THE HEP STARS

Happy weekend, Spy Vibers! It was another super-busy week here in the Spy Vibe lair, but I did find time to cover Mattel's design for Astronaut Barbie in 1965 (and explore Barbie's controversial role) and to continue some promotion for my new book, Talking Mort Walker: A Life in Comics. With the first semester in full swing, days have been devoted to teaching my film, photo, drawing, and cartooning classes. One of the great highlights so far this year is working with my group of 9th-grade drawing students, who found a fun way to channel their positive energy by singing ABBA songs to recharge. I'd never really explored ABBA until this summer, but I can tell you it's a pretty sweet scene when young kids break out into song- it's like a musical in the studio! A couple of choruses of Mamma Mia or Honey Honey and they're psyched and ready to re-focus on their work. Long before ABBA formed, all the band members had careers as popular entertainers. In fact, songwriters Björn and Benny were both busy recording and touring in two of Sweden's most successful bands in the 1960s, The Hootennany Singers and The Hep Stars (ABBA history). Below: 1965 clip of The Hep Stars doing a classic Jerry Lee Lewis number (written by Dave Curlee Williams). That's young Benny Andersson at the keyboards! The Hep Stars had a dynamic stage act that included swinging the bass perilously over the singer's head -reminds me of pounding mochi in Japan! Benny and The Hep Stars found success within Sweden, pounding out rockers and, as many groups did at the time, adapting folksongs for the mainstream -this was back in the days of easy publishing credits for arranging traditional tunes. On a side note: Björn began his music career caught up in the skiffle and Trad Jazz wave, much like The Beatles, Jimmy Page, Van Morrison, and many others (Skiffle on Spy Vibe). The Hep Stars and Hootennany Singers met up at a party in June 1966 and Björn and Benny started to build their friendship and future writing partnership. They had a hit together by 1969, and by 1972 they were launching ABBA with their talented partners Agnetha and Anni-Frid. Benny's most recent release is the 2017 album Piano. Check out records by The Hep Stars from the 1960s at Discogs. Enjoy!

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