ABBA, composition, history of the group. Abba the Fab Four

ABBA is a Swedish musical quartet that existed from 1970-1982 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 pop music. The most popular group created in Scandinavia. The quartet was number one on the world charts from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. They have remained on the playlists of radio stations and continue to sell albums. The group 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 mainland Europe to hit number one on the charts in every English-speaking country (United States, England, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

Compound

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

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

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

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

Brief history of the group before early XXI century

The founders of the group were musicians, singers and songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. They first met at a party in Vastervik in the summer of 1966, where they decided that they should write songs together. Benny was at that moment the keyboardist of the popular Swedish band "Hep stars", Bjorn was a singer and guitarist in the "Hootenanny Singers‎" ensemble. At a concert in Malmö, Benny met the singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who had been singing with various bands since the age of thirteen and even performed at song festivals in Japan and Venezuela. Then Bjorn heard on the radio how he sings his own song "I Was So In Love" by Agnetha Faltskog, and decided to invite her to the group.

CONTINUED BELOW

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

In 1971, Benny and Bjorn 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 vacant place of producer Bjorn Ulvaeus. The 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, would also be hired. The head of the company did not have a salary for two, and novice authors had to work part-time.

In February 1973, the quartet's song "Ring Ring", rejected by the commission of the Eurovision Song Contest, 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, Ring Ring, was released. April 6, 1974 the song ABBA "Waterloo" with an absolute margin (20 to 1) won the Eurovision Song Contest in the English city of Brighton. "Waterloo" marked the beginning of an unprecedented string of eighteen hits in a row in the British top ten. 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 of the band's albums also topped the charts, starting with the "Greatest Hits" compilation album, 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 became "gold" in the States and only ABBA - "The Album" (1977) became "platinum". On June 18, 1976, ABBA performed before the King of Sweden on the eve of the royal wedding, presenting to the public a completely new song"Dancing Queen". In February 1977, they made their first British tour (3.5 million entries were received for two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall (11,000 seats). The final part took place in March in Australia, where it was filmed most of material for the film "ABBA".

On December 15, the world premiere of the film took place there. In the quartet's homeland, the film premiered on Christmas Eve 1977. On January 9, 1979, the quartet took part in a UNICEF charity event in New York and donated to the organization all the proceeds from the single "Chiquitita". On September 13, 1979, ABBA opened its 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 activity of the group has noticeably declined. In December 1982, the last single ABBA recorded together, "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. Polydor re-released all of the band's hits on two CDs. Erasure made an EP with contemporary covers of the band's songs called ABBA-esque, and the Australian band Bjorn again achieved rapid success with the faithfully 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 a "good old" line-up worth almost 1 billion US dollars.

1972-1973

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

Andersson played the synthesizer and gradually began to write original compositions for the group, many of which became hits. Bjorn Ulvaeus was the lead singer of the popular folk group the Hootenanny Singers. He and Andersson sometimes met and agreed to record together.

Stig Anderson, manager of the Hootenanny Singers and founder of the record company Polar Music, saw great potential in Andersson and Ulvaeus' collaboration and supported them in every possible way. 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 were clearly audible female voices their girlfriends - Agnetha and Frida. Agnetha Fältskog is the youngest member of the group. When she was 17 years old, her song became number 1 in Sweden. Many critics believed that she was a talented composer, most of her songs were written in the style 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 Agnetha met Frieda on a TV show, a few months later she met Bjorn at a concert. On the set of a TV show in 1969, he and Bjorn met again, met and in 1971 got married. In 1972, Agnetha landed the role of Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Critics praised her work in this project.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been singing with various bands from the age of 13. dance style. Later she moved to a jazz band. In 1969, she won the national talent competition. Her professional career began by signing a contract with EMI Sweden in 1967. At the same time, singles with songs performed by her began to come out, but a full-fledged long-playing album was born only in 1971.

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

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

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

Stig Anderson wanted to break into the international music market. He inspired Benny and Bjorn to write a song for the Eurovision Song Contest 1972, which was supposed to be performed by Lena Anderson. The song "Say It With a Song" took 3rd place in the competition, which confirmed Stig's opinion that he was on the right track. Benny and Bjorn experimented in 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 "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid". The song reached number 17 on the Swedish charts.

The single was also the first song to chart in the United States, where it reached number 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 Stig felt the song was going to be a much bigger hit in the US, the small record label Playboy Records did not have the resources to distribute the record to retailers and radio stations.

The following year they made an attempt to break into the "Melodifestivalen" with the song "Ring Ring". Studio processing was handled by Michael Tretov, who experimented with the "wall of sound" technology that has become a permanent feature of ABBA's recordings. The Stig commissions Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody to translate the lyrics into English. They intend to win first place, but they only end up third. However, the promo group released 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 European countries, but The Stig felt that the breakthrough could only be if the song became a British or American hit.

Name Abba

In the spring of 1973, the Stig, tired of the band's inconvenient 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 Agnetha's memoirs, 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 session 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 member of the group: Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid (FRIDA). The first B in the band's name was reversed 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, the composers were invited to write a new song for the 1974 competitions. Choosing between several new songs, they unexpectedly settled on "Waterloo" - because the band was impressed by the rise of glam rock in England.

"Waterloo" was an undeniable glam rock pop single, recorded by Michael B. Tretow using wall of sound technology. ABBA won hearts in their homeland and in their 3rd attempt they were more prepared for international competitions. The song was featured at a show at the Brighton Dome in England, went to number one and made them widely known in England, as well as climbing to the top of the charts throughout Europe. "Waterloo" was the first ABBA song to reach number 1 in England.

In America, it reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, paving the way for their first album there, although the album only peaked at number 145 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Their next single, "So Long", reached the top 10 in Sweden and Germany, but failed to chart in England. But the next release "Honey, Honey" managed to break through to #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US.

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 had hoped, because many tickets were not sold and due to lack of demand. ABBA was even forced to cancel several shows, including a pre-planned concert in Switzerland.

The second part of the tour that ABBA undertook in Scandinavia in January 1975 was completely different from the first: they packed houses and finally got the reception they expected. For 3 weeks in the summer of 1975, ABBA toured Sweden for what it was the previous summer. They gave 16 outdoor concerts in Sweden and Finland, drawing huge crowds. Their show in Stockholm in the amusement park "Gröna Lund" was viewed by 19,000 people. The release of their 3 ABBA albums and the 3rd single "SOS" hit the top 10 and the album peaked at number 13. The band was no longer treated like a one-hit band.

British success was confirmed when "Mamma Mia" reached number 1 in January 1976. In the US, "SOS" reached the top ten of the Record World hundred best songs and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as winning the BMI Award for most airplayed song in 1975.

Despite this, ABBA's success in the States has been inconsistent. Although they managed to break into the singles market, by 1976 they already had 4 songs in the top 30, the album market was too tough a nut to crack, which they could not conquer. The ABBA album reached less than 3 singles, climbing only 165 on the Cashbox albums chart and 174 on the Billboard 200. The opinion was that in the US the cause was still very bad advertising company(See ABBA in the USA).

In November 1975, the group released the Greatest Hits compilation. It includes 6 songs that hit the Top 40 in the UK and the US. It becomes the first album to reach No. 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 widely known and very 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 band into the top 50 in the US charts, selling over 1 million copies in the US. In the US, "Fernando" reached the top 10 of the Cashbox Top 100 and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also reached number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the first ABBA single to reach the top of any US chart. In Australia, 2006 hit Fernando holds the record for the longest time at number one (15 weeks) (shared with The Beatles' "Hey Jude".)

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

In 1977, Arrival was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best International Album of the Year. At this time, ABBA was very popular in England, most of Eastern Europe and Australia. However, their popularity in the US was at a much lower level, and "Dancing Queen" only reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, "Arrival" was ABBA's breakthrough in the US, where it peaked at number 20 on the Billboard albums chart.

In January 1977, ABBA went on tour in Europe. At this time, the status of the group changes radically and they become superstars. ABBA kick off their long awaited trip to Oslo in Norway with a show featuring skits 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 it with two shows in London at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets for these concerts were only available for ordering through the mail, and as it turned out, the mail received more than three and a half million ticket orders. However, there were complaints about the show being too "sterile and slick".

After the European leg of the tour in March 1977, ABBA played 11 dates in Australia. The tour was accompanied by mass hysteria and great attention press, which is well shown in the feature film "ABBA: The Movie", filmed by the band's music video director "Lasse Hallström".

The tour in Australia and the film based on it contain funny details. Agnetha in the group filled the role of the good-looking blonde and the "postcard girl", a role she rebelled against. During the tour, she appeared on stage in a leather white very tight jumpsuit, which gave rise to one newspaper to write the headline "Agneta's ass show."

In December 1977 in Sweden (in many countries - in January 1978), the album "The Album" was released. Although the CD was less critically acclaimed than the others, it contained several hits: "The Name of the Game" and "Take A Chance On Me" both of which reached No. 1 in England and No. 12 and No. 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 as a single in England, and was also reverse side on the record with the song "Eagle" in places where this song was released as a single.

1978-1979

In 1978, ABBA was super popular. They converted the old cinema into the recording studio "Polar Music" 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 number one on the Swedish charts. He prefaced the next giant disc "Voulez-Vous", released in April 1979. Two of the songs on this album were recorded at the family's Criteria Studios in Miami with the help of legendary sound engineer Tom Dowd. The album reaches number one in Europe and Japan, the top ten in Canada and Australia, and the top twenty in the US.

Interestingly, none of the album's songs reached No. 1 on the Anglit charts, but "Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know", "Voulez-Vous" and "I Have A Dream" did not all go below No. 4. In Canada, "I Have A Dream" becomes the second No. 1 on the RPM Adult Contemporary chart, with "Fernando" being the first. 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 biggest disco hit in Europe. On September 13, 1979, ABBA began their first and only North American tour in Edmonton, Canada, with a full auditorium seating 14,000 people. Over the next four weeks they performed 17 shows, 13 in the US and 4 in Canada. The last scheduled concert in the US in Washington was canceled due to Agnetha's emotional breakdown, which she suffered during the flight from New York to Boston, when the private plane she was in got into extreme weather conditions and could not land for a long time.

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

1980: Tour of Japan 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 houses, including 6 performances at the Tokyo Budokan. This tour proved to be the last of the quartet's career.

In November 1980 saw the light of their new album"Super Trouper", which reflected some change in the band's style with more use of synthesizers and personal lyrics. Over 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 reached number eight in the UK charts. In the US, it reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written as if it were about Agnetha and Bjorn's family problems. The next song, "Super Trouper", also hit No. 1 in England, but failed to reach the top 40 in the US. top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and number 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 was 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, Bjorn marries Lena Kalerso, 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, recording the song "Hovas Vittne", dedicated to him and released in only 200 copies on red vinyl records. The entire edition was distributed to the guests present at 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 Norklit, whom he married in November of that year. Bjorn and Benny had been writing songs for the new album through the beginning of 1981 and began recording in the studio in mid-March.

At the end of April the band took part in a TV program in the USA. Recording for the album was in the middle when the studio bought a new digital 32 track recorder to replace the 16 track analog recorder. Recording of the album continued throughout the autumn in order to release it by Christmas.

1982: group breakup

ABBA has never officially announced the end of activities, but the group has been considered broken up for a long time.

On January 1, 1982, ABBA gave their last concert in Stockholm. Their last performance as a group was on the British TV program "The Late, Late Breakfast Show" (in live from Stockholm) 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 before. The album turned out to be very successful. Bjorn and Benny started writing songs for the musical Chess and their new project, the Gemini group. And the ABBA group was "shelf".

Bjorn and Benny denied that the group had broken up in their interviews (" Who are we without our girls?! Brigitte Bardot's initials?"). Frida and Agnetha have said several times that ABBA will certainly meet again to record a new album in 1983 or 1984. However, there were no longer those relationships between the members of the group that promoted joint work. In addition, the relationship with Stig Anderson reached an impasse. Since then, the Swedish foursome have not appeared in public in in full force(excluding January 1986) until July 4, 2008, when the Swedish premiere of the film-musical Mamma Mia! took place.

The fate of the participants after the breakup

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 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 active fighter for the protection environment.

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 most wealthy people in music world countries.

2006-2008: Mamma Mia!

During the premiere of the musical in different countries, the band members repeatedly appeared before the public. In October 2006, three members of the famous Swedish quartet Frida Reuss, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson came to Moscow especially for the premiere of the musical. Agnetha Fältskog 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 caught them on the balcony of the cinema hall, 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 that followed this premiere, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson confirmed that they would no longer be together on stage. " We will never again appear on stage together" Ulvaeus said. " There is nothing that can force us to unite. Money is not the factor that matters to us in this matter. We would like people to always remember us the way 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, their own past work. And, in my opinion, this is a very correct definition.».

However, in 2010, Lyngstad stated that she had met with Agnetha Faltskog - and for the first time since the group's breakup in 1983, they discussed the possibility of joint performances.

ABBA was founded by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, musicians, songwriters and singers. They met in 1966 at one of the summer parties and already then decided that it was worth continuing to work together. At that time, Benny was a member of the Hep Stars (Sweden) as a keyboardist, and Bjorn was in the Hootenanny Singers - he was a guitarist and singer. During one of the concerts in Malmö, Benny Anderson met Anni-Frid Lingstad, a singer who has been singing since the age of 13 in the different groups. She even performed at song festivals in Venezuela and Japan. Around the same time, Bjorn saw on TV the performance of another singer - Agneta Fältskog, who performed her own song. He decided that by all means get to know her.

The legendary quartet first met in full force in Stockholm, during the recording of a TV program, and already in 1970 they began to sing together. Almost at the same time as their joint debut, the album "Lycka" by Benny and Bjorn was released. These were songs performed in Swedish, and Frida and Agnetha were backing vocalists during the recording of the songs. Already in 1971, the talented Benny and Bjorn were taken to Polar as producers. This was due to a coincidence - the previous producer of the company B. Bernhag, a close friend of Stig Anderson, the head of Polar, died. The Stig invited Bjorn Ulvaeus to the vacant seat, however, he agreed on the condition that he would work with his co-author Benny Andersson. They even divided the salary one for two at first.

Commission famous competition Eurovision rejected the group's candidacy with the song "Ring Ring", and in 1973, February, they recorded this song in German, Swedish, English and Spanish. The new hit quickly gained popularity and topped the charts in Belgium, Holland, Austria, Sweden and even South Africa. And already in March of the same year, the first album under the same name "Ring Ring" was released. In 1974, at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton (England), the ABBA group with their song "Waterloo" won an absolute victory (by a margin of 20 to 1). This song was the start of a string of unprecedented super hits - 18 consecutive hits in top ten Britain. Eight hits of the quartet took first place. In 1976, these were the compositions of Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Fernando, in 1977 - Knowing Me, Knowing You, and The Name Of The Game, in 1978 it was a hit Take A Chance On Me, and in 1980 - songs Super Trouper and The Winner Takes It All. The group's albums were also among the leaders, the beginning was laid by the Greatest Hits collection, which was released in Sweden in 1975. ABBA's overseas achievements were somewhat more modest - in April 1977, the Dancing Queen hit topped the local charts for only a week. Three of the group's albums in the United States became "gold", only "The Album", released in 1977, reached the "platinum" mark.

The quartet performed their song Dancing Queen for the first time for the Swedish king, on the eve of the wedding in the royal family in 1976. They made their first tour of Britain in 1977, when more than 3 million applications were received for the performance of the popular four at the Albert Hall, which seats 11,000 people. The tour ended in Australia in March of the same year. Here they filmed material for a film about a group called "ABBA". It was in Australia on December 15 that the premiere of this film was. In their homeland, ABBA presented a film about itself in 1977, on Christmas Eve. In 1979, on January 9, the ABBA group took part in a charity event organized by UNICEF in New York City, they transferred all the proceeds from their single Chiquitita to the organizers. The band's first performance in North America took place in Canada, in the city of Edmonton, it was 1979, September 13th. This tour continued until mid-November and ended in Europe.

In 1981-1982, the group noticeably reduced its activity. In December 1982, the group released their last single, recorded in full force. It was "Under Attack" but the band's latest single is "Thank You For The Music".

The group's popularity was revived in 1992, however, as well as all disco music. All hits of the popular quartet were published on two CDs by Polydor. Even cover versions of the group's hits were released, the Erasure company released a mini-album "ABBA-esque". Around the same period, the Australian band Bjorn again became popular, using the style and image, as well as the manner of sounding and playing the group ABBA.

Information was leaked to the media that in 2000, the ABBA group refused to offer performances around the world with the "old line-up". They were offered $1 billion for a round-the-world tour.

ABBA at Wikimedia Commons

The quartet's singles took first place in the charts from the mid-1970s ("Waterloo") to the early 1980s ("One of Us"), and collections 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 number one on the charts of every major English-speaking country (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand).

For outstanding service to music, ABBA was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010.

Group history [ | ]

Short description[ | ]

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

In the early 1970s, although Bjorn and Agnetha were married and Benny and Frida lived together, they continued to pursue 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 throughout the world. He inspired Benny and Bjorn to write a song for the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 to be performed by Lena Andersson. Song (Swedish) took 3rd place at Melodifestivalen-"72, which confirmed Stig's opinion that he was on the right track.

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

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

The following year they tried to break into the Melodifestivalen with the song "Ring Ring". Studio processing was handled by Michael Tretov, who experimented with the "wall of sound" technology that was then used in ABBA's recordings. The Stig commissions Neil Sedaka to translate the lyrics ( Neil Sedaka) and Phil Cody ( Phil Cody) into English. They intend to win first place, but they only end up third. However, the band released 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 The Stig felt that there could only be a breakthrough if the song became a British or American hit.

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

In the spring of 1973, the Stig, tired of the group's inconvenient name, began calling it privately and publicly as ABBA. This was a joke at first, as "abba" is the name of a well-known seafood processing company in Sweden. According to 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.” I don't think they have to be ashamed of the group." The band also ran a name contest in a local newspaper. Among the options were "Alibaba" and "BABA".

The very first time ABBA's name 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 failed to chart in England. But the next release honey, honey managed to break through to 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 had hoped, because many tickets were not sold, and due to lack of demand, ABBA were even forced to cancel several dates, including a pre-planned concert in Switzerland.

The second part of the tour, which ABBA undertook in Scandinavia in January 1975, was completely different from the first: they filled houses and finally got the reception they expected. For 3 weeks in the summer of 1975, ABBA made up for the previous summer's tour of Sweden. They performed 16 outdoor concerts in Sweden and Finland, drawing huge crowds. Their show in Stockholm at the amusement park viewed by 19,000 people.

Despite the growing popularity of ABBA, the band's erratic success kept its members from completely abandoning solo projects.

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

Release of their third album ABBA and third single SOS hit the top 10 and the album peaked at number 13. The band was no longer treated like a one-hit band.

Success in Britain was confirmed when Mamma Mia became number 1 in January 1976. IN THE USA SOS hit the top ten record world one hundred best songs and became 15 in Billboard Hot 100 and also received an award BMI Award as Most Played Song on Radio in 1975.

Despite this, ABBA's success in the States was inconsistent. 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 a nut to crack, which they could not conquer. ABBA's album reached less than 3 singles, rising to only 165 on the albums chart cashbox and at 174 on the chart Billboard 200. The opinion was that in the USA the same very bad advertising campaign was the reason.

In November 1975, the group released a compilation Greatest Hits. It includes 6 songs that hit the Top 40 in the UK and the US. It becomes the first album to reach No. 1 in England and includes the song Fernando(which was originally written in Swedish for Frida and was included on her 1975 solo album). One of the widely known and very popular ABBA tracks, Fernando, did not appear on the Swedish or Australian releases of the album 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 propelled the band into the top 50 in the US on the best albums list, selling over 1 million copies in the US.

In the US song Fernando reached the top 10 Cashbox Top Top 100 songs and became 13 in Billboard Hot 100. The single also topped the chart Billboard Adult Contemporary, is the first ABBA single to reach the top of any US chart. In Australia 2006 hit Fernando holds the record for holding the number one spot the longest (15 weeks, on par 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 excellent reviews from English music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Music 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 album Arrival was nominated for an award Brit Awards in the Best International Album of the Year category. At this time, ABBA was 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 No. 1 of the chart Billboard Hot 100. Howbeit, Arrival became a breakthrough for ABBA in the US, where it peaked at number 20 on the album chart Billboard.

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

After the European leg of the tour in March 1977, ABBA performed 11 shows in Australia. The tour was accompanied by mass hysteria and huge press attention, which is well shown in the feature film. ABBA: The Movie, filmed by the band's music video maker Lasse Hallström. The film had its world premiere in four major cities in Australia on 15 December. In the homeland of the artists, the premiere of the film took place 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 the film's distribution. According to the memoirs 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 Jorel Hanser. As a result of negotiations, the film was bought with the right to rent for five years and from August-September 1981 began to be shown in the Soviet Union.

The tour in Australia and the film based on it contain funny details. Agnetha in the group filled the role of the good-looking blonde and the "postcard girl", a role she rebelled against. During the tour, she went on stage in a leather white very tight jumpsuit, which gave rise to one newspaper to write the headline "Show asses Agnes".

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 number one in England and 12 and 3 respectively in 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 back of the song's LP 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 hit parade for the group: the local public had already managed to “get fed up” with the familiar sound. This circumstance, as well as a relatively weak result in the UK chart (fifth place) was the reason for not including 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 reached number one in Europe and Japan, the top ten in Canada and Australia, and the top twenty in the US. Interestingly, none of the album's songs reached number one on the UK charts, but every one of the singles released from it (" Chiquitita", "Does Your Mother Know", "Voulez-Vous" and "I Have a Dream" ), was in the top 5.

In Canada I have a dream becomes the band's second No. 1 song on the chart RPM Adult Contemporary, the first song was Fernando.

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.

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

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 fans. The group played 11 concerts to full houses, including 6 performances in Tokyo Budokan. This tour proved to be the last of the quartet's career.

In November 1980, their new album was released. Super Trouper, which reflected some change in the band's style, more use of synthesizers, and more personal lyrics. Over 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 All, which reached number one on the UK charts. In the US, it peaked at number 8 in Billboard Hot 100. The song was written as if it were about Agnetha and Bjorn's family problems. Next song Super Trouper, also became a #1 hit in England, but failed to even reach the top 40 in the US. Another track from the album Super Trouper, Lay All Your Love on Me, released in limited edition in some countries, reached the top Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and number 7 on the English Singles Chart.

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

1981: Benny and Frida Divorce Album The Visitors [ | ]

In January 1981, Bjorn married Lena Kalerso, and the band's manager, Stig Anderson, celebrated his 50th birthday. For this event, ABBA prepared a gift for him by recording a song Hovas Wittne dedicated to him and released in an edition 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 get a divorce. Later it became known that their marriage had been in trouble for quite some time. Benny met another woman, Mona Norcleet, whom he married in November of that year.

Bjorn and Benny had been writing songs for the new album through the beginning of 1981, and began recording in the studio in mid-March. At the end of April, the group took part in the television program Dick Cavett Meets ABBA where she performed 9 songs. This was their last live performance in front of an audience. The recording of the new album was in the middle when the studio bought a new digital 32-track 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 the end of activities, but the group has been considered broken up for a long time.

Their last appearance as a group was on a British TV program (live from Stockholm via satellite) on 11 December 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 before. 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 that the band had broken up in their interviews ("Who are we without our girls?! Brigitte Bardot's initials?"). 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. In addition, the relationship with Stig Anderson reached an impasse. 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! .

1983-1993: oblivion? [ | ]

In the mid-late 1980s, the group's work was in the shadow of music 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 eclipsed disco and traditional pop in the form in which ABBA interpreted it in his creativity.

An attempt to rectify the sales situation undertaken by the Polar Music label and embodied in ABBA Live(the band's first and only official live release in nearly 30 years) was a flop. Even the skill of the group's studio engineer M. Tretov did not save the album from record low chart results and negative reviews from critics.

1993-2006: ABBA Gold and beyond[ | ]

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

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

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

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

2006-2008: Mamma Mia! [ | ]

In April of the year, it became known that the ABBA group was reunited to record new songs and then hold " virtual tour”, during which holograms of the band members will perform on stage. The working title of one of the two recorded tracks was also revealed, titled "I Still Have Faith In You". The release date of the album was not specified.

Who doesn't know about ABBA? This is one of the most famous bands in the world, and today we will tell her story.

In Scandinavia, their record has not yet been broken. This group glorified Sweden and is still loved by many people. ABBA was created in 1972, and the name was chosen simply as the first letters of the members of the group. ABBA is (“dark”), (“fair”), as well as.

The first ABBA songs in English were somewhat clumsy, as they were written by the men of the group, who were only learning this language. Songs in their native Swedish language could not bring success in the world, so it was decided to do the entire repertoire in English. The band's first album called Ring Ring did well on the charts, but it was still not super popular.

And the real popularity began with the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Then ABBA performed with the song Waterloo and won. The self-titled album immediately took first place in the charts and the group's goal was achieved.

After that, ABBA was recognized as the first group whose hits took first place in all English-speaking countries. This is the USA, and Canada, and Australia, and even New Zealand. In the 1970s, everyone sang their hits: Mamma-Mia, Dancing Queen, Money Money Money and others.

In addition to amazing songs, the group surprised with their costumes, which were new every time and looked, to put it mildly, unusual. The group's concerts were dynamic, Agnetha and Frida gave their best.

The most successful year in the band's career was 1977. ABBA released album Album and went on a world tour. Then ABBA released several more albums, which also occupied the top positions in the charts, but the relationship between the band members was no longer the same.

It should be mentioned here that ABBA is not only four people, it is also two couples. Agnetha and Bjorn were married for 9 years and have two children, and Anni-Frid and Benny were also married. By 1979, while continuing to perform together, Agnetha and Bjorn divorced, and in 1981 the second couple of the team divorced.

In 1982 the group broke up. Everyone wanted to write their own songs and create solo albums. But, unfortunately, Agneta's solo discs were not popular, as was the singer's personal life. Now she lives near Stockholm in her house, does not appear in public and avoids publicity in every possible way. Annie-Frid's daughter died in a car accident, and then her second husband died. Now the singer lives in Zermatt with her third husband.

In the men of the group, the situation was more optimistic - they both got married and had children. In 1999 they presented to the public musical Mamma-Mia, which has become popular not only in Sweden, but also in other countries.

Ola 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 incredible success musical.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources