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. Is one of the most successful collectives in history popular music and the most successful of those created in Scandinavia: the group's records have sold over 350 million copies worldwide. The quartet's singles have been # 1 on the world charts since the mid-1970s ( Waterloo) until the early 1980s ( One of us), and collection 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 continental Europeans to reach number one on the charts of all the leading English-speaking countries (USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

Composition

• ANDoppression Feltskog (Agnetha Åse Fältskog) - vocals (b. 5 April 1950, Jönköping, Sweden).
• Bbjörn Kristian Ulvaeus - vocals, guitar (b. April 25, 1945, Gothenburg, Sweden).
• Bjenny Andersson (Benny Bror Göran Andersson) - keys, vocals (b.16 December 1946, Stockholm, Sweden).
• ANDnni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad (Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad) - vocals (b.15 November 1945, Ballangen / Narvik, Norway).

Group history

The band was founded by musicians, singers and songwriters Bjorn Ulveus 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 group in Sweden Hep stars, Bjorn as singer and guitarist in the ensemble Hootenanny singers... At a concert in Malmö, Benny met the singer Anni-Fried Lingstad, who sang with various bands since the age of thirteen and even performed at song festivals in Japan and Venezuela. Then Bjorn saw on a television show how he sings his own song Jag var så kär Agneta Feltskog, and decided to get to know her.

For the first time, all four gathered to record a TV program in Stockholm, and began singing together in 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 Agneta and Frida participated as backing vocalists. In 1971 Benny and Bjorn went to work for the company Polar already as producers. The tragic death of Bengt Bernhag - the closest friend and ally of the chapter Polar Stig Anderson, brought producer Bjorn Ulveus to the vacant position. Stig offered the young author the position, but Bjorn was not entirely happy with it. He agreed on the condition that his co-author, Benny Andersson, was also hired. The head of the company did not have a salary for two, and aspiring authors had to work part-time.

ABBA - Waterloo (1974). The group's first hit, with this song ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. On October 22, 2005, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Waterloo" was recognized as the best song in the history of the competition. "Waterloo" is performed on behalf of a girl who is ready to surrender, just as Napoleon had to surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

ABBA - S.O.S. (1975). This song is my favorite in the work of ABBA, also because it was the theme song for my favorite Japanese TV series "Strawberry on the Shortcake". It is noteworthy that "S.O.S." The ABBA group was named among his favorite songs by John Lennon.

Agnetha Fältskog is the lead singer of ABBA.

Before joining ABBA, Agneta was a fairly successful solo singer in Sweden. In 1972, Agneta starred as Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1975, already a member of the ABBA group, Agneta released an album in Swedish, Elva kvinnor i ett hus (Eleven Women in A House). After the breakup of ABBA, Agneta also released several new solo albums.

On July 6, 1971, Agneta married another member of the ABBA group, Bjorn Ulveus. A romantic relationship with him arose during filming on Swedish television in May 1969. They had two children.

Wedding of Agneta Feltskog and Bjorn Ulveus

Agneta and Bjorn parted ways in 1979 and Agneta left their common home on Christmas night. Nevertheless, they decided that their troubles in family life should not affect their teamwork in any way. Agneta was later married again, albeit briefly, to the surgeon Thomas Sonnenfeld.
Bjorn married Lena Calercio, a music journalist, in 1981.

ABBA - Dancing Queen (1976). This song is considered the best in the work of ABBA.

aBBA soloists Agneta Feltskog (left) and Anni-Fried (Frida) Lingstad (right)

In 1963, 17-year-old Anni-Fried married a salesman and musician Ragnar Fredriksson. They had two children. Annie divorced her first husband in 1970 and since 1971 began to live with a member of the ABBA group Benny Andersson. They officially formalized the relationship in 1978, their marriage lasted only three years, they divorced in 1981.

Anni-Fried (Frida) Lingstad and Benny Andersson

On August 26, 1992, Frida married her longtime friend, Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen (1950 - 1999). Since then, she has been officially named Her Serene Highness Princess Annie-Fried Reuss von Plauen. Prince Henry died of cancer in 1999.
Benny Andersson married Swedish TV presenter Mona Norklit in 1981.

ABBA - Take A Chance On Me (1978). The first song of the ABBA group, which sunk into my soul.

ABBA is a Swedish musical quartet that existed in 1970-1982 and is named after the first letters of the names of the performers. Is one of the most successful bands in the history of pop music. The most popular band created in Scandinavia. The quartet topped the world charts from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. They remained on radio playlists and continue to sell albums. The band is rumored to have sold over 370 million records. Only The Beatles, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra have sold more albums than ABBA. They were the first in continental Europe to reach number one on the charts in all English-speaking countries (United States, England, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

Composition

Agnetha Fältskog (Swedish Agnetha Ase Fältskog) - vocals (b. 5 April 1950, Jönköping, Sweden);

Björn Ulvaeus (Swedish Björn Kristian Ulvaeus) - vocals, guitar (b. April 25, 1945, Gothenburg, Sweden);

Benny Andersson (Swedish Benny Bror Göran Andersson) - keyboards, vocals (b.16 December 1946, Stockholm, Sweden);

Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida) (Swedish Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad (FRIDA)) - vocals (b. 15 November 1945, Ballangen / Narvik, Norway).

Brief history of the group until the beginning of the XXI century

The band was founded by musicians, singers and songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. They first met at a party in Vastervik in the summer of 1966, where they decided they should write songs together. Benny was at that time the keyboardist of the popular Swedish band "Hep stars", Björn was the singer and guitarist in the ensemble "Hootenanny Singers". At a concert in Malmö, Benny met the singer Annie-Fried Lyngstad, who sang with various bands since the age of thirteen and even performed at song festivals in Japan and Venezuela. At the same time, Bjorn heard on the radio how Agneta Feltskog was singing his own song "I Was So In Love", and decided to invite her to the group.

CONTINUED BELOW

For the first time, all four gathered to record a TV program in Stockholm, and began singing together in November 1970. Simultaneously with the debut of the quartet, in one of the restaurants in Gothenburg (previously each did solo career), at the end of the year Bjorn and Benny recorded their own album, in which Agneta and Frida participated as backing vocalists. Polar released the Lycka CD with songs in Swedish, and the single, People Need Love, was released in the US through Playboy Records.

In 1971, Benny and Björn joined Polar as producers. The tragic death of Bengt Bernhag, the closest friend and colleague of the head of "Polar" Stig Anderson, led to the vacated place of producer Björn Ulveus. Stig offered the young author the position, but Björn was not entirely happy with it. He agreed on the condition that his co-author, Benny Andersson, was also hired. The head of the company did not have a salary for two, and aspiring authors had to work part-time.

In February 1973, the quartet's song "Ring Ring", rejected by the Eurovision Song Contest Commission, was recorded in Swedish, German, Spanish and English and topped the charts in Sweden, Austria, Holland, Belgium and South Africa. In March 1973 the quartet's first long-playing album was released, entitled "Ring Ring". On April 6, 1974, ABBA's song "Waterloo" by an absolute margin (20 to 1) won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England. "Waterloo" kicked off an unprecedented string of eighteen consecutive hits in the UK Top 10. Eight of them reached the top: "Mamma Mia" (1976), "Fernando" (1976), "Dancing Queen" (1976), "Knowing Me", "Knowing You" (1977), "The Name Of The Game" ( 1977), Take A Chance On Me (1978), The Winner Takes It All (1980), Super Trouper (1980). Eight albums of the group also topped the charts, starting with the compilation album "Greatest Hits", which was released in Sweden in late 1975.

The achievements of the four overseas were much more modest: only "Dancing Queen" in April 1977 stayed at the top of the list for a week. Three albums went gold in the States and only ABBA - "The Album" (1977) went platinum. On June 18, 1976, ABBA performed in front of the King of Sweden on the eve of the royal wedding, presenting the audience with a completely new song "Dancing Queen". In February 1977, they made their first British tour (for two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall (11 thousand seats), 3.5 million applications were received). The final part in March took place in Australia, where most of the material for the ABBA movie was filmed.

The world premiere of the film took place there on December 15. In the homeland of the quartet, the film premiered on Christmas evening 1977. On January 9, 1979, the quartet took part in a UNICEF charity event in New York and donated all proceeds from the single "Chiquitita" to the organization. On September 13, 1979, ABBA kicked off their first North American tour with a concert in Edmonton, Canada. The tour ended in mid-November in Europe.

Since the winter of 1981/1982, the group's activity has noticeably declined. In December 1982, ABBA's last co-recorded single "Under Attack" was released, although their last hit was "Thank You For The Music".

A new rise in the popularity of ABBA, like all music during the disco boom, began in 1992. The company "Polydor" reissued all the hits of the group on two CDs. Erasure made a mini-album with contemporary covers of the band's songs called ABBA-esque, and Australian band Bjorn again achieved rapid success with an accurately reproduced and well-recognized ABBA image and sound.

According to media reports, in 2000 ABBA canceled a contract for a round-the-world series of performances with the "good old" line-up worth almost $ 1 billion.

1972-1973

Benny Andersson was the keyboardist for the popular Swedish pop group Hep Stars in the second half of the 1960s. They performed remakes of international hits. The band's strong point was their live performances with spectacular shows. Their fans were mostly young girls. They were rightfully called the Swedish Beatles, although with their stage image they rather resembled the Dors.

Andersson played the synthesizer and gradually began writing original compositions for the band, many of which became hits. Björn Ulveus was the lead singer of the popular folk group "Hootenanny Singers". He and Andersson met occasionally and agreed to record together.

Stig Anderson, manager of "Hootenanny Singers" and founder of the record company "Polar Music" saw great potential in the collaboration between Andersson and Ulveus and strongly supported any of their endeavors. He, like no one else, believed that someday they would become famous all over the world. The duo eventually recorded the album Lycka (Happiness), in which they included their own compositions.

On some songs, the female voices of their friends, Agneta and Frida, were clearly audible. Agneta Feltskog is the youngest member of the group. When she was 17 years old, the song she performed became number 1 in Sweden. Many critics believed that she was a talented composer, most of her songs were written in the style of popular music. Along with writing her own songs, she also recorded cover versions of foreign hits and performed them at Swedish amateur competitions. As a result, she became the most popular pop singer of the time.

In 1969, Agneta dated Frida on a TV show, and a few months later she met Bjorn at a concert. On the filming of a TV show in 1969, he and Björn met again, met and got married in 1971. In 1972, Agneta won the role of Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Critics praised her work on this project.

Annie-Fried Lyngstad sang from the age of 13 with different groups working in dance style... Later she moved to a jazz group. In 1969, she won the national talent competition. Her professional career began with the signing of a contract with the Swedish branch of EMI in 1967. At the same time, singles with songs performed by her began to be released, but a full-length long-playing album appeared only in 1971.

In 1969 she participated in "Melodifestivalen" and her song "Härlig är vår jord" took 4th place. She met Benny Andersson at a TV studio. A few weeks later, on a concert tour of southern Sweden, a second meeting took place. They soon begin to live together.

Benny Andersson enlists Frida and Agneta as backing vocalists for the "Lycka" album. From that time on, he began producing Frida's solo career. Despite the growing popularity of the ABBA quartet, Frida finished work on her Swedish-language solo album in late 1975. It is noteworthy that this disc was opened by the world famous song "Fernando", but in Swedish. Fearing idle speculation, the director of the group, Stig Anderson, insisted on continuing the joint work of the ensemble. The next solo album of the dark-haired soloist ABBA was released only in 1982.

In the early 1970s, although Björn and Agneta were married, and Benny and Frida lived together, they continued to pursue their own independent musical careers in Sweden.

Stig Anderson wanted to break into the international music market. He feat Benny and Bjorn in writing a song for the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest, which was to be sung by Lena Anderson. The song "Say It With a Song" took 3rd place in the competition, which confirmed Stig's opinion that he is on the right track. Benny and Björn experimented with songwriting with new sound and vocal arrangements. One of their songs was "People Need Love" with girls' voices, which had a very good effect. The Stig released this song as a single, under the authorship of "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid". The song peaked at # 17 on the Swedish charts.

The single also became the first song to chart in the United States, where it peaked at # 14 on the "Cashbox" singles chart and number 17 on the "Record World's" chart. The single was later released on Playboy Records. Although the song was supposed to be a much bigger hit in the US, according to Stig, the small record company Playboy Records did not have the resources to distribute the record to retailers and radio stations.

The following year, they attempted to break into "Melodifestivalen" with the song "Ring Ring". The studio was handled by Michael Tretov, who experimented with the “wall of sound” technology that has always been used in ABBA recordings. The Stig commissions Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody to translate the lyrics to english language... They intend to win first place, but only become third. However, the promo group is releasing the "Ring Ring" album under the same inconvenient title "Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida". The album sold well and the song "Ring Ring" became a hit in many countries in Europe, but Stig felt that there could only be a breakthrough if the song became a British or American hit.

Abba's name

In the spring of 1973, Stig, tired of the band's awkward name, began referring to it privately and publicly as ABBA. This was a joke at first, as Abba was the name of a well-known fish processing company in Sweden. According to the memoirs of Agneta, “ When we decided to call ourselves A-B-B-A, we had to get permission from this company. There they answered us: “We agree, just make sure that we are not ashamed of you.”»

The very first time the name ABBA was found written on paper was during a recording at the Metronome Studio in Stockholm on October 16, 1973. The first single released under the ABBA name was "Waterloo".

ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the names of each group member: Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid (FRIDA). The first B in the group's name became inverted in 1976, becoming a registered trademark.

1974-1977

In 1972 and 1973, Björn, Benny and manager Stig believed in the possibilities of Melodifestivalen and Eurovision. Later, in 1973, composers were invited to write a new song for the 1974 competitions. Choosing between several new songs, they suddenly settled on "Waterloo" - because the band was impressed by the rise of glam rock in England.

"Waterloo" was the definitive glam rock pop single recorded by Michael B. Tretow using wall of sound technology. ABBA won hearts at home and in their 3rd attempt were more prepared for international competitions. The song was featured at the Brighton Dome show in England, won number one and made them widely known in England, and topped the charts throughout Europe. "Waterloo" was ABBA's first number 1 song in England.

In America, it peaked at # 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, paving the way for their first album there, although the album only peaked at # 145 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Their next single, "So Long", entered the top 10 in Sweden and Germany, but did not chart in England. But the next release, "Honey, Honey", managed to break into # 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

In November 1974, ABBA embarked on their first international tour to Germany, Denmark and Austria. The tour did not turn out to be as successful as the band hoped because many tickets were not sold and due to lack of demand. ABBA were even forced to cancel several concerts, including a pre-planned concert in Switzerland.

The second leg of ABBA's tour in Scandinavia in January 1975 was completely different from the first: they packed houses and finally got the welcome they expected. For 3 weeks in the summer of 1975, ABBA made up for last summer's tour of Sweden. They played 16 outdoor concerts in Sweden and Finland, attracting huge crowds. Their show in Stockholm at the Gröna Lund moon park was watched by 19,000 people. The release of their 3 ABBA albums and 3 single "SOS" hit the Top 10 and the album peaked at # 13. The group was no longer treated like a one-hit group.

The success in Britain was confirmed when "Mamma Mia" became number 1 in January 1976. In the United States, "SOS" charted in the Top 1 Record World of the Top 100 Songs and was ranked 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, and won the BMI Award for Most Most Awarded Song in 1975.

Despite this, ABBA's success in the States has been inconsistent. Although they managed to break into the singles market, until 1976 they already had 4 songs in the top 30, the album market turned out to be too tough for them to conquer. ABBA's album reached fewer than 3 singles, peaking at only 165 on the Cashbox Albums Chart and at 174 on the Billboard 200. The opinion was that in the US it was still a very poor advertising campaign (see ABBA in the US).

In November 1975, the band released the "Greatest Hits" compilation. It includes 6 songs that have charted the Top 40 in the UK and US. It becomes the first album to reach # 1 in England and includes the song "Fernando" (which was originally written in Swedish for Frida and featured on her 1975 solo album).

One of ABBA's well-known and highly popular tracks "Fernando" did not appear on the Swedish or Australian releases of the "Greatest Hits" album. In Sweden, the song waited until 1982 and appeared on the compilation album The Singles-The First Ten Years. In Australia, the track was released on the 1976 album "Arrival". "Greatest Hits" propelled the group to the top 50 in the US on the best albums list, which sold over 1 million copies in the US. In the US, "Fernando" reached the Top 10 Cashbox Top 100 Best Songs and peaked at # 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also charted to # 1 on Billboard Adult Contemporary, the first ABBA single to reach the top of any US chart. In Australia, 2006 hit Fernando holds the record for longest-held # 1 (15 weeks) (with the Beatles "Hey Jude".)

The next album "Arrival" reached a higher level both in the level of the lyrics and the quality of the studio work. It received excellent reviews from English music weekly magazines such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express, as well as very good reviews from American critics. In fact, several hits from this disc: "Money, Money, Money", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and the biggest hit "Dancing Queen".

In 1977, the album "Arrival" was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best International Album of the Year. During this time, ABBAs were very popular in England, most of Eastern Europe and Australia. However, their popularity in the US was much diminished and "Dancing Queen" only peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whatever the case, "Arrival" was a breakout one for ABBA in the US, where it peaked at # 20 on the Billboard Albums chart.

In January 1977 ABBA toured Europe. At this time, the status of the group changes dramatically, and they become superstars. ABBA kicks off their long-awaited trip to Oslo, Norway, with a show featuring scenes from their self-composed mini-operetta. This concert attracted a lot of media attention from Europe and Australia. ABBA continued their European tour and ended with two concerts in London at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets for these concerts were only available for ordering through the mail, and, as it turned out later, the mail received more than three and a half million ticket orders. However, there were complaints about the show being too sterile and slick.

Following the European leg of the tour in March 1977, ABBA played 11 concerts in Australia. The tour was accompanied by massive hysteria and huge press attention, as well shown in the feature film "ABBA: The Movie", directed by the band's music video maker Lasse Hallström.

The tour in Australia and the film based on it have some funny details. Agneta in the group played the role of the good-looking blonde and the "postcard girl," a role she rebelled against. Throughout the tour, she appeared on stage in a leather, white, very tight jumpsuit, which prompted one newspaper to write the headline "Agnetha's Ass Show."

In December 1977 in Sweden (in many countries in January 1978), the album "The Album" was released. Although the disc was received worse by critics than others, it contained several hits: "The Name of the Game" and "Take A Chance On Me" both of which reached number one in England and 12 and 3 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. in the USA. The album also included the song "Thank You for the Music", which was later released in England as a single, and was also the reverse side of the "Eagle" LP where the song was released as a single.

1978-1979

In 1978, ABBA were super popular. They converted the old cinema into the "Polar Music" recording studio in Stockholm, where other very famous bands later recorded. For example "Led Zeppelin" (album "In Through the Out Door") and "Genesis".

Recorded in 1978, the single "Summer Night City" was the last to reach # 1 on the Swedish chart. He prefaced the next giant disc "Voulez-Vous", released in April 1979. Two songs for this album were recorded at the family's Criteria Studios in Miami with the help of legendary sound engineer Tom Dowd. The album is ranked number one in Europe and Japan, in the top ten in Canada and Australia and in the top twenty in the United States.

Interestingly, none of the songs on the album reached # 1 on the Anglite charts, but "Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know", "Voulez-Vous" and "I Have A Dream" all didn’t go below # 4. In Canada, "I Have A Dream" becomes the second # 1 song on the RPM Adult Contemporary chart, with "Fernando" being the first song. In January 1979 the band performed the song "Chiquitita" at the Music for UNICEF concert during the UN Assembly. ABBA donated all proceeds from this worldwide hit to UNICEF.

Later that year, the band released their second compilation album, "Greatest Hits Vol. 2", which featured the new track "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (A Man After Midnight), their most famous disco hit in Europe. On September 13, 1979, ABBA began their first and only North American tour in Edmonton, Canada, with a full house seating 14,000. Over the next four weeks, they played 17 concerts, 13 in the US and 4 in Canada. The last scheduled US concert in Washington was canceled due to Agneta's emotional breakdown, which she received during a flight from New York to Boston, when the private jet in which she was in extreme weather conditions and could not land for a long time.

The tour ended with a show in Toronto, Canada in front of approximately 18,000 spectators. This performance sparked a flood of complaints from fans of the group, who said that ABBA is still more of a studio than a live show group. On October 19, the tour continued at Western Europe, where the musicians played 23 concerts, including six evenings at London's Wembley Arena.

1980: Japan Tour and "Super Trouper"

In March 1980, ABBA went to Japan on tour. When they arrived at the airport, they were attacked by hundreds of their fans. The group played 11 concerts to full house, including 6 performances at Tokyo's Budokan. This tour was the last in the quartet's career.

In November 1980, their new album "Super Trouper" was released, which reflected a slight change in the band's style, more use of synthesizers and personal lyrics. More than 1 million orders were received for this album even before its release, which was a record.

The main favorite of this album was the single "The Winner Takes It All", which peaked at number eight in the UK charts. In the US, it peaked at # 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written as if it were about the family problems of Agnetha and Bjorn. The next song, "Super Trouper", also hit # 1 in England, but failed to reach the top 40 in the US. Another track from the "Super Trouper" album, "Lay All Your Love on Me", which was released in limited editions in some countries, reached topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and # 7 on the UK Singles Chart.

Also in June 1980, ABBA released a compilation album of their hits in Spanish "Gracias Por La Música". It has been released in Spanish-speaking countries as well as Japan and Australia. The album became very successful and, together with the Spanish-language version of "Chiquitita", was a breakthrough for their success in South America.

1981: Benny and Frida's Divorce, The Visitors album

In January 1981, Björn marries Lena Calerso, and the band's manager Stig Anderson celebrates his 50th birthday with a party attended by many people. For this event, ABBA prepared a gift for him by recording the song "Hovas Vittne" dedicated to him and released in only 200 copies on red vinyl records. The entire print run was distributed to the guests attending the party. This single is now the most coveted item for collectors.

In mid-February, Veni and Frida announced that they were going to divorce. Later it became known that their marriage had been in trouble for quite some time and Benny had already met another woman, Nora Norkleet, whom he married in November of the same year. Björn and Benny have been writing songs for the new album throughout early 1981 and began recording in the studio in mid-March.

In late April, the group took part in a TV program in the United States. The recording of the album was in the middle when the studio bought a new digital 32-track tape recorder to replace the 16-track analog. The recording of the album was continued throughout the fall in order to release it for Christmas.

1982: band breakup

ABBA has never officially announced its end, but the group has long been considered disbanded.

On January 1, 1982 in Stockholm ABBA gave their last concert. Their last performance as a band was on the UK television program "The Late, Late Breakfast Show" (live from Stockholm) on December 11, 1982.

In January 1983, Agneta began recording a solo album, while Frida had already released her own album "Something's Going On" a few months earlier. The album was very successful. Bjorn and Benny started writing songs for the musical Chess and their new project with the Gemini group. And the ABBA group was put on the shelf.

Bjorn and Benny denied the breakup of the group in their interviews (“ Who are we without our girls ?! Brigitte Bardot's initials?"). Frida and Agneta have said several times that ABBA will certainly come back to record a new album in 1983 or 1984. However, the group members no longer had the kind of relationship conducive to teamwork. In addition, the relationship with Stig Anderson has reached an impasse. Since then, the Swedish four did not appear in public in full force (except January 1986) until July 4, 2008, when the Swedish premiere of the musical film Mamma Mia! Took place.

The fate of the participants after the breakup

After the breakup of the group, Agneta Feltskog released several discs, in 1996 her autobiography was released, and two years later - a musical album with the best songs. She tried to start a family with the doctor Thomas Sonnenfeld, but divorced 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, is fond of astrology, keeps several trotters in her own stable, and makes long horseback riding and hiking in the morning.

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 active fighter for the protection of the environment.

The life of Bjorn and Benny was much more successful. Both got married again and had children. We have founded companies and are promoting young talents in every possible way. Now former ABBA members are considered the wealthiest people in the country's music world.

2006-2008: Mamma Mia!

During the premiere of the musical in different countries the members of the group appeared in front of the public several times. In October 2006, three members of the renowned Swedish quartet, Frida Reuss, Bjorn Ulveus and Benny Andersson, came specially to the premiere of the musical in Moscow. Agneta Feltskog thanked in writing for the invitation, but chose to stay.

At the premiere of Mamma Mia! in Stockholm in 2008, for the first time in almost 20 years, all four members of the group gathered at the same time in one place. The cameras recorded them on the balcony of the cinema, mixed with the leading actors in the film. It was not possible to photograph all four separately from other artists.

An association?

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph following this premiere, Bjorn Ulveus and Benny Andersson confirmed that they would no longer be on stage again. " We will never appear on stage together again"Ulveus said. " There is nothing that can make us unite. Money is not the factor that matters to us in this issue... We would like people to always remember us for who we were: young, bright, full of energy and ambition. I remember how Robert Plant once said about Led Zeppelin that they are a cover band, because everything they do is covers themselves, on their own past works. And, in my opinion, this is a very correct definition».

However, in 2010, Lingstad announced that she had met with Agneta Faltskog - and for the first time since the group's disbandment in 1983, they discussed the possibility of performing together.

ABBA at Wikimedia Commons

The quartet's singles topped the charts from the mid-1970s ("Waterloo") to the early 1980s ("One of Us"), and their compilations topped the world charts in the 2000s. The band's music remains on radio playlists, and their albums continue to sell to this day.

They were the first continental Europeans to reach # 1 on the charts of all the leading English speaking countries (USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

For Distinguished Service in Music, ABBA was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010.

Group history [ | ]

Short description[ | ]

1972-1973: Björn & Benny quartet, Agnetha & Frida[ | ]

In the early 1970s, although Bjorn and Agneta were married, and Benny and Frida lived together, they continued to pursue their own independent musical careers in Sweden. Stig Anderson wanted to break into the international music market. He, like no one else, believed that they would succeed, and they would be able to compose a song that would become famous all over the world. He feat Benny and Bjorn in writing a song for the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest, which was to be sung by Lena Andersson. Song (Swedish) took 3rd place at Melodifestivalen- "72, which confirmed the Stig's opinion that he is on the right track.

Reconstruction of the original logo of Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida

Benny and Bjorn experimented with songwriting with new sound and vocal arrangements. One of their songs was "People Need Love" with girls' voices, which had a very good effect. The Stig released this song as a single, authored by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid... The song peaked at # 17 on the Swedish charts, which convinced them that they were moving in the right direction. This single also became the first song to enter the charts in the United States, where it peaked at # 114 on the singles chart. Cashbox and 117 places in the chart ... The single was later released on ... Although, according to Stig, the song should have been a much bigger hit in the United States, the small record company Playboy Records did not have the necessary resources to distribute the recording to sellers and radio stations.

The following year they tried to break into Melodifestivalen with the song "Ring Ring". The studio processing was handled by Michael Tretov, who experimented with the “wall of sound” technology, which was then used in ABBA recordings. The Stig orders the translation of the lyrics to Neil Sedake ( Neil Sedaka) and Phil Cody ( Phil cody) into English. They intend to win first place, but only become third. However, the group releases an album Ring ring under the same inconvenient name Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida... The album sold well in Scandinavia, and the song Ring ring became a hit in many countries in Europe, but Stig felt that there could only be a breakthrough if the song became a British or American hit.

1973-1974: the emergence of the name ABBA[ | ]

In the spring of 1973, Stig, tired of the band's awkward name, began referring to it privately and publicly as ABBA. This was a joke at first, as abba is the name of a well-known Swedish seafood processing company. According to Agneta's recollections, “When we decided to call ourselves A-B-B-A, we had to get permission from this company. There they answered us: “We agree, just make sure that we are not ashamed of you.” I don't think they had to be ashamed of the group. " The group also ran a competition for a name in a local newspaper. Among the options were "Alibaba" and "BABA".

The very first time the name ABBA was found written on paper while recording in a studio in Stockholm on October 16, 1973. The first single released under this name was "Waterloo".

Their next single So Long entered the top 10 in Sweden and Germany, but did not make it to the charts in England. But next release Honey, Honey managed to break into 30th place in Billboard hot 100 chart in the USA.

In November 1974 ABBA embarked on their first international tour to Germany, Denmark and Austria. The tour did not turn out to be as successful as the band hoped because many tickets were not sold out and due to lack of demand, ABBA were even forced to cancel several concerts, including a pre-planned concert in Switzerland.

The second leg of ABBA's tour in Scandinavia in January 1975 was completely different from the first: they went to full houses and finally got the welcome they expected. For 3 weeks in the summer of 1975, ABBA made up for last summer's tour in Sweden. They played 16 outdoor concerts in Sweden and Finland, attracting huge crowds. Their show in Stockholm at amusement park viewed by 19,000 people.

Despite the growing popularity of ABBA, the volatility of the group's success did not allow its members to part with their solo projects to the end.

So, at the end of 1975, Frida finished work on her Swedish-language solo album "Frida ensam". It is noteworthy that this disc was opened with the song "Fernando", one of the most successful hits in the history of the group, but in a version in Swedish. Fearing idle speculation, the director of the group, Stig Anderson, insisted on continuing the joint work of the ensemble. The dark-haired soloist ABBA's follow-up solo album, "Something" s Going On, was only released in 1982.

The release of their third album ABBA and third single SOS hit the top 10, and the album reached 13th place. The group was no longer treated like a one-hit group.

Success in Britain was confirmed when Mamma mia became number 1 in January 1976. IN THE USA SOS hit the top 10 Record World one hundred best songs and became 15 in Billboard hot 100and also received the award BMI Award as the most frequently broadcast song in 1975.

Despite this, ABBA's success in the States has been volatile. Although they managed to break into the singles market, before 1976 they already had 4 songs in the top 30, the album market turned out to be too tough for them to conquer. ABBA's album reached fewer than 3 singles, only peaking at # 165 on the album chart Cashbox and at 174 in the chart Billboard 200... The opinion was that in the USA the reason was the same very bad advertising campaign.

In November 1975, the group released a compilation Greatest Hits... It includes 6 songs that have charted the Top 40 in the UK and USA. It becomes the first album to reach # 1 in England and includes the song Fernando (which was originally written in Swedish for Frida and included in her 1975 solo album). One of the widely known and very popular ABBA tracks, Fernando, did not appear on Swedish or Australian album releases Greatest Hits... In Sweden, the song waited until 1982 and appeared on the compilation album The Singles: The First Ten Years... In Australia, the track was released on the 1976 album Arrival. Greatest Hits elevated the group to the top 50 in the USA on the list of the best albums, which allowed to sell over 1 million copies in the USA.

In the USA the song Fernando reached the top 10 Cashbox Top Top 100 songs and became 13th in Billboard hot 100... The single also hit # 1 on the charts. Billboard adult contemporary, this is the first ABBA single to reach the top of any American chart. Australia hit 2006 Fernando holds the record as the longest held in first place (15 weeks, along with Hey jude The Beatles).

Next album Arrival reached a higher level both in the level of lyrics and as a studio work. It received great reviews from English music weeklies like Melody Maker and New Musical Expressand also very good reviews from American critics. In fact, several hits from this disc: Money, Money, Money; Knowing Me, Knowing You and the strongest hit Dancing queen... The 1977 album Arrival was nominated for an award Brit Awards in the category "Best International Album of the Year". During this time, ABBAs were very popular in England, most of Eastern Europe and Australia.

However, their popularity in the United States was at a much lower level, and only Dancing queen managed to become number 1 in the chart Billboard hot 100... Howbeit, Arrival became a breakout for ABBA in the US, where it peaked at # 20 on the Albums Chart Billboard.

In January 1977 ABBA toured Europe. During this time, the status of the group changes dramatically, and they become superstars. ABBA kicks off their long-awaited journey to Oslo, Norway, with a show featuring scenes from their self-composed mini-operetta. This concert attracted a lot of media attention from Europe and Australia. ABBA continued their European tour and ended with two concerts in London at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets for these concerts were only available for ordering via mail, and, as it turned out later, the mail received more than three and a half million ticket orders. However, there were complaints about the show being too sterile and slick.

Following the European leg of the tour in March 1977, ABBA played 11 concerts in Australia. The tour was accompanied by mass hysteria and huge press attention, which is well shown in the full-length film ABBA: The Movie, filmed by the band's clip maker Lasse Hallström. The world premiere of the film took place in Australia in four major cities on December 15. In the homeland of the artists, the film premiered on December 26 in 19 large and medium-sized cities including Stockholm. Thanks to the director of the group, Stig Anderson, the film was also seen in the USSR. In the spring of 1979, he visited Moscow, where he negotiated a film rental. According to the recollections of an employee of the Swedish Embassy in Moscow, Marianne Hultberg, on this trip he was accompanied by his wife Gudrun and his closest assistant, secretary and deputy Yorel Hanser. As a result of negotiations, the film was bought with the right of distribution for five years and from August-September 1981 it began to be shown in the Soviet Union.

The tour in Australia and the film based on it have some funny details. Agneta in the group played the role of the good-looking blonde and the "postcard girl," a role she rebelled against. Throughout the tour, she appeared on stage in a leather white very tight jumpsuit, which gave rise to one newspaper to write the headline "Show asses Agnets ".

In December 1977 in Sweden (in many countries - in January 1978) the album was released The Album... Although the disc was less well received by critics than others, it did contain several hits: The Name of the Game and Take a chance on me both of which reached first places in England and 12 and 3 respectively in Billboard hot 100 in the USA. The album also included a song Thank you for the music, which was later released in England as a single, and was also the reverse side of the LP with the song Eagle, in places where this song was released as a single.

1978-1979: peak of popularity[ | ]

The single “Summer Night City”, recorded in 1978, became the last leader of the Swedish charts for the group: the local audience had already gotten fed up with the familiar sound. This circumstance, as well as a relatively weak result in the British chart (fifth place), became the reason for the non-inclusion of this track in the next numbered album. Voulez-Vous (April 1979).

Two songs for the new album were recorded at the family studio Criteria Studios in Miami with the help of sound engineer Tom Dowd (with english- "Tom Dowd"). The album is ranked number one in Europe and Japan, in the top ten in Canada and Australia and in the top twenty in the United States. Interestingly, none of the songs on the album reached # 1 on the UK charts, but every single one released from it ("Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know", "Voulez-Vous" and "I Have a Dream" ), hit the top 5.

In Canada I have a dream becomes for the group the second song No. 1 in the chart RPM Adult Contemporary, the first song was Fernando.

In January 1979, the band performed the song Chiquitita at the concert "Music for UNICEF" during the UN Assembly. ABBA donated all proceeds from this worldwide hit to UNICEF.

Later that year, the band released their second compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 2, which featured the new track “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) ”is perhaps their most famous disco hit in Europe.

1980: Tour of Japan and Super trouper [ | ]

In March 1980, ABBA went on tour to Japan. When they arrived at the airport, they were attacked by hundreds of fans. The band played 11 concerts to full house, including 6 performances in Tokyo. Budokan... This tour was the last in the quartet's career.

In November 1980, their new album was released Super trouper, which reflected some change in the band's style, greater use of synthesizers and more personal lyrics. More than 1 million orders were received for this album even before its release, which was a record. The single was considered the main favorite of this album The Winner Takes It Allwhich reached number one on the charts in England. In the US, it peaked at # 8 Billboard hot 100... The song was written as if about the family problems of Agneta and Bjorn. Next song Super trouper, also became a # 1 hit in England, but failed to reach even the top 40 in the US. Another track from the album Super trouper, Lay all your love on melimited edition in some countries reached the top Billboard hot dance club play and 7th place in the English singles chart.

Also in June 1980, ABBA released a compilation album of their hits in Spanish Gracias Por La Música... It has been released in Spanish-speaking countries as well as Japan and Australia. The album became very successful and together with the Spanish-language version Chiquitita was a breakthrough for their success in South America.

1981: Benny and Frida's Divorce, album The Visitors [ | ]

In January 1981, Bjorn marries Lena Kalerso, and the group's manager Stig Anderson celebrated his 50th birthday. For this event, ABBA prepared a gift for him by recording a song Hovas Vittnededicated to him and released in a circulation of only 200 copies on red vinyl records. This single is now the most coveted item for collectors.

In mid-February, Benny and Frida announced that they were going to divorce. Later it became known that their marriage had been experiencing problems for quite some time. Benny met another woman, Mona Norkleet, whom he married in November of that year.

Bjorn and Benny have been writing songs for the new album throughout early 1981 and began recording in the studio in mid-March. At the end of April, the group took part in a television program Dick Cavett Meets ABBAwhere she performed 9 songs. This was their last live performance to the public. The recording of the new album was in the middle when the studio bought a new digital 32-track tape recorder to replace the 16-track analog one. Recording continued throughout the fall in order to release it for Christmas.

1982: Breakup of the group[ | ]

ABBA has never officially announced its end, but the group has long been considered disbanded.

Their last appearance as a group was on a British television program (live from Stockholm via satellite) on 11 December 1982.

In January 1983, Agneta began recording a solo album, while Frida had already released her own album Something’s Going On a few months earlier. The album was 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 put on the shelf. Bjorn and Benny denied the breakup of the group in their interviews ("Who are we without our girls ?! Initials Brigitte Bardot?"). Frida and Agneta have said several times that ABBA will certainly come back to record a new album in 1983 or 1984. However, there was no longer a relationship between the members of the group to facilitate collaboration. In addition, the relationship with Stig Anderson has reached an impasse. Since then, the Swedish four did not appear in public in full force (except January 1986) until July 4, 2008, when the Swedish premiere of the musical film Mamma Mia! ...

1983-1993: oblivion? [ | ]

In the mid-to-late 1980s, the band's work was overshadowed by the music of the new era. Compositions in the style of synth-pop, which the Swedish quartet had a hand in popularizing at the beginning of the decade (for example, the track "Lay All Your Love on Me"), and the new wave overshadowed disco and traditional pop in the form in which ABBA interpreted it in your creativity.

An attempt to rectify the sales situation by Polar Music, which resulted in ABBA Live (the first and only official "live" release of the group in almost 30 years) turned out to be a failure. Even the skill of the band's studio engineer M. Tretov did not save the album from record low results in the charts and negative reviews from critics.

1993-2006: ABBA Gold and further[ | ]

By the early 1990s, the Swedish quartet had generally gone off the radar of music criticism, and the new generation that grew up on music in the second half of the 1980s was hardly familiar with his work. It is all the more remarkable to trace how ABBA found its listener again.

On June 11, 1992, an Irish rock band played a concert at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. Unexpectedly for all those present, at the end of the performance, Bjorn Ulveus and Benny Andresson took the stage and sang the song "Dancing Queen" with Bono.

In the summer of 1992, the British duo Erasure released an EP Abba-esquewhich includes four songs originally performed by ABBA: "Lay All Your Love on Me", "SOS", "Take a Chance on Me" and "Voulez-Vous". The release was unexpectedly extremely successful, entering the top 5 European charts and topping the UK charts. For this reason, many other artists, following Erasure, have recorded their cover versions of ABBA songs.

Finally, by the fall of 1992, the Polygram label realized that the potential of the band's creativity had not yet been lost, and decided to release a collection called ABBA Gold.

2006-2008: Mamma Mia! [ | ]

In April, it became known that ABBA had reunited to record new songs and then conduct a "virtual tour" during which holograms of the band members would perform on stage. The working title of one of the two recorded compositions, "I Still Have Faith In You", was also presented. The release date of the album was not specified

"ABBA" is a group that conquered the whole world in the 1970-1980s. The songs performed by the Swedish quartet do not lose their relevance today. Want to know how it all started? Who was part of the team?

History of creation

In 1972, a musical group called ABBA was created in Sweden. The group was a quartet - two girls and two guys. They all had excellent visual and vocal qualities.

The name of the band was not chosen by chance. ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the names of the participants (Agneta, Bjorn, Benny and Annie-Fried). Not everyone knows about this.

The group "ABBA" felt the first success after the recording of the song People Need Love. In June 1972, it was presented to the general public. European listeners liked this composition.

The band's debut album (Ring Ring) went on sale in March 1973. In a few days, the entire circulation was sold out by fans. After that, the quartet's career took off.

ABBA Group: participants

Agneta Feltskog

She was born on April 5, 1950 in the Swedish city of Jönköping. FROM early years she took an interest in music. Before joining the ABBA collective, the blonde beauty was building a solo career, writing songs and music. In 1971 she married a colleague in the group - Bjorn Ulveus. In this marriage, two children were born - son Christian and daughter Linda Elin. In 1978, Bjorn and Agneta officially divorced. The second husband of the blonde was the surgeon Thomas Sonnenfeld. But relations with him did not work out either.

Annie-Fried Lingstad

A brunette from the ABBA group was born on November 15, 1945 in Ballangen (Norway). Later, she and her mother moved to Sweden. Our heroine began musical career at the age of 13. Frida performed solo. Then she was invited to a jazz band. How did Annie-Fried's personal life develop? She got married at the age of 17. He and the musician Ragnar Fredrickson had two children - a son and a daughter. In 1968, this marriage broke up. A few months later, the girl met. Since 1971, they performed together in the ABBA team. The group brought them closer together. In 1978, Benny and Frida got married. Their marriage lasted 7 years.

Bjorn Ulveus

He was born in the Swedish town of Gothenburg in 1945. He was fond of music since childhood. At the age of 22, he created his own group. He was married to his colleague in the ABBA group - Agnete. They have two children in common. Bjorn has been living with his current wife, Lena Kalercio, for over 35 years. In this marriage, two daughters were born: Anna and Emma.

Benny Andersson

Was born in 1946 in the capital of Sweden - Stockholm. Behind his shoulders training at a music school, performances in various ensembles. In 1971 he became a member of the ABBA collective. The group became world famous. Andersson could not even dream of this.

He formalized the relationship three times. Our hero lived with Frida for 12 years, of which 3 years - in legal marriage.

Achievements

The Swedish group "ABBA" is recognized as one of the most successful projects in the history of pop music. A total of 8 studio albums and 11 compilations have been released. The total circulation of records exceeded 350 million pieces. And all this was sold out by the fans of the collective.

The popular quartet has toured most European countries. And everywhere they were greeted with a bang.

Finally

"ABBA" is a group that has made a significant contribution to the development of the world music industry. Now you know the history of the creation of the team. The names, surnames and biographies of its participants were also announced in the article.