ABBA BIOGRAPHIES - Jim Colyer

AGNETHA FALTSKOG Agnetha was born in Jonkoping, Sweden on April 5, 1950. Her father staged amateur reviews in the town, and Agnetha began singing in them at an early age. When she was 15, she left school to take a job as a telephone operator with a car firm. She was singing with a group called Bernt Enghardts but left them when her own composition, "Jag Var Sa Kar (I Was So In Love)" became a hit on the Swedish charts. That was 1968. Agnetha moved to Stockholm and recorded her first album, "Agnetha Faltskog." It contained the song, "Slutet Gott Allting Gott." Agnetha went to Germany for awhile and cut some records with Dieter Zimmermann, to who she was engaged. The German experience as well as the romance failed, and Agnetha returned to Sweden to play Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ, Superstar. She met Bjorn Ulvaeus while doing a television show. Bjorn was from Gothenburg, Sweden's western port and second largest city, where he was born in 1945. Love bloomed, and the couple married in 1971. They had a daughter, Linda, in 1973 and a son, Christian, in 1977. ABBA was created in 1972 when Agnetha and Bjorn teamed up with Benny Andersson and his girl friend, Anni-Frid Lyngstad Agnetha has composed a lot of music. She did 9 solo albums between 1968 and 1988. She recorded in Swedish, German, English, French and Spanish. Her label in the early days was Cupol. She went on to form Agnetha Faltskog Productions AB. Her manager was Staffan Linde. In 1982, Agnetha starred in a movie called Raskenstam. Promotion tours and appearances on Swedish television followed, then retirement, money and privacy. She talked about possibly doing another film for a long time, but the right role never presented itself. As time went on, Agnetha became a recluse on her island in Ekero west of Stockholm. She grew bitter toward the press. She proved as sensitive as she was beautiful. Her 1990 marriage to surgeon Tomas Sonnenfeld was short-lived. Agnetha's book called "As I Am" was published in the 90s. She had her say. She did her first album in 17 years in 2004, "My Coloring Book." BENNY ANDERSSON The only one of the four born in Stockholm, Benny came from a family of accordian players. It was a natural thing for him to teach himself piano. From 1964 to 1969, his Hep Stars were Sweden's biggest group. They had a rougher image than Bjorn's Hootenanny Singers. When their career ended in bankruptcy, Benny came away with the notion that there would have to be greater economy in the future. It gave him the incentive to become a co-owner of Polar Music with Bjorn and Stig Andersson. Benny met Frida Lyngstad in Malmo. She was singing in a club. Benny said she was the only performer he ever met who looked as good without make-up as she did with it. Benny already had two children when he met Frida, Peter and Helene. He and Frida had that in common. They agreed not to have anymore. Both Benny's and Frida's sons dabbled in music. Benny wasted no time after divorcing Frida. He married Mona Norklit in 1981. They had a son named Ludvig the following year. Benny established his own company in Stockholm, Mono Music. He began breeding race horses. After Chess, Benny did three albums of folk music with Orsa Spelman. They performed their music in Minneapolis, a tailor-made gig considering the Swedish population in the midwest. This excursion into folk music prepared Benny for Kristina! Benny is regarded as the most stable, laid-back member of ABBA. Catchphrases oversimplify and are never fully accurate. Still, they serve as handles, giving us means for achieving at least some understanding of public figures. BJORN ULVAEUS His full name is Bjorn Christian Ulvaeus. Now we know how Agnetha's son got his name. Bjorn was still in school when he formed The West Bay Singers, a folk group. Stig Andersson suggested the name, Hootenanny Singers. Stig was great at naming groups. Bjorn is known for his business sense and studied corporate law for a term at The University of Stockholm. He meant to be a civil engineer. He was drafted into the Swedish military for the mandatory 10 months, a handy experience if you are going to write songs like Fernando. It must have been the background that gave Bjorn the rank of unofficial spokesman. He likes languages and is far more oriented toward lyrics than Benny, who is a pure musician. The two proved their compatibility as songwriters. They sat for hours waiting for their songs to take shape. Bjorn met Agnetha in 1969. hey were on the same TV show in a small town on the west coast of Sweden. There was a delay of 3 days, and they had a chance to get acquainted. Bjorn had heard Agnetha's record on the radio and thought it very romantic. Agnetha said it was cold and Bjorn offered to hold her hand to keep her warm. They started living together. After an engagement of a little more than a year, the wedding took place in Skane in July, 1971. The couple arrived in a coach as over 3,000 people waited outside. Organ music was provided by Benny Andersson. He played a song called Wedding. Following Bjorn's divorce from Agnetha, he married Lena Kallersjo in 1979 and had two daughters by her. They lived close to London for 6 years before returning to Sweden. Bjorn's London years can be seen in connection with the Chess musical. He has spent a lot of time with Mamma Mia! since its phenomenal success. FRIDA LYNGSTAD Frida was raised by her grandmother in Eskilstuna. Her mother had died at age 21, and it was felt that the little Frida would fare better in Sweden since her father had been part of the occupying army. Frida started singing professionally when she was 13. She sang with a big band, and that is how she met her first husband, Ragnar Fredriksson. He played trombone. Frida had two children by him: a son, Hans (1963), and a daughter, Lotta (1967). Lotta married an American. She died in a car wreck at age 30. Like Agnetha, Frida scored in the Swedish charts before the formation of ABBA. She lived with Benny 7 years before marrying him in October, 1978. They divorced in 1981 but remained friends for the sake of the group. In 1977, a German magazine engineered a meeting between Frida and the father she had never seen. His letters back to Norway had gone unanswered, so he did not know he had a daughter. Frida had a part in a film called "Walk On Water If You Can." It was Swedish but filmed in Spain. Frida left the music business in the mid-1980s. Rumor had it, she felt much remorse over Benny's leaving. She finally left Sweden altogether to divide her time betwqeen Mallorca, Spain and Fribourg, Switzerland. In 1992, she married a German prince by the name of Ruzzo Reuss. Was Frida subconsciously connecting with her past? She became involved in environmental work, heading an organization called The Natural Step. She recorded Julian Lennon's environmental song, Saltwater.
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com