Frequently Asked Abba Questions

Abba were a Swedish pop group who were among the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music, selling over 300 million albums worldwide. They are one of the very few bands whose music is as popular now as when it was first released and even though the band stopped writing together in the 1980s, their music still sounds contemporary today and is enjoyed by young and old alike.
They shall definitely go down in history as one of the world’s best bands of all time.

Agnetha Fältskog (b. April 5, 1950, Jönköping, Sweden);
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (b. November 15, 1945, Narvik, Norway);
Benny Andersson (b. December 16, 1946, Stockholm, Sweden); and
Björn Ulvaeus (b. April 25, 1945, Gothenburg, Sweden).
Agnetha and Frida were the vocalists, Bjorn played guitar and Benny played keyboards.

The name ABBA is made up of the first initial of each band member:
A – for Agnetha Faltskog
B – for Bjorn Ulvaeus
B – for Benny Andersson
A – for Anni-Frid Lyngstad, known as Frida.

ABBA’s name was actually arrived at following a competition to name the band in Swedish Newspapers. ABBA was the winning choice, however, before the name could become official, the band’s manager, Stig Andersson, had to negotiate with a Swedish fishing company, also called Abba, to use the name! Let’s all take a moment to be very thankful to that fishing company!!

Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus were the band’s main songwriters. However, Agnetha and Frida as well as the manager of the band Stig Andersson could also write songs.

Bjorn Ulvaeus – Began in a band called the Hootenanny Singers, who were hugely popular in Scandinavia. Bjorn was known for writing English Language lyrics to their songs. While on the road with the Hootenanny Singers, he made the acquaintance of…
Benny Andersson – who at the time was in a band called The Hep Stars, known as the Swedish Beatles because of their screaming teenage girl fanbase.
Anni-Frid Lyngstad – Anni-Frid, known to us as Frida, was born in Norway but raised in Sweden by her grandmother, following her mother’s death aged 21. She sang with The Anni-Frid Four and then won a national talent competition in 1967 which led to a record contract with EMI.
Agnetha Faltskog – Agnetha was already a popstar in Sweden, long before Abba were even heard of. Her debut single topped the Swedish charts in 1967 and she had released several albums, with many of the songs self-composed.

Benny and Bjorn knew each other as they were both in Swedish bands on the touring circuit (Bjorn - the Hootenanny Singers and Benny – the Hep Stars).
Benny met Frida first, in 1969, backstage at Melodifestivalen, which was the Swedish heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, and there was an instant attraction.
Only two weeks later, fate would take a hand when Bjorn met Agnetha while filming a TV special in Sweden.
Of course, we all know what happened next. Both couples fell head over heels in love, and both couples married; Agnetha and Bjorn first in 1971, before Abba even existed, and Frida and Benny later in 1978.
Blissfully married and in love, the boys were now busy working on songs together for their album, Lycka, and the girls would sometimes come into the studio to hang out and record backing vocals. Things were good but the fab foursome had a dream of bigger things. While recording, the boys saw how well the girls’ vocals blended, and how good they looked together. They all realised that they might have more success if they joined forces. It was then that the idea for ABBA originated.

The biggest-selling single by Abba world-wide is Dancing Queen. Dancing Queen was also their only number 1 hit in the United States, in 1976.
World-wide, the song in second place is Fernando.
Dancing Queen topped the charts in these countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe. It was a top-five hit in dozens more.
In 2015, Dancing Queen was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The next year, Tim Jonze of The Guardian wrote a great piece arguing that Dancing Queen was the best pop song ever!

Abba’s first single was ‘She’s my kind of Girl’ in 1970

Abba’s first UK single (top 50) was ‘Ring Ring’ in 1973

They received worldwide fame when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the smash hit Waterloo.

Abba’s last single was ‘Thank you for the music’ in 1983

Firstly, Agnetha and Bjorn divorced in 1978.
Agnetha wasn’t happy touring as she missed her children. The band’s last ever tour was in Japan in 1980.
Even though they stopped touring they continued to write fantastic music. The Super Trouper album (1980) was released after the band stopped touring.
Benny and Frida then divorced in 1980.
The band members wanted to work on other projects and they felt that working together wasn’t fun any more.
The Visitors album in 1981 was their last album.

Mamma Mia the Musical was first performed in 1999 in London’s West End.