 |
FORMED: 1971, Stockholm, Sweden
DISBANDED: 1983
The most commercially successful pop group of the 1970s, the
origins of the Swedish superstars ABBA dated back to 1966, when
keyboardist and vocalist Benny Andersson, a onetime member of
the popular beat outfit the Hep Stars, first teamed with
guitarist and vocalist Bjorn Ulvaeus, the leader of the
folk-rock unit the Hootenanny Singers. The two performers began
composing songs together and handling session and production
work for Polar Music/Union Songs, a publishing company owned by
Stig Anderson, himself a prolific songwriter throughout the
1950s and 1960s. At the same time, both Andersson and Ulvaeus
worked on projects with their respective girlfriends: Ulvaeus
had become involved with vocalist Agnetha Faltskog, a performer
with a recent Number One Swedish hit, "I Was So in
Love," under her belt, while Andersson began seeing
Anni-Frid Lyngstad, a onetime jazz singer who rose to fame by
winning a national talent contest.
In 1971, Faltskog ventured into theatrical work, accepting the
role of Mary Magdalene in a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Jesus Christ Superstar; her cover of the musical's "Don't
Know How to Love Him" became a significant hit. The
following year, the duo of Andersson and Ulvaeus scored a
massive international hit with "People Need Love,"
which featured Faltskog and Lyngstad on backing vocals. The
record's success earned them an invitation to enter the Swedish
leg of the 1973 Eurovision song contest, where, under the
unwieldy name of Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida, they
submitted "Ring Ring," which proved extremely popular
with audiences but placed only third in the judges' ballots.
The next year, rechristened ABBA (a suggestion from Stig
Anderson and an acronym of the members' first names), the
quartet submitted the single "Waterloo," and became
the first Swedish act to win the Eurovision competition. The
record proved to be the first of many international hits,
although the group hit a slump after their initial success as
subsequent singles failed to chart. In 1975, however, ABBA
issued "S.O.S.," a smash not only in America and
Britain but also in non-English speaking countries such as
Spain, Germany and the Benelux nations, where the group's
success was fairly unprecedented. A string of hits followed,
including "Mamma Mia," "Fernando," and
"Dancing Queen" (ABBA's sole U.S. chart-topper),
further honing their lush, buoyant sound; by the spring of 1976,
they were already in position to issue their first Greatest Hits
collection.
ABBA's popularity continued in 1977, when both "Knowing Me,
Knowing You" and "The Name of the Game" dominated
airwaves. The group also starred in the feaure film ABBA--The
Movie, which was released in 1978. That year Andersson and
Lyngstad married, as had Ulvaeus and Faltskog in 1971, although
the latter couple separated a few months later; in fact,
romantic suffering was the subject of many songs on the
quartet's next LP, 1979's Voulez-Vous. Shortly after the release
of 1980's Super Trouper, Andersson and Lyngstad divorced as
well, further straining the group dynamic; The Visitors, issued
the following year, was the final LP of new ABBA material, and
the foursome officially disbanded in late 1982.
Although all of the group's members soon embarked on new
projects -- both Lyngstad and Faltskog issued solo LPs, while
Andersson and Ulvaeus collaborated with Tim Rice on the musical
Chess -- none proved as successful as the group's earlier work,
largely because throughout much of the world, especially Europe
and Australia, the ABBA phenomenon never went away. Repackaged
hits compilations and live collections continued hitting the
charts long after the group's demise, and new artists regularly
pointed to the quartet's inspiration: while the British dance
duo Erasure released a covers collection, ABBA-esque, an
Australian group called Bjorn Again found success as ABBA
impersonators. In 1993, "Dancing Queen" became a
staple of U2's "Zoo TV" tour -- Andersson and Ulvaeus
even joined the Irish superstars onstage in Stockholm -- while
the 1995 feature Muriel's Wedding, which won acclaim for its
depiction of a lonely Australian girl who seeks refuge in ABBA's
music, helped bring the group's work to the attention of a new
generation of moviegoers and music fans. ~ Jason Ankeny, All
Music Guide |
