Ted Gärdestad
Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad, known internationally as Ted, was a Swedish singer, songwriter, and actor. Gärdestad began his acting career in 1966 and began playing music in 1971, signing with Polar Music. Assigned with in-house producers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Gärdestad released his first single, "Hela världen runt," in late 1971 and worked closely with the four members of ABBA to create his debut album Undringar. As Polar Music's best-selling solo artist, he continued to work with the group members throughout the 1970s, releasing three more albums Ted, Upptåg and Franska Kort, which were moderately successful. In 1978, Gärdestad released his first English-language album, Blue Virgin Isles, which did not have success internationally, as his predecessor albums had in his home country.
In 1979, Ted and his brother Kenneth Gärdestad played at Melodifestivalen, the competition to select Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Satellit." They won the competition which allowed them to represent Sweden at Eurovision held in Jerusalem. Gärdestad attempted once more to enter a song at Melodifestivalen but was unsuccessful. He left the music industry shortly thereafter, to try acting. By the 1990s, he played with other musicians such as Harpo. Gärdestad toured extensively starting in 1994 until he died by suicide in 1997. A biographical film about Gärdestad was released in 2018, called ''Ted: För kärlekens skull.''
Early life
Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad was born to Arne and Margit Gärdestad on 18 February 1956 in Sollentuna, Stockholm County. He was the youngest of three siblings and had two older brothers: Kjell and Kenneth. The family lived in Sollentuna during Ted's childhood.Career
1962–1974
Ted Gärdestad began his career as a musician in 1962, playing accordion on Swedish television at the age of six years. His debuted as an actor in 1966 when he landed a part in the television advent calendar series En småstad vid seklets början. In 1970, Gärdestad had a minor role in the American film Story of a Woman alongside Bibi Andersson, Robert Stack and James Farentino. Gärdestad was also a promising tennis player. At 14 he ranked second in his age group in Sweden after Björn Borg, and once considered a career as a professional tennis player but instead chose a career in music. In 1971, 15-year-old Ted and his eight-year-older brother Kenneth Gärdestad contacted the record company Polar Music and showed an audition tape to Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, who would later manage the pop group ABBA. Ted was composer and singer, while Kenneth wrote lyrics to Ted's melodies, a collaboration that continued throughout Ted's career. Anderson subsequently signed Ted to the label and assigned him to in-house producers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.Debut single
In late 1971, Gärdestad released his first single, the gospel-influenced "Hela världen runt". The follow-up single, an acoustic ballad "Jag vill ha en egen måne", a song he wrote at age 12, brought him to the attention of the Swedish public. He quickly became the country's first teen idol, and toured on the folkpark circuit. Andersson and Ulvaeus produced Ted's debut album Undringar, which was released on Polar Music in early 1972 and spent 10 weeks at the top of the Kvällstoppen combined singles and albums chart. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad providing backing vocals on the album, and all four members of ABBA continued to work with Gärdestad during the 1970s. His albums Undringar, Ted, Upptåg and Franska Kort were produced with the same recording and production techniques, engineers and musicians, as contemporaneous ABBA recordings.In February 1973, Gärdestad entered Melodifestivalen 1973, the competition to select Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song "Oh, vilken härlig dag" came joint fourth. A quartet known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid finished third with a song called "Ring Ring." Gärdestad had another attempt in Melodifestivalen 1975 with the song "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'"; Svenne and Lotta placed third with "Bang-A-Boomerang" and Gärdestad finished seventh but the song became a hit single on radio charts Svensktoppen, Heta Högen and Kvällstoppen. Gärdestad and his brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 and performed the song "Det bästa som finns" with Polar Music labelmate Lena Andersson. They finished eighth out of ten entries, and Gärdestad did not record the track.
1975–1979
By 1975, Ted had become a noted star in Sweden. He was prominently featured in teen magazines Starlet, Mitt Livs Novell and Poster, his love life was covered by the national newspapers, he had a fan club, and all of his albums were certificated gold and sold well in the rest of Scandinavia. Aside from Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid/ABBA and Anni-Frid Lyngstad he was Polar Music's best-selling artist. Stikkan had plans to launch him internationally and Ted recorded both Swedish and English versions of "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'" as well as an English version of an earlier hit, "Jag ska fånga en ängel", with the title "Gonna Make You My Angel," the latter with lyrics by Gary Osborne; neither were a significant hit. Australian pop singer Mark Holden did, however, have a major success in Australia with "Jag ska fånga en ängel" under the title "I Wanna Make You My Lady" in 1976.By 1977, Gärdestad was faced with a dilemma common to many child stars and teen idols; as he grew up so did his audiences. The time of teen mania and screaming crowds in the folkparks was declining and Polar in-house producers Björn and Benny, who had played an important part in his early success were now busy writing, producing and promoting ABBA and could no longer give Gärdestad or other Polar artists their full attention. 1975 resulted in the release of one single, the Melodifestivalen entry "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'." In 1976, the label released the album Franska Kort, only partly recorded with Björn and Benny and co-produced by Tretow and Janne Schaffer. The album produced hit singles "Angela," "Chapeau-Claque", "När showen är slut" and "Klöversnoa," a novelty folk dance parody with Benny and Gärdestad playing accordion. The album peaked at No. 3, making it his first album not to top the Swedish charts, and it left the chart after 22 weeks, a moderate success compared to his previous releases. In 1977, ABBA and most of the Polar Music crew including musicians and sound engineers went on their first world tour, making ABBA: The Movie ''and recording ABBA: The Album'' – as an indirect result, Gärdestad did not release an album that year.
International career
Stig Anderson still thought Gärdestad had some international potential, and he and his brother Kenneth travelled to Hollywood in late 1977 to record Gärdestad's first English-language album Blue Virgin Isles. The west coast rock orientated album featured contributions from American and English musicians including Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, Jim Keltner, David Hungate, Jay Graydon, Dr. John and John Mayall, many of whom were Gärdestad's personal idols. Blue Virgin Isles was released worldwide in late 1978 on Epic Records, and produced the singles "Take Me Back To Hollywood," an English version of "Chapeau-Clacque," and "Love, You're Making All The Fools". Despite the expensive production and the big push to launch Gärdestad—including promotional appearances alongside ABBA—his Swedish success did not translate internationally. In Sweden, the album peaked at No. 29 and spent one week on the chart. Thirty years after its original release, Blue Virgin Isles remains Gärdestad 's only studio album that has not been re-released on CD by Polar Music/PolyGram/Universal Music Group.1980s
In early 1979, Ted and Kenneth Gärdestad had a fourth attempt at Melodifestivalen and won with the song "Satellit," a mid-tempo rock track whose arrangement bore resemblances to Toto's 1978 hit "Hold the Line". The similarities caused speculation of plagiarism in the Swedish media and disqualification from the contest. The connection between the two songs was that the song's producer Janne Schaffer had heard four of the future Toto members, Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather, experimenting with a guitar and bass riff during the Blue Virgin Isles sessions in Los Angeles, which eventually evolved into "Hold the Line." Schaffer was inspired by what he had heard when he wrote the arrangement for "Satellit," but at that point neither "Hold the Line" nor Toto's debut eponymous album had been released. Jeff Porcaro told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in February 1979: "No, it's not a rip-off, Ted did not steal our song. Those piano triplets and that bass and guitar line go back to the 1950s and the fact that we both have happened to use variations on the same theme in our songs right now is purely coincidental." Consequently, Ted represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem in March 1979. After having competed four times in the pre-selection before winning and with his personal connection to ABBA, hopes and expectations were high. The song scored eight points and finished seventeenth out of nineteen participating entries, making it Sweden's then-second-lowest placing in the contest. The Swedish-language single became a Top 10 hit back home in Sweden and "Satellit" is regarded as one of Ted's signature tunes. The English-language version of the track never charted and neither did the re-issue of Blue Virgin Isles, which included both versions, making it clear that Ted's Scandinavian audiences favoured his Swedish-language material.After an unsuccessful return to Melodifestivalen in 1980, with "Låt solen värma dig" with then girlfriend Annica Boller and disappointing sales of his 1981 album Stormvarning —which was internationally released as I'd Rather Write a Symphony on the Polydor label in a few countries and equally overlooked—Gärdestad left the music scene at the age of 25.