Hep stars

The band played Sven Hedlung vocalist, guitarist Jenne Frisk, drummer Christer Petersson and bass guitarist Lele Hegland. Svenne Hedlund and Benny Andersson left the group in 1969. Hep Stars was the most popular rock band in Sweden, even more popular than the Beatles or the Roling Stones. The group was created in 1963 by Lenart (Lele) Hegland and Christer Petersson. They met while serving in the Swedish Air Force. At first they played club music but soon began to play rock. Jenna Frisk soon began playing in a band and then organist Hans Ostlund joined them. First, the vocalist was Jenna, but they soon realized that they needed another vocalist. It was Sven Hedlung who came to the group. Soon they recorded their first hit, “Kana Kapila”.

They were dissatisfied with the game of Hans Ostlund and began to look for another keyboard player . Soon Svenné was called by his friend Benny Andersson who wanted to ask him for a van to take the band’s equipment to a performance at a club. Svenne went with them to the club to listen to the performance of his friends. The band was rather weak, but Benny played the keyboard perfectly, he started doing it for the first time at 6 when he first touched the accordion . Sven suggested that Benny join the Hep Stars group and he agreed. His first joint rehearsal showed that Svenné made no mistake in choosing, Benny played great.

March 23, 1965 they appeared on Swedish TV in the program “Drop in”. They sang the song "Cadillac" rushing around the stage and doing other wild things. At one of the concerts Svenne broke his ankle during his wild jumps! Such behavior gained them popularity especially among young girls. That same week, the song “A tribute to Buddy Holly” hit the Swedish Top 10 like Cadillac and Farmer John two weeks later. "Bald headed woman" became the third single hit. A month later, they performed on the Norwegian TV with the songs “Cadillac” and “Farmer John” and hit the Norwegian Top 10 too. It was also in Belgium and Finland.

The band members were influenced by English and American rock and roll. Their first recordings were accompanied by Benny's electric organ . The band often performed at parties, bachelorette parties and spent their lives in a very free rock and roll style. This greatly influenced Benny and eventually he broke up with his girlfriend Christina Grönvall, with whom they had 2 children. In 1965, the band recorded a disc with songs in the style of the Beatles , since at that time Beetlemania reigned everywhere. Benny from the very beginning of the group began to write songs. And once during the forced idleness, because of Sven's broken ankle, the group didn’t perform, Benny wrote the song “Sunny girl” which became the number 1 hit in Europe, even in Germany and Poland. In the same year, he and Svenna wrote the song “Wedding”, which also became a hit in Europe. Since Benny did not know English well, all the songs of those years suffered from “vocabulary” texts, because he first composed the music and then sat down with the English-Swedish dictionary and selected English words for length and harmony. Over time, his songs got better and better. And although the early fans of the group eventually dropped out as they liked the tougher rock-n-roll style, many new ones appeared who liked Benny's songs.

In 1966, he and the group rested after a concert in a pub. In the same institution were musicians of another group Hootenanny Singers playing in the same city. The author of the words and performer in the group was Bjorn Ulvaeus . Then Benny and Bjorn met and since then began their collaboration in songwriting.

Albums

• 1964 - We and Our Cadillac - Olga LPO 01
• 1965 - Hep Stars on Stage - Olga LPO 02
• 1966 - The Hep Stars - Olga LPO 04
• 1967 - Jul med Hep Stars - Olga LPO 06
• 1968 - Songs We Sang 68 - LPO 07
• 1968 - It's Been a Long Long Time - Cupol CLPNS 342
• 1969 - Hep Stars på svenska - Olga LPO 11
• 1970 - How It All Started - Efel LPE 003

Singles

• 1964 - Kana Kapila / I Got A Woman - Olga SO 03
• 1964 - A Tribute To Buddy Holly / Bird Dog - Olga SO 04
• 1964 - If You Need Me / Summertime Blues - Olga SO 05
• 1965 - Farmer John / Donna - Olga SO 06
• 1965 - Cadillac / Mashed Potatoes - Olga SO 09
• 1965 - Bald Headed Woman / Lonesome Town - Olga SO 11
• 1965 - No Response / Rented Tuxedo - Olga SO 12
• 1965 - So Mystifying / Young And Beautiful - SO 13
• 1965 - Should I`m Newer Quite Get Over You - Olga SO 17
• 1966 - Sunny Girl / Hawaii - Olga SO 21
• 1966 - Wedding / When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again - Olga 25
• 1966 - I natt jag drömde / Jag Vet - Olga SO 29
• 1966 - Consolation / Don't - Olga SO 33
• 1967 - Malaika / It's Nice To Be Back - Olga SO 38
• 1967 - Christmas on my mind / Jingle Bells - Olga SO 47
• 1967 - Mot Okänt Land / Någonting Har Hänt - Olga SO 49
• 1967 - She Will Love You / Like You Used To Do - Olga SO 50
• 1967 - A Fool I Do You Such
• 1968 - It's been a long long time / Musty Dusty - Cupol CS45 / 226
• 1968 - Sagan Om Lilla Sofie / Det finns en stad - Cupol CS45 / 232
• 1968 - Let it be me / Groovy Summertime - Olga SO 64
• 1968 - Tända På Varann / I sagans land - Olga SO 72
• 1968 - Holiday for clowns / A Flower In My Garden - Olga SO 80
• 1969 - Speleman / Precis Som Alla Andra - Olga SO87
• 1969 - Speedy Gonzales / Är Det Inte Kärlek Säg - Olga SO 91
• 1969 - Little Band Of Gold / Another Day - Olga SO 93
• 1969 - Tallahassee Lassie / Som En Saga - Strike STRIKE 77
• 1969 - Boy / Venus - Strike STRIKE 78
• 1970 - Blue Suede Shoes / Nere På Hörnet - Strike STRIKE 80
• 1970 - Mademoiselle Ninette / By Tomorrow - Strike STRIKE 83
• 1970 - You Came, You Saw, You Conquered / Jag Kan Inte Låta Bli Att Tänka På Dig - Strike STRIKE 85
• 1972 - Carolina / Ten Years Later - Philips 6015 038

• The Hep Stars Official Website