in music. In 1971, 15-year-old Ted and his eight-year-older brother Kenneth Gärdestad contacted the record company Polar Music and showed an audition tape to Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, who would later manage the pop group ABBA. Ted was composer and singer, while Kenneth wrote lyrics to Ted's melodies, a collaboration that continued throughout Ted's career. Anderson subsequently signed Ted to the label and assigned him to in-house producers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Debut single In late 1971, Gärdestad released his first single, the gospel-influenced "Hela världen runt" ("All Over the World"). The follow-up single, an acoustic ballad "Jag vill ha en egen måne" ("I Want a Moon of My Own"), a song he wrote at age 12, brought him to the attention of the Swedish public. He quickly became the country's first teen idol, touring at folkparks. Andersson and Ulvaeus produced Ted's debut album Undringar ("Wonderings"), which was released on Polar Music in early 1972, with Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad providing backing vocals. All four members of ABBA continued to work with Gärdestad in throughout the 1970s. His albums Undringar (1972), Ted (1973), Upptåg (1974) and Franska Kort (1976) were produced with the same recording and production techniques, engineers (including Michael B. Tretow) and musicians, as contemporaneous ABBA recordings. In February 1973, Gärdestad entered Melodifestivalen 1973, the competition to select Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song "Oh, vilken härlig dag" ("Oh What a Lovely Day") came joint fourth. A quartet known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid finished third with a song called "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)." Gärdestad had another attempt in Melodifestivalen 1975 with the song "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'"; Svenne and Lotta placed third with "Bang-A-Boomerang" and Gärdestad finished seventh but the song became a hit single on radio charts Svensktoppen, Heta Högen and Kvällstoppen. Gärdestad and his brother Kenneth returned to Melodifestivalen in 1977 and performed the song "Det bästa som finns" ("The Best of All") with Polar Music labelmate Lena Andersson. They finished eighth out of ten entries, and Gärdestad did not record the track. 1975–1979 By 1975, Ted had become a noted star in Sweden. He was prominently featured in teen magazines Starlet, Mitt Livs Novell and Poster, his love life was covered by the national newspapers, he had a fan club, and all of his albums were certificated gold and sold well in the rest of Scandinavia.