Abba

COMING SOON!

After ABBA triumphed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, their brand of pop stormed the charts. The dancing queens split in 1983 and have so far resisted a billion-dollar offer to reform.

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ABBA

They had recorded two other songs earlier in 1982, “I Am the City” and “Just Like That”. Of the two, only the former was ever released, on the compilation album “More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits” (1993). Benny and Bjorn still refuse to release the latter single, much to the frustration of fans.

ABBA disbanded at the end of 1983, collectively deciding to take a break and pursue their individual projects.

Post ABBA Years

Agnetha and Frida

Agnetha and Frida both went on to work, with some success, on their solo albums. Frida released “Something’s Going On” (1982), produced by Phil Collins, with hit single “I Know There’s Something Going On”. Agnetha followed with her album “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” (1983), which included hit single “The Heat is On”, and sold 1.2 million copies worldwide.

Frida’s second solo album “Shine” (1984), produced by Steve Lillywhite, received a lacklustre reception and she decided to retire. In contrast, Agnetha’s second post-ABBA solo album “Eyes of a Woman” (1985) did rather well in Europe and reached number two in the Swedish charts. She released “I Stand Alone” (1987) and then withdrew from public life, refusing to give any more interviews.

Almost a decade later, Agnetha released her autobiography “As I Am”, as well as a compilation of her solo hits. “My Colouring Book” (2004) was an album of cover songs, going triple-platinum in Sweden, gold in Finland and silver in Great Britain.

Frida came out of her twelve-year retirement, to release her last album to date, the Swedish “Djupa Andetag” (1996), which reached number one in Sweden but was unknown elsewhere. She recorded the song “The Sun Will Shine Again” (2004) with Jon Lord, former Deep Purple band member, for his latest album, and made some rare television appearances in Germany.

Bjorn and Benny

Bjorn and Benny wrote the music for West End show “Chess” (1984), in collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice. The show ran successfully in London for three years but closed after only three weeks on Broadway. This was due to the fact that the storyline, the lyrics and the song order had all been changed for the US show.

To follow, Bjorn and Benny wrote “Kristina fran Duvemala” (1995), directed for stage by Lars Rudolfsson and based on a Swedish novel by Vilhelm Moberg. “Mamma Mia!”, the musical concentrated around ABBA’s songs, which Benny and Bjorn co-wrote and co-produced, premiered in London’s West End in 1999 and is still running. The production has spread to many other countries and enjoyed more than 1 500 performances on Broadway.

Bjorn and Benny received recognition for their song writing in the form of an Ivor Novello Award in 2001. 2003 saw the release of a Swedish-language version of their first musical “Chess Pa Svenska”.

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