Square Dancing had been in existence in Sweden for many years, albeit to a fairly small degree. However, in the early 1980s the Ericsson company, having installed telephone networks in the United Arab Emirates, returned a large group of their Swedish employees to their home country. These people however, during the period spent in Arabia, had contracted the Square Dance bug!

Upon their return to Sweden they set about starting Square Dance groups in their home towns. This had the effect of "planting magic seeds that, almost overnight, grew into Square Dance clubs. Square Dancing was immediately recognised by the Swedish as a family activity and very soon people of all ages, indeed entire families, were enjoying the pastime.

As the interest in Square Dancing grew so did the fascination in all the elements that it embraced. One of these being the production of music for Square Dancing…

In 1986, Stefan Sidholm and Ingvar Pettersson, two of the new breed of young Swedish callers decided to "take a chance" and attempt to produce Square Dance music. They formed a company that they decided to name "Sting Productions". They invested as much money as they could borrow, hired musicians and a studio and recorded two records. These were subsequently released to the public and sold a respectable number. The scene was set…

Sting Productions began to grow. Very soon after the first two records Stefan and Ingvar asked Bengt "Bula" Ericsson to assist with the production. With Bula’s help the music began to take on a definite shape and flavour that would be identified with Sting for many years to come. In the early days a number of callers recorded on Sting Records but very soon the regular staff were identified as Stefan, Ingvar, Robert Bjork, Al Stevens and Paul Bristow.

There were still a number of callers who were looking to make records. Stefan and Ingvar decided to create a second label that would provide some of these other callers with the opportunity to record. Snow Records was founded as a "sister label" to Sting; it was agreed, from the outset, that Snow would have equal status to Sting in all respects.

During the first fourteen years, Sting and Snow Records enjoyed a great deal of success. A total of sixty nine records were released, all of which sold well many appeared in the top sellers and a fair number reached the number one spot on the release table.

In April 2000, Stefan and Ingvar transferred ownership of Sting and Snow Records to Paul Bristow.

Sting and Snow Records returned to full production in March 2001. Since then releases have been appearing at an approximate rate of two new tunes per month. These have all been well received and have achieved a good showing in the Hanhurst's Tape and Record Service and Palomino Best Sellers listings.

Since the beginning of 2002, virtually all of the company's back catalogue have become available as MP3 files; the few exceptions that you may find are a consequence of those original writers/publishers who would not licence their music for electronic distribution. The creation of these MP3 files was a mammoth undertaking, as each tune had to be sourced from the best original recording and every cue sheet had to be reformatted (in most cases re-written) to be available as part of the download.

If you have been unable to obtain a copy of any of our older "Out-Of-Print" vinyls, now you can listen to the music and buy the music in this electronic form, directly - via the Internet - from our Exclusive Master Stocking Distributor Hanhurst's Tape and Record Service.

Following a number of new recordings, made during our annual studio sessions in Nashville, Tennessee, a whole set of new releases are now available. These tunes feature excellent vocals provided by our staff callers (together with a few Special Guests) and maintain all the production standards set by Stefan and Ingvar. All of which has brought the company to the point where it can face the challenges set for Square Dancing during this new millennium.

Sting and Snow are all ready for the future. Further annual recording sessions are planned for the coming years; a number of new tunes have already identified that will certainly become excellent additions to any caller's record collection! It is our aim to continue to provide the best that we can in quality music for use by the callers and for the enjoyment of the dancers in Square Dancing - the world's finest activity!