They were the soundtrack of the early 1990s.
Swedish pop group Ace of Base took the world by storm with smash hits like “The Sign,” “All That She Wants” and “Don’t Turn Around.”
But just as quickly as they rose to fame, the group — consisting of siblings Jenny Berggren, Linn Berggren, Jonas Berggren and childhood friend Ulf Ekberg — all but disappeared from the spotlight.
They have not performed together since the World Music Awards in May 1996.
But now two band members are breaking their silence in a new three-part docuseries, “Ace of Base: All The She Wants,” which premiered this week on Viaplay.
“What I wanted with the documentary is I wanted to tell the hardships, but I also wanted to tell how to get whole again,” Jenny told NBC News NOW’s Top Story in an exclusive interview.
“It’s a story that actually we made it really against all odds,” Ekberg said. “When nobody believed in us.”
Despite three Grammy nominations in 1995 and three times topping the Billboard Top 40 chart, Jenny said Ace of Base was never about becoming famous.
“Me, my sister, my brother, are normal people,” she said. “We didn’t go for fame. We didn’t go for that money.”
As for why they went their separate ways, she explained, “When you’re wearing a crown that was big as a castle it can be a bit tiring on the neck in the end.”
“I think the real story about Ace of Base has never really been told,” Ekberg told NBC News. “There’s never been a proper documentary made about us … and the story behind it, and the ups and the downs.”
The docuseries, which was directed by Jens von Reis, features never-before-seen home video footage from before Ace of Base was a household name to the ensuing chaos that erupted when they became global superstars.
“I did have, like, 200 hours of film material from the early ’90s until recent days, which I actually never watched,” Ekberg recalled. “But [Reis] watched all the 200 hours, and said, ‘We have a gold mine here.’”
Jenny hopes the docuseries will surprise longtime fans and even younger viewers who may not have heard of the band. Despite being a pop act, she said, “We had a message that there was so much darkness in the world, people were depressed, and we just knew that people wanted to have fun.”
A key interviewee in the series is music executive Clive Davis, who played a pivotal role in the band’s American success.
“Without [Clive] I’m pretty convinced we would never have reached number one in the U.S. So he definitely meant a lot for us,” Ekberg said.
Although Jonas Berggren was not interviewed for the series, he does appear briefly at the end. Lin, however, is the only member who does not make an appearance. She has deliberately remained out of the spotlight for more than two decades.
“She’s living. She’s leading her life,” Jenny said of her sister. “And she says, ‘I want to be out of the eye. I want to be out of the tension.’”
Despite having not taken the stage together in decades, the group has experienced success on streaming platforms, with more than 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
But does any of it mean a reunion could ever be possible?
“We are doing different things. Everybody is on their own track. Everybody’s over 50, and, as I say, the time they knock on my door, I got it all prepared,” said Jenny, who’s had a successful solo music career, including a new single released this week, titled “Lion’s Den.”
Ekberg wants a reunion and expressed hope that this docuseries could make the impossible a reality.
“I’ve been trying to push to make a reunion for the past 10 years,” he said. “But it has to work as well and we have to be able to do a great performance for the fans that we can be proud of.”
