Quartet ABBA: the story of ascending

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One of the most outstanding Sweden musical groups ABBA brought light in lives of many people of 70s. We made this article for you to know more about these talented guys! Read it!

Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad: if we put these names together we will get the name of one incredible group - ABBA. In fact, the group hasn't been always called this name. Their first songs were released under the name of «Björn & Benny», «Agnetha & Anni-Frid», but it was too inconvenient.

The manager of «Hootenanny Singers», who worked with the team, invented "ABBA" as a joke, as there was a seafood processing company under the same name. To make the abbreviation official, the quartet had to ask the above mentioned company for permission. They agreed to share the name with the condition that the band wouldn't fail. Apparently they didn't.

Benny Andersson was a keyboard player in Sweden band "Hep Stars". They performed remakes of international hit songs and were quite popular. Björn Ulvaeus was the lead singer of the popular folk-group "Hootenanny Singers". Björn and Benny sometimes met to record tracks together. Agnetha and Anni-Frid were their friends.

Agnetha was the youngest member of the team. She was only 17 when a song she performed became №1 in Sweden. Besides, she was a talented composer. Agnetha met Anni-Frid on a TV-show and, later, she met Björn Ulvaeus in a concert.

Anni-Frid used to sing with different groups since 13. Later, she joined a Jazz band. In 1969, she won the first prize at a national talent competition. Her professional career started when she signed a contract with a Sweden department of EMI company. She met Benny Andersson in a TV studio.

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In the early 1970s Björn and Agnetha were married, Benny and Anni-Frid were living together. Stig Anderson, the manager of «Hootenanny Singers» and, later, the manager of "ABBA", moved Björn and Benny toward recording a song for the Eurovision in 1972. The song «Say It With a Song» won the third prize.

In 1974, Benny, Björn and Stig were asked to compose a song for competitions. They created "Waterloo". The song became №1 in England and took the 6th place in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA.

In November, 1974, the band went to an international tour, that turned out to be not very successful.

Their success was established in Britain in 1976, when their song "Mamma Mia" became №1 in Britain, and won the BMI Award in the USA.

Here are some songs for you!