Ulf Ekberg

Ulf Gunnar Ekberg (born December 6, 1970 in Gothenburg, Sweden), a.k.a. “Buddha” Ulf is the only member of Ace of Base not to be one of the Berggren siblings.  Prior to Ace of Base, Jonas and his sisters were involved in a band called Tech Noir.  It was when Jonas needed to replace another male member that his friend Ulf was asked to join the band.

When Ace of Base became famous, the media caused a song and dance about Ulf’s prior involvement with a white power group.  Ulf responded by saying it’s in the past, a silly thing to do and that he had closed the door on that part of his life a long time ago.

Outside of Ace of Base, Ulf is a successful businessman. He is very well spoken and could perhaps be regarded as the bands most outgoing member.  He is very good at dealing with the media.

Ulf is the creator and producer of the award winning TV-format “Magician Impossible”, featuring one of the worlds leading magician: Joe Labero. “Magician Impossible” has been broadcasted in over 30 countries, including Sat night prime time on UK’s largest TV-channel: ITV.

He celebrated the Millennium (2000) with Bill Clinton at the White House. He yearly donates money for cancer research, and often contributes at different charity events. He also actively supports projects that focus on child protection and their future around the world including the HIV problem in Africa. He has been involved with several projects together with UNESCO and Save the Children.

After Ulf experienced the tsunami in Phuket, Thailand he founded the Surin Relief Fund to support affected children by providing facilities to school children and care for orphaned children.

He has also been a strategic advisor to several global consumer brands and active in many “think tanks” both regarding environmental issues and Global Businesses. He is on the respected business magazine BusinessWeek’s advisory board and is advising Dr Ashok Khosla, the President of International Union for Conservation of Nature.

For 2 years Ulf was active as a senior adviser for Team SEB and their $40m investment in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Ulf has written and produced many of Ace of Base’s songs, raps and plays keyboard.   He currently lives in London with his girlfriend Johanna Aybar and their 3 children Viggo, Vincent and Valentina.