Quartet ABBA: the story of ascending

06.10.2017

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Culture Story: Quartet ABBA: the story of ascending

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.

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!

Share the article and comment upon it! Let's know what kind of music you like!

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32 Comments

Nina Pilat

Best group ever!

hiramdoup

Big ABBA fan here

LeAnn Wright

Absolutely LOVE Dancing Queen!! One of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES!!!!

lmoores

Australia made them as an international act.

Gary Chadwick

No mention of Australia, Countdown and Ian "Molly" Meldrum. He saw them, liked them and as the host of the most popular music program in Aust, played them. As a result, they became famous in Aus before the UK and USA. Apparently they weren't going to release Mamma Mia as a single, He kept playing it, people kept asking for it, so they did.

Barb Beck

A favorite of mine

tdelisi

Not really my type of music, but I do love “Dancing Queen.”

Linda Stegall

I really like their song Mama Mia.

Donna Mackie

My all time favourite group. I still love and enjoy their music.

Allison Aspden

Great background information. Great ABBA songs.

Alan Oswald

Great group. Had all their LP’s

Luis Perez

One of the best groups of the 70s. and their music continues to be heard and sung almost fifty years later. one of their songs has been programmed to be played at my funeral.