Linn Berggren >>>

Malin: A full time dreamer

Malin is probably the most well-recognized member of Ace of Base. She sings lead on, among other songs, "The Sign", "All That She Wants", "Don't Turn Around", "Wheel of Fortune", "Living In Danger", and "Happy Nation", songs which earned the band unparalleled international success during the years 1992-1994.

She shares the lead with sister Jenny on releases from "The Bridge" such as "Beautiful Life", "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry", and "Lucky Love". However, she has been described as "the shy one", or, according to bandmate Ulf, "the Greta Garbo" of the group.

Her passions include painting and learning about the human body. Here is a bit of her story...

Her interest in music started early on, as the family was always singing on their boat, in the car, at home, and at family parties. Singing is natural for her - it makes no difference to her if 5 or 5000 people can hear.

When she was 10, she began learning violin with Jenny, but that didn't last too long. Her violin was one that her grandfather had made. When her grandpa died 3-4 years ago, the violin became very important to her, but she never plays it. As for her musical tastes, she listened to reggae (UB40 and Bob Marley) when she was 12, but about a year later, she felt in love with Michael Jackson, which changed her taste in music. Her room was full of Michael posters. To change, she had to go into the wardrobe, because she couldn't strip down in front of Michael. Today, Malin still loves Michael Jackson (she proclaimed her love for his music to the world at the World Music Awards in Monaco, 1996), and also likes groups and artists such as Simply Red, REM (her absolute favorite song is "Losing My Religion"), and Coolio.

When she was a kid, she would take over Jenny and Jonas' old caves and treehouses and sat there all day dreaming about being a princess. The best part of her childhood was when they were on their boat and their mom was reading fairytales to them. In her spare time she paints a lot--mostly cats and landscapes, but sometimes also faces.

Her fears? Well, for one, she's afraid that her cat will run away and never come back again.

Her school years were fun. There were 2 girls and 16 boys in her class and the other girl wasn't blond. Linn had the time of her life and she felt like a queen because all the kids adored her. Her favorite subjects were history, German and biology.(She still enjoys reading books about the human body.) She hated math and technical stuff.

She got her first kiss from a guy she didn't know. It was in a school-disco, and the guy just walked over to her and kissed her. It scared her, and she ran away screaming. She got involved with her first boyfriend when she was 18 years old, but it only lasted 3 months. Currently, she lives with her steady boyfriend Fredrik in Gothenburg.

She likes to hang out with her friends. She wants to wait until after the hectic pace of her life slows before getting married and having kids. You can read more about her childhood in the following interview with her mother, Birgitta Berggren.

What her mother said about her:

Little Malin was born on a frosty and clear morning, just as Halloween started. She came quickly and had the umbilical cord wrapped a few times around her neck. The nurse had to cut it before Malin could come out! The first day, she stopped breathing and started to turn slightly blue. I had to push her a few times so that she would wake up and start to breathe again. Babies often do this their first few days. After this, I kept an eye on her 24 hours a day and kept her on her side so she could breathe easily. She was so smooth and nice to hold, and had very "round" baby legs. The other mothers picked her up and said that she was so nice.

She was a harmonious child and loved to sit on people's laps or be carried in their arms. She learned very quickly to laugh and make high-pitched sounds. Big brother Jonas was 3 1/2 and very proud of her. He wanted to give her all his things. She was called "the Doll", "cutie", and "little sweetie". Even though she had such tiny feet that we had to buy doll shoes for her, she was walking without problems when she was 11 months old. Just like her brother, she also started to jump, laugh and sing when she heard music. Very few things broke, even though she ran around at high speeds!

Linn became a big sister when she was 18 months old. At that time she was already a little girl who could swing and dig at the playground for hours, and say small phrases. She would say "I sit you," to people and then climb up on their knee. Later, she told fantastic stories. It was easy to bring Jonas and Linn with me to parties and other places, because they were very interested in things. If they were sleepy, they slept on a blanket on the floor or on a couch like two kittens.Linn loved to feed Jenny, and wouldn't let her cry. If it happened, she always made her stop. Linn sang songs for Jenny to make her stop, but they didn't always sound right : Bä ,bä vita a,ja ja käja ja ...... (Bah Bah black sheep, do you have any wool)

Right after her second birthday the singing got better, and she could sing half of the song from Pippi. Grandma taught her many old songs, that had been in the family for generations.

She became a happy, funny, independent child full of energy who loved to play with other kids and went to Sunday School. Her beloved Daddy took all 3 of them to Sunday School every Sunday morning for many years.

She played with a girl named Marie. Her big brother was Jonas' friend. They lived close to each other, and had a great time together. They [Malin, Jenny and Jonas] grew up like fairytale children near a forest. They had names for the trees, the rocks, and the caves. They used their imaginations. I made a book about each of them, and I wrote them like fairytales.

When she was 4 1/2 years old she could swim 15 meters and read words like "coffee-cream" and "co-operative society" She learned to read from food boxes and stuff. Grandpa asked if she knew all the letters, and she answered: "Not little q!" At this age she played whole songs on the piano. Her grandma, who is a music teacher in organ and violin, later helped her so she could play perfectly. She played flute in school for many years. She tried to play violin, but played it in her own way. She also sang in school, and made a fine Mary in the Christmas play.

Linn and another girl, Anna-Karin were the only girls in their class. The rest was comprised of 22 boys. They were asked if they wanted to move to another class, with more girls, but they liked being with the nice boys, so they stayed. Linn has always been interested in other people, and she worked a year with taking care of people after she left high school. She is one of the kids that had the most foreign friends during her childhood. This might have something to do with her language interest.Besides German, English, Spanish and Latin in high school, she also learned a little Russian in college before she started teacher education. She finished 3 and a 1/2 years before the AOB thing started, and she had to apply for a study break. She is a big artist like many in the family. (e.g. her dad and grandpa) She might start to paint or make beautiful things with her hands in the future, when Ace of Base slows down a bit.