Thursday 1 January 2009

Story, 1983: Agnetha: "I don't know if there will be any more ABBA records..."

When the Swedish singer Agnetha was in Holland recently for a couple of days, I obviously had a chat with her. It was inevitable that we also discussed the future of the group ABBA. And judging from the conversation with Agnetha, who released a solo album not too long ago, it has become clear to me that the end of ABBA as a group is now drawing near.
“There are no problems between Frida, Björn, Benny and me,” Agnetha assured me. “But when you’ve been working together for such a long time, then it’s very pleasurable to be able to go your own way for a change. Whether or not we will keep on recording music with the four of us, we will always keep in touch. We’ve experienced too much for that. Apart from that, we have a lot of mutual business interests, for which we have to see each other on a regular basis. Things have been quiet around ABBA for a while now. It has been a long time since we performed together. That was a conscious decision. We have given each other the freedom and the opportunity to each go our own way. Frida has released solo records now, just like me. Benny and Björn are very busy in the studio. They are producing other artist’s records. We do exactly what we love the most now. In about a year we will probably discuss our future together. Whether or not we will record any more albums is still a question mark...”
Agnetha looked fit and cheerful. “A result of the fact,“ according to the Swedish singer, “that I’ve been able to work in a relaxed manner on my new solo album the past few months. I think it’s wonderful to be able to make my own album now and perform on my own as well. With ABBA, we’ve always been under an enormous pressure and that disappeared when I went on to sing on my own.”

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