Linn Berggren

Malin Sofia Katarina Berggren (born 31 October 1970) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, best known as a former member of the pop music band Ace of Base.

Having been interested and involved in music since her childhood, she formed the band in 1987, along with her sister Jenny, her brother Jonas and their friend Ulf Ekberg.

Before forming Ace of Base, Malin sang in her church's choir.

She was born in Gothenburg, Sweden.

When Ace of Base was signed to Danish label Mega Records in 1990, Malin, or Linn as she became known, chose to put her teaching career on hold.

But while her sister Jenny has stated she always wanted to be a singer, Linn has never said anything similar.

In 1994, a German girl invaded the Berggren family home, targeting Linn.

Linn was not present, but the girl attacked Jenny and her mother with a knife.

This incident had a large impact on Linn.

During the release of the group's second album, The Bridge, the focus in both vocals and media became more equal with her younger sister, Jenny.

Linn had a larger role in the composition of The Bridge and wrote and produced several songs for the album.

Following the completion of the album, it was reported that Linn developed unspecified recurrent vocal problems.

Beginning in late 1995, Linn began to express discomfort in how successful the band had become, explaining in an interview "this business, I don't want to be in it for too long."

The band went on 179 flights for music promotion in 1995, which made Linn disenchanted with touring.

In the same interview, she alluded to her plans for the future: "I've been thinking about travelling by train or car and doing very little promotion."

She later remarked in a 1996 interview: "All this wasn't my plan. For me, this is too big, especially with the success in America. It doesn't look like it, but it costs a lot of energy to push yourself to success on this level. We have to push forward, but I just can't, I want to push backwards."

She also explained her fear of flying, remarking "when the plane goes down, my heart skips a beat and I can't breathe, talk, speak or move."

In the midst of promotion in Asia for The Bridge in the spring of 1996, Linn left prematurely, leaving the rest of the band members to continue in her absence.

Her final performance with the band as a frontwoman was of "Beautiful Life" at the World Music Awards in May 1996.

On the contrary, in 1997 Linn said: "I wanted to sing; I never wanted to be a singer".

Linn's vocal range is contralto.

Since 1997, she began to fade out of the spotlight, leading to her last public appearance in 2002.

According to her brother Jonas, Linn has been living a peaceful life since then.

During the promotion for Ace of Base's first album, Linn was the principal lead vocalist for the majority of the singles and was generally the focus in the videos, although on some singles ("The Sign", "Waiting for Magic") and album tracks Jenny and Linn shared leads.

Linn had a somewhat minor role in the composition of Happy Nation and The Sign, only having co-writing credits on one track on a re-release of the former.

She was influential in the development of "All That She Wants", demanding that the track be changed from major key to minor.

In 1997, it was reported that Linn would venture into a solo project, releasing the song "Lapponia", which was previously submitted for inclusion on The Bridge and later for Flowers.

The song was to be accompanied by a documentary about Sápmi culture.

Despite this, the song never received an official release.

Beginning in 1997, Linn appeared at her band's concerts only to perform in the background behind keyboards.

In Linn's last personal television interview, from 1997, she stated her wish to "try what Jenny has done" by no longer being the focus of the band.

In April 1997, the band performed "Ravine" at the World Music Awards with Linn miming keyboard playing in the far background of the stage.

Claes Cornelius at Mega Records said it was because she did not wish to wear the heavy make-up the performance would have required.

In July 1997, the group performed a concert for Princess Victoria's 20th birthday.

Linn generally performed keyboards in the background for most of the concert, but performed a live a cappella song in the foreground prior to the main show.

That same year, both Jenny and Linn appeared at the Swedish Grammis as presenters for the "best song" award.

The first official press photos released for the Flowers / Cruel Summer albums, released on 21 March 1998, show Linn in equal or greater focus than that of her bandmates.

However, many future promotional materials for the albums, as well as those used in the album booklets, contain blurred, unsmiling, distinctly unhappy photographs of her.

The Flowers album in particular uses a photograph where Linn's unhappy image is bizarrely hidden behind the booklet's blue line design.

According to Jonas, Clive Davis's insistence that Linn record "Everytime It Rains" for the Cruel Summer album in 1998 was "the tipping point" for Linn's withdrawal from the band and that it "was the worst thing for her".