The Hootenanny Singers were a popular Swedishfolk group, founded in 1961 by Hansi Schwarz and Johan Karlberg, two older schoolmates of Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame), under the name, the Mackie's Skiffle Group. The other member of the band was Tony Roth.
2. The Mackie's Skiffle Group initially played at school parties, entered amateur contests, and even travelled through Europe.[1] In 1963, Ulvaeus' mother entered them for an amateur national talent contest, Plats på scen, which was sponsored by Swedish Radio. They attracted the attention of Bengt Bernhag and Stik Anderson of Polar Music, a newly-formed record company, and was soon signed and persuaded to change their name to Hootenanny Singers. The Hootenanny Singers won the contest with the song, Jag vänter vid min mila, which was subsequently released as a single and became the first hit for both the company and the group.
3. In the spring of 1964, all the group members of Hootenanny passed their final school examinations and became professional musicians. That year, they scored a big hit with Gabrielle and by the end of the year, they had become one of the most popular acts of Sweden.[1] They went on their first folkpark tour and two albums were released, both simply titled Hootenanny Singers. Ulvaeus dreamed of being a part of the pop scene and the group gradually changed their style away from became Americanhootenanny music towards pop music.[1] Their second album that year, International, contained Ulvaeus' first self-written folk/pop compositions, No time and Time to move along. With Björkens visa from that album, they scored a major hit.
4. Between 1964 and 1966, the Hootenanny Singers had some singles released abroad but they were not very successful. However, under the name of the Northern Lights, they did score a hit in South Africa with their single, No time. In June 1966, the Hootenanny Singers met the immensely popular group, the Hep Stars, near Ålleberg. That evening, Ulvaeus met the Hep Stars'organist, Benny Andersson, for the first time and got along very fine, composing Isn't it easy to say together later that summer. In January 1967, the Hootenanny Singers had their biggest hit so far with a cover version of Tom Jones' Green green grass of home, called En sång en gång för längesen.
5.By 1968, however, the Hootenanny Singers had totally abandoned the idea of presenting themselves as a pop-oriented group to focus mainly on interpreting traditional Swedish songs. In 1969, Johan Karlberg left the group to work in his father's car firm.[1] That same year, Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson met their girlfriends, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and gradually collaborated with them. The last album, Ulvaeus released with the Hootenanny Singers was called Evert Taube på vårt sätt. It was released in 1974, the same year that Ulvaeus made a significant breakthrough with ABBA by winning the Eurovision Song Contest. From that point onward, Ulvaeus focused entirely on ABBA and the Hootenanny Singers was dissolved. more... at Wikipedia
