September 14, 1997. Slagnäs

It's a chilly September morning and life will never be the same. It really hasn't been since that day, exactly one year ago, when Stikkan Anderson (the famous ABBA producer) gave me a call. There was no way to actually believe that what happened to me was true. I still can't in a way. Headlines like "A Swedish Cinderella story" very much describe the way I feel. And I guess, the way people around me look at it.

"--I never knew you could sing!?"

Well... neither did I. I got a chance of a lifetime -- or a decade -- and I just couldn't blow it.

My last year has been the most incredible ever. Stikkan offering me a contract for a debut album -- 12 songs which I didn't have. The great pleasure of working with men like Anders Burman and Lasse Englund (my producers, who went from unknown (to me) to beloved in a flash) in the delicate Atlantis studio and having the élite of Swedish studio musicians at disposal. Then the co-operation with the multigigant record company Universal and a green light for a release in continental Europe and Canada!

It has all been like a dream in the brightest colours the rainbow ever could achieve. All this because of one little man with big visions.

But today there are no sunbeams to lighten up my day or to disperse the dark clouds, letting the rainbow through. Recently the kind-hearted man who took me under his wings passed away. It all happened very quickly, hopefully without pain. The pain is now left for us, those around him.

Today my sorrow is as huge as my gratitude. I deeply, deeply wish I had only had a chance to say goodbye and Thank you! once again.

Though life will never be the same again, I know he's still watching me. And I can still see that funny little smile upon his face telling me:

"--Keep writing new songs Tina! We're gonna need it!"

I miss you Stikkan!

/Tina Stenberg