Jenny Berggren | en

Jenny Cecilia Berggren (born 19 May 1972) is a Swedish singer and former lead singer in the Swedish pop band Ace of Base. Since 1995, she has also been writing songs and performing solo. In 2010 she released her debut album My Story.

Jenny was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and she is the third of three children born to Göran Berggren, an X-ray technician, and Birgitta Berggren. She was raised in a Christian family in the Gothenburg suburbs.

All three Berggren children took music lessons, and Jenny, along with her older sister Malin, practiced violin. Educated to become a teacher, Berggren studied classical music and sang for her church choir with her sister.

During the late 1980s, the Berggren siblings, along with Johnny Lindén and Nicklas Tränk, formed the techno band Tech Noir. The group eventually became Ace of Base. Berggren also attended university, with the intention of becoming a teacher. This plan fell apart when Ace of Base was signed to Danish label Mega Records, with the band's debut album eventually selling more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Berggren's original role in the band was equal with her sister, Linn, although the first singles chosen by the record company had Linn singing most of the lead vocals. In the early years, she and Linn only had a minor role in the production or writing of any of the band's first songs. Later, with sister Malin's sudden withdrawal from the spotlight, Berggren was forced into a more prominent role.

On the night of 27 April 1994, Berggren and her mother were attacked in their home by a crazed woman who had followed Berggren home. Berggren's mother was stabbed in the hands, and the woman, a 21 year old German named Manuela Behrendt, was banned from ever returning to Sweden.

Berggren composed several songs for the band's The Bridge album, including "Ravine", a song about the 27 April attack, as well as "Wave Wet Sand" and "Experience Pearls". She continued to compose songs for the band's albums, and a her compositions have been included on each successive album.

Berggren continues to volunteer her time to various humanitarian charities and has staged several Christian concerts, and sings in churches.

On 18 September 2004, Berggren married her long-time boyfriend Jakob Petrén, a Swedish pianist. They have two children together, a son and a daughter. Her husband belongs to an old (and in Sweden very well known) Swedish family of high academic scholars and scientists, statesmen and politicians. Berggren and her family currently reside in Gothenburg.

Jenny, Jonas, and Ulf performed a series of concerts in 2007-2009 in Europe and Asia. During the touring they recorded new songs designated to a fifth studio album.The trio didn't get a record contract with the songs that were produced and Jenny continued working on her own solo material. Jenny announced on her newly started Twitter account 2009 that she was working on new songs to a solo album.

During this time, Ulf and Jonas recruited two other female vocalists, Clara Hagman and Julia Williamson. When this came to the fan's attention, Jonas and Jenny independently stated that this new constellation would not be called Ace of Base, but have another name.

This alternative line-up later presented slightly changed name: "Ace.of.Base", but this was mainly a graphical adjustment used on the cover of their releases only. In an interview for Swedish TV Ulf stated: "We're still called Ace of Base. The dots are more for styling and the logo" .

Name dispute and reasons of breakup

Jenny has stated several times that she has never left the band and on the contrary declared that all four original members are still band members and own the brand Ace of Base, by agreement with her brother Jonas and by legal documents.

This was later confirmed by Jonas in an interview stating: "She (Jenny) never officially said ‘’I quit’’. But to the record company, she was a leaving member. And they cancelled her contract. But she never said ‘’oh, I don’t want to be in the band’’." When asked about the record company demanding a new additional singer: "It wasn’t so much that it had to be younger girl, but yes, they wanted a new girl, a new lead vocalist."

Regarding the name dispute, Ulf stated that he had "no problems using the name even though all the original members are not included" Jenny discussed further on this topic in a newspaper interview on 18 October 2010. She expressed that she wasn't allowed by Jonas and Ulf to participate in the song writing for the band's album. "From now on, I want paper on things. I agreed to work under certain conditions, and they just vanished." "They didn't want me in". When asked, "Do you want to go back to Ace of Base again?" she responded "Not right now. It would take some apologies".

In 2008, Jenny wrote an autobiography in Swedish "Vinna hela världen". The first edition of the book sold out in Sweden (which only 4% of the books in Sweden do), and a second edition had to be pressed. The English version will be called "To Win the World" and is planned to be available in 2011.

On New Year's Day 2010, Jenny released her solo song "Free Me" as a free download to her fans via her new website.

In May 2010, Jenny released her first solo single "Here I Am" which is available on iTunes. The single reached number 14 on the Swedish singles charts. On September 15, 2010 she released her second single "Gotta Go". Her debut album "My Story" was released on October 13, 2010.

Berggren was revealed on February 3 to be a wildcard for the Danish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with her entry Let your heart be mine. At the national final on February 26, 2011, Jenny performed "Let Your Heart Be Mine" to roaring applause. After the first round of voting, Jenny failed to place in the top four. As a result, she did not advance further in the competition. Nevertheless, fans generally considered this performance among the best of Jenny's live performances. .