Long Johns

Long Johns was a small pop band in a small town called Falköping, Sweden. The name Long John's comes from the drummer Leif Johansson who was a tall man. Other members were Lars "Wing" Gustavsson on vocals, Bruno Sahlberg on accompaniment guitar, Ulf Holmberg on bass and Göran Wiberg on solo guitar. In 1965, guitarist Caj Högberg moved to the city. He became a new guitarist and singer. Other members were, in addition to Leif Johansson on drums, Ulf Holmberg on bass and Benneth Andersson on guitar. Manager was Kurt-Ingemar Persson. The West Coast was made unsafe in a blue public transport bus during a sunny summer in 1966. In 1967, the band was reorganized once again. Now it became a "supergroup" with Högberg from "Long John's", the brothers Per and Jan Schönemann from Skövde's pride group "Crusader Sect", the drummer Arne Winberg from group "Skara's Five Teddys" and Staffan Ottosson who was the area's only organist worth the name. In addition, the new owner of a hammond organ, which was unusual at the time. They took over Long John's old tour bus and also had their own public bus in yellow and blue, which was provided with a Swedish flag on the roof. Falköping-Högberg's father was at the fire brigade and suggested a sale of the city's extra ambulance, a Chevrolet Apache in 1958. It had traveled 500 km and was purchased via the county administrative board for the humane price of SEK 410. After a quick rebuild with airplane seats and a purchase of orchestral trailers from Norrköping, the orchestra was ready to take over the world. They started by winning the "Lions and Göteborgs-Tidningen orchestra competition" in Kungälv and celebrated the victory during the award ceremony at the "Fars Hatt" restaurant. In 1968, it was time for the "Swedish Radio's Pop Band Competition", the then "Stanley Cup". Previous winners were Slamcreepers with Björn Skifs and Lucas with Janne "Lucas" Persson at the piano. In 1968, there were 375 bands in the competition and via various semi-finals, Long John's ended up in the final against "Attention" from Malmö, "Peckers" from Hälsingborg and "Beck's" from Gothenburg. After a short jury deliberation, where the members were i.a. Tommy Körberg and Lasse Hallström, in the end our heroes were the winners. The win was, in addition to honor and fame, a record recording for EMI with Lasse Samuelsson as producer. It became a single with "Sitting Here Baby" and "Don't Want You No More". Singer Per was a bit hoarse during the recording so the chorus was sung by guitarist Caj together with PJ Proby, who was on tour with Dynamite Brass and looked into the studio. Ulf Elfving also came by and did a radio interview with the band for Sveriges Radio's youth editorial staff. In the radio's Midnight Hour and the program item "Flipp eller Flopp", the single was voted out as a clear hit. Of this, however, nothing came of it. Instead, they went on tour and played at the last remaining pop clubs that still had an orchestra. Disco was the new fly of the time. They also made a radio program with Urban Von Rosen and rounded off with the TV program Minimax, where a new, young magician named Ken Hardy also saw his TV premiere. Now the organist Staffan Ottoson left the band and was replaced by Svante Hjort from the Gothenburg pop Midliners. It was a final tour turn on winter slippery roads with summer tires and unbraked trailer before the two Schönemännen threw in the towel to do military service. Caj Högberg continued as a musician to play bass and sing with Beatmakers, ABBA, Jerry Williams & Roadwork and many others. Arne Winberg continued as a dance band musician with Five Teddys. Per and Jan Schönemann continued their careers in banking and leisure music with Long John Rockers and Crusader Sect. Staffan Ottoson changed his name to Humlebo and studied philosophy and theology. Svante Hjort became a solo artist under the name Carl Rox. After 40 years, it became a reunion. On June 7, 2008, Long John's once again entered the stage at the Goodrock Festival in Falköping. Pictures if the reunion: https://www.demos.nu/longjohns/album/longjohns.html