Hep Stars

The Hep Stars was a Swedish pop group, formed in 1963. The group were among the most successful of 1960s Swedish pop groups. The band included keyboardist Benny Andersson, who went on to become a member of ABBA. The other members of the group included Svenne Hedlund on lead vocals, Janne Frisk on guitar, Christer Pettersson (d. 2006) on drums and Lelle Hegland on bass. Svenne Hedlund and Benny Andersson left the group in 1969.

The Hep Stars were Sweden's biggest selling rock act in the 60s, even outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The name "Hep Stars" means "Stars in the know".

They were formed in 1963 by Lennart "Lelle" Hegland and Christer "Krille" Petterson. The two met while serving together in the Swedish Air Force. At first their group played the supper clubs, but soon rock took over. Jan "Janne" Frisk joined the group, and they soon acquired an organist, Hans "Hasse" Östlund. At first Jan was the lead singer, but they soon realised they wanted a separate vocalist, so Sven "Svenne" Hedlund joind the group. They recorded one single which bombed, "Kana Kapila."

They were unsatisfied with Hans Östlund's playing and soon were seeking a replacement. A friend of Svenne's named Göran "Benny" Andersson called him up one day. Benny's band needed to get it's equipment to a gig and asked to borrow Svenne's van. Svenne drove them to the club and stayed to hear his friend. The band was terrible, but Benny's playing was excellent, indeed he had been talented on the keyboards ever since the age of 6, when an accordion was first placed in his chubby hands. Svenne asked Benny to join the Hep Stars, and Benny agreed. From the very first recording session with Benny the hits came.

On March 23, 1965, they appeared on the Swedish TV program "Drop in." They sang "Cadillac," while running all over the stage and doing other such wild antics. Indeed, at one concert, Svenne broke his ankle jumping off a speaker cabinet! This, and their rock star good looks assured their popularity, especially with the young girls. That week, their 45 of "A tribute to Buddy Holly" entered the Swedish Top 10, as did "Cadillac" and "Farmer John" 2 weeks later. "Bald headed woman" was the third single in a row to hit #1! A month later they appeared on Norwegian TV with "Farmer John" and "Cadillac" and those entered the Norwegian Top 10 as well. Hits followed in Denmark and Finland.

The Hep Stars were influenced by English and American rock and roll. Their early recordings were led and driven by Benny's wailing electric organ. It seems the Hep Stars were well known for partying, womanising and living the rock and roll lifestyle. The temptations of the road proved too much for Benny, and soon he asked his "wife" Christine Grönvall for a divorce. The young couple had two small children. The Hep Stars 1965 Folkpark recording, "The Hep Stars on stage" reminds one of Beatlemania, with all the screaming and excitement. From the very first LP Benny was songwriting. He was strong musically, but often needed to reply on lyricists for the words. In 1966, to slow down the pace at the shows because of Svenne's hurt ankle, he wrote the classically inspired "Sunny girl." This #1 was a hit all over Europe. even in Germany and Holland. That year Benny and Svenne wrote "Wedding", another #1 and another big European hit, although it, like "Sunny girl" had "dictionary lyrics". With every song he wrote Benny became better and better. This 'soft' approach alienated early fans of the group, who wanted the more raucous rock and roll, but earned the group many new fans with their new sound.

In 1967, after a concert, the group were relaxing at a pub when another band, who was playing the same city came in. They were The Hootenanny Singers, a folk act from Västervik. The group's lyricist and singer was Björn Ulvaeus. Björn and Benny clicked from the start. That very night they started writing songs. They proved to be an inspired team, Benny with his knack for beautiful melodies and Björn, with his mastery of several languages. The very first time Björn and Benny ever appeared together on a record was The Hootenanny Singer's version of an old folk tune, "Blomman." Benny played electric organ on this recording. They wrote a tune, "No time", which both bands recorded. The Hootenanny Singers recorded it as an acoustic folk song, while the Hep Stars gave it a snappy pop sound. The two men from this point on never separated or stopped working together.

The Hep Stars decided to make a film like the Beatles had done with "A hard day's night" They decided to film it in Africa and call it "Habari Safari." Their plan was to start the cameras rolling, and let the witty things flow out of their mouths, just like the Beatles did in "A hard days night". What the Hep Stars did not realise was that that movie was carefully scripted and rehearsed. The Hep Stars had no script, no shooting schedule and no concept of the money they were wasting. The shoot was a disaster, the film never released. This, and other acts like ill advised trips to the USA and England to record music that wasn't even written yet quickly drained their coffers. They also started their own record label and production company called "Hep house." While the label had a couple of hits, it too went the way of the Beatle's ill managed Apple records, finally loosing the Hep Stars incredible amounts of money. Indeed, finally the Revenue caught up to them for non-payment of royalty taxes, and Benny, in particular, had to work for many years to pay off this debt.

In 1968, Svenne had gone to see a show by an American "girl group" called The Sherrys. They were known for dance hits, and had appeared on American Bandstand singing their biggest hit, "Pop pop pop-eye." Svenne was smitten by one of the girls, Charlotte "Lotta" Butler Walker. She was also taken by Svenne, and decided to stay in Sweden. Soon after, the two married. The wedding portrait is on the cover of "The Hep Stars pa Svenska". Lotta joined the group ala Yoko Ono did the Beatles. Several songs were written for Svenne and Lotta by Benny with Björn and Lars "Lasse" Berghagen like "A flower in my garden," "Songs we sang" and "Speleman." They recorded an LP in Swedish featuring several lovely covers like Cliff Richard's "Visions," "Last night I had the strangest dream," which in addition to English and Swedish they recorded in Dutch, and "Four strong winds," another American folk tune. Just as Yoko had influences (good or bad) on the Beatles, so had Lotta on the "Swedish Beatles." After Jan missed some dates, Björn was temporarily filling in for him. Their last recording together, "Speedy Gonzales" was a smash hit, but the group was divided. Svenne and Lotta wanted to continue the easy listening hits and pursue the Supper club/Cabaret scene, while Jan, Lennart and Christer wanted to return to the rock and roll of the earlier days. Benny choose the side of Svenne and Lotta.

Benny, Björn, Svenne and Lotta had several months of engagements on the Supper club circuit. By this time, Benny had met a jazz vocalist named Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Björn had married a pop singer named Agnetha Fältskog. Björn and Benny decided to form a group together and to feature their women. The resulting group soon exploded on the music scene as ABBA.

Svenne and Lotta continued as a duet and were signed by Björn and Benny's label, Polar. Their first LP was a collection of oldies, produced by B & B. The second LP, "S & L II," featured their Eurovision entry, "Bang a boomerang," plus the flip side, a wonderful B & B song called "Roly poly girl." (This song reminds me of Honey honey). The third LP, "Letters," featured a B & B song called "Funky Feet," which was rejected by ABBA as sounding too much like "Dancing Queen." It does, and also reminds me of "If it wasn't for the nights." (Baby, I got funky feet...If it wasn't for the nights) . Another rare B & B song, "If we only had the time" was also on this LP. The fourth Polar LP was their "Disco" LP, "Bring it on home." They also released a Greatest Hits package on Polar, "20 Golden Hits." They started their own label, Romance, and also recorded several LPs for Sonet. They continue to perform to this day.

The Hep Stars regularly reunite to play the still lucrative Folk Park tours, and still sell out. They recorded a reunion CD, with long time Benny fan Benneth Fagerlund on the keyboards called "Act II." This CD also features ABBA's guitar ace, Lasse Wellander. Long time fans hope that Benny and Björn will produce again for their old pals. For Svenne's 50th birthday, Svenne and Olga/EMI released his rare solo LP, recorded at the height of The Hep Stars' fame, Svenne Hedlund sings Elvis on CD.

Among the hits were I natt jag drömde (Swedish version of Last Night I had the strangest Dream), Cadillac, Malaika, Wedding, Consolation and Sunny Girl.

External links

• The Hep Stars International Official Website - Benny before ABBA