Hep Stars had it going along with their assuring comments on the current scene.[5]
The band was now what is considered to be the classic line-up consisting of Sven Hedlund vocals, Jan Frisk-guitar/vocals, Benny Andersson-keyboards, Lennart Hegland-bass and Christer Pettersson-drums. The fans were soon to absorb their nicknames Svenne, Janne, Benny, Lelle and Chrille.
Hep Stars recorded their next three singles in one six hours session without overdubs on three-track equipment[6] They got a chance to perform in TV-program "Drop In" in March 1965. In April they got three songs to radiolist top 4 at the same time namely "Cadillac", "Farmer John" and "Tribute To Buddy Holly". On the sales list "Cadillac" and "Farmer" peaked #1 for one week and four weeks respectively while "Tribute" peaked number five.[7] Svenne Hedlund became the band's figure-head and first true pop-star in Sweden the band itself being headline material in tabloids and various youth oriented magazines.
Other Swedish bands such as Tages and Shanes who largely wrote their own songs made a remark on Hep Stars using coverversions. This motivated Benny Andersson to try to write songs for the band. Also it was a hard job to try to find fresh songs to the band's repertoire. The first song he introduced to band was "No Response" which became #3 in sales list.[8] The band was at the height of popularity especially among rock audiences during 1965-1966 with both cover and original songs. In 1966 they did 150 gigs in Sweden only. The popularity echoed rapidly and the band was highly successful also in Norway and Finland making several tours in both countries.[9]
"I Natt Jag Drömde" a Swedish version of "Last Night I Had A Strangest Dream" was a massive hit in Sweden but divided the band to a degree being a folk-song. It also caused confusion among rock-oriented fans. The band continued playing up to 200 gigs in 1967. However the back-up organisation made less than adequate job with taxman and in general running of the business and problems raised their ugly heads. Also general economic situation in the country started to stagnate towards the end of 1960's. Together they forced the band to navigate towards wider audiences and showband scene. American singer Charlotte Walker joined 1968.
The direction contradicted especially with Frisk who was eventually asked to leave early 1969 due to diminishing interest. Björn Ulvaeus from Hootenanny Singers stepped in. Original member going left the band in mixed feelings and the decision was made to call it the day after fulfilling the tour contracts. The band played their last gig August 1969 after which Andersson, Ulvaeus, Walker and Hedlund left the band. It went through several line-up changes finally breaking up in early 1970s with Hegland the only original member.
Andersson and Ulvaeus continued with Hedlund and Walker making a show-tour with comedian Finn Alberth. After that Hedlund and Walker formed the duo Svenne & Lotta, who recorded the Swedish original of the ABBA song "Bang A Boomerang". They established themselves and enjoyed considerable success especially in Denmark and also in Mid-Europe. Having established their co-work in Hep Stars Andersson and Ulvaeus continued both as songwriting team to Polar- record company as well as duo Björn & Benny which eventually led to ABBA.
After a hiatus Frisk, Hegland and Pettersson formed Gummibandet that did three albums in the 1970s. In the 1980s, a wave of 1960s nostalgia swept Sweden and the members had a discussion about re-forming the Hep Stars. They hit onto successful tours Benneth Fagerlund replacing Andersson on keyboards.[10] 1990 Lennart Hegland stepped down Fagerlund following the suit few years later.
For the 40th anniversary collection Cadillac Madness 40 years 40 hits 1964-2004 they re-recorded some of their hits as well as some new songs. Jan Frisk, Charlotte Walker and Sven Hedlund occasionally play concerts together with guest musicians under the Hep Stars flag.
On the album The Hep Stars in 1966 there was "Isn't It Easy To Say", the first joint composition by Andersson and his new friend Björn Ulvaeus, then a member of the acoustic group Hootenanny Singers, who mainly sang in the Swedish language. On the same album there was another song, "No Time", written by Ulvaeus alone. "No Time" was also recorded by the Hootenanny Singers in an acoustic version. Andersson and Ulvaeus would also write two songs for the album "Hep Stars På Svenska". The songs were "Speleman" and "Precis Som Alla Andra".[11]
Among the hits were "I natt jag drömde" (Swedish version of "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"), Mike Berry's "Tribute to Buddy Holly" (#4, Sweden), "Malaika" (with lyrics in Swahili), "Wedding", "Consolation", "Cadillac" (#1, Sweden), "Farmer John" (#2, Sweden), "No Response" and "Sunny Girl". The group's last hit in 1969 was a cover of "Speedy Gonzales".
The Hep Stars released ten albums and 23 singles.[12]
With the book Cadillac Madness - den otroliga berättelsen om Hep Stars came a bonus-CD with four unpublished songs from years 1966-1967.
A stdudiojam with roadmanager Fernholm on bass
(In Swedish)