| Ulf Ekberg | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ulf Gunnar Ekberg |
| Also known as | Buddha |
| Born | December 6, 1970 Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | keyboardist, songwriter, singer, businessman, television producer, film producer |
| Instruments | keyboard, voice |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Associated acts | Ace of Base |
Ulf Gunnar Ekberg (born December 6, 1970 in Gothenburg, Sweden), a.k.a. "Buddha", along with the three siblings of Jonas Berggren (Joker), Linn Berggren, and Jenny Berggren, is a founding member of the Swedish pop group Ace of Base.
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Ace of Base released its debut album in 1992 and went on to attain major chart success throughout the 1990s.
Ekberg has produced several artists, TV productions, films and events and has sold over 40 million records world wide. With Ace of Base's The Sign (1993), he was #1 on the Billboards single and album list for six weeks and sold - as the only non-American band ever - diamond with the album. 1993 he was nominated in the USA for three Grammy Awards, won two American Music Awards, two Billboard Awards and eight World Music Awards. Ace of Base have reached the #1 world wide chart position and released four albums and one 'best of' album with four new songs.
Ulf restarted Ace of Base in 2006, touring the world with them from 2007 to 2009. 2009 he started a new music production/publishing and management company together with Jonas Berggren based in LA, London and Stockholm.
Ulf is the creator and producer of the award-winning TV-format "Magician Impossible", featuring one of the world's leading magician: Joe Labero. "Magician Impossible" has been broadcast in over 30 countries, including at Saturday night prime time on UK's largest TV-channel: ITV.
He celebrated the Millennium (2000) with Bill Clinton at the White House.[1][2] Every year, he donates money for cancer research, and often contributes at different charity events. He also actively supports projects that focus on child protection and their future around the world, including the HIV problem in Africa. He has been involved with several projects together with UNESCO and Save the Children.[3]
After Ekberg experienced the tsunami in Phuket, Thailand he founded the Surin Relief Fund to support affected children by providing facilities to educate children and care for orphaned children.[4]
He has also frequently been a strategic advisor to several global consumer brands and active in many "think tanks" both regarding environmental issues and global businesses. He is currently on the respected business magazine BusinessWeek's advisory board[5] and advises Dr Ashok Khosla, the President of International Union for Conservation of Nature.
For two years, Ulf was active as a senior adviser for Team SEB and their $40 million investment in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Over the last ten years Ulf has also taken a leading role in a range of companies operating in the media and entertainment sector, including the strategic marketing company "Result",[6] which has offices in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
In its 27 March 1993 edition, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Ekberg had once been a member of a band called "Commit Suiside" [sic], which sang songs with explicit racist lyrics. It had been debated, but thus far never proven that these songs were recorded by Commit Suiside. Commit Suiside was a neo-nazi band active in Gothenburg from 1983 to 1986. Other media outlets reported that Ekberg had been a neo-nazi skinhead.[7][8][9] In 1988 he was a part of the leadership of the Sweden Democrats in Gothenburg.[10]
In the 1997 documentary Our Story, Ekberg said: "I told everyone I really regret what I done. I closed that book. I don't want to even talk about it, that time does not exist in me any more. I closed it and I threw the book away 1987. I took the experience from it, I learned from it. But that life is not me. It's somebody else."
In 1998 some of his old songs were released on the compilation album Uffe was a Nazi!. Including songs like Rör inte vårt land (Don't touch our land), Vit makt, svartskalleslakt! (White Power, black head slaughter) and a translated cover of Skrewdriver's Smash the IRA.
Ekberg dated the Swedish super model/actress Emma Sjöberg from 1994 to 2000. He currently lives in London with his girlfriend Johanna Aybar and their three children Viggo, Vincent and Valentina.
He has written and produced the following songs:
Ulf has contributed vocals to the following songs:
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