ABBA | Artist
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed 1972 in Stockholm by Agnetha Fältskog (vocals), Björn Ulvaeus (guitar, vocals), Benny Andersson (keyboards, synthesizer, vocals) and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (vocals). They became one of the biggest bands in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974-82. ABBA hit the spotlight when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest at The Dome in Brighton, UK, with the song "Waterloo" which in 2005 was chosen as the best song in the competition's history. All four members started in music at a very young age. Benny was a member of popular Swedish pop group the Hep Stars, who were known as "the Swedish Beatles". Bjorn was singer and guitarist for the Hootenanny Singers, a popular Swedish folk-skiffle group. Anni-Frid sang from the age of 13 with various dance bands, then formed her own band, the Anni-Frid Four. In the middle of 1967, she won a national talent competition with "En ledig dag" ("A Day Off"). Agnetha sang with a local dance band and at the age of 18 had a number-one record in Sweden with a self-composed song, which later went on to sell over 80,000 copies. During filming of a Swedish TV special in May 1969, Agnetha met Bjorn and they married on 6 July 1971. The couple began working together and met Benny and Anni-Frid, who had also become a couple, at various recording sessions. The foursome first combined their talents in April 1970 when the two couples went on holiday together to the island of Cyprus. What started as singing for fun on the beach ended up as an improvised live performance in front of the United Nations soldiers stationed on the island. The hit "Waterloo" was eventually followed by a constant stream of hits including "Ring Ring", "Honey Honey", I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do", "SOS", "Mama Mia", "Fernando", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me Knowing You", "Gimme Gimme Gimme", "Voulez Vous" and "The Winner Takes it All", all characterised by excellent songwriting and the group's insistence on perfectionism in the studio. Abba released a total of nine studio albums, the first being Ring Ring from 1973, credited to Bjorn Benny & Agnetha Frida, through to their final album The Visitors from 1981. Standout albums include Arrival (1976), The Album (1977), Voulez-vous (1979), Super Trouper (1980) and The Visitors (1981). They are one of the best selling artists of all time, estimated to have sold at least 200 million records worldwide. Today the band appears together periodically for special events and they are working together on a hologram project of their 1970's tour, called the Avatar Project.
Artist Website: abbasite.com
Featured Albums: Abba
Related Artists: The Hep Stars, Agnetha Fältskog, Frida, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
