Magnus Uggla -

Magnus Uggla (June 18, 1954) is a Swedish art-pop vocalist/songwriter with a musical career that has spanned four decades. Between 1975 and 1989, he released nine studio albums, mostly on CBS and Columbia.

Background

Magnus Uggla was born Per Allan Magnus Claësson Uggla on June 18, 1954, in Stockholm, Sweden. His mother, singer and vocal teacher Madeleine Uggla (née Thiel), founded Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut. Uggla grew up in Östermalm, where he heard classical records and his mother’s vocal pupils in the family apartment. He attended Carlssons skola and began drama studies in 1974 at Stockholm’s Calle Flygare Teaterskola.

Uggla formed Bluffmakers, a cover band with fellow schoolboys. He later assembled JUSO with a neighbor after his family moved to Nacka in the late Sixties. They covered Steppenwolf and Trapeze before Uggla took up songwriting, inspired by the 1970 Black Sabbath debut. He wrote “Domedagen” (“Judgment Day”) and “Skogen brinner” (“The Forest Burns”) during his rounds as a Riksteatern messenger. JUSO opened for Pugh Rogefeldt and Nature at a 1972 show at Fregatten.

During upper-secondary school, Uggla accompanied a classmate to a Mott the Hoople show at Stockholm’s Kåren. Mott, along with the Ziggy Stardust album by David Bowie, inspired Uggla’s embrace of glam rock. After leaving JUSO, he developed a new repertoire on piano and acoustic guitar. His former bandmates continued as Alexander Lucas.

Uggla cut a four-song piano demo with engineer Lasse Gustavsson, a friend of his older brother. They expanded the set to eight songs for a second demo, which Uggla submitted to EMI and Metronome, which both rejected the tape. Gustavsson then produced sessions with musicians from Harpo’s band during free evenings at Stockholm’s Ljudkopia studio. CBS signed Uggla to fill a gap in its monthly Swedish release schedule with his debut, Om Bobbo Viking.

Discography:

Magnus Uggla om Bobbo Viking (1975)
Livets teater (1976)
Va ska man ta livet av sig för när man ändå inte får höra snacket efteråt (1977)
Vittring (1978)
Den ljusnande framtid är vår (1980)
Välkommen till folkhemmet (1983)
Den döende dandyn (1986)

References and notes

Magnus Uggla — family profile — Full birth name, parents, and childhood home on Karlavägen. Interview by Erik Eje Almqvist, August 23, 2021. (Vi)
Madeleine Uggla — institutional history — Singing career, vocal teaching, maiden name, and foundation of Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut. (Stockholms Musikpedagogiska Institut)
Magnus Uggla — childhood and schools — June 18, 1954 birth in Stockholm, Östermalm childhood, and Carlssons skola. Interview by Anna-Maria Stawreberg. (Modern Psykologi)
Magnus Uggla — drama studies — Entry into Calle Flygare Teaterskola in 1974. Interview by Andreas Nordström, June 28, 2006. (Café)
Magnus Uggla — early bands and demos — Bluffmakers, Nacka, JUSO’s covers and originals, Riksteatern work, Fregatten engagement, Alexander Lucas, piano and acoustic guitar, expanded demo, and sessions with Harpo’s musicians. Interview by Kjell Häglund. (POP archive)
Ugglas favoriter — Uggla identifies Black Sabbath’s debut, recalls Mott the Hoople at Kåren, and explains the London recommendation that prompted his purchase of Ziggy Stardust. Interview by Karolina Fjällborg. (Aftonbladet)
Magnus Uggla — first recording conditions — Classical music at home, move toward glam rock, brother’s studio connection, four-song piano demo, evening sessions, and CBS’s monthly Swedish album quota. Interview by Krister Insulander, March 13, 2015. (Stim)
Om Bobbo Viking — original album credits — Lasse Gustavsson’s producer-engineer credit, Ljudkopia studio, personnel, and original 1975 release. (Magnus Uggla official archive)