Biographic - Sunday July 15, 2018 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Agnetha Faltskog was only 18 years old when she topped the Swedish pop charts with "I was so in love." She also starred in a Swedish production of "Jesus Christ Superstar." A few years before that, she had met Bjorn Ulvaeus of the Hootenanny Singers, and they were married, Bjorn's bandmate Benny Anderson acting as organist at the ceremony, recruiting Benny's girlfriend, Norwegian-born Anni-Frid "Frida" Lynstand, they teamed up as the quartet that eventually became known as ABBA. They won the 1974 Eurovision song contest, an event Broadcast live on TV throughout Europe, with "Waterloo," world's pop charts. A string of hit singles, including "Dancing Queen" "Take A Chance On Me" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" made ABBA global superstars. When ABBA played two nights in London in 1977, there were 3.5 million requests for the 11,000 tickets! In late 1978, Benny and Frida were quietly married- but just weeks later, the marriage of Agnetha and Bjorn ended. The band soldiered on, the split adding poignancy to the likes of "The Winner Takes It All" by the time Benny and Frida separated in 1981, the writing was on the wall. By 1983, Agnetha and Frida were pursuing solo ventures, while Benny and Bjorn collaborated with Tim Rice on the musical "Chess." ABBA was effectively over, but the songs have lived on, the ABBA stage musical "Mamma Mia!" debuted in 1999 and has been a worldwide success, spawning a 2008 movie version and a sequel that opens in theaters this month. Despite offers to re-unite- including a reported billion-dollar concert guarantee in 2000- the four members of ABBA have steadfastly declined to perform together again. But earlier this year, it was announced that they have written and recorded two new songs for an upcoming TV special and world tour that will feature the band as digital avatars!

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