Bright juicy and catchy melodies made this quartet a unique phenomenon in the music world. The history of "ABBA" dates back to June 1966, when a member of the Hootenanny Singers folk group Bjorn Ulvaeus (b. April 25, 1945) and the keyboardist of the popular Swedish band "The Hep Stars" Benny Andersson (b. 16) met December 1946). The guys wrote their first joint composition in December, and by the end of the 60s they had a strong creative tandem. By this time Benny had left the Hep Stars and the Hootenanny Singers were only doing studio work. The latter group released their CDs on Polar Music, whose owner, Stig Andersson, later became the manager of ABBA and wrote the lyrics for many of their hits. In the spring of 1969, Benny and Bjorn took on girlfriends who had already tasted a solo career. Ulvaeus chose Agnetha Fältskog (b. April 5, 1950), and in July 1971 they got married. Andersson and Anni-Frid Lingstad (b. November 15, 1945) legalized their relationship only in 1978, although they had lived together until that time. Both couples cooperated and helped each other from the very beginning, but the idea to sing as a foursome did not immediately come to them.
The first attempt of the quartet failed, but in 1972 the musicians recorded the single "People Need Love", which had a good success in Sweden. The ensemble was then called "Bjorn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid", and soon, at the suggestion of the Stig, this indigestible name was reduced to the abbreviation "ABBA". In 1973, the group performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, where they took third place with the bubblegum number "Ring Ring". The single of the same name and the album, which combined elements of glam rock and Europop, topped the Swedish charts, and also received recognition in several other European countries.
The following year, the quartet again participated in Eurovision and this time won an unconditional victory with the composition "Waterloo". Shortly after this triumph, the song topped all the European charts and even hit the top ten in the US. The giant disc of the same name topped the Swedish charts for 12 weeks, and in England took 28th place, and still the group was treated only as a one-day winner of the competition. ABBA forced a change of heart with the release of their third album, which contained such hits as "S.O.S." and Mamma Mia. The last of these songs went straight to number one in the UK charts, where eight more songs by the group subsequently fell. The very same "abbamania" began in Australia, which captured this country for several years. In 1976, "ABBA" finally secured the status of a supergroup around the world. The singles "Fernando" and "Dancing Queen" became international hits, with the latter managing to climb to the top of the conservative American charts.
By the end of the year, the new album "Arrival" arrived in time with the action movies "Money, Money, Money" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You". The record took the charts by storm, while the band embarked on a massive tour that started in Europe and ended in Australia. Based on the final tour, a film about the group was made, which premiered simultaneously with the release of the disc "The Album". This work presented the team in a new, grown-up and somewhat Americanized sound, where the old bubblegum gave way to more thoughtful arrangements.
In the spring of 1978, ABBA undertook a serious attack on the United States, which resulted in the third place single "Take A Chance On Me" and getting "The Album" into the US Top 20. Released in April 1979, more danceable than its predecessor, "Voulez- Vous" was again full of hits, but the reputation of a happy quartet was slightly tarnished by the divorce of Bjorn and Agnetha. However, the marital break did not yet mean the end of creative cooperation, and soon the whole world was enjoying the hit "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", and fans from North America and Europe could see the band with their own eyes. In November 1980, Super Trouper was released, bringing the band back from experimenting with disco to more mainstream pop. The album traditionally topped the charts in many countries, and yet it was going downhill. The Japanese tour of the same year was the last, and in February 1981, Benny and Frida announced their divorce. In the end, the four released a sad album "The Visitors" that went beyond the scope of lightweight pop due to complicated arrangements, after which the activities of "ABBA" were suspended.
Benny and Bjorn took up the musical "Chess" and their former halves resumed their solo careers. Although the expected reunion never took place, fans continued to buy all kinds of "Best Of" in multi-million copies. The last time the musicians appeared together in public was in 1986, performing an acoustic version of Stig Andersson's first song "Tivedshambo" on Swedish TV. In the same year, the first "ABBA" screen, made up of records from the late 70s, appeared on sale. The second live album came out many years later and, unlike its disparate predecessor, included an entire concert at Wembley Stadium in November 1979. In 2010, the musicians of the legendary Swedish quartet were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Last update 14.07.18Ola Brunkert, the country's National Radio (HP) reported on Monday.
The Swedish vocal-instrumental ensemble ABBA (ABBA) was one of the most successful groups in the history of pop music and the most popular group formed in Scandinavia.
The ensemble was created in 1972 and named after the first letters of the names of the performers. The quartet consisted of Agnetha Fältskog (vocals), Bjorn Ulvaeus (vocals, guitar), Benny Andersson (keyboards, vocals) and Anni-Frid Lingstad (vocals).
The first success in their homeland came to them in 1972 after recording the song "People Need Love" (People Need Love). In June 1972, the song was released as a single, and this became the band's "point of reference". In March 1973, the first long-playing album appeared called “Call me, call” (Ring Ring). The song of the same name hit the top of the Swedish hit parade.
The beginning of the international take-off of the quartet is considered to be the victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in England in April 1974 with the song "Waterloo" (Waterloo). Since the release of "S.O.S." in 1975, the band's melodies have occupied the top lines of the English hit parade.
They became the first in Europe to hit number one on the charts in all English-speaking countries (United States, England, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand). We can say that the 1970s were the time of ABBA.
Each appearance of ABBA in public became an event, and each new recording of the group became a mega hit: Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Money Money Money. The last two songs were included in the album "Arrival" (Arrival, 1976), which broke the quartet's sales records not only in Sweden, but throughout the world. The group's records were also released in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria. In the Soviet Union, the Melodiya company released 4 long-playing records.
1977 was the peak year in the ensemble's career, when the beginning of the year was marked by a world tour. Filmed in Australia, ABBA - The Movie and ABBA - The Album were released in December. After that, the group continued to release records that occupied the first lines of the charts: “Would you like” (Voulez‑Vous, 1979), the collection “ABBA Best Songs - Collection 2” (ABBA Greatest Hits Vol.2).
In the fall of 1982, with the release of a double collection (ABBA The Singles The First Ten Years), as well as performances on TV in England, Germany and Sweden, the musicians celebrated the tenth anniversary of ABBA, after which each of them started recording solo records.
After the collapse of the group, Agnetha Faltskog released several discs, in 1996 her autobiography was released, and two years later - a music album with the best songs. She tried to start a family with the doctor Thomas Sonnenfeld, but separated from him in 1993. Now the soloist of the famous ensemble has retired to her villa on the island of Ekero in the suburbs of Stockholm. There she indulges in yoga classes, takes a great interest in astrology, keeps several trotters in her own stable and takes long horseback and foot walks in the mornings.
Frida's daughter Liz-Lott died in a car accident. After a long illness, her second husband, Prince Ruzzo Reus von Plauen, died. Frida herself became an environmental activist.
Much more successful was the life of Bjorn and Benny. Both remarried and had children. They founded companies and in every possible way contribute to young talents. Now former members of ABBA are considered the wealthiest people in the country's music world. It was to them with a request for cooperation that an Englishwoman, producer Judy Kramer turned to them with a request for cooperation back in 1989, who had the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a performance based on the songs of the group. Premiere of Mama Mia! took place on May 6, 1999, on the 25th anniversary of the Swedish “victory” at Waterloo, and became the prologue to the incredible success of the musical.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
ABBA(in Russian - ABBA) is a Swedish musical quartet that existed in 1972-1982 and is named after the first letters of the names of the performers. It is one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music and the most successful among those created in Scandinavia: the group's records have been sold in more than 350 million copies worldwide. The quartet's singles have been number one on the world charts since the mid-1970s ( waterloo) until the early 1980s ( one of us), and compilation albums topped the world charts in the 2000s. They remained on radio playlists and their albums continue to sell to this day.
They were the first from continental Europe to top the charts in every major English-speaking country (USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).
The founders of the group were musicians, singers and songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. They first met at a party in the summer of 1966 and decided that they should write songs together. Benny was at that time the keyboardist of a popular band in Sweden Hep Stars, Bjorn singer and guitarist in the ensemble Hootenanny Singers. At a concert in Malmö, Benny met the singer Anni-Frid Lingstad, who had been singing with different bands since the age of thirteen and even performed at song festivals in Japan and Venezuela. At the same time, Bjorn saw in a television show how he sings his own song. Jag var så kär Agneta Fältskog, and decided to get to know her.
For the first time, the whole four gathered to record a television program in Stockholm, and began to sing together from November 1970. Almost simultaneously with the debut of the quartet in one of the restaurants in Gothenburg on November 1, 1970, Bjorn and Benny's own album was released. Lycka with songs in Swedish, in which Agnetha and Frida participated as backing vocalists. In 1971, Benny and Bjorn joined the firm Polar already as producers. The tragic death of Bengt Bernhag - the closest friend and colleague of the head Polar Stig Anderson brought producer Bjorn Ulvaeus to the vacant seat. Stig offered the young author this position, but Bjorn was not entirely happy with it. He agreed on the condition that his co-author, Benny Andersson, would also be hired. The head of the company did not have a salary for two, and novice authors had to work part-time.
ABBA is a musical group from Sweden, was created in 1972 and named after the first letters of the names of the performers: Agnetha Feltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Ten years later, in 1982, the ABBA group broke up.
The rise of the group "ABBA" began in 1972 thanks to the song "People Need Love". These guys knew what they were singing about, because the team consisted of two loving couples...
For almost ten years, complete harmony reigned in the ABBA group, and then it all ended. What happened? Yes, love is gone!
Agnetha Feltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus were officially married, and Anni-Frid Lingstad and Benny Andersson lived in a civil marriage. Agnetta and Bjorn broke up back in 1978, Anni-Frid and Benny in 1981.
And although the band members promised the fans that problems in their personal lives would not affect the fate of the band, already in 1982 ABBA broke up. On December 11, the glorious biography of the popular ABBA group ended: their last joint appearance on the air of British television took place. Moreover, nothing was said about the dissolution of the group - on the contrary, the members of the quartet assured that they would record a new disc in a year.
However, Björn and Benny continued to cooperate: they composed the musical Chess together, began producing a new group, and recorded several albums. “And who are we now? Brigitte Bardot's initials? they joked.
In January 1981, Bjorn married journalist Lena Calersio. Over time, he somewhat moved away from music and began to devote more time to social activities.
In the same year, he found personal happiness in his third marriage and Benny - with TV presenter Mona Norklit. Famous musicians were his sons - Peter (from his first marriage) and Ludwig (from his third). Benny still writes music for film and stage. By the way, in 1992 his composition became the anthem of the World Cup held in Sweden. He has his own band - the Benny Andersson Orchestra. The group actively tours and regularly pleases fans with new albums.
Agneta did not quit music either. The biography of her solo career after the collapse of ABBA was better than the rest. Mrs. Fältskog released solo albums while still in the quartet, and when she was left alone, she turned around in full force. In the 1980s, her Swedish and English albums were very popular.
But in 1987, Agneta broke down: she stopped performing, stopped communicating with the press ... Only many years later, the singer admitted that she could not stand the tour race. In 1996, she returned to show business with a new album and autobiography. Later she released several more discs, the last one she called "A" - it was released two years ago.
Only Anni-Frid left music forever. True, she recorded two solo albums - one in London, the other in Paris, and a few years later she moved to Switzerland, where she still lives. In 1992, the singer married for the third time - to a German prince. But in the late 1990s, a black streak came for her: her daughter from her first marriage died in an accident, then her beloved husband suddenly burned down from cancer. Charity work helped to survive the grief of Anni-Frid.
Due to her high status, she has great opportunities: Her Grace Anni-Fried Reuss von Plauen is friends with the royal couple of Sweden, she is received in the best houses of Europe. Employment prevented her from coming to Stockholm, where on May 7, 2013 the museum of the ABBA group was opened. The rest of the participants were happy to sign autographs, and when asked by fans about the revival of the team, they answered with a smile: “Anything is possible!”
The band's history began in June 1966 when Bjorn Ulvaeus met Benny Andersson. Bjorn was then a member of the Hootenanny Singers, a famous Swedish folk group, and Benny played keyboards in Sweden's most popular band of the sixties, The Hep Stars.
In the same year, they recorded the first track together in order to become a professional duet of composers in the late sixties.
Spring 1969. Bjorn and Benny met two attractive women who eventually became not only the beautiful half of the team, but also their brides. Agnetha Fältskog was then an established soloist when she released her debut single in 1967. Anni-Frid Lyngstad, known as "Frida", started her musical career some time later than her friend. Agnetha and Bjorn got married in June 1971, while Frieda and Benny only got married in October 1978.
In the autumn of 1969, Bjorn and Benny wrote the music for the Swedish film Inga. Two songs from this film were released on a record in the spring of 1970 - She's My Kind Of Girl (the song later ended up on ABBY's album - Ring Ring) and Inga Theme. None of these tracks had any success.
Despite the setbacks, it was decided that Bjorn and Benny should record a big disc. The album, called Lycka (Happiness), was recorded in June-September 1970.
The early 70s is a period of uncertainty for the future members of the ABBA group. Bjorn left his previous band "The Hep Stars", Bjorn recorded an album with his group The Hootenanny Singers, but he understands that further cooperation with them is futile. Moreover, Bjorn and Bjorn would like to collaborate with each other as songwriters and performers .
On March 29, 1972, in Stockholm, at the Metronome recording studio, the four people we know today as ABBA met. Bjorn and Benny wrote the song People Need Love. First song in English. They were inspired by the records of the British band Blue Mink, where the music carried upbeat messages about harmony and love between people. When People Need Love was released on the single, "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid" were credited as the artists, because the ABBA name didn't exist at the time. Then they did not think about creating a group yet, and Frida and Agneta continued their solo careers and had contracts with different labels. And the song "People Need Love" became quite a famous hit in Sweden and reached #17 on the charts in Sweden in August. Of course, this fact greatly pleased the whole four, and they decided that they should start recording together. In the fall of 1972, they began work on their first album, Ring Ring.
In 1973 a team called Bjorn/Benny/Agneta/Frida takes part in the Swedish preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest (February 1973) with the song "Ring Ring", still in the Swedish version. The Swedish final for the Eurovision Song Contest was scheduled for 10 February. Unfortunately, the song took only 3rd place in the competition. This happened due to the then rules for choosing a song - the jury chose the song.
Benny: "Even when I saw the faces of the jury members, I realized that they will never choose a song that has a serious chance of being liked by millions of people." Janne Schaffer, former ABBA guitarist, adds: "I remember everyone sitting in the dressing room. I've never seen such dejection and despair."
The man who took over the production of the ABBA videos was the young director Lasse Hollström. The first clips he directed were created in 1974, they were "Waterloo" and "Ring Ring".
Over time, the clips have become an important part of the group's promotion. All of them were low-budget and filmed very quickly, sometimes it happened that two clips were filmed within one day.
In 1974, immediately after winning the Eurovision Song Contest "Waterloo", ABBA does everything to prove that they are not a one-hit star. Unfortunately, in those days, every team that won the Eurovision was considered as a group of one song, and that's it. The team, however, is building ambitious plans for winning the first lines of the world's charts. ABBA set out to prove that it can afford more than one hit. Work on the third album began on August 22, 1974. Three songs were recorded in the beginning: So Long, Man In The Middle and Turn Me.
Originally, the record was supposed to appear before Christmas. But due to a busy touring schedule, the release date was moved to the spring of 1975. The album contained songs that, one might say, formed a good image of the band in Europe. The songs from the third record contributed to the fact that the group began to be taken seriously. This was mainly due to two hits: "S. O. S" and "Mamma Mia".
In March 1976, the team went on tour in Australia, the country where real ABBAmania reigned.
At the same time, the musicians began work on the album Arrival, which was released in October 1976, and a few months later, another single - Knowing Me Knowing You. The album hit the first places of the charts in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Mexico and South Africa.
1979 was rich in singles. At the end of May, the four went to Spain. Their tour was preceded by the release of the Spanish version of "Chiquitity", all concerts were sold out. After returning from the Iberian Peninsula, ABBA is recording another single Rarytasa, true fans of the group are ready to give a lot for it, because it was released in only 50 copies. The band's next single, Does Your Mother Know/Kisses Of Fire, broke into the charts reaching #4 in the UK and #19 in the US.
The band's last single, released in December 1979, was "I Have A Dream, Take A Chance On Me (Live). In addition, ABBA's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" is a compilation of the band's hits from the years 1975-79. In 1981, ABBA released their last album called "The Visitors".
It is also worth mentioning two very important collections of the group. On September 21, 1992, the ABBA Gold compilation was released. It has been sold with a fantastic circulation of over 22 million copies worldwide. The compilation included 19 tracks, including Dancing Queen, Waterloo, Chiquitita. October 5, 1993, in Stockholm, the group received a platinum disc for ABBA Gold. Since the disc sold well, in 1993 the second part of the compilation, More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits, was released. It was originally planned to release previously unreleased recordings on this album, but ultimately, however, the collection included their most famous songs.
ABBA never officially announced the breakup of the group, but the group has been considered to have ceased to exist for a long time.
Their last joint appearance as a team was on The Late, Late Breakfast Show on December 11, 1982.
In January 1983, Agnetha began recording a solo album, while Frida had already released her own album Something's Going On a few months earlier. The album turned out to be very successful. Bjorn and Benny started writing songs for the musical "Chess" and their new project with the group "Gemini". And the ABBA group was "shelf". Bjorn and Benny denied the fact of the group's breakup for a very long time in their interviews. Frida and Agnetha have said several times that ABBA will certainly meet again to record a new album in 1983 or 1984. However, there was no longer a relationship between the members of the group conducive to working together. Since then, the Swedish foursome did not appear in public in full force (with the exception of January 1986) until July 4, 2008, when the Swedish premiere of the film-musical Mamma Mia!
