ᗅᗺᗷᗅ - The Biography all four members of ABBA, but the name ABBA was not used on them.

all four members of ABBA, but the name ABBA was not used on them. First came "She's My Kind Of
Girl", a song written by Björn and Benny, which was a big hit in Japan. ABBA performed on a
Japanese Song Festival held in Tokyo this year. They performed the song "Santa Rosa" which was
ABBA is one of the most enduring and successful groups of all time. It was formed by Benny
very well received. In spring 1972 they came close to reaching the US Top 100 with a single they
Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lingstad, whose initial letters of their
wrote and performed, "People Need Love" on which Agnetha & Frida were also featured.
first names form the group's name. They were second only to Volvo as Sweden's biggest export
earners for several years, and remain revered and legendary as one of the most accomplished pop/
Ring Ring. At the end of the year, because of these successes, the songwriting team of Björn,
rock groups ever.
Benny and Stig (Stig was initially influential as a lyricist), were invited to enter a song for the
Swedish Song For Europe contest. The winner would represent Sweden in the 1973 Eurovision Song
Björn and Benny met each other in the summer of 1966. Björn was a member of The Hootenanny
Contest. At Christmas time in 1972 they met on an island in the Stockholm archipelago, to write
Singers, a popular Swedish folk group, while Benny played organ in the biggest Swedish pop group,
their entry to the preselection contest. The song is "Ring Ring". They had not yet found the group
The Hep Stars. By 1970, Björn and Agnetha had fallen in love and were living together, as were
name ABBA and decided to perform it with their partners using the unwieldy name of Björn, Benny,
Benny and Frida, although the two girls were still working on their separate solo careers. Björn's
Angetha & Frida. The swedish heat was held in Stockholm on February 10th, 1973. The song "Ring
group published their records through the Polar Music/Union Songs label. This publishing/
Ring", clearly impressed the audience far more than any of the other entries, but a panel of so called
production company was headed by Stig Anderson, a well-known Swedish music business
Swedish musical "expert" judges placed it only third. The immense public outcry which resulted
entrepreneur, who later became ABBA's manager and who is said to have written more than 2,000
(especially when the winner of the Swedish heat came nowhere in the Eurovision Contest proper),
songs in the Sixties and early Seventies. Stig first signed Björn as a songwriter, and when Stig's
led to future Swedish Eurovision entries being chosen on the basis of public voting. They recorded
original partner died, Björn was invited to become the latter's replacement. Björn would only accept
"Ring Ring", not only in Swedish, but also in German, Spanish and English. "Ring Ring" and the
the position if he could continue to work with Benny, and they eventually shared the job until ABBA
album of the same name became an enormous success. The Swedish version topped the charts in
was formed. From 1971 on Björn and Benny were writing songs and working as producers for Polar
Denmark, Finland and Norway, while the English version reached Number One in Australia, Belgium,
Music/Union Songs.
Holland and South Africa.

Festfolket. By 1970 Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid started working on their first project
Waterloo. When Stig Andersson, ABBA's manager, talked to newspapers he refered the group as
together, the cabaret show called Festfolket. The premiere of the show was preceded by their very
ABBA, using the initial letters of their first names. The only problem was that a Swedish fish canning
first performance together on the Swedish radio show "Våra favoriter" on 3 October 1970. In a true
company was also known as ABBA. But the company was very happy to share it. On February 9th,
democratic spirit the foursome performed Agnetha's "Som ett eko", Björn and Benny's "Hej gamle
1974, ABBA performed "Waterloo", a song written by Benny, Björn and Stig, for the Swedish jury at
man!" and Anni-Frid's "Barnen sover". The cabaret show Festfolket, which also toured Sweden in
the Swedish Eurovision, who gave the song an overwhelming vote, giving it over 60% of the total
early 1971, was however not a very happy experience for the two couples, and almost became the
marks. The dirigent, Sven-Olof Waldoff, agreed to appear in a Napoleonic outfit at the Eurovision
end of the collaboration between the four of them as a group. Most of the material written for the
Song Contest in Brighton, UK. No one would forget ABBA. On 6 April 1974 over 500 million
show ("Hej gamle man! and "Tre kvart från nu" from Anni-Frid's album were two good exceptions)
television viewers in Europe, saw ABBA doing a fantastic performance and winning the contest.
felt out of place, and the long drives on slippery winter roads took their toll; "It was hard work, quite
They became the first Swedish act to win the Eurovision Song Contest. "Waterloo" became the first
simply - more hard than fun", Anni-Frid recalls. The plans for a permanent group were shelved and,
of the group's nine UK Number One singles, and launched ABBA as the first internationally
although they abandoned their plans to continue as a permanent foursome, still appeared on each
successful pop/rock superstar act who sang in a language other than their native tongue. The
others records, especially when they needed a background choir.
"Waterloo" single also topped charts around the world reaching number one in Ireland, West
Germany and Belgium and making the Netherlands and the US Top 10. While the group reached the
First recordings. The first time that they all appeared on a recording was when Agnetha and Anni-
charts on both sides of the Atlantic with follow-up singles, for over a year, they seemed unable to
Frid did back-up vocals for Björn and Benny's "Hej gamle man!" in 1970. Since Björn and Benny had
overcome the apparent stigma which has afflicted non-British Eurovision winners.
already started to compose together it was not a coincidence both Frida and Agnetha participated
On June 24th, 1975, ABBA embarked on a two week tour in Sweden. A compilation album "Best Of
as back-up singers on their first album "Lycka" released in 1971. 1972 saw the first records featuring

ABBA" was sold in more than 850.000 copies in Australia. However, in the autumn of 1975, "SOS" world tour.
returned them to the UK Top 10, US Top 20 and topped the charts in countries as disparate as West However, it wasn't all over - not by a long shot. In 1980 ABBA made a tour in Japan for three weeks.
Germany and Australia. During this period of uncertainty, their fame in non-English speaking ABBA also released an album with ABBA-songs in Spanish.
markets (Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux, Spain, etc.) was fast increasing, and at the start of 1976,
they returned to the top of the UK singles chart with "Mamma Mia", which also topped the charts in 1980 found Benny and Björn working on songs for the group's seventh original album.
Germany. Their next dozen consecutive singles released up to the end of 1979 reached Top 5 on the
UK chart, and included five more UK Number One hits; "Fernando" (which topped the charts in Super Trouper, which was eventually released at the end of the year, when, of course, it instantly
Holland and Australia), "Dancing Queen" (also their only US Number One), "Knowing Me, Knowing topped the UK album chart, a position echoed in the singles chart by the title track, which also
You" (another German Number One), "The Name Of The Game" and "Take A Chance On Me". outsold everything in Germany and Holland. The album also included another Number One single,
Between 1976 and 1979, five consecutive ABBA albums topped the UK chart. During this period, "The Winner Takes All", a reflective song about the end of a romance which mirrored the emotional
ABBA were at Number One on the UK album chart for 36 weeks of a possible 192. The only group to situation of each member of the group.
have spent more weeks at the top of the UK album chart by the end of 1991 was The Beatles. In early 1981, Benny and Anni-Frid became another divorce statistic, adding poignancy to Benny
and Björn's songs. A third track from the Super Trouper album, "Lay All Your Love On Me", made the
On June 18th, 1976, they were to perform a tribute to Silvia Sommerlath, at a television gala held on Top 10 of the UK singles chart, and the song proving another milestone when it topped the US club
the day before her marriage to Sweden's King, Carl Gustaf. They performed "Dancing Queen" which chart, proving that ABBA were both versatile and able to understand many musical styles besides
would became their next single in August. the pure pop which had made them famous.
In 1977, just as "Knowing Me, Knowing You" was released to become their fourth Number One in 15 However, with relationships between the couples inevitably strained - Björn had remarried, as would
months, ABBA embarked on their first live concert in Britain, during which they filled the Royal Benny before the end of the year - a concert tour was out of the question, although the quartet
Albert Hall. 1977 was also the year when the group were the stars in a feature film made in Australia, reconvened for what turned out to be their final original album,
where they were incredibly popular.
The Visitors, which included another UK top 3 single of that era, "One Of Us". A few smaller hit
ABBA - The Movie, was a story about a journalist who was given the though assignment of singles extracted from the album kept ABBA's name in both the chart and the public eye, but by this
interviewing ABBA. It was jointly produced by Stig Anderson and Reg Grundy, an Australian who was time, each of the group members was considering future projects outside the ABBA umbrella.
later responsible for the incredibly popular "Neighbours" TV series, was released also in 1978 to During the late summer of 1982, Frida's first solo album was released worldwide. On November 5th,
immense box office success (but little critical acclaim). ABBA released a compilation double album.
In October 1978, Anni-Frid and Benny, who had been living together for several years, finally got
married, so that for the first time, ABBA was composed of two husband and wife teams. Sadly, this The Singles - The First Ten Years, which predictably topped the UK album chart, perhaps tended
happy state of affairs was brief, because it lasted less than three months, as by the end of the year, to deflect attention away from solo albums by Frida (produced by Phil Collins), or Agnetha
Agnetha and Björn had separated. (produced by Mike Chapman of Chinnichap fame). ABBA had a launch party for the album which
was held at the Belfry Club in Belgravia. There had been rumours, that the group had recorded a
The first of ABBA's 1979 albums Voulez-Vous, was seen as a departure from previous work, as it few other tracks: Just Like That and I Am The City. They were planned for ABBA's tenth album,
was a much more personal collection in lyrical terms, with several songs about the tribulations of which had the working title of Opus 10. But the album was never completed.
romance from which the group members were suffering. This year ABBA released five big hit In 1983, Agnetha told a Swedish newspaper that ABBA was dissolved.
singles, all of which reached the Top 5 of the British singles chart, although none made Number
One. "Chiquitita" was premiered in January during the Unicef Gala in New York and "I Have A After ABBA. Both Frida and Agnetha embarked on solo careers, and both enjoyed success, but the
Dream", ABBA's final UK single of a decade which they had dominated, topped the Dutch charts, quality and appeal of their recordings was simply less attractive to record buyers than had been
and was different again - a sing-a-long item which was specially recorded live at Wembley Arena case with their Abba output between 1974 and 1982. As songwriters, Benny and Björn were
with a large choir of children, at the last concert of what would sadly turn out to be ABBA's final obviously better placed to prolong their success, and their most notable achievement during the
1980's was probably Chess, the musical which they wrote with famed English lyricist Tim Rice.
Based on an actual confrontation in Iceland between American and Russian grandmasters of the
board game, it included several extracted international hit singles, and spawned a big selling album
released in 1984.