Thursday 31 December 2009

Hitkrant, December 1977: Hooray, it’s a boy! - ‘ABBA The Album’ is on its way

Announcement of the birth of Björn and Agnetha’s son from Dutch magazine Hitkrant.
There was quite a consternation when we suddenly heard that Agnetha and Björn Ulvaeus were enchanted with the birth of a healthy son! Phone calls and telex messages were going back and forth between Stockholm and Amsterdam and we have taken the liberty of congratulating both ABBA-members (and Anni-Frid and Benny too, of course!) on behalf of all of you.

As you can read in the accompanying printed telex message, the name of Agnetha and Björn’s son is still unknown. At the time of writing (Monday morning) we still don’t know.
But what we do know is that the proud parents couldn’t be happier with their new son. Now Linda has a little brother and everyone in the Ulvaeus household had been hoping for that.

You can also see that the birth weight of the young Ulvaeus is known: not 3780 gram, like it had been reported earlier, but 3750 gram. Out of the contestants that took part in the Hitkrant ABBA competition, we have already found someone who guessed the right birth weight and he will get an amazing prize during the Hitkrant world premiere of the ABBA-movie.

Even more good news: the new ABBA-album is on its way! It will be available in the shops in the beginning of January. Its title will be ‘ABBA The Album’.
On the A-side of the album are the songs ‘Eagle’, ‘Take A Chance On Me’, ‘One Man, One Woman’ and ‘The Name Of The Game’. The B-side contains ‘Move On’, ‘Hole In Your Soul’ and three scenes from the mini-musical ‘The Girl With The Golden Hair’: ‘Thank You For The Music’, ‘I Wonder’ and ‘I’m A Marionette’.
All tracks have been written by Benny and Björn themselves and the album sleeve looks terrific (the photograph included in this article is from the inner sleeve).
So there’s reason enough to be happy. Because a new member has been added to the ABBA-family and because it won’t be long before we can enjoy the new album of a group that may well be the most popular pop group in the world at the moment!

Joepie, December 1977: Barely two weeks after the birth of Anna’s baby... ABBA back on the job!

The life of a pop star has its advantages. Fame, popularity, money, how many young people aren’t dreaming about that? How many artists wouldn’t sell their souls for that? But still there are a couple of less attractive aspects of show business. ABBA’s blonde Anna has experienced this only recently. Barely two weeks after the birth of her son she had to get back to her job. There was no such thing as maternity leave.
“Yes, two weeks before the baby was born, I wasn’t allowed to do anything on doctor’s orders,” blonde Anna explains in between two recording sessions. “However, the problem was that I still had to do a couple of things for the new album, and I wasn’t even allowed to do that. That’s actually the reason why the album wasn’t available in the shops before the holidays. We were forced to postpone the release of the album...”
Our photographer returned with the accompanying pictures from Sweden, where he witnessed a couple of hours of recording sessions. Brand-new mama Anna looked radiant.
“I only have to get rid of that belly,” she said. “I’m doing special turn exercises for that. I can’t afford to have a belly. How the baby is doing? Excellent! It’s a very well-behaved child: sleeping, eating and sleeping again. Obviously, Linda is up in the clouds as well. Very often, she takes a chair and sits next to the cradle. For hours, she just sits there and stares at her little brother...”
Anna was always very attached to her little daughter and thought it was awful that she had to leave home so often. How will this work out with two kids, we asked her.
“I do not want to go through the hectic period that we’ve been experiencing the past two years again,” she says resolutely. “But leaving ABBA is out of the question! Because I realise that this would mean the end of the group immediately. Not that I think that highly of myself, but if I would quit, then Björn would leave the group as well. Probably, Benny and Frida wouldn’t be as successful as a duo. Neither would Björn and I, if we would continue as a duo. ABBA has very much the image of two couples. Replacing someone – like this happens with other groups regularly – is out of the question with us...”

Sunday 27 December 2009

Popshop, 1977: ABBA-scandal on its way?

In ABBA’s heyday, some editors were clearly desperate to have any article about ABBA in their magazine. In 1977, Belgian magazine Joepie suggested that ‘Dancing Queen’ was plagiarism.
ABBA remains the centre of attention. Especially their private life is the subject of daily conversation; and of the written word. Except for the quarrels among the four of them, there’s very little startling news to report. But the rumour that’s been circulating since recently is exceptionally shocking. If it’s true, of course, because up till now it’s just been a rumour. ‘Dancing Queen’, ABBA’s biggest hit up till now was allegedly not written by Björn and Benny...

Most of the time, it’s difficult to verify where a rumour – sometimes the beginning of a scandal – has started circulating. Mostly in pubs or venues where people from the pop world can be found. Sometimes, someone lets something slip out, albeit while enjoying a good glass of beer. Many rumours don’t live very long, due to a lack of interest.
But when a group like ABBA is concerned, everyone pricks up their ears. Because ABBA is always news. These days, no one bats an eye anymore when it becomes known that there have been spats again among the members. Even when Anni-Frid pours out a glass of Campari over Benny’s successful head in public, photographers aren’t grasping for their cameras anymore. The ‘free marriage’ of the couple has been long accepted as well.

But from Germany, through different channels, a rumour started to seep through, that we wanted to know more about. Allegedly, ‘Dancing Queen’ hasn’t been written at all by the famous composing duo Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, but by Drafi Deutscher, a former idol in Germany.
Drafi Deutscher is not completely unknown in our own country either. His ‘Marmer, Stein Und Eisen’ was a top ten hit over here several years ago. In Germany, it is said that it’s not completely out of the question that Drafi – when his career started to go downhill – started to peddle with his own compositions and found a response at the ABBA-concern.
But once again, this is just a rumour that our editorial staff intercepted. We haven’t been able yet to check whether this rumour can be proven. But you know what they are saying: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And this isn’t a new phenomenon either. It has happened before that a composer sold his work and agreed that his name would not be mentioned.

Pop Foto, November 1979: ABBA is tired of all the gossip!

ABBA’s ambitious world tour has just kicked off with a dazzling concert in Vancouver, Canada. However, before the group packed their suitcases, Pop Foto paid a quick visit to the extensive rehearsals that preceded the trip. Enticed by ominous rumours...

Still, there are these vicious rumours about the impending end of ABBA. Despite strong denials by ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson, the rumours are still going round that this tour will be the last one and that the quartet will go their separate ways after that.
And since Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid were working so intensely and very hard during the rehearsals, that there was barely any time for a chat (just for the accompanying pictures), Stig Anderson took us to his office at the ABBA headquarter under the cloak of: “I’m getting so tired of all this nonsense. I think I’m going to put an end to all these delusions once and for all, by telling more about ABBA’s future plans than I’d actually like to. Then you’ll be able to hear for yourselves that ABBA is not over with at all!”

And that’s why we all sat down and listened to what he had to say. “First, shall I tell you about my big dream?” Stig mumbled. He leaned over and slowly said: “ABBA on the Red Square in Moscow.” He plumped down in his chair and cheered: “Well, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Stikkan smiled contentedly, he already saw it happening before his eyes. “I think the Red Square has room for at least one million people. Splendid, and that concert could be broadcast on television all over the world directly via satellite.” All of this should take place during the Olympic Games next year. “They would love to see us in Russia. We’ve already had several offers from that country. And apart from that, an American television company has announced that they would be willing to take care of the broadcast and pay for the costs. So the plan isn’t as crazy as it sounds!”
But there are even more plans bubbling in Stig’s mind. Like a tour through South America. “‘Chiquitita’ was recorded in Spanish. The result: the number one spot in the charts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela. It would be a good idea to perform in these countries. Even today,” Stig says carelessly, “I got a question from Montevideo to let ABBA perform there in a huge stadium.” Talk about football stadiums. Stig Anderson is playing with the idea to do a summer tour in Europe and perform at the biggest stadiums: Wembley in London, the Olympic Stadium in Munich and, who knows, maybe even the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam.
“In short, we have more than enough plans,” according to Stig. “Really, as long as we are still having fun, we will continue!”
Before leaving Stockholm, we quickly took a peak at the rehearsals, where Björn and Benny were fine-tuning some arrangements together with the band leader, where Agnetha, sweaty and exhausted, was sitting in a corner and where Anni-Frid was going through her dance routine for the umpteenth time. Oh well, ABBA doesn’t now when to stop.

Saturday 19 December 2009

Privé, November 1979: How jogging clears Björn Ulvaeus’ mind

Recently, there were standing ovations for ABBA in Rotterdam during their concert at the ‘Ahoy’. Despite the fact that they have to perform almost every evening during their European tour, the show of the quartet is a dazzling succession of hits. Especially Björn Ulvaeus is tireless. To Privé, he revealed the secret of his remarkable physical and mental fitness: jogging. And he was even willing to show his daily exercise routine. Exclusively for Privé, he ran 25 rounds on the athletics track.

Twelve o’clock sharp, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and I meet in the hall of the hotel. Dressed in a blue jogging suit and shoes of the same colour, a towel around his neck, one of the four ABBAs is walking up to the shiny black Mercedes that’s waiting to take us to the athletics track where Björn, exclusively for Privé, will demonstrate the secret of his fitness: jogging, ten kilometres long.
During the dazzling show that ABBA brings to the stage night after night on their European tour, it was already unmistakable that the 34-year-old Björn is in great physical shape. During the concert, the guitarist of the world famous Swedish foursome is jumping around the stage as if he was a fly. He mounts the stairs, that are part of the stage design, like a hind, just as quickly he gets down from them and then dances across the entire stage again.
For two hours straight, because the ABBAs don’t allow themselves any break during the show. After the show, I asked him directly how he is able to cope with that, night after night.
“When you wait for me at the hotel tomorrow at twelve o’clock, then I will show you how I do it. I will then demonstrate my exercise routine, that I’ve been doing faithfully every day for the past five years and that keeps me fit and slim.”
On our way to the athletics track, we stop for a while in front of a sports store. The chauffeur is being sent out with the mission to buy a stopwatch and a headband (to avoid transpiration getting into the eyes).
When we resume our ride, Björn tells about his exercise programme that he’s been executing faithfully ever since the success at the Eurovision Song Contest. He says: “When we play concerts and stay at hotels, I feel the need to let off some steam. I can’t wait around in some kind of room until we are allowed to get up on stage. That’s why I decided five years ago to really stay in shape. But in an easy way. And that’s jogging. You don’t run really fast, but it isn’t walking either. When you jog, you can clear your mind. You are able to straighten yourself out. From the beginning, I’ve always jogged ten kilometres. I started at an easy pace, later on I went a little faster. And now I jog at the same pace every day. I loose as much bodily fluids as during a concert. When I’ve jogged, I feel completely purified, all the dirt is getting out of my pores and I think it enhances my musical achievement as well. I really feel fulfilled.”

At the entrance of the athletics track, the Swede is being welcomed by the supervisor. With pleasure, Björn lets himself be shown around the catacombs of the stadium. He says to me: “Actually, I don’t think it’s any fun to jog on an athletics track, because then I have to run rounds of 400 metres time and time again. I’d rather have a territory where I can run straight ahead without any turns.”
During his jogging, Björn holds a stopwatch in his hand to keep track of his own time. Twenty-five rounds long, I watch ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus pass me by. He runs a total of ten kilometres in less than an hour. Afterwards, he looks toned but not really tired. He says: “That’s because I’m able to determine my own pace. I know when it gets to much. Then I take some more time for a round and when I feel I’m up to it, I speed up again. That’s the ideal situation for me.”
At my question why not all ABBA-members have an exercise programme like this, hit composer Björn Ulvaeus smiles mildly and says: “For the time being, no one wants to jog with me, but I don’t really mind, as long as I am keeping fit myself.”

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Pop Biz, 1979: ABBA Live

Report about the 1979 tour from Dutch magazine Pop Biz.
ABBA is better than ever before. That’s the conclusion of the editorial staff members that followed the popular Swedish quartet close upon their heels during the past few weeks. We saw them in Canada, we talked to them in America and we saw them in Europe. Obviously, we were very curious about the response in America. Has ABBA now conquered this trend-leading pop country?

We see the group in concert for the first time in Anaheim/California, the fifth show since the start of their world tour in Edmonton/Canada. After a show of nearly two hours, in which practically all the hits were being performed, the group, tired but fulfilled, receives a thunderous applause. Despite this, Björn and Benny are not completely satisfied afterwards. Why is that?

Björn: “During the first hour, we were far too strained. Everything went according to plan, but we were paralysed with nerves. The audience doesn’t really notice, but the people from the media do.”
Benny: “Still, I’m satisfied with how the tour is proceeding. The first week is always difficult.”
Then why did they start their tour in America?
Benny: “We’ve talked about this for a long time. Should we start out in Europe to loosen ourselves up or burn loose in America right away. In the end, we went for the second option. We would have been nervous either way.”

The ABBA-ladies are willing to talk, but we are not allowed to take any pictures. They are still marked by fatigue. What did Agnetha think about the response in America?
Agnetha: “Up till now, it’s reasonably good. It’s safe to say that half of the audience consists of fans. But you will have to win the other half over with a good show.”
Was she stricken with nerves as well?
Agnetha: “I was scared to death that I’d loose my voice due to my nerves. America is really important to us. We won’t get a second chance.”

Monday 14 December 2009

Joepie, 1977: Anna is pregnant

Announcement of Agnetha’s second pregnancy from Belgian magazine Joepie.
Blonde Anna from ABBA is pregnant and expecting a second baby in November. “Anna’s got her head up in the clouds,” is what Björn told us over the phone (it was clear that he couldn’t be more proud). “Actually, we already wanted to have a baby at the beginning of this year, but it took us a lot of effort to persuade Anna to wait a little longer, for the sake of our European tour. She has to take things a little easier, because with Linda, not everything was plain sailing. Although the doctor has assured us that everything is going fine now. The album is now almost finished, which means that Anna is able to relax until November. Her parents will move in with us for a while, to help Anna out...”
And Björn jokingly adds: “We might even give him (or her) a Belgian or Dutch name, because the ‘accident’ must have happened while we paid a visit to your countries...”
One more thing: Anna would love to have another girl, while Björn is counting on a boy.

Joepie, 1977: A brand new hobby for ABBA

Now that Björn and Anna are preparing for the arrival of their second baby, the quartet has time to spare. Time to re-catch their breath, to start exploring forgotten hobbies again, or discover new ones. Like horse riding, for instance.
“A new hobby for Björn, Anna and myself,” Benny smiles under his beard. “But not for Frida. She used to do this when she was still a teenager. But you know how the story goes: your job takes up all of your time, and there isn’t any time left for hobbies. But now that we are more or less forced to take things easier for the sake of Anna, all of a sudden we have time to spare. It was Frida who has pushed us to try some horse riding. All four of us went to a riding school here in Stockholm, and during a couple of days, we took some private lessons with an experienced horseman.”

Only one week later, Björn and Benny would surprise their wives with a highly original gift: four genuine racing horses.
“Yes, that experience turned out better than we thought,” according to Benny. “Now we can trot around at home as much as we want. It’s really pleasant. And relaxing...”

Sunday 13 December 2009

Story, January 1981: ABBA’s Agnetha: “I wanted to be sure of Dick’s love.”

A gossip article from Dutch magazine Story about Agnetha’s relationship with Dick Håkansson.
Agnetha, ABBA’s blonde singer, is going through difficult times. After her divorce from Björn, she kept having problems that seemed to be solved when she fell in love with Dick Håkansson. But after a few weeks, Agnetha found out that she was mistaken...

Never before had the staff of the Metropol hotel in Stockholm seen so many beautiful women together as on that evening. Whence all this female beauty? Dick Håkansson, owner of the exclusive Dots Design boutiques, had organised a fashion show in which his latest collection was being shown. The most famous models presented Dick’s designs to the selected guests. Somewhere among the guests was the, to Dick Håkansson, most beautiful woman: Agnetha Fältskog, the blonde singer from the group ABBA. A few months ago, you’ve been able to read in Story that Dick was Agnetha’s new love. At that time, they were more than happy with each other. Unfortunately, after a few weeks Agnetha discovered that she actually wasn’t ready yet for a new man in her life. After her divorce from Björn, the problems for Agnetha had not been completely solved.

“Obviously, Björn and I didn’t get divorced head over heels,” Agnetha explains. “Until the very end, we’ve tried to give our marriage a chance. Both of us wanted to make the best of it. We even went as far as deciding to have a second child, that could perhaps bring us closer together again. To our regret, we didn’t succeed and after having been married for nine years, we eventually had to cut the knot and we both went our separate ways. But you mustn’t think that all difficulties were over and done with after that. Since we kept working with ABBA, Björn and I still saw each other every day and that didn’t make things easier. Especially in the beginning, I found it very difficult to sing together with Björn as if nothing had happened. To be honest, I got more and more depressed and I even thought about leaving the group. Of course I changed my mind about that, because then I would be disappointing my colleagues as well. Still, I was more and more down-hearted. And at that time, I got to know Dick. He talked to me for days, or rather: he listened to me. I started to see a brighter future. Dick had a little daughter from a previous marriage and she got on perfectly with my children, Linda and Christian. And I felt happy with Dick. After a couple of weeks, he already moved in with us and it seemed as if all problems had been solved.”
For a while, Agnetha stops talking. Thoughtfully, she gazes in the distance, but then continues: “Still, that wasn’t the case. Without giving it too much thought, I had started a new part of my life, while I still hadn’t dealt with the previous part. It all went much too fast. Perhaps you can compare it with starting to read a new book, when you have just finished the previous one. So that you haven’t been able to digest the first one in a proper way.”

“I’ve told this to Dick as well and he understood completely. The situation was different for him. He had been divorced for several years and rarely saw his ex-wife, if ever. I explained to him that I cared a great deal for him and that I probably wouldn’t be able to live without him, but that I didn’t want to start a new life with him until I was really ready for it. Now, I’m telling all this in a businesslike manner, but you can take it from me that I burst into tears, everytime I talked to Dick. He was so sweet and understanding that it caused me a lot of pain to talk to him about my mixed feelings. Another man probably would have said that I’d have to choose and that he’d leave me otherwise, to never return again. Dick’s reaction was completely different. He said that he would go to his own house and that I could reach him day and night. As soon as I had straightened myself out, I had to tell him and then we would start talking again.”
Agnetha grabbed this opportunity with both hands, which left her alone with her two children once again. Still it was completely different from the first time. During rehearsals with the other ABBA-members, she was cheerful and upbeat again and since then, she was able to talk to Björn in a normal way and sing with him as well. Several weeks passed by, which gave Agnetha the opportunity to put things in perspective. She came to the conclusion that Dick had started to mean so much to her that she missed him already.
“And all of a sudden, his invitation for the fashion show was lying on my doormat,” Agnetha continues. “My first reaction was not to go, because I didn’t think it was the most suitable place to talk to Dick. On the other hand, I understood very well that it would be a very important evening for Dick, and that he would love to have the woman he loves by his side. That’s how I walked around for days, not knowing whether to go or not. In the end, I decided to go at the last instant. I thought it would be better to not go on my own. That’s why I brought a girlfriend, who is also Linda and Christian’s nanny, along. As soon as we had entered the big hotel doors, I saw Dick standing in the hall and a few seconds later, he turned around and looked me straight into my eyes. I can’t describe what went through me at that moment, but I had the feeling that a swarm of butterflies was flying through my stomach. He walked up to us straight away and I could see in his eyes how happy he was that I had taken his invitation. Obviously, there wasn’t much time to talk, but we got that opportunity after the show. I still can’t say how our relationship will develop. I’ve taken the first step by going to his show. That has to be a sign for Dick, concerning how I think about our future. I will now leave the rest up to him...”

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Bravo, May 1978: ABBA Star-Album

ABBA: their profiles, their autographs.

Björn Ulvaeus was born in Göteborg on April 25, 1945.
Heigth: 1,76 metres – Hair: blonde – Eyes: blue.
Björn has been married to Anna since July 6, 1971.

Anna was born as Agnetha Fältskog in Jönköping on April 5, 1950.
Heigth: 1,72 metres – Hair: blonde – Eyes: blue.
Together with Björn, Anna has a daughter Linda and a son Peter Christian.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Eskilstuna, Norway on November 15, 1945.
Heigth: 1,72 metres – Hair: brown – Eyes: green-brown.
Anni-Frid has been living together with Benny since 1970. Two children from a previous marriage.

Benny Andersson was born in Stockholm on December 16, 1946.
Heigth: 1,80 metres – Hair: blonde – Eyes: blue.
Two children from a previous relationship.

ABBA: a look into their family and career album. Important photographs from Anna, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid’s lives.

1952: Benny got an accordion when he was six years old.

1963: Together with friends, Björn (second from left) starts the group the Hootenanny Singers. Until 1969, they are one of the most successful groups in Sweden. They sang folk songs and schlagers.

1971: Björn and Anna get married on July 6. They had known each other for two years.

1968: Anni-Frid records songs with Lars Berghagen; but she’s making a name for herself as a solo singer as well.

1968: Anna is working on a solo career. Until the autumn of 1975, she has released records under her maiden name Agnetha Fältskog.

1970: Anni-Frid and Benny move in together. From her first marriage to Ragnar Fredriksson, she has a son Hans and a daughter Liselotte.

1974: On April 6, ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with ‘Waterloo’. Their career takes flight.

1975: ABBA performs on their first own television show in Germany on Musikladen in Bremen. It turns them into eternal superstars with us as well.

1977: ABBA films the movie ‘ABBA’ in Australia. Here a dream scene with Anna and Anni-Frid with the persistent disc-jockey.

1977: During their last German tour in January 1977, Anna and Anni-Frid present themselves in skin-tight outfits and they are wearing wigs.

1977: In December, Björn and Anna have a son, Peter Christian.

1978: Exclusively for Bravo, ABBA let themselves be photographed all day long.

1978: A Bravo-reader presents them with the Bronze Otto 77. It is their third. In 1974, they achieved Silver.

Sunday 6 December 2009

Hitkrant, October 1977: ABBA’s quiet guy - Music is in Benny’s blood!

Benny in the limelight for a change. A cover and an article from Dutch magazine Hitkrant, October 1977.
Every member of ABBA has something that makes him or her stand out. With Benny Andersson, it’s not always that obvious. After all, he is a quiet and rather inconspicuous young man. But Benny has a secret weapon and his life partner Anni-Frid reveals what it is: “Benny is the ideal man, because he has so much charm and a sense of humour. That’s why every woman is falling for him.”

Benny looks a little reserved on hearing these words, but he still confirms: “Yes, that’s actually true. During the period that I was playing with the Hep Stars, I could indeed get as many girls as I wanted; at the time, I thought that was awesome. But now, Anni-Frid can get as many men as she wants to. We’re even!!”

Benny was born in Stockholm on December 16, 1946 and he actually listened to music already from his cradle: his parents made music and his grandfather taught him the basic principles. When he was six years old, he got his first accordion When he was seven, he already started performing together with his parents. Actually, he never had any real music lessons, but music is in Benny’s blood!

Until he turned seventeen, he kept performing together with his parents and in the meantime he had met Christina Grönvall, a girl that he fell hopelessly in love with. When Benny was fifteen years old, the couple got engaged. But their marriage deteriorated later on. It was dissolved and the two children, Helen and Peter, stayed with Christina.

When Benny was playing with the group Elverkets Spelmanslag, the then fairly well-known band the Hep Stars came to see them one evening. Coincidentally, the Stars were looking for a keyboard player and in 1964, Benny joined the group. That’s when everything started: the Swedish media tagged them as the Swedish Beatles. They achieved their major breakthrough with a song called ‘Cadillac’: the Hep Stars were famous.
But financially, everything was one big mess: paying taxes, no one had ever heard of such a thing. It has been very difficult for a couple of years and also during the ABBA-period Benny has had to bend over backwards to pay off all kinds of back debts, all the more because Benny attributes very little value to money and easily gives away hundreds of Dutch guilders when he thinks that someone needs it. Stig Anderson hasn’t been able to completely break this habit.

The rest is history: in 1966, Benny met his later ABBA-partner Björn and with that, the foundation was laid for one of the most famous pop groups that music has ever known. This leaves Benny rather unaffected, a friendly young man who prefers to spend his time sitting on his island and composing. But who still has his secret weapon!

Sunday 29 November 2009

Joepie, 1977: ABBA, the oil barons of pop! Behind the Iron Curtain worth their weight in... oil

An article from Belgian magazine Joepie about ABBA’s success in Eastern Europe.
There are only very few countries in the world where ABBA-mania isn’t raging at the moment. The Swedish quartet is even on its way to surpass the record-breaking achievements of the late Beatles. And this success isn’t of the kind that is simplifying the business interests of this four-piece pop industry. Especially since ABBA has become successful behind the Iron Curtain and particularly in Poland and Russia. Concerning this matter, Benny revealed the following to us on the phone:
“The problem in these countries is that you have to spend the money that you make over there primarily in that country and that you can’t take it abroad. In the beginning, you think it won’t be that bad and you buy things that are far cheaper over there than at home, like for instance caviar, salmon, fur coats, leather garments, cameras, yes even our own apartment in the centre of the Soviet country. But you’ll understand that you can’t keep buying these things as your earnings are increasing. And now that our records can be bought over there since a couple of weeks and we are entitled to a fair amount of copyrights, we were forced to think of another solution if we wanted to make a penny out of it.”
But the ABBA-members and their manager Stig Anderson have proved more than once in the past that they are clever business people and it was clear that they would come up with something within a matter of time. A plenary meeting was being held and the matter was thoughtfully pondered on.
“We have founded a new company, the umpteenth,” Benny smiled at the other end of the telephone line. “It’s going to look after our interests behind the Iron Curtain and specialise in converting our money assets over there in oil and oil products, because we can never have enough of these goodies in Sweden. The people in Russia and Poland have already agreed to that. Therefore, our company will transport all our oil acquisitions to our country and then resell them. Simple, isn’t it? But still you have to think about things like this. From now on, we will no longer occupy ourselves only with music, but we will be up to our ears in oil as well!”

Thursday 26 November 2009

ABBA Info, November 1984: Frida in Holland again

Here’s a report from a Dutch fan magazine about Frida’s promotional visit to Holland in October 1984. It also includes an interview with Frida that shows that she was still full of plans at the time, considering a new album and even a tour.
For the second time in one month, Frida arrived at Schiphol Airport. We were at the airport very early and later on, we saw some other fans. Frida arrived at five minutes to eleven. When she saw us (we were waving at her) she walked up to us leisurely and gave Görel and Jan Bakema (Polydor) a sign that they had to wait for the suitcases. Of course, we walked to the door as quickly as possible but Frida thought it was better to stand in the middle of the hall so that we wouldn’t bother anyone. We gave Frida some flowers and took our time to take pictures. Meanwhile, we talked a little about ‘Shine’ and about several other artists. We gave her a compliment for her appearance on Met Mike In Zee in Belgium. Frida was rather surprised that we had seen it. Frida told us that she had been listening to Sade on the plane, on her walkman. She also told us that she had just got back from America where she had been with Hans and Liselotte.
Frida asked us if we didn’t have to go to school because it was an ordinary weekday (Tuesday October 9). When we told her that all of us were terribly sick, she laughed in her familiar way. We were fortunate that it took quite some time before the suitcases arrived. Therefore, we could talk to her in a relaxed manner about for instance Cyndi Lauper, of whom she thought ‘Time After Time’ was a very good song, about Chicago that she loved to listen to and about Sade, the singer who, as Frida explained, brought back some of the old jazz music for the first time in many years. The jazz music that was the start of Frida’s long career as an artist.
Finally, Görel and Jan joined us. Of course, we had flowers for Görel as well and when we gave her a nice bouquet later that same day, she whispered in our ear: “That’s the reason why we come back to Holland time and time again, those flowers are so beautiful!”
Görel was dragging around a strange long bag. When we made a joke about it and asked whether she was planning to play some golf, she smiled and told us that it wasn’t her bag, but Frida’s. For that matter, in the bag was the instrument that has to provide new songs for Frida’s next album.
That’s right, Frida’s own keyboard that lays the foundation of her songs. We didn’t hear any complaints from the hotel, but it’s certain that she had been playing it for a while. The suitcases in the car, the flowers on the hat stand, the collars wrapped tight around the necks, since it was a typical Dutch rainy day, and Frida was off to Rotterdam.
We travelled along with Frida in our car. Headed for the Ahoy venue in Rotterdam where the rehearsals for the Platengala would take place in the afternoon.
The security of the Ahoy knew that we were coming so there were no problems getting in. Luckily, the same went for the other fans who were waiting in the hall. Frida had walked by already but when she realised she had already missed the first rehearsal, she went to the hotel first to put away all her stuff. After that, she came back to the Ahoy venue where she was welcomed extensively by the AVRO people who were taking care of all the proceedings.

Frida had just arrived when they started preparing her rehearsal. We were allowed to get into the hall and we picked a spot in front of the stage so that we could take good pictures and wouldn’t have to miss anything. Frida gave the impression that she was freezing since she had her hands tucked away in her dark blue suit. The scarf she was wearing was appropriately coloured in dark blue (to go with her suit) and red (the same as her hair). Matched with blue glasses and some jewellery, Frida was a remarkable appearance between all these technicians and artists in jeans. The rehearsal went very smoothly, actually it was only a test for the sound and lights, because Frida said she would put on more of a show tomorrow and walk around the stage more. This was immediately briefed to the cameramen by the floor manager who informed Frida about the plans for the show, the camera positions and so forth. The first song ‘Shine’ would be filmed from a wide angle and ‘Come To Me’ with Frida in close-up. A decision that would have some consequences for the recordings the next evening.
As usual, Frida walked up to Görel immediately after the rehearsal to discuss the performance. Görel gave some more suggestions and pointed Frida to the fact that there would be a lot of people sitting behind the stage as well. We followed Frida on her way to the dressing room. Thanks to Jan Bakema, who asked Frida if she had some time for her fans and the fan club, we could go with her to the artists’ lounge where we could sit cosily around a table with a group of about twelve people, take a drink and have a chat. As usual, Frida made a very relaxed impression and she apparently felt at ease. On the next pages, you can read what we talked about. But first, some quotes from Frida, taken from a Swedish interview with the magazine Revyn on the occasion of the release of her new album.

“The events in my childhood were some of my strongest driving forces when I was young. After all, insecurity doesn’t disappear just because you are successful. It’s only now that I’m starting to enjoy myself and I can be myself.”
“My hair is now extremely red, the stuff that I put into it is called ‘Crazy Colour’ and the colour is called ‘Fire’.”
“I started to write songs because Phil told me to. He said, if others can do it, you can do it as well. I wrote about ten songs by now. I might have a talent for this after all.”
“Going to concerts is too time-consuming for me. I’d rather listen to records at a high volume.”
“The most expensive garment was a sable fur coat that cost about 60.000 Dutch guilders. That’s quite a price. I can’t describe a typical day from my life. There are no typical days for me. Sometimes I work in a very disciplined manner for four or five hours a day, when I’m filming a video it’s totally different. On other days, I like to be lazy. Meet people or read good books. Most of the time, I read in English to keep that up. I also read trade magazines like The Business World.”
“My musical dream is a new album with ABBA. That could turn out to be a big surprise, since we all have new experiences now. It’s a dream!”

In the artists’ lounge of the Ahoy venue, we talked to an admirable woman about her new album, the fans and herself.

Can you explain how you feel now, after the recording of ‘Shine’, because so much has changed since ‘Something’s Going On’.
Frida: “I’m exhausted.”
Why?
Frida: “No, I feel fine. The album represents exactly the direction of music that I was looking for. I had something special in mind and I’ve found it.”
You wanted the album to turn out like this?
Frida: “I’ve tried to enhance my music and put some more rock ‘n’ roll into it. That’s the direction I was looking for and the plan was that I would see where we would end up. When I’m going to record my next album, it will probably be produced by Steve again. We have a lot to give to each other.”
Steve said almost the same thing at the Polar Studios, that you inspired each other a great deal.
Frida: “Yes, that’s definitely true.”
It just clicked.
Frida: “Yes, it all felt very natural from the start and we had a great time in the studio. However, Steve wasn’t the only one I worked with in the studio. The others have helped me a lot too. We had so much fun together and that gave me a boost. They deviated from the schedule and weren’t afraid to try something new.”
Maybe because they were so young.
Frida: “Yes, and because they don’t have that musical tradition like older musicians who have been working in the music business for years”
Don’t you have that problem after twelve years with ABBA? After all, you have chosen a completely different musical direction.
Frida: “No, Benny and Björn wrote our songs and our sound was created by them. I have always loved to listen to other music as well. I’ve had my own musical taste for ages.”
First it was jazz, now it’s rock ‘n’ roll.
Frida: “Yes, rock ‘n’ roll mixed with jazz, because I feel that music always comes back, we go around in circles. Music always goes back to its roots. I notice that young people feel that too. The old styles of music are mixing again, that’s exactly what I want as well.”
So there won’t be a real jazz album by Frida.
Frida: “No, those times are gone.”
What do you think about the fact that most articles about you first and foremost are about ABBA and only the last few lines about you?
Frida: “Yes, they all do that. But I think it’s impossible to get rid of your past. I will always carry ABBA with me. And I don’t mind that either. Two years ago, I started out as a solo artist and I’ve worked with ABBA for twelve years. Things don’t happen that fast. I have to be patient.”
What you are doing at the moment is completely different from ABBA, yet they keep calling you Frida from ABBA.
Frida: “Yes, true. But they also say Benny and Björn from ABBA and Agnetha from ABBA.”
You mean that we can now read about the ‘ABBA’ musical Chess?
Frida: “Exactly, and ABBA has nothing to do with it. It’s Benny, Björn and Tim Rice but I think we’ll have to get used to it. And ABBA has meant a great deal to me, so I don’t mind. For that matter, ABBA still means a great deal to me.”
At Schiphol Airport, you told us that ‘Twist In The Dark’ was your favourite song from the album. Why that song?
Frida: “I think it’s a very dramatic song. It comes from the inside and I feel very strongly for that song. It sounds a bit ordinary, but that’s why I think the song is so good.”
So there will be more songs like that on your next album?
Frida: “Yes, I think I will be heading in that direction.”
You wrote ‘Don’t Do It’ yourself, a very quiet number, and ‘That’s Tough’, a tougher track. Will there be more of your own songs on the next album?
Frida: “I hope so, I don’t know yet.”
Is that the reason why you brought your keyboard along?
Frida: “Yes, I’ve been in America for a week and you get so much inspiration when you listen to the radio over there. They have a special kind of music there, it’s more rock ‘n’ roll. You rarely hear it here in Europe. It gave me a kick and when I got back home, I started writing. I started yesterday.”
And?
Frida: “Yes, I have a melody already.”
How do you usually start out?
Frida: “Just with the melody. First, I record my voice on a tape, so that’s only the singing and then I work with my keyboard.”
When did you start playing the keyboard?
Frida: “Two years ago. Haha, no, I played the piano when I was ten, just like everybody else.”
Well, I can’t play.
Frida: “Well, almost like everybody else then. I started when I was ten years old and I was quite good at it. But when you haven’t played for such a long time, you have to learn how to play all over again and get used to it.”
Obviously, there are so many possibilities with a keyboard.
Frida: “Oh yes, all you have to do is push a button and you have a melody.”
Some groups make their music like that.
Frida: “Yes, but that makes it a bit too easy. When you are composing, it’s better when you don’t have to think about everything. And you don’t have that problem when you are singing and playing the keyboard. After that, I go into the studio and record a demo of the song, to see if it’s any good. Whether it’s good or bad.”
Do you ask for the opinion of other people?
Frida: “No, because with this album there were so many people involved who all had their own opinion. That can be very confusing, so I stopped doing that and did exactly what I wanted to do myself. That’s actually the only way to do it.”
What do you think about the fact that you’re back in the same hall after five years?
Frida: “To be honest, I don’t really remember, haha. But I know that we’ve been here to perform, but you know, all these arenas are the same. When you have seen one, you’ve seen them all.”
Isn’t it strange to wake up, not knowing where you are?
Frida: “Well, it’s not that bad. I always know in which city I am, but I don’t know exactly in which hall or arena I’m performing.”
Do you remember MIES, the show that you did two years ago?
Frida: “Yes, I remember, that show was great fun with a lot of enthusiastic fans. I guess it will be more difficult for you tomorrow in that big hall with 7000 people. But when you start screaming, the rest of the audience might join you or something like that. But I want to hear you tomorrow night!”
What’s the deal with ‘Shine’ in America?
Frida: “The album hasn’t been released over there. They don’t think it’s good. They don’t want to release it. Probably, it’s because the album isn’t really American, it’s more British oriented. We are now considering to record a special single, only for the American market and then see what happens. If they want it, we can still release ‘Shine’.”
Does it bother you that the Americans didn’t take to the album?
Frida: “No, I don’t mind. For the time being, Europe is enough for me. I’m not aiming for the kind of success that we had with ABBA. That’s far too much work. I want to do it at my own pace and I don’t want to travel too much. I want to concentrate more on Europe than America. Lately, I’ve been thinking about doing a tour in Europe, not too big, not too many gigs.”
Görel: “She’s even thinking very hard about it!”
Frida: “I would love to do a tour, but first I would like to record another album and that depends on Steve’s time schedule. Maybe we will record the album in Paris again or London, but I think that we will end up in the Polar Studios because Steve likes them very much.”
By the way, the video for ‘Shine’ was very good!
Frida: “Thanks, I worked on it for three days. Twelve hours. The rest of the crew worked on it day and night. So I was pretty lazy. We have also filmed a video for ‘Twist In The Dark’. I think that’s the best one.”

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Bravo, December 1976: Anna opens her heart

She looks like anyone would imagine a Swedish girl would look like: blonde, blue-eyed, long-legged and sexy. Anna revealed to Bravo in an honest and intimate interview what she is really like...

Bravo: Anna, you are often called Agnetha as well. Which name is the correct one?
Anna: “According to my passport, my name is Anna, Agnetha Fältskog – therefore both names are right. When I started my career as a solo singer in Sweden eight years ago, I called myself Agnetha. With ABBA, I changed it into Anna, because it was the start of a completely new career for me. My husband Björn calls me Anna as well.”
Bravo: When did you get in touch with music for the first time?
Anna: “Since my father was the leader of a television ballet, we sang, danced and made a lot of music at home. When I was five years old, I got a children’s piano and I wrote my own songs about trolls, the goblins of the Nordic fairytales. When I was eight, I started a classic piano education, that I kept up for ten years. At the time, I played the church organ regularly. When I was eighteen, my father introduced me to people from the show business and not long after that I recorded my first single. It was called ‘Jag Var Så Kär’ which means something like ‘I Was So In Love’.”
Bravo: Were you successful right from the start?
Anna: “Strangely yes, although I actually didn’t want to become a singer. My wish was to become a psychologist or a veterinarian. But since my first single became a hit, even my parents advised me to try my luck as a singer. Altogether, I recorded five albums and fifteen singles, before I joined ABBA. There was even a German single: ‘Geh’ Mit Gott’ and ‘Tausend Wunder’ were the titles of these songs.”
Bravo: Is it true that you were engaged to a German guy?
Anna: “Yes, it was a guy from Berlin, that I met when I was recording a German single over there. It was really more like a fling. He was living in Berlin, I was living in Stockholm. It just couldn’t work out. Apart from that, Björn came between us...
Bravo: How did you meet?
Anna: “We met at a big midsummer night show, in which we both performed. At the time, Björn was playing with the Hootenannys, a well-known folk group. Not much happened at this first meeting. We only watched each other secretly in the dressing room, but we didn’t speak a word to each other. Two days later, a record by the Hootenannys was sent to me by mail, on which Björn had marked his head and written: ‘I’d like to see you again’...”
Bravo: Is Björn somewhat shy?
Anna: “And how! I even had to take the initiative. When we met each other again at a television show and sat together with some colleagues afterwards, I asked Björn if he’d like to take a walk. He wouldn’t have dared to ask. Then, when we were alone, sparks were flying immediately...”
Bravo: Are you in reality actually how you look like: a typical Swedish girl, a blonde poison?
Anna: “You should ask Björn about that, but I believe he’s not dissatisfied with me. In any case, I’m faithful one hundred percent. I object to partner swap and quick flirts.”
Bravo: Is it true that you are so attached to your little daughter Linda that you will take her along on the upcoming ABBA-tour?
Anna: “Then I would be a bad mother. After all, Linda is only three years old. But it’s true that I suffer from every separation from Linda. That’s why we arranged our European tour in such a way that we will have two to three days off every week. Björn and I will fly back to Stockholm to Linda every chance we get...”

Sunday 22 November 2009

Hitkrant, October 1980: The new clothes of Empress Frida

An article from Dutch magazine Hitkrant, featuring pictures of Frida that were published first in Swedish magazine Damernas in July 1980.
Anni-Frid from ABBA is very passionate about fashion; that’s the reason why she has a huge amount of influence on designing the clothes in which ABBA always performs. Therefore, she thought it was great fun to seek out her favourite clothes for a fashion spread and pose in them. Like a trained professional, she browsed through the clothes racks, and after that, she posed in front of the cameras in her favourite dresses.
For a garden party by moonlight, Anni-Frid chose a summery spotted dress in which she found herself up in the clouds. When you, like Frida, have to attend a party at a real palace every now and then, you can move around most quickly on roller-skates. When you, on top of that, dress up to the nines as well in a beautiful laced dress and you are being blindfolded, then you don’t know what’s coming over you!
Frida didn’t know what came over her at all when she was chatting away at the poolside. The photographer gave her a little push and there she went, with her trouser suite into the water! Luckily, she could have a good laugh about it. The trouser suite had such quality that she could still easily appear in it on a ‘royal’ party anytime.

Muziek Expres, 1984: Shine album review

A (very) short review of Frida’s second international album Shine from Dutch magazine Muziek Expres.
With a producer like Steve Lillywhite and musicians from young groups like, for instance, Big Country, it isn’t surprising that Frida’s album ‘Shine’ sounds extremely contemporary. Concerning content, it’s a mixture of solid rock songs and sensitive ballads.
The track ‘Slowly’ was written by Björn and Benny, but for the rest, the album doesn’t sound like ABBA in any way. Frida has chosen her own path and we can only compliment her with that.

Magazine unknown, 1976: ABBA

A short report about ABBA’s visit to Holland in November 1976, highlight of which was their performance on the television show Eén Van De Acht.
Finally, it was Friday, the day that ABBA would come to Holland. So we were off to the press conference, together with a photographer! It would start at five o’clock, but at half past five, the quartet still hadn’t arrived. The room had become pretty crowded by then. Finally, ABBA, the most popular group in the world since the Beatles, was standing on the stage. All four of them received a gold and a platinum record and a gold cassette, and after these official moments, the press was allowed to ask some questions.
Benny, the bearded guy, was willing to share some things about the group: “Actually, it all started with the Swedish group the Hep Stars, that I joined back in 1963. I started to write songs for them and after I had met Björn in 1966, we went on to write together. We wanted to continue on our own and started looking for two singers. Anni-Frid and Agnetha turned out to be those singers. We had a lot of fun together, not only on stage and while recording music, but in our spare time as well. Meanwhile, Björn and Agnetha got married (they got a daughter in 1974) and Anni-Frid and I have been living together for years. We don’t have any children together, but we both have two children from previous marriages and we took them along when we got together. We’ve never performed in Holland, we simply didn’t have the time. Most groups are on tour during the entire year. I don’t understand how they cope with that. We can’t live in hotels and write our songs in hotel rooms. The way that we approach things, suits us fine. We do whatever we like and every now and then we go on tour to show that we actually do exist for real! In February, we will come to Holland for a one-off concert in the Jaap Eden hall.”

Veronica, July 1975: ABBA, do you mean the pop group or the Swedish herring?

An article from Dutch Veronica magazine, July 12, 1975. At the time the SOS single was at number 3 and the ABBA album at number 4 in the Dutch charts. Another example of a journalist who didn’t do much research on his subject. According to this article, Benny was Stig’s son and Frida and Benny were already married. Allegedly, Benny said in this interview that they liked to dress Frida in stylish clothes and Agnetha in sexy clothes. Did the girls have any say in the matter?
ABBA has conquered the world. With ‘SOS’, they softened the ears of millions yet again. Not bad for a Swedish group. We decided to go and see how these two married couples are doing. They are getting richer and richer, but happier as well?

They are pure Swedish. ABBA is so Swedish that the younger generation over there thinks that a certain kind of herring is named after this super quartet. That’s not true, because as a kind of herring, ABBA has existed for years already. ABBA as a popular singing group dates back to 1972. Since the release of ‘Ring Ring’, they have acquired a spot at the absolute top in Scandinavia, but in the rest of Europe they are keeping their end up as well. From their album ‘Waterloo’ (named after the winning Eurovision song), more than 300.000 copies were sold. That speaks volumes.

Their new album was Album Of The Week, their top ten hit ‘SOS’ was the week’s Chartbuster and with this achievement they’ve made their permanent mark. For the time being, they won’t be present in Holland in the flesh. Recently, ABBA was here to film a television special for the NCRV. This show will be broadcast at the end of August. Four young people, who look great and make nice music. A treat for the eye and the ear. Good heavens, what else could you long for.
Benny: “We still want to achieve a definitive breakthrough in England and America. Then, we will have achieved everything that’s within our possibilities. Our records always made the American top 100, but we still haven’t been really accepted.”
Pianist and composer Benny Andersson is more or less the mastermind behind the group. He is the son of the famous and powerful Swedish music publisher Stig Andersson. He knows the music business like no other.

Benny: “I already started as a pop musician back in 1963. Simply in a band called the Hep Stars. But the Beatles paved the way for us. Within a matter of time we were the Swedish Beatles, the top group in Scandinavia. I met Björn during a tour in 1966. He played in the skiffle group the Hootenanny Singers. We talked a lot and it turned out that we had a lot of things in common. Every now and then, we worked together but it wasn’t until 1970 that we really set our minds to it. At the time, I had achieved eight gold records with the Hep Stars and that seemed enough for the time being.”
In the meantime, Benny got married to singer Anni-frid Lyngstad, who was very well-known in Sweden. Björn had tied the knot with a beautiful girl as well. That was the blonde and sexy Agnetha Fältskog, who had scored a couple of number one hits in Stockholm and its surroundings. The quartet was already very famous as individuals. Therefore, it was a sensation when both couples decided to join forces. Initially, they were launched as Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Frida. An unutterable name for foreigners, therefore it was changed into ABBA rapidly, after the Swedish herring. With ‘Ring Ring’, they got European recognition, but ‘Waterloo’ conquered the world.

Benny: “Since the Eurovision Song Contest last year, we’ve been travelling all over the world. Sometimes it got so crazy, that we asked in the television studios in which country we were. To prevent ourselves from going completely insane, we gave our manager a clear assignment. Every now and then, we’d like to be at home for a while. All four of us love sailing, but we prefer to do that separately. We live close to each other in a beautiful area just outside Stockholm, but consciously we don’t see too much of each other in our spare time.”
ABBA is paying a lot of attention to their outward appearance. They wear the most outrageous clothes. We already saw that at Eurovision, but in later television performances they kept surprising us with their tasteful clothes.
Benny: “That’s really our image. We don’t care much for all that glitter, but nice and extraordinary things are always appealing to the audience. My wife Frida is rather sophisticated, therefore she looks more stylish than Agnetha. She is very sexy, therefore we prefer to dress her in mini skirts and things like that.”
Does husband Björn think it’s okay that men are drooling over his wife?
Björn: “I really don’t care one tiny bit. They can do what they like. Agnetha is around me most of the time, so why should I worry.”
Last question before they get in front of one or the other camera for the umpteenth time. For two couples, it can sometimes be hard to bear to spend even two weeks together when they go on a holiday. Isn’t it an enormous task to last this long under these circumstances?
Benny: “Obviously, tensions occur sometimes. That’s only natural. But first and foremost, we are friends and only then we are colleagues. That’s a big difference. All four of us know that we mustn’t give each other a hard time, or annoy each other and then nothing earth-shattering will happen. And if one of us is down or too tired or disheartened, then there are always three others to give some shelter. We have developed a nice collaboration. We can be completely honest to each other and we talk about everything. So you don’t have to worry about that aspect.”

Saturday 21 November 2009

Weekend, April 1977: Why ABBA’s blonde beauty doesn’t have a private life anymore...

This was the moment of truth for the Swedish group ABBA, the first group that was able to conquer the world after the legendary Beatles. For the first time in their dazzling career, they performed live in front of a huge audience. Afterwards, the beautiful, blonde Anna Fältskog told Weekend why she thinks her private life is now over and done with forever...

Anna Fältskog (26), the most remarkable singer in the world, is sitting opposite her husband Björn (31), somewhat tense after her first live show. Just a moment ago, they have performed for the first time in front of a gigantic audience, together with their group ABBA. Previously, they only worked in the studio and made records. Now, they are going to perform on stage as well, especially now this evening has turned out that they are successful in a big concert hall as well. Because this wasn’t just a pop concert. This was really show business. During twenty-five minutes, they performed a musical-like show called ‘The Girl With The Golden Hair’.
Afterwards, there was a small party where Anna told us: “After what happened tonight, I think that we are no longer a recording act that only works in the studio. This was the first time that I was facing a big concert hall and I can tell you, it sent shivers down my spine...”

Björn, her husband: “Fifteen minutes before we were due on stage, we were so nervous that we didn’t speak a word to each other... I wanted to call the whole thing off at the last minute, but I didn’t know how exciting it was to appear in front of such a huge audience!”
Their work in the studio, that resulted in hit after hit up till now, was always a guarantee for a quiet private life. Björn and Anna have a three-year-old daughter together. Benny and Frida from ABBA have been living together for a considerable amount of time. Through their many television performances, they are the only group in the world that has been able to equal the Beatles. In a time span of only three years, they sold more than forty million records! But now they decided to stop working only in far-off studios. Now they want to be in the spotlights in front of a huge crowd. Anna: “Only our bank accounts showed us that we were successful. It has been a terribly exciting experience for me to stand in front of a big audience. Afterwards, the fans also presented me with a lot of flowers and other nice gifts. You don’t notice things like this if you only work in the studio...”
Anna continues: “The past few months we’ve been very busy with all those television performances. Now we will be busy twenty-four hours a day. But I think our fans have the right to see us in the flesh.”
Isn’t this devastating to your private life, is my question. Anna: “Of course... Björn and I see each other every day at work, but there isn’t much time left for a private life. Both of us realise that very well. But, well... we talked about it and know that ABBA is now on top all over the world. And if you want to stay there, this will always harm your private life... that’s the consequence if you want to remain popular in show business. And we accept that...”

Thursday 19 November 2009

Muziek Expres, 1981: The Visitors album review

Short review of ABBA’s The Visitors album from Dutch magazine Muziek Expres.
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus needed a very long time to write the nine songs for the new ABBA-album. But ultimately, ‘The Visitors’ turned out to be yet another creative album on which ABBA is aiming at a slightly older audience more than ever.
The hit single ‘One Of Us’ is some kind of transition from young to old, but the smart thing is that this single is suitable for both groups. Except for the title track ‘The Visitors’ and ‘Head Over Heels’ (what a magnificent pop chorus!), the other songs have a somewhat quieter undertone and fall into the category of ‘after midnight’ music.

Hitkrant, 1982: That’s when Agnetha dumped Captain Sensible

Clearly, there were no limits to the imagination of some editors. In 1982, this highly unlikely story appeared in Dutch magazine Hitkrant, claiming that Agnetha had once been the girlfriend of Captain Sensible, a British singer who scored a minor hit in 1982 with Wot.
It seems an unlikely couple. But still, that crazy Captain Sensible once was the steady boyfriend of ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog for months. “Oh well, everybody has been in love once,” Ray Burns sighs, better known as the bass player of The Damned and as Captain Sensible.
“The romance between Agnetha and me dates back to fifteen years. That’s ancient history. I do think it’s a shame that things didn’t work out between us, because otherwise I would have lived together with a world-famous star now!”
And Ray has not forgotten his Agnetha yet. “Actually, I still have a little crush on her,” he confesses. “But don’t let her hear about that. She will strongly refuse to admit that we were a couple once. Still, that’s the way it is. Did you know we even had plans to form a duo together? But then, Björn came into her life… and all of a sudden she dumped me. Who knows, when I become famous in Sweden as Captain Sensible, she might think: ‘Hey, I know that crazy guy!’ Maybe we could go for a night on the town again, just like in the good old days.”

Sunday 15 November 2009

Joepie, 1979: Final ABBA-concert under the spell of the mafia – Dublin made for a wonderful finale

A report from Belgian magazine Joepie about ABBA’s final concert on their 1979 tour, taking place exactly thirty years ago today in Dublin, Ireland.
The Irish city Dublin was turned upside down on November 15. ABBA performed their final concert of a world tour that gave the group the greatest triumphs in North America and Europe during two months. Obviously, Joepie was present to wish ABBA a well-deserved hibernation.

Two days before that, ABBA performed in the Scottish city Glasgow. Lonely Agnetha arrived in Dublin one day earlier than the others. On the day of the concert, Frida, Björn and Benny arrived in a helicopter. One could feel the tension and the rising fever in the city.
A taxi driver told us that the city – he called Dublin a ‘jungle’ – was breathing the same atmosphere as at the arrival of... the Pope! The Irish radio stations played one ABBA-hit after the other and shouting groups of youngsters were walking the streets, dressed in ABBA-shirts and shawls. In the afternoon, several thousands of fans assembled in the busy O’Connell Street. In front of the hotel where ABBA had taken residence. The busy city traffic came to a standstill immediately. Through radio announcements, car drivers were given the advice to avoid the area of the O’Connell Street as much as possible. The thousands of fans just wanted to catch a glimpse of their idols, because only 4000 Irishmen had been able to get an entrance ticket for the concert. When the tickets went on sale three months ago, they were sold within two hours. One could still get entrance tickets on the street which were sold by the mafia on the black market at prices up to 80 pounds (320 Dutch guilders). At the time, the mafia had been able to get their hands on 700 entrance tickets.
The Irish children’s choir that was allowed to sing ‘I Have A Dream’ on stage with ABBA, was the acclaimed Rising Stars Choir. A few weeks earlier, they had been invited to sing for the Pope on his high profile visit to Ireland. But the girls and boys honestly admitted that they had more fun singing for ABBA.

However, the night belonged to Frida. She celebrated her birthday on November 15 and turned 34 during the final concert. The children’s choir presented her with a birthday cake and the members of the band surprised her with flowers and kisses. Agnetha, who would later perform a snappy ‘Gimme, Gimme’, had a few compliments for Frida as well.

The concert was also attended by a lot of foreign journalists. Some of them hoped to get a sensational scoop about ABBA’s future. The rumour that this might well have been the very last concert of the group was obviously an immediate cause. In the ecstatic, enthusiastic hall, everyone turned quiet as a mouse when Benny acted as a spokesman through the microphone and said, clearly moved: “This is our last... (long pause)... performance... of this tour...”
On the other hand, it turned out that Björn had remembered the remark of our chief editor Guido van Liefferinge about the introduction of his ex-wife Agnetha to the audience. Björn now introduced Agnetha as ‘a good friend of mine’.
In the good, overseas tradition, the barriers in front of the stage were trampled by the ecstatic teenagers at the end of the concert.
Thank You For The Music, ABBA, and see you in March for the scheduled tour of Japan.

Story, May 1977: Plane crashes are spoiling the happiness of ABBA’s Anna

Terrifying images of crashing airplanes are going through the mind of ABBA’s blonde singer Anna. That’s why the group has decided to travel separately as much as possible.

“Sometimes I wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Then I’ve had yet another dream about a crashing airplane. I watch it go up in flames and in those flames I see the face of my little daughter Linda. It’s horrendous! I’ve talked about it to a doctor once, but it seems that it can’t be cured. Subconsciously, I think far too much about all the things that can go wrong in an airplane and that’s why I dream about it so often at night. I’m having nightmares.”
The always radiant face of the blonde ABBA-singer Agnetha, in everyday life simply named Anna, now looks serious. Of course, she enjoys being celebrated all over the world, but success can have its disadvantages as well! Anna talks very openly about these disadvantages, as if it’s a warning to all of those young people who are trying to find a future in show business. Anna is afraid! Afraid that she doesn’t pay enough attention to her five-year-old daughter Linda, afraid that the success might be all over at some point in the future, but especially afraid of flying.
She says: “We’ve decided to spend half of each month at home. If it was up to our manager, our record company and our fans, we would never see our house again. But now we are travelling ‘only’ fifteen days each month. Especially for television recordings in several countries. Although I would prefer it, it’s obviously impossible to do all of this by car and boat. Therefore, we just have to travel by plane all the time. I know that less plane crashes occur than car accidents, but still I’m afraid. I always think: you might be in that wrong plane...”

“That’s why Björn and I decided to fly separately as much as possible. Björn usually catches an earlier flight and waits for me at the airport. He is happy to do this for me because he knows that’s it’s a comfort for me. I don’t even dare to think about the both of us dying in a plane crash. Then our daughter would suddenly become an orphan. I once read somewhere that people from the royal family are travelling this way and then I said to Björn: ‘that’s exactly what we should do as well’.”
For the dark-haired singer Frida this isn’t really a problem. She always travels along with Agnetha just for fun, while her ‘eternal’ fiancée Benny (with beard) likes to keep Björn company. Frida has children as well, two with her first husband and two with Benny, but she’s more down to earth.
“Oh well, I think exactly the opposite. Like: why would I be on that particular airplane that has engine trouble? So many airplanes go up in the air every day, so that would really be a coincidence. When your time has come, then so be it, is what I always say. Still, I will never laugh at Anna because of this. I have other problems.”
For Frida, the biggest downside of the immense success is always having to look spick and span. “We always have to look our very best. I get so tired of that. Every day we have to wash our hair, put in hair curlers, wear beautiful dresses and there we go again... We are not a pop group, but a group that appeals to people from 2 to 80 years old, therefore we have to behave like that. But every now and then I get fed up with spending hours in front of the mirror every day. Therefore, I’m often not much to look at on the days that we spend at home.”
Anna and Björn and Frida and Benny and their children live very close to each other, in a suburb of Stockholm. Frida’s children from her failed marriage – she got married when she was still a teenager – live with their father and only spend the weekends with Frida, when their mother is at home, that is. The four ABBA-members spend their holidays in their beautiful country house at the Swedish coast. To the two ladies’ dissatisfaction, there isn’t much time to really enjoy their holidays, because Björn and Benny are simply hooked on their music and spend every free minute to come up with new songs together. Even on the days that they are at home and don’t have to travel, they can be found in their office in Stockholm at nine o’clock sharp.
Benny explains: “We write the songs together with our manager Stig Anderson. Sometimes we write ten songs in one day, and often all of them end up in the waste-paper basket. All three of us consider what we will and what we won’t use. Especially Stig has a good ear for what’s going to be a hit and what isn’t. Only when these choices have been made, Frida and Anna come into the picture. With their dance instructor, they rehearse the performance and with us, the music. We often have great fun.”

Up till now, more than thirty million ABBA-records have crossed shop counters, and that number is considerably higher than the Beatles’. Of course, we don’t have to tell you that this obviously brings in a lot of money.
Björn: “Of course we are millionaires. We get a steady salary, which is 150.000 per year for each of us. The rest is invested in the company that we have founded. With that money, projects like supermarkets and houses are being financed. So we don’t get our hands on that money. We didn’t want that either because we don’t have the time to spend it all and this way we are making good use of it. Apart from that, money isn’t the most important thing for us. Otherwise we would have left Sweden a long time ago, because we have to pay piles of money to taxes.”
Anna smiles tenderly for a while on hearing these words and says: “The success is the most important thing for Björn and Benny. They don’t have much interest in the money. I wouldn’t know what to do when everything would be all over, because it would be devastating to Björn. That’s why I will keep on going for the time being!”