Secret Service

1979-1987, first line-up

Secret Service is a legendary Swedish pop group of the new wave, formed in 1979. Ola Håkansson, former vocalist for Ola & The Janglers and then manager of Sonet Music, teamed up with Tim Norell and Ulf Wahlberg to write several songs that were featured at the European Song Festival. They did not win, but decided to continue cooperation and change the name of their group from "Ola + 3" to "Secret Service. In addition to Ola Hokansson (vocals), Tim Norell and Ulf Walberg (keyboards), the original lineup included Tonny Lindbergh (guitars), Leif Paulsen (bass) and Leif Juhansson (drums).

Tim Norell, however, while working alongside lyricist Bjorn Håkanson and creating most of the band's songs, did not appear on stage or on album covers. The first single from the Secret Service "Oh Susie" became a hit in Sweden and several other countries in Europe and South America. "Oh Susie" was a # 1 hit in 29 countries.

The titled album included another hit, "Ten O'Clock Postman". Great success followed after the release of "Flash in the Night", which topped the charts throughout continental Europe, and one can also mention "The Way You Are", performed by a duet with ex-ABBA soloist Agneta Feltskog.


1987, second line-up

In 1987, Håkansson, Norell and Walberg released Aux Deux Magots, their sixth album. The other members of the band had left by then and were replaced by multi-instrumentalist Anders Hansson and bassist Mats Lindberg. Bjorn Håkanson then left the band as lyricist, and Ula took over this part of the work with Alexander Bard. ("Army Of Lovers").


1988-2000

1988, Håkansson, Norell and Walberg decided to go their separate ways. Håkansson went on to partner with Norell along with Anders Hansson, they became known as Megatrio, the Swedish equivalent of Stock-Aitken-Wateman. In 1992, Håkansson and his partners formed Stockholm Records as a joint venture with Polygram. They have produced famous artists such as "Army Of Lovers" and "The Cardigans" among others.

Walberg continued to work as a producer, songwriter and had great success with both Swedish and international artists. He started his own company, XTC Productions, in 1989 and successfully began promoting Swedish artists abroad. He also opened his own professional recording studio, XTC Studios.


2000 reunion

In 1999, Ula, Ulf and Tim got together to record a new compilation of the Secret Service songs, Top Secret –Greatest Hits. The work took place at XTC Studios and this led to the recording of four new tracks for the album.


2006, forward, third line-up

The group had many fans in the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries during the Cold War. In December 2006, before the start of the "Disco-80s" series of festivals in Moscow, Ulf and Tim reassembled the group, however, with a new line-up.

As for family and business reasons, Ola decided not to join the band on live shows and tours. So, together with Mats Lindberg (bass) from the second line-up, they invited Mikael Erlandsson (vocals and guitar) and Jamie Borger (drums) to join the new line-up of the group. Since then, the group has successfully toured throughout Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union with this composition.