Secret Service (band)

Secret Service is a Swedish pop band formed in Stockholm in 1979.

History

In 1979, Ola Håkansson, former vocalist of Ola & the Janglers and then a publishing manager at Sonet Records, teamed up with Tim Norell and Ulf Wahlberg as Ola+3 to perform at the 1979 Melodifestivalen, a contest which is the Swedish qualification to the Eurovision Song Contest. Ola+3 did not win but the members decided to continue working together and recorded an LP as Ola+3. Besides Ola Håkansson (vocals), Tim Norell and Ulf Wahlberg (keyboards), the original lineup also included Tonny Lindberg (guitars), Leif Paulsen (bass) and Leif Johansson (drums). Norell, who along with lyricist Björn Håkanson penned most songs of the band, did not however appear with them on stage or on the band photos.

Song number two on that swedish LP-release "Oh Susie (Bara vi två vet)" was released as a single with english lyrics and they changed their band's name to Secret Service. "Oh Susie" became number 1 in Sweden and after Radio Luxembourg played the song it was emerging in different countries worldwide, including South America and Australia. In Germany alone it sold a million units, and Wahlberg stated in 2017 that "Oh Susie" went to number 1 in 29 countries.
Their follow-up single, "Ten O'Clock Postman", also went gold in Sweden and became a top 5 single both in Germany and Japan.

Following the success of the soca-tinged single "Ye-Si-Ca" in Colombia, the band went to a two-week promotional tour of the South American continent.

Secret Service brought in new synthesizers into their sound, they had the first LinnDrum-machine that had just arrived in Sweden, and more successes followed, with their synthpop single "Flash in the Night" released in December 1981 hitting charts all over continental Europe. In May 1982 Secret Service released their third album ''Cutting Corners'' and their first ''Greatest Hits'' album was also released before Christmas.

With the album ''Jupiter Sign'' released in 1984, showed a new direction for the band moving on from synthesizers to the use of new technology like sampled sounds and sequenced beats. Ola Håkansson also took over writing the lyrics as his alias Oson.

Continuing with the album ''When the Night Closes In'' and the single "Night City" helped launch the sound of the Hi-NRG movement. ''When the Night Closes In'' was also the last album recorded with the original line up. Jonas Frick directed a 18-minute promotional video featuring 6 of the songs.

In 1986 Ola Håkansson released a duet with ex- ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog, " The Way You Are", which went gold in Sweden. In 1987 Håkansson, Norell and Wahlberg released ''Aux Deux Magots'', their last album as Secret Service. New members were multi-instrumentalist Anders Hansson and bassist Mats A. Lindberg. Håkansson lost interest to be the singer and the front man, and would become Norell's partner with Army of Lovers' Alexander Bard in what would be known as the Megatrio, a Swedish equivalent to Stock-Aitken-Waterman known as Norell Oson Bard.

In 1992, Håkansson and his associates established Stockholm Records as a joint venture with PolyGram.

In 2012, Secret Service released ''The Lost Box'', an album with forgotten and unreleased recorded songs from the 1980s and early 1990s, such as "Different" and "Satellites".

Norell, Wahlberg, Hansson and Lindberg had begun to tour with a new singer, Johan Becker, as Secret Service, mostly in Russia. They also released a single, ''Secret Mission'' in 2020. On 18 November 2022, a new album with new material was released.

Personnel

Current members
* Tim Norell – vocals, keyboards (1979–present)
* Ulf Wahlberg – vocals, keyboards (1979–present)
* Anders Hansson – bass, keyboards (1986–present)
* Mats A. Lindberg – bass (1987–present)
* Jamie Borger – drums (2006–present)
* Jan-Erik Perning – drums (2006–present)
* Johan Becker – vocals, guitars (2018–present)

Former members
* Ola Håkansson – vocals (1979–2000)
* Tonny Lindberg – guitars (1979–1986)
* Leif Johansson – drums (1979–1986)
* Leif Paulsén – bass (1979–1986)
* Mikael Erlandsson – vocals, guitars (2006–2018)

Timeline

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Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/2019
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1980
ScaleMinor = increment:2 start:1981

Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:guitar value:blue legend:Guitar
id:keys value:yellow2 legend:Keyboard
id:keyst value:orange legend:Keyboard_(studio)
id:bass value:green legend:Bass-guitar
id:drums value:purple legend:Drums
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_albums

BarData =
bar:Ola text:"Ola Håkansson"
bar:Ulf text:"Ulf Wahlberg"
bar:Tim text:"Tim Norell"
bar:Tony text:"Tonny Lindberg"
bar:Leif1 text:"Leif Johansson"
bar:Leif2 text:"Leif Paulsén"
bar:Anders text:"Anders Hansson"
bar:Mats text:"Mats Lindberg"
bar:Borger text:"Jamie Borger"
bar:Perning text:"Jan-Erik Perning"
bar:Mikael text:"Mikael Erlandsson"
bar:Becker text:"Johan Becker"

PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Ola from:01/01/1979 till:31/03/1988 color:vocals
bar:Ola from:01/01/1992 till:21/01/1992 color:vocals
bar:Ola from:01/03/2000 till:31/05/2000 color:vocals
bar:Ulf from:01/01/1979 till:31/03/1988 color:keys
bar:Ulf from:01/01/1992 till:21/01/1992 color:keys
bar:Ulf from:01/03/2000 till:31/05/2000 color:keys
bar:Ulf from:20/11/2006 till:end color:keys
bar:Tim from:01/01/1979 till:31/03/1988 color:keyst
bar:Tim from:01/01/1992 till:21/01/1992 color:keys
bar:Tim from:01/03/2000 till:31/05/2000 color:keys
bar:Tim from:01/12/2006 till:end color:keys
bar:Tony from:01/01/1979 till:31/12/1986 color:guitar
bar:Leif1 from:01/01/1979 till:31/12/1986 color:bass
bar:Leif2 from:01/01/1979 till:31/12/1986 color:drums
bar:Anders from:01/01/1985 till:31/03/1988 color:keys
bar:Anders from:01/12/2006 till:end color:keys
bar:Mats from:01/01/1985 till:31/03/1988 color:bass
bar:Mats from:01/12/2006 till:end color:bass
bar:Borger from:01/12/2006 till:end color:drums
bar:Perning from:01/12/2006 till:end color:drums
bar:Mikael from:01/12/2006 till:31/12/2017 color:vocals
bar:Becker from:01/01/2018 till:end color:vocals

LineData =
at:08/09/1979 color:black layer:back
at:21/05/1981 color:black layer:back
at:27/05/1982 color:black layer:back
at:02/06/1984 color:black layer:back
at:22/05/1985 color:black layer:back
at:04/08/1987 color:black layer:back
at:12/06/2012 color:black layer:back

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

Swedish new wave musical groups
Swedish pop music groups
Musical groups established in 1979
Attic Records (Canada) artists
Castlebar Song Contest winners