Peter Grönvall is Benny Andersson's son, by the relationship with Christina Grönwall which preceded Frida. Reportedly, Peter traveled with ABBA in the Australian and US tours. As his father before him, he is a song writer and arranger, a record producer, and a composer of movie scores. Like Benny, he rarely if ever contributes vocals.
Peter has recorded as a member of differently named groups, which have in common the participation of himself and his (now) wife Nanne. The longest lasting of these groups has been ONE MORE TIME, although its future is now in doubt.
I. Sound of Music (approx. 1986-1988)
The pop group Sound of Music formed in the mid 1980's, a trio of Peter Grönvall, Angelique Widengren, and his future wife Nanne Nordqvist. Peter and Angelique were romantically involved at the inception of this group.
In 1986 it competed in the Swedish heat of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Eldorado," which came 4th. This single reached No. 6 on the Swedish singles chart. They followed up by releasing a first album, "Sound of Music," on which Eldorado was featured. All songs were in English. The album peaked in July at No. 20.
The group again entered the ESC again in 1987 (Alexandra), again coming in 4th. Sound of Music released its second album, "II", which again was entirely in English. It failed to attract attention, charting for only two weeks and peaking at No. 50.
Sound of Music did not obtain commercial success. When Peter broke
up with Angelique in favor of Nanne, the group was fractured and abandoned.
2. Peter's Pop Squad (approx. 1989-1990)
After Sound Of Music split up, Peter (with Nanne) worked briefly under the name Peter's Pop Squad. Other members of the group were Torbjörn Stener, Maria Rådsten and Cecilia Ringquist. Maria would remain to become the third member of One More time. Maria and Cecilia had sung backup on earlier Sound Of Music tours.
Peter's Pop Squad released a single, Have You Heard, in 1989.
The lyric (apparently) deals with the breakup of Peter and Angelique, and
the realignment of Peter with Nanne. Little commercial success
resulted. It is claimed that an album was produced, though never
released.
3. One More Time (1991 - current?)
In what must be an oblique homage to ABBA, the group takes the three 'E's which end the words of its name, and presents them as a graphical unit, with the first and third E's turned so the opening/face points to the left, the middle E to the right!
Originally, this iteration of Grönvall's group was a quartet, with members Maria Rådsten, Peter Grönvall, Nanne Nordqvist and Therese Löf. All but Therese had been involved in the Pop Squad. The four launched with the 1992 single Highland, which scored strong success throughout northern Europe (No. 2 in Sweden) which has not been duplicated since. An album of the same name was released later the same year. Also in '92, Therese left the group, resulting in the current configuration of Peter, Nanne and Maria.
Highland is a good example of the Nordic wall of sound which
Peter had long been developing, and which characterized the early OMT style.
The lyric is a banal paean to the wonders of nature. I have
written elsewhere
that this thick sound is intense with synthesizer and echo, and can
by turns be exhilarating, or exhausting. The energy of it can
carry the listener with a "feel good" rush, and the wall itself becomes
a visceral hook. The total package might be compared to the uptempo
Spector recordings with the Crystals. The harmony vocals of Nanne
and Marie are two dimensional when compared to Agnetha and Anni-Frid, or
for that matter, Darlene Love, but they blend as a piece with the nordic
wall.
A second album, self named, was released in 1994. Peter composed the music for all songs, and with Ulf Söderberg is credited as arranger and producer. It too is in English. The Dolphin, which, if made a bit gentler, would presage Den Vilda, is a classic OMT track of this vintage. The lead cut of the album, Symphony of Doom, strives for a harder edge, but to my ear succeeds most when it moves away from that edge near the conclusion of the chorus. Overall, the vocals are straightforward and unimaginative.
In 1995, OMT worked with Cecilia Vennersten, producing her miraculous debut album, and the mega hit Det Vackraste. This single placed only second in the Swedish heat for the ESC, continuing a tradition of misses that dates back to Sound of Music, but ends with the
1996 single release of Den Vilda (The Wild One), which penetrates the top 10 on the Swedish chart, finally wins a Swedish qualifying heat, and places a respectable third in the final in Oslo. This single headlines OMT's third album, also named Den Vilda, and is a kinder, gentler incarnation of the Grönvall sound. The bass line still exists more as as a percussive chug than a gut grabbing guitar bass. Choral echoes give the featured cut something of the feel of an Enya composition, and the change of tempo in the latter half of the song is just unsettling enough to make you decide to play it again. Lessons had obviously been learned and implemented from the commercial success of the Vennersten album. A good album, whether or not you speak Swedish.
Late in 1996, word filtered in from Sweden that OMT was working on an English version or variant on the Den Vilda album. When released in 1997, the album opens with the score of Det Vackraste, now given an English lyric Living in a Dream, which is also the name of the album. Fans may want to compare OMT's vocal with Vennersten's. The sweet first cut gives way to an English version of Den Vilda, here, in English The Wilderness Mistress. Nanne's lyric closes with the lovely and alliterative:
Glowing
with pride in the darkness
Kiss in the mist
Inside a waterfall
The oddly titled I've Got the Whole Quilt to Myself is a catchy anthem of independence sung over a simple, steady, hypnotic beat.
Although the albums Den Vilda and Living in a Dream are both released through Columbia/Sony, strange marketing choices ensued. A single of "Living In A Dream" was prepared for release in Sweden but was deleted before it reached stores. A similar false start was made with a single of The Wilderness Mistress. Other OMT web pages report that a small number of copies of this single were sold before being pulled. Shortly thereafter, One More Time left Sony.
One More Time lyrics can be found at Linda
Granqvist's site.
4. Nanne
OMT was invited to submit a song for the 1998 Swedish heat for the ESC, and responded with Avundsjuk (Jealous), actually a solo project of Nanne's. For Nanne, this is a third try (4th in 1986 with "Eldorado" and 4th again with "Alexandra" in 1987, both with the group Sound of Music), and comes 4th yet again.
Nanne released her own album, Cirkus Homo Sapiens, later in 1998.
Whether this signals the termination of OMT as a recording group remains
to be seen.
5. Although I have not heard them, Peter has scored at least two
films. My Swedish is weak, but I believe these are Mästerdetektiven
Kalle Blomkvist and Kalle Blomkvist Och Rasmus.
Both films follow the adventures of a child detective.
Peter and Nanne have two children of their own, and Nanne's son Robin.