THE ABBA STORY

The ABBA story began in June 1966 when Björn Ulvaeus (born 1945) met Benny Andersson (born 1946) for the first time. Björn was a member of the Hootenanny Singers, a very popular folk music group, while Benny played keyboards in Sweden’s biggest pop group of the 1960s, The Hep Stars.

The pair wrote their first song together later that year, and by the end of the decade they had established a regular partnership as composers. By that time, Benny had left The Hep Stars, while the Hootenanny Singers only existed in the recording studio. The Hootenanny Singers released their records on the Polar Music record label, owned by Stig Anderson (1931–1997), who was to become ABBA’s manager. Stig also contributed lyrics to many ABBA hits during the first years of the group’s career.

In the spring of 1969, Björn and Benny met the two women who were to become not only their fiancées but also the other half of ABBA. Agnetha Fältskog (born 1950) had been a successful solo singer since releasing her first single in 1967. She and Björn were married in July 1971. Anni-Frid Lyngstad (born 1945), also known as Frida, started her recording career shortly before Agnetha. Frida was of Norwegian origin, but had moved to Sweden at a very early age. Benny and Frida didn’t get married until October 1978.

At first, the four members collaborated musically mainly by contributing songs, instrumental backing, production work or backing vocals to the recordings they each made as solo or duo acts. In 1970, the attractive sound of their four voices combined gave them the idea to put together the cabaret act Festfolk (which had the double meaning "engaged couples" and "party people"). This first attempt failed, but in the spring of 1972 they recorded a song called ‘People Need Love’, garnering a medium-sized hit in Sweden. At this time they called themselves Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.

Encouraged by this success, they entered the 1973 Swedish selections for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Ring Ring’. They finished third, but the single and the album of the same name competed for the top positions on the Swedish chart. ‘Ring Ring’ also became a hit in several other European countries.

The group entered the selections again in 1974, this time with ‘Waterloo’, which took them all the way to the finals in Brighton, England. By this time they had changed their name to ABBA, an acronym of their first names. ABBA was also the name of a Swedish canned fish company, which luckily agreed to lending their name to a pop group. The Eurovision Song Contest on April 6, 1974 turned out to be the most famous moment in ABBA history, when the group won the international juries over with ‘Waterloo’.

Soon after this triumph, ‘Waterloo’ was Number One on the charts all over Europe, and even reached the US Top Ten. The album of the same name was also a huge hit in Sweden. However, the "stigma" of being winners of the Eurovision Song Contest made it difficult for ABBA to be taken seriously when they tried to follow this first success. It was not until some 18 months later that they got a major worldwide hit again with ‘SOS’, taken off their third album, simply titled ABBA.

‘Mamma Mia’, also taken from ABBA, returned the group to the UK Number One spot, which they occupied a total of nine times between 1974 and 1980. ‘Mamma Mia’ was also a Number One hit in Australia, which was the first territory to release it as a single in August 1975. Over the next few years, Australia would be caught up in a virtual ABBA fever, giving the group a total of six Number One hits.

oon after this triumph, ‘Waterloo’ was Number One on the charts all over Europe, and even reached the US Top Ten. The album of the same name was also a huge hit in Sweden. However, the "stigma" of being winners of the Eurovision Song Contest made it difficult for ABBA to be taken seriously when they tried to follow this first success. It was not until some 18 months later that they got a major worldwide hit again with ‘SOS’, taken off their third album, simply titled ABBA.

‘Mamma Mia’, also taken from ABBA, returned the group to the UK Number One spot, which they occupied a total of nine times between 1974 and 1980. ‘Mamma Mia’ was also a Number One hit in Australia, which was the first territory to release it as a single in August 1975. Over the next few years, Australia would be caught up in a virtual ABBA fever, giving the group a total of six Number One hits.

1976 was the year when ABBA finally and firmly established themselves as one of the most popular groups in the world. The different greatest hits compilations released in the UK and Australia this year (Greatest Hits and The Best Of ABBA respectively) are still among the best-selling albums of all time in those territories. Classic single releases such as ‘Fernando’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ topped the charts all over the world. In April 1977, ‘Dancing Queen’ became ABBA’s only US Number One.

Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson (né Andersson) (January 25, 1931 – September 12, 1997) was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the the pop group ABBA.

As well as being the manager of the Swedish supergroup, Anderson was also the founder of the Polar Music record label. Initially beginning his career as a chemistry and mathematics teacher after leaving school at the age of 15 [1], Anderson soon migrated to the Swedish music scene, becoming a music producer, manager and also occasional performer. He had begun writing songs as early as 1951, and in 1959 he got his breakthrough with the song "Är du kär i mig ännu, Klas-Göran?" ("Are You Still In Love With Me, Klas-Göran?"), written for Swedish singer Lill-Babs. During the 1960s he was one of Sweden's most prolific songwriters, producing more than 3,000 published titles. Anderson also founded Sweden Music in 1960, as well as several other companies. By the late 1960s, he was the manager and producer of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (the two main song writers of ABBA), joining the careers of these two after Anderson managed the Hootenanny Singers. Later in 1972 he began managing Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and finally in 1980 Agnetha Fältskog (until December 1979, Faltskog was still bound to Cupol/CBS Records under a contract). In the early stages of ABBA, Anderson co-wrote a large part of the songs' lyrics, among them some of the band's biggest hits, such as "Ring Ring" (1973), "Waterloo" (1974), "Honey, Honey" (1974) , "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" (1975), "Mamma Mia" (1975), "S.O.S" (1975), "Fernando" (1976), "Dancing Queen" (1976), "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (1977) and "The Name of the Game" (1977).


Anderson was one of the dominant figures behind ABBA, representing their commercial interests and global success through successful record deals. At the same time, he also managed the investment of funds and the enormous financial incomes of Polar Music. In the mid 1980s a considerable part of ABBA's fortune was lost by mismanagement, bad investments, high demands for tax and the rise of credit rates. Three of the four ABBA members terminated their relationship with Anderson when it was revealed that Anderson had taken a percentage of profits at a value of 4.5 million euros over the course of many years. A complaint against Anderson was submitted to the Stockholm District Court in June 1990 by Agnetha Fältskog's company Agnetha Fältskog Produktion AB, Benny Andersson's company Mono Music AB, as well as a Dutch company holding Björn Ulvaeus' rights. Anni-Frid Lyngstad sold all her shares in the Polar Music company in 1982 as she moved abroad. The dispute was settled out of court in July 1991; the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.

In 1989, Anderson made a substantial financial donation and founded the Polar Music Prize. The following year, shortly before the ABBA members took him to court over royalty back payments, he sold the Polar Music company (with nearly all utilisation and license rights and the registered ABBA trademark for an unknown sum of money) to PolyGram. Previously, Anderson licenced ABBA and the members' solo releases to various labels worldwide as a way to earn more royalties. In 1998, PolyGram was in turn sold to Seagram and merged into what is now one of the Big Four record labels, the Universal Music Group, the company that today holds the rights to the entire ABBA back catalogue.

Anderson's daughter, Marie Ledin (wife of Swedish star and ABBA concert backing vocalist Tomas Ledin) started a new, highly successful record label in the mid 1980s, Record Station (sold to German BMG in the early 90s), followed by Anderson Records, which released Anni-Frid Lyngstad's Swedish comeback album, Djupa andetag, in 1996.

Stig Anderson was married to Gudrun Anderson, and also had two sons, Anders and Lasse. Anderson died on September 12, 1997 (aged 66) from a heart attack.

Andersson was born to 34-year-old constructional engineer Gösta Andersson and his 26-year-old wife Laila. His sister Eva-Lis Andersson followed in 1948.

Andersson's musical background comes basically from his father and grandfather; they both enjoyed playing the accordion, and at six, Benny got his own. Father Gösta and grandfather Efraim taught him Swedish folk music, traditional music, and the odd schlager. Benny recalls the first records he bought, were by Italian schlager singer Caterina Valente: "Du Bist Musik" and Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock"; this smörgåsbord of different kinds of music was to influence and follow him through the years.

When Andersson was ten he got his own piano, and taught himself to play. He left school aged 15 and began to perform at youth clubs. This is when he met his first girlfriend Christina Grönvall, with whom he had two children: Peter (born 1963) and Helen (born 1965).

In early 1964, Benny and Christina joined a group with the odd name "Elverkets Spelmanslag" ("The Electricity Board Folk Music Group"), who by no means was a folk music ensemble: the name was a punning reference to their electric instruments. The repertoire was mainly instrumentals, and Benny recalls one of his standout numbers was "Baby Elephant Walk". He also wrote his first pieces of songwriting around this time for this band.

In March 1964, "Elverket Spelmanslag" was up against another band in a talent contest, The Hep Stars. When Benny stepped in as the Hep Stars' keyboardist in October of that year, he knew this was what he wanted to do.

The Hep Stars got their breakthrough in March 1965 with their massive hit "Cadillac", eventually becoming the most celebrated of the Swedish 1960s pop bands. Andersson consolidated his place as the bands' keyboardist and musical driving force as well as a teen idol. The band performed mostly covers of international hits, but Andersson soon started writing own material, and gave the band the classic hits "No Response", "Sunny Girl", "Wedding", "Consolation", "It's Nice To Be Back" and "She Will Love You" amongst others.

Andersson met Björn Ulvaeus in June 1966, and the two started writing songs together, their first being "Isn't It Easy To Say", eventually recorded by The Hep Stars. He also had a fruitful songwriting collaboration with Lasse Berghagen, with whom he wrote several songs and submitted "Hej, Clown" for the 1969 Melodifestivalen - the Swedish Eurovision Song Festival finals. The song finished in second place. During this contest he met vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and they soon became a couple. Around the same time his songwriting companion Ulvaeus met vocalist Agnetha Fältskog.

The personal relationships and Andersson and Ulvaeus' songwriting collaboration has led quite naturally to the very close co-operation which the four friends had during the following years. Benny and Björn scored their first hits as songwriters in the spring of 1969: "Ljuva Sextiotal" (a hit with Brita Borg) and "Speleman" (a hit for The Hep Stars). As the two couples began supporting each other during recording sessions, the sound of the girls' voices convinced the songwriters to model their 'group' on the like of MOR acts Blue Mink, Middle of the Road and The Sweet. Thus, ABBA came to life.

The foursome's breakthrough came with winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with "Waterloo" on April 6, 1974. During the next eight years, Andersson (together with Ulvaeus) wrote music to and produced eight studio albums with ABBA. The group achieved great success globally and scored a chain of #1 hits.

After ABBA broke up in 1983, Andersson continued writing music with Ulvaeus. Their first project was the stage musical Chess, written with Tim Rice. The "Chess" concept album - with vocals by Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson, Murray Head and Swedes Tommy Körberg and Björn Skifs - was released in October 1984, selling two million copies worldwide. The Paige/Dickson duet "I Know Him So Well" became a major #1 hit, and Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok" gave Andersson/Ulvaeus a US #3 hit.

'Chess' was staged in London's West End Prince Edward Theatre in May 1986, and ran for almost three years. A Broadway staging in April 1988 received disastrous reviews, and closed after just two months.

In 1985, Andersson produced and released an album with brother and sister Anders and Karin Glenmark, featuring new songs by Andersson/Ulvaeus. The duo named themselves Gemini, and a second album with more music by Björn and Benny was released in April 1987, containing the big hit "Mio My Mio"; also to be found on the soundtrack to the film Mio in the Land of Faraway, which Andersson co-produced the music to.

In 1987, Andersson released his first solo album "Klinga Mina Klockor" ('Chime, My Bells'). All the music was written by and performed by himself on accordion, backed by the Orsa Spelmän ('Orsa Folk Musicians) on fiddles. A second solo album followed: November 1989.

In 1990, Andersson scored a Swedish #1 hit with "Lassie", sung by female cabaret group, the Ainbusk Singers, for whom he also wrote the Svensktoppen hits "Älska Mig" and "Drömmarnas Golv". He decided to produce an album with Josefin Nilsson from this quartet, resulting in the 1993 English-language album Shapes, featuring ten new Andersson/Ulvaeus compositions.

From the late 1980s, Andersson had worked on an idea for an epic Swedish language musical based on his affection for traditional folk music, and in October 1995, "Kristina från Duvemåla" premiered in Sweden. The musical was based on The Emigrants novels by Swedish writer Vilhelm Moberg. The musical ran successfully for almost five years, before closing in June 1999. It currently holds in workshops for an English production on Broadway: "Kristina".

Andersson's next project was Mamma Mia!, a musical built around 24 of ABBA's songs, which has become a worldwide box-office blockbuster with versions in several languages currently being played in many countries, including the UK (West End premiere in April 1999, USA (Broadway premiere in 2001) and Sweden (Swedish language premiere in 2005).

For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Benny appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group spilt. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.

A film version of Mamma Mia! is scheduled to premiere on July 18, 2008. In April/May 2007, Andersson worked on the film soundtrack, re-recording the old ABBA songs with musicians from the old ABBA recording sessions.

Andersson currently performs folk music on the accordion together with the Orsa Spelmän fiddlers, and since the late 1990s mostly with his own band of 16 musicians, BAO!; "Benny Anderssons Orkester" (Benny Andersson's orchestra/band) with vocalists Helen Sjöholm (from Kristina from Duvemåla) and Tommy Körberg (of Chess fame), with lyrics sometimes written by his song-writing partner and best-friend of 40 years, Björn Ulvaeus.

BAO! recently avhieved a new 'record' in Sweden on the Svensktoppen chart by staying there for 184 weeks (as of January 15, 2008) with the song "Du Är Min Man" ('You Are My Man'), sung by Helen Sjöholm. The song was No.1 for 38 weeks between 2004-05.

Benny Andersson has written music to several films for screen and television; the first attempt in the early 1970s for the obscure Swedish movie The Seduction Of Inga: the film flopped, but the 'Björn & Benny' single "She's My Kind Of Girl" surprised the composers by being released in Japan and becoming a Top 10 hit (the song re-named in Japan as "The Little Girl Of The Cold Wind").

In 1987, Andersson wrote music and co-produced the soundtrack with Anders Eljas for the film Mio in the Land of Faraway, based on Swedish author Astrid Lindgrens Mio, my Mio. The title song became a huge hit in Sweden for Gemini.

In 2000, Benny wrote the music for fellow Swede (no relation) Roy Andersson's film Songs from the Second Floor; (the music later re-recorded (featuring new lyrics) with BAO! with vocals by Helen Sjöholm).

Currently, Andersson is working on the soundtrack to the film version of Mamma Mia!.

Andersson was engaged to Lyngstad for about nine years. They married in October 1978 but divorced in 1981. He married Swedish TV presenter Mona Nörklit in November 1981, and had a son, Ludvig (born January 1982). Ludvig has since followed in his father's footsteps in forming his own band, Ella Rouge.

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (born April 25, 1945) is a Swedish musician and composer, most notable as a member of pop group ABBA.

Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg, but as a child he moved with his family to Västervik. Ulvaeus studied Business and Law at the Lund University after doing his Military Service with stand-up comedian Magnus Holmström.

Prior to gaining international recognition with ABBA, Björn was a member of the Swedish folk/schlager band Hootenanny Singers who had an enormous following in Scandinavia. While on the road in southern Sweden in 1966, they encountered the Hep Stars, and Björn quickly became friends with the group’s keyboard player, Benny Andersson. The two musicians shared the passion of writing, and in the other found a composing partner. Together they composed their first song during their second encounter that same summer: "Isn't It Easy To Say"; a song soon to be recorded by Anderssons group. The two continued teaming up for music, helping out when the other's band were in the recording studio, adding guitar or keyboards respectively to the recordings. During 1968 the two composed a couple of songs together: "A Flower In My Garden", recorded by Hep Stars, and Stig Anderson wrote lyrics for their first 'real' hit "Ljuva Sextiotal", a song submitted for the 1969 Swedish heats for Eurovision Song Contest -but rejected; the song -a cabarét-style ironical song about the 1960's- was recorded by diva Brita Borg. Another hit came in the 1969 hit "Speleman", recorded by Hep Stars. While filming a nostalgic schlager special for television in March 1969, Björn met eighteen-year-old singer/songwriter Agnetha Fältskog. Benny had met his future spouse 24-year old jazz and schlager vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad only weeks before.

Björn Ulvaeus continued recording and touring with Hootenanny Singers to great acclaim while working as in-house producer at Polar Record Company (headed by future manager Stig Andersson), and did so with Benny as new partner. The twosome produced records by other artists, and continued writing songs together. Polar artist Arne Lamberts Swedish version of "A Flower In My Garden" - "Fröken Blåklint" was one of Björn & Bennys first in-house productions. In December 1969 the two recorded the new song "She's My Kind Of Girl", which became their first single as a duo, released in March 1970, giving them a minor hit in Sweden (and by chance a no. 1 hit in Japan two years later).

The Hootenanny Singers entered Svensktoppen -the Swedish radio charts- in 1970 with "Omkring Tiggarn Från Luossa", a cover of an old folk/schlager song, and remained in the charts for 52 consecutive weeks, a record who was held until 1990; the song was produced by Björn and Benny, and had Björns solo vocal -and Bennys piano.

After being a member of ABBA he has, together with Andersson, created the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla (based on The Emigrants novels by Swedish writer Vilhelm Moberg), and Mamma Mia! (based on ABBA songs).

Together with Andersson, Ulvaeus was nominated for the Drama Desk Award in a category "Outstanding Music" (for the musical Chess), and for a Tony Award in a category "Best Orchestrations" (for musical Mamma Mia!). Original cast recordings of both musicals were nominated for a Grammy Award.

For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Björn appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group spilt. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.

Ulvaeus also shared with Andersson "The Special International Ivor Novello Award" from 'The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters', "The Music Export Prize" from the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Trade, and "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF).

Anni- Frid had a very dramatic childhood. Lyngstad was born out of wedlock in Bjørkåsen, a suburb of Ballangen, near Narvik, Norway, as a result of a liaison between 19-year-old Synni Lyngstad (June 19, 1926 - September 28, 1947), and a married German sergeant, Alfred Haase (born 1919), at the very end of the Second World War and the German occupation of Norway.

In the spring of 1947, Anni-Frid, her mother Synni, and her grandmother Arntine Lyngstad left her birthplace because of fear of reprisals from people vengeful towards those who had dealings with the Germans during the occupation. This could entail not just insults, but also forced separation of infants from their parents and relatives (see War children).

Anni-Frid was thus taken by her grandmother across the border to Sweden and eventually south to Torshälla, near Eskilstuna. Her mother stayed behind in Norway and worked for a period in the south, but then became ill and returned to Sweden, where she died from kidney disease soon afterwards, aged 21. Although it is said that Anni-Frid's father, Alfred, had promised to return to Norway after the war, he never did (claiming to be unaware of Synni's pregnancy), so Anni-Frid was raised by her grandmother alone. However, a near contact with her family in Norway continued, and Anni-Frid recalls with warmth summer holidays spent with them at her birthplace.

Lyngstad believed that her father had died when his ship to Germany was sunk during the war. However, after the German teen magazine Bravo published her biography and a background story in August 1977, she discovered that her father was alive, and they were reunited that year.

In his book, Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, Carl Magnus Palm explained the apprehension Anni-Frid felt about meeting her father for the first time. For reasons unknown, Anni-Frid and Alfred no longer maintain contact. In 2005, however, Haase appeared in a German tabloid magazine, pleading with his daughter to resume contact.

Lyngstad got her first job as a dance band and schlager singer in 1958, aged 13. Later, she teamed up with a 15-piece 'big band', who performed a jazz repertoire covering Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and Count Basie; her vocal idols being Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. In 1963, she formed her own band, the Anni-Frid Four, and married the bass player Ragnar Fredriksson, aged 17. The marriage produced two children, but the couple were divorced by 1970.

In the summer of 1967, Lyngstad won a national talent competition with the song "En Ledig Dag" ("A Free Day" or "A Day Off"). Unbeknownst to Frida, the winner of the contest was also expected to appear the same evening in one of the country's most popular TV shows at that time, Hylands Hörna (Hyland's Corner; Lennart Hyland being the host of the show). This programme was broadcast for two hours, on the very same day that Sweden changed from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. For this occasion the show was re-named Hylands Högerhörna (Hyland's Right Corner). This first and unique performance can be seen on "Frida the DVD". Lyngstad went on to release a series of singles on the EMI label. All of these recordings can be heard on the EMI compilation CD, Frida 1967-1972.

In 1969, at a venue in southern Sweden, Frida met, and fell in love with Benny Anderson. That same year, she participated in Melodofestivalen - the Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest - with the song "Härlig är vår jord" ("Our Earth is Wonderful"), and finished fourth.

Her first album, Frida, produced by her then fiancé Andersson, was released in 1971. The album received unanimously generous praise from the critics, who especially noted the precision and versatility of Lyngstad as a vocalist (and scoring her first Swedish No.1 hit with "Min Egen Stad" ("My Own Town")). Anni-Frid continued to play in cabarets, and tour and regularly perform on TV and radio. Subsequently, her relationship with Andersson, and friendship with Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog eventually led into the formation of ABBA. In 1972, Lyngstad changed record companies and moved to the Polar Music label. She recorded the single "Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Dess Emellan", which became her second No.1 hit in the Swedish charts.

Her next solo album in Swedish, Frida ensam (Frida Alone), that included the original Swedish version of the future ABBA mega-hit "Fernando", was released in 1975 when she was already involved in ABBA. Due to the rising popularity of the group, the album took 18 months to record. It became an enormous commercial and critical success in Scandinavia, topping the Swedish album charts for six weeks and remaining in the charts for 40. The album was mostly a collection of covers of songs by artists like the Beach Boys, 10cc and David Bowie, receiving positive reviews from Melody Maker: "The album portrays Frida as a very strong and emotive singer and shows the true value of the music, that if sung properly and with enough feeling it transcends all language barriers".

In 1982, during ABBA's last year as a working band, Lyngstad released her first solo album in English, the Phil Collins-produced Something's Going On, that topped the charts in Sweden and reached the Top 20 in the UK and Germany, and Top 50 in the U.S. It sold around 1.5 million copies worldwide and spawned a hugely successful single, "I Know There's Something Going On", which topped the charts in Belgium, Costa Rica and France (spending five weeks at the top). The song also reached the Top 5 in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia amongst others. In the United States, the single reached No.13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No.9 on Radio & Records airplay chart, with the music video for the song being heavily promoted on MTV. In all, "I Know There's Something Going On" sold 3.5 million copies worldwide, making this the best-selling solo project of any of the former ABBA members to date. The album itself was also well received by the critics, with Billboard writing: "ABBA's auburn-haired songstress makes a bold solo project a stunning success", while Mark Coleman described Something's Going On in the third edition of Rolling Stone Album Guide as a "sharp, rock-oriented, delightfully eclectic album". William Cooper had a similar opinion in All Music Guide: "Frida escapes the creative limitations of being a member of one of the world's most popular groups on this solid and often riveting album."

In 1982, Lyngstad was voted Best Female Artist Of The Year by the readers of Aftonbladet, and received the Swedish Music Award Prize Rockbjörnen.

In 1983, Lyngstad assisted with 'ABBAcadabra - the Musical', and recorded one of the tracks with several different male vocalists in different versions, including Frenchman Daniel Balavoine on the track 'Belle, Belle' and on the English version 'Time' with B. A. Robertson. This track was a cover of "Arrival", an instrumental track from the ABBA album of the same name.

Lyngstad's next album, Shine (1984), enjoyed moderate success. It reached the Top 20 in several European countries, No.6 in Sweden being its highest position. One of the songwriters and backing vocalist for this album was Kirsty MacColl, who was killed in a boating accident in Mexico in December 2000. Lyngstad recently commemorated a song on her most recent compilation album to MacColl, "Chemistry Tonight", which MacColl had co-written.

In the years that followed, Lyngstad was seriously engaged in environmental work but also found time to make a couple of guest appearances on recordings by other artists, amongst others, her former colleague and husband Benny Andersson's 1987 album in particular.

Also in 1987, Lyngstad recorded the hit single "Så Länge Vi Har Varann" ("As Long As We Have Each Other") with the Swedish pop group "Ratata", the group being one of Lyngstad's favourites. One day, singer Mauro Scocco called and said that he had a song suitable for a duet. After hearing it, Lyngstad accepted immediately. The song was a huge success in Sweden.

In 1990, Lyngstad became a member in the committee of the Swedish environmental organisation "Det Naturliga Steget" ("The Natural Step"). The organisation wanted a "famous face" to help them reach the public, and in 1991 she became chairwoman for the organisation "Artister För Miljön" ("Artists For The Environment").

In 1992, Lyngstad performed live at the Stockholm Water Festival and released an environmental charity single with her cover of Julian Lennon's song "Saltwater".

In 1993, she performed an á capella version of "Dancing Queen" together with The Real Group, at Swedish Queen Silvia's 50th birthday. The event was held at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. This performance was filmed by Swedish TV. It was Queen Silvia's wish to hear "Dancing Queen" again, as ABBA had performed it on the same stage the day prior to her wedding to King XVI Gustaf in June 1976. The Swedish prime minister at that time, Ingvar Carlsson, said it was a genius step to do "Dancing Queen" á capella.

In 1996, Lyngstad recorded a Swedish language album Djupa Andetag, that topped the Swedish charts and attracted positive reviews. The recording and making of this album can be seen on "Frida The DVD". A follow-up album was reportedly in works, but eventually shelved due to personal reasons.

Several one-off recordings followed, including a 2002 duet with Filippa Giordano on the Barcarolle from opera Les contes d'Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach, and the song "The Sun Will Shine Again", written especially for Lyngstad by former Deep Purple member Jon Lord, and recorded in 2004. Both performances, however, were not released as singles: "Barcarolle" is only available on the special Japanese edition of Giordano's Rosso Amore album, and "The Sun Will Shine Again" can be found on Jon Lord's album "Beyond The Notes". Jon Lord and Frida had made several TV appearances in Germany with this song, amongst others "The Sunday Night Classics" and "The Golden Henne Gala". Frida also joined Lord on stage singing this song during his European autumn tour in 2004.

For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Frida appeared briefly in a special comedy video for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group spilt. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.

Also in 2004, Lyngstad appeared with former bandmates Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus at London's fifth anniversary performance of Mamma Mia!, the musical based on ABBA songs. In 2005, she joined all three of her former ABBA colleagues at the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia! at Cirkus in Stockholm.

On November 15, 2005, to celebrate Frida's 60th birthday, Universal Records released the "Frida Box Set" consisting of all the solo albums she recorded for Polar Music, remastered and with bonus tracks. Also included here is "Frida The DVD" where she openly - for more than three hours - talks about her whole career in music. On this DVD are many rare clips, TV performances and videos made for her solo efforts.

In November 2007, it had been reported that Frida and Jon Lord are planning to do some demo-recordings together. If the results of these recordings turn out well, Frida will record a new album with Jon Lord as producer.

Personal life

On April 3, 1963, aged 17, Lyngstad married salesman and fellow musician Ragnar Fredriksson. The marriage produced two children: Hans Ragnar (born January 26, 1963) and Ann Lise-Lotte (February 25, 1967 - January 13, 1998). They separated shortly after their daughter's birth and were officially divorced on May 19, 1970. On the very same day, Lyngstad's grandmother, Arntine, died, aged 71.

In May 1969, Lyngstad met Benny Andersson, and the couple were quickly engaged. By 1971 they were living together, but did not marry until October 6, 1978, during the height of ABBA's success. However, after only three years of marriage, they separated in February 1981 and were divorced in November of the same year.

In 1982, Lyngstad left Sweden and moved to London. During 1984 while recording her Shine album in Paris, it was widely believed that Lyngstad had many boyfriends, probably on the rebound of the failed relationship with Andersson. This was an unsettled period for the star. She then relocated to Switzerland in 1986 where she has been living ever since.

On August 26, 1992, Lyngstad married Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss, Count of Plauen (May 24, 1950 – October 29, 1999).[1] By this marriage, she has two stepdaughters, Princess Henriette and Princess Pauline. The prince died of lymphoma in 1999; a year earlier, on January 13, 1998, Lyngstad's daughter, Lise-Lotte Casper (born Fredriksson), died of injuries sustained in a car accident in Livonia, near Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Through Lyngstad's marriage to Prince Heinrich Ruzzo, who was a student at the same boarding school as the reigning King of Sweden, she became acquainted with the Swedish royal family and eventually became close friends with Sweden's Queen Silvia.

Today, Anni-Frid still engages in charity work - environmental issues in particular. In 2005, she stated in an interview that she had no interest in a music career, though eighteen months later she returned to the recording studio.

Agnetha Fältskog was born the first of two daughters to department store manager Ingvar Fältskog (1922 - 1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923 - 1994). Ingvar Fältskog showed much interest in music and show business while Birgit Fältskog was a very calm and careful woman who devoted herself to her children and household. Agnetha often said that female singers like Connie Francis, Marianne Faithfull, Aretha Franklin, and Leslie Gore were among her strongest influences.

Prior to ABBA, Fältskog was a successful solo artist in Sweden with several charting singles and albums. In 1972, she starred as Mary Magdalene in the original Swedish production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, providing vocals for its original Swedish cast recording. Her relationship with Björn Ulvaeus, and friendship with Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson eventually led into the formation of ABBA.

In 1975, during the same period as her bandmate Lyngstad recorded her No.1 album Frida ensam, Faltskog recorded her solo album Elva kvinnor i ett hus. These albums were recorded between sessions and promotion for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA. Even though ABBA was already a No.1 act in Sweden in 1975, Faltskog's album failed to reach the Top 10 on the Swedish album charts, peaking at No.11.

In the 1980s, Fältskog released three English-language solo albums. Their success was mostly limited to Europe, Scandinavia in particular.

At the end of 1982, she duetted with Swedish singer (and former ABBA backing vocalist) Tomas Ledin on a song called "Never Again", which became a Top Five hit in Sweden, Norway, Belgium and South America. In the summer of the same year, Fältskog starred in the hit Swedish movie Raskenstam, and received positive reviews for her film début.

In May 1983, Fältskog released her first post-ABBA solo album, Wrap Your Arms Around Me. The album became a moderate hit in North America and Australia, and reached the higher regions of the charts across Europe, including No.1 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium and Denmark (where it became the biggest-selling album of the year). It also reached No.18 in the UK. Critically, the album received a mixed reaction: "[This] treacly, string-sopped outing doesn't begin to do [Fältskog] justice", wrote Rolling Stone. However, Stereo Review magazine concluded it as a "highly entertaining piece of good commercial record making". Two singles from the album became relatively big hits in continental Europe, with the first, "The Heat Is On", becoming a No.1 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. The title track also reached No.1 in Belgium. In North America, the album track "Can't Shake Loose" was released as the lead-off single, reaching No.29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No.23 on the RPM Top 50 singles chart in Canada.

The same year, Fältskog was voted by the readers of Aftonbladet as "Best Female Artist Of The Year", and received the Music Award Price Rockbjörnen.

Her next album, Eyes Of A Woman, produced by Eric Stewart of 10cc fame, was released in March 1985. "She is quite content to grace the works of various other lesser mortals with her immaculate, sugar-sweet voice", wrote Barry McIlheney in Melody Maker. The album sold well in parts of Europe, reaching No.2 in Sweden and the Top 20 in Norway and Belgium, but failed to match the success of Wrap Your Arms Around Me.

In 1986, Fältskog recorded another duet, "The Way You Are", with Swedish singer Ola Håkansson, which became another No.1 hit in Sweden.

In the summer of 1987, Fältskog travelled to Malibu, California, to record the album I Stand Alone, produced by Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsch (Fresh off Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita' collaboration). Released in November of that year, it was a minor hit in Europe, except for Sweden where it spent eight weeks at No.1 and became the biggest selling album of 1988. The single from the album, "I Wasn't The One (Who Said Good-Bye)", on which Fältskog duetted with Peter Cetera, was released primarily in North America, and became her second solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (No.93). It was also a Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit.

After the release of I Stand Alone - in mid 1988 - Fältskog took a break from her musical career and completely withdrew from public life. In 1996, her autobiography Jag är som was published in Swedish (in English the following year as As I Am), followed by several compilation CDs of her Swedish and English recordings.

In April 2004, Fältskog released a new single, "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (a cover of the song originally recorded by Cilla Black). It reached No.2 in Sweden, No.11 in the UK, and became a sizeable hit throughout Europe. "It is exciting to hear her voice, utterly undimmed, delivering a tellingly-titled song", commented London's Music Week. A few weeks later, the album My Colouring Book, a collection of Fältskog's covers of 1960s classic oldies, was released, topping the charts in Sweden, hitting the Top Five in Finland and Denmark and peaking at No.12 in the UK. "I love this record", enthused Pete Clark in London's Evening Standard, while Daily Mail pointed out that "it reveals a genuine affection for the era's forgotten pop tunes". The Times reviewer noted that "her voice is still an impressive pop instrument", and The Observer shared the same sentiment suggesting that "time hasn't diminished her perfect voice". Reviewing the release in The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan wrote: "Agnetha Fältskog has a vulnerability that gets under the skin of a song. She may be cheating a trifle by including no original material on this collection of 1960s covers, but if anyone can do justice to the likes of Sealed with a Kiss, it's her. The soaring sentimentality evokes Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw in their mini-skirted pomp, and I don't say that lightly". The release attracted major media attention across Europe, but Fältskog staunchly refused to be involved in any extensive promotion of the album (including personal appearances), and thus limited her public exposure to several short newspaper interviews, a few videos and a Swedish-language low-key TV special. Yet, the album managed to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide, 50,000 of those in the UK alone.

Shortly after this release, for the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Agnetha appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group spilt. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.

In 2004, she was nominated for Best Nordic Artist at the Nordic Music Awards, and at Christmas of that year (for the first time in almost 20 years), she gave an extensive interview which was filmed by Swedish TV. Around the same time, Sony Music released a lavishly produced 6 CD boxed set comprising Fältskog's Swedish solo career before ABBA (five original solo albums - 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975 - and an additional compilation disc with bonus tracks).

In January 2007, Agnetha appeared at the final performance of Mamma Mia! in Stockholm (as she had at its opening in 2005). Together with ex-husband and former colleague Björn, she appeared on stage at the after show party held at Stockholm's Grand Hotel. She also sang a duet, "True Love", with Tommy Körberg of Chess fame. Agnetha did not invest in the musical "Mamma Mia!".

Personal Life

On 6 July 1971 (aged 21), Fältskog married Björn Ulvaeus; the marriage resulted in two children, Linda Elin Ulvaeus (born February 23, 1973) and Peter Christian Ulvaeus (born December 4, 1977). The couple decided to separate in late 1978 and Agnetha moved out of their home on Christmas night of that year. In January 1979, the couple filed for divorce, which was finalised in June the following year. Both Fältskog and Ulvaeus agreed not to let their failed marriage interfere with their responsibilities with ABBA. Fältskog subsequently married for the second time, albeit briefly, in December 1990 to a surgeon named Tomas Sonnenfeld. She was also the victim of a well-publicised stalker from The Netherlands, Gert van der Graaf. [1]

Fältskog is regularly compared to Greta Garbo because of their usual disdain of the limelight. This is largely an image produced by the media. In a 30-minute interview for a Swedish television channel in 2004, she commented on the Garbo image, saying it's nothing but a product of her general shyness and anxiety for public appearances. In the interview, Fältskog also stated that she does not consider her English to be good enough for an interview in English. She also has a fear of flying and said that she had not been on an airplane for the last 10-15 years. When she goes abroad she prefers to travel by car. She prefers a tranquil life in a rural suburb south-west of Stockholm, away from the noisy city atmosphere.