Das Freizeit-Magazin, 1976: Anni-Frid: "Benny is my life"

ABBA, that's the magic word for superhits, gold records and millions. For glitter and glamour in show business. But how have the four from Sweden coped with this extraordinary career? The 'Magazin' took a look behind the scenes. And got to know the people behind the superstars. This is the place where you can read all about the most succesful pop group in the world today.

In the middle of the press conference at the Warsaw socialites hotel 'Novotel', a Polish reporter asked the naive but justified question: "What are you actually doing when you are not on the road, not composing or working in the studio?"
The 300 reporters pricked up their ears. Because here was a question about the private life of the pop group ABBA - a question that the four musicians gladly avoid to answer. After a short pause, the 31-year-old Björn saved the situation: "We are counting our money..."

It's been quite some time since Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid were able to count their millions. But the amounts on their bank accounts that their manager Stig (Stikkan) Anderson transmits (when he is in a good mood), are very reassuring for four young people, who performed for chicken feed only a couple of years ago.
Ever since their victory in the European masters league of pop musicians, that they achieved in 1974 at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton (England) with the hit record 'Waterloo', ABBA has sold around 26 million records all over the world, 26 million records, most of them LP's, in only two years time. That's the kind of success that reminds one of the standards set by the Beatles over ten years ago.
But one also remembers: the bigger the success of the Beatles became, the more fragile the cohesion within the group became. With the millions that gave its members the means to go their separate - private and professional - ways, the disunion found its way in as well. A break-up was the result. Is ABBA heading in the same direction?
No one is able to answer that question completely. As long as ABBA is performing as a group, they reply with rehearsed answers, like "We get along great" or "A crisis? Every such story is a lie or made up.".
Equally reserved, they respond to questions about their private life. At the press conference in Warsaw, ready-tongued Björn replied to the question what held the group together with an ironic nod to the title of their latest hit record: 'Money, Money, Money'. And money, money is the main thing that's occupying the minds of the four young musicians and their manager.
But now there are clear signs already that a crack in the ABBA framework is making it difficult to keep working together. Graphically it is underlined on the cover of their latest album 'Arrival' as well as on the prints on T-shirts that are bought by fans for high prices: in the name ABBA - made up of the initials of the two singing couples Agnetha and Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid - both B's are positioned against each other. And whoever believes that it's the two B's that have turned on one another, is clearly off the track.
Both of the A's - Agnetha and Anni-Frid (also called Frida) - have been the reason for disunion in the group.
Both of the girls, who seem to get along so well on stage, have nothing to say to each other privately anymore. And their professional contacts in the joint company Polar Music AB are limited to courtesies, often mixed with double meanings.
This irreconcilability came across one year ago when Anni-Frid/Frida released her own LP with the significant title 'Frida Ensam' (Frida Alone). Although the album became a huge success in Sweden, Frida was not allowed to promote it on Swedish television. That was decided by the other group members.
Especially manager Anderson had the opinion that ABBA's group image should not be distorted by solo performances. Frida obeyed under protest, and her boyfriend and partner Benny didn't speak up either. But Frida had her revenge later on, when she was the first group member that broke the unwritten rule: she revealed all.

Frida - born Anni-Frid Lyngstad - agreed to a separate interview with our reporter.
"I'm the only one from the group that wasn't born in Sweden. I was born in Narvik, on 15 November 1945. My father was an officer in the German occupying army. After the war he left Norway. I never got to know him."
That's how the story of a modern day Cinderella begins, someone who made it in her short life from a war child to a world famous star in the pop world.
After the birth of her baby, Frida's mother was awaiting the return of the father Alfred Haase. He had promised he would marry her as soon as the situation had calmed down. But he never returned. There was a big hatred towards the Germans in Norway at the time. When Frida was one year old, her grandmother took her to Sweden. A nomadic life started. The grandmother earned a living for herself and her granddaughter as a seamstress. "She was always like a mother to me," says Frida. It took years before they found a steady home: in Torshälla, a small town in the middle of Sweden.
When she was thirteen years old, Frida started performing publicly as a singer. "Even though I was still two years too young at the time to perform in the folk parks, we always found a way to make it happen."
50 kroner - about 40 German Mark - is what the half-orphan made at these weekend gigs. "To me that was a lot of money," Frida remembers. "I learned to make do with the money that I made. And to be honest, I'm still the same tight-fisted Frida, although today I would be able to throw money around if I wanted to.".

When she was a teenager she started her own orchestra: Anni-Frid Four. It took her eight years to build a career as a solo singer. When she was eighteen, she married a musician, Ragnar Fredriksson. From this marriage she has two children, a son Hans (13) and a daughter Lise-Lotte (9). Maybe Frida still would have become a fulltime wife and mother, when Sweden wouldn't have switched from left to right driving nine years ago.
To bring the new traffic rules to attention, the traffic planners used all available mass media. And when the day of the big switch dawned on 3 September 1967, the Swedish people witnessed the birth of a new pop star on the gala programme that evening: Frida. She sang all her colleagues into the ground. The long-awaited breakthrough finally happened. Record companies and folk park managers outbid each other with their offers.
But Frida couldn't cope with this sudden success. On the inside things weren't as bright. Her marriage broke down, friendships waned when she moved from the countryside to the capital Stockholm.
"Those first months in Stockholm were terrible," she remembers. "I was craving for my children, who had stayed behind with my husband. I was pondering all the time and started to regret my decision. I hated my career, that had started to grow too big for me. I simply wasn't ready for it yet."
A couple of brief sex flings didn't manage to fill the void in Frida's life either. But everything changed when she met Benny.
"He was the turning point in my life," she says. "I surely didn't make things easy for him in the beginning. Time and time again I went back into my depression. I'm extremely vulnerable. Sometimes I can't even stand myself..."
It's astonishing how different Frida comes across when she has agreed to a personal conversation. She, who often comes across as self-assured, distant and unapproachable on stage or at official engagements, suddenly seems like a little, insecure girl. "I'm definitely carrying a lot of problems from my younger years with me. I believed everything would become easier to take with the passing of time. But in reality it's the contrary. I don't know what would have become of me, if I didn't have Benny in my life."
Frida even admits that working with the group is helpful. "You have to force yourself to have consideration for the others." The fact that she doesn't always do that has caused resentment in the ABBA group at times. Because Frida - just like Benny - is a night person. She is often late for morning meetings. You can often spot the couple at the cosy restaurants of Stockholm's old town, in 'Gyllene Freden', 'Diana-Källaren' or 'Fem Smä Hus'. They live not far from there. But in the near future they will be moving to a big mansion on the island Lidingö. "Then the children will be able to spend more time with us as well," Frida says. Benny has two children as well. His and Frida's son will both get a big room in the Lidingö mansion.
How has Frida coped with the wealth that has come her way with the ABBA success?
"It's clear that money means freedom in a sense, especially when one still wants to develop."
At 32 years old, the successful pop star Frida is still rooted in the problems of her past. Neither money nor the soloistic attempt to break away from the group have made the girl from Narvik independent. "My only security is Benny," she says. "I depend on him totally."
But that's only half of the truth. Because there is another man whose influence Frida can't escape - and the same goes for the other group members.
This man is called Stig 'Stikkan' Anderson, he is 45 years old and he has lived an eventful life. Without him, the pop group ABBA wouldn't have existed. And that's why you can't write anything about ABBA, without investigating Stikkan's history. Because their sensational career is his doing.

Popshop, 1976: Guest in ABBA's headquarter

In one of the most quiet and remote streets of Stockholm, ABBA's headquarter is situated. Even our cab driver didn't even know that spot because he had to take a look at his city map first. The only cars that are parked there belong to ABBA's employees. Apart from that there's hardly any traffic. No wonder, because the narrow little street stops at some kind of city canal. These quiet surroundings make for a striking contrast with what's happening inside the town house, rebuilt into an office building: the invisible man behind the telex machine is typing away eagerly, the sound of ringing telephones is overwhelming the soft background music and the small army of secretaries is apparently having a competition at typing with ten fingers.
In short, ABBA's hit factory is working at full speed. A Swedish beauty is serving a cup of coffee and asks if we are able to wait for five more minutes because the management is in a meeting. Just like every Friday afternoon. And the management, that's Björn, Benny and ABBA manager Stig Anderson. The threesome that founded the company Polar Music.
"Every Thursday we discuss the proposals that we've received that week," Benny explains when we sit behind Stig's enormous desk a couple of minutes later. "We operate very democratically. If we disagree about certain issues, we are having a vote. And yes, with three people involved, the results of such a vote come in very quickly. To be honest, I'd rather be in the studio than in meetings like this. But the business side has to be taken care of as well. The things we discuss at such meetings? All sorts of things: which television programmes we are going to appear on and which not, the choice of songs for new records, the bookkeeping, internal affairs, actually all the problems that every business has to deal with..."
Until recently, the four ABBA members lived about thirty kilometres from Stockholm but because they come into the office every day, they've recently moved to the old part of the city.
"About two to three kilometres from here," says Björn. "You should come and drop by in a couple of months. Now it's still a mess. We haven't had time yet to put everything in the right place."
The spacious basements of the building were rebuilt into a music room. There's a piano and stereo equipment. "Björn and I mostly compose there," according to Benny. "Me at the piano and Björn with his guitar in his hands. We are planning to build a studio here as well, but we have to make some adjustments before that happens. And we use that stereo equipment very often too. Every day, one of our secretaries goes out to buy the newly released albums, and Björn and I listen through them, one by one. You are never that perfect that you can't learn anything new from other artists."
At least once every week all the studio musicians come together at that place too. "We are often called a golden duo," says Björn while he is pointing at Benny. "But to be honest, we have to admit that there are other people too who are responsible for ABBA's success. Like Michael B. Tretow, for instance, or co-producer. He has often come up with very original ideas. And we can't dismiss our team of studio musicians either. All of them are superb musicians, who work for us permanently. We are going to take them along too when we go on tour later on..."

1976: ABBA – Export from Sweden

After the Swedish group ABBA had won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song ‘Waterloo’, the group produced one hit after the other. ABBA turned into an important export article for Sweden. At the moment, there are some problems within the group and the most important reason for the quartet to stay together is their financial gain. Harry van Nieuwenhoven is exploring ABBA a little deeper, their music and problems. Among other Swedish artists, ABBA can be seen in the programme ‘Export from Sweden’ that will be broadcast by the AVRO on Tuesday at 09.50 pm.

Being a writer about mainly progressive pop music, I now and then wonder desperately how the popularity of some hit groups can be explained in a rational way. What do droves of people all over the world exactly see in a group like ABBA? The meticulously oiled Swedish hit machine that, after having won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the infectious ‘Waterloo’, has succeeded in building an extremely successful career with songs like ‘Honey, Honey’, ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ (there is not a single word of Oxford English in there!), ‘SOS’, ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Fernando’. A career that even acquired an international flavour, thanks to chart successes in England and the United States.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to analyze ABBA’s popularity in a provisional way. In a mixed company, I digested the usual dose of TopPop on that particular Friday evening. All of a sudden, the ladies Frida Lyngstad and Anna Fältskog and the gentlemen Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA appeared on the screen. Young and old jumped up and watched the screen contentedly on which the four thirtysomethings mimed to their latest hit ‘Fernando’. A small survey that was conducted afterwards among the persons present pointed to the combination of elements that appears to bring about ABBA’s popularity among the young and the old.
First of all, the clever appearance and show of the group. A mastermind behind ABBA sees to it that the eye-catching vocalists Frida and Anna are stylishly and sexily dressed in trendy clothes in such a way that neither the male viewers (the eye needs to be pleased too) nor the female viewers (because they are jealous of the exquisite garments that the girls are wearing again) are able to take their eyes off their television screen.
In ABBA’s visually very attractive show, blonde Frida is the absolute main attraction. The seemingly careless and cooled way in which she utilizes her body, mostly dressed in hotpants that are verging on being too hot, while singing the simple tunes, can be called great class.
The second reason for ABBA’s success is of course their simple but very infectious music. Practically all ABBA hits, composed by the gentlemen Andersson-Ulvaeus and manager Stig Anderson, are constructed with a simple chorus, repeated many times, that you can sing along to effortlessly after having heard it a couple of times, while the mostly overproduced instrumental part is made up of a boom-boom rhythm that is easy digestable.

That’s ABBA’s formula for success. Something that is emphasized yet again on their bestselling album ‘The Best Of ABBA’, nothing more but definitely nothing less than an excellent hit group that is even starting to get musical pretensions, as demonstrated by their latest chartbuster ‘Fernando’. Who ever dared to dream of that?
ABBA has now existed officially for three years. Unofficially, they have existed for six years already. In 1970, Andersson and Ulvaeus recorded the album ‘Lycka’ (Happiness), for which they called upon their girlfriends Frida and Anna, more like a fun experiment. Two professional singers, who were already very well-known in Sweden as solo artists. In these turbulent times for Swedish pop music, Andersson and Ulvaeus were mainly active as composers and producers. Before that, as the artistic motors behind the Hep Stars (who scored European hits in 1968 with songs like ‘Sunny Girl’ and ‘Music Box’), they played an important part in the evolvement of Swedish pop music that is flourishing in 1976 with artists like Harpo and Bo Hansson. When the Hep Stars split up, Andersson and Ulvaeus started working as producers and composers at Polar Records, the company of ABBA’s current manager Stig Anderson. While recording and producing records for Polar, the concept for ABBA grew slowly but surely, which manifested itself in the archetype of Björn & Benny & Frida & Anna in 1973 on the Eurovision Song Contest where the quartet finished in third place thanks to the song ‘Ring Ring’. One year later, the four Swedes came back with a vengeance and finished in first place with ‘Waterloo’.
The rest of the success story is well-known. Since then, ABBA is scoring one hit after the other. The group has turned into a multi-million company. With the gigantic sums of money that the members have made by performing and composing their hits, they have bought Polar Recors and changed its name to Polar Music: ABBA’s own music publishing company, record and promotion company.
During the six long years that the ABBA members have worked together intensively, their mutual understanding has only deteriorated. It’s a public secret that the two ABBA couples don’t especially get along and that they keep their personal contacts on a business level as much as possible. The tensions are mostly ventilated during nerve-racking promotional tours when – true to the habit of millionaires – caviar and other delicacies are often flying through the air. The tensions are not important enough to blow up the multi-million company. There’s too much money at stake. Especially now that the group is starting to achieve a breakthrough in huge territories like England and the United States.
Not considering the upcoming solo projects (among others a solo album by Frida?), it is expected that ABBA will keep exploring their successful formula for some time to come. A formula that seems to be a clever combination of Swedish self-mockery, business sense and naughtiness.

Joepie, 1976: ABBA is conquering Poland (part 2)

In our previous issue, you’ve been able to see and read how the four ABBA members were welcomed by thousands of fans at the airport in Warsaw, how they were escorted to the television studios and how they talked to the Polish press, at the end of the evening. So it was a very busy day and the quartet was very excited about the idea that they would be able to stroll around the Polish capital the next day, completely relaxed. At least, that’s what they thought, because Björn, Benny, Anna and Frida didn’t reckon with the enthusiasm of their Polish fans, who would follow them in a procession through the streets of Warsaw, the entire morning...

Benny didn’t make a fuss about it. “That’s part of the package if you are famous,” he mused. “We don’t have the right to disappoint these people, because they are the ones that buy our records...” In a small van, adorned with ABBA stickers, the driver guided us first through the oldest part of the city. Björn and Anna, who sat next to us in the van, seemed rather impressed and so were we. “I knew that Poland was a poor country, but I didn’t know that it was this bad...” Indeed, Poland is a couple of years behind compared with us. In the streets, you don’t see anything else but old vans and cars. Old houses in a row, people who are dressed less trendy, soldiers on every street corner, those are the main ingredients that make up the scenery of the city. In short, not a paradise dream for a Westerner. “Although I have to admit that the people are extremely nice and that life is very cheap here,” Björn added. Our first stop was in front of the Royal Palace that was destroyed in the war and that they are now rebuilding again. “The population of Warsaw is paying for the rebuilding,” our guide explained. “Somewhere on the big market there’s a collecting box, wherein people can put money for the rebuilding. I can assure you that an amount of money is scraped together every week.” From there, the ABBA company (closely followed by an increasing crowd of fans) walked via the big market to the old city walls. Björn and Anna were leading the way, Benny and Anni-Frid somewhat kept to themselves. “On stage, we are a foursome,” Benny explained. But off stage, we try to be two separate couples as much as possible. We see each other when we have to work, and that’s more than enough. Believe me, that’s the best strategy if you want to keep going as long as possible...” But even that explanation couldn’t prevent us from thinking that both girls don’t especially get along. During our entire stay in Poland and Sweden we rarely – if ever – saw them talk to each other. A coincidence? Only ABBA knows the answer to that... Fifteen minutes later, we were back in the van and – to brighten things up – Björn and Benny started to sing some Scandinavian folk songs. They were laughing and we were laughing along, although we couldn’t understand a single word. “You have to learn how to speak Swedish, guys,” Benny smiled. “It’s going to be the language of the future.” To round this little trip up, they paid a visit to the Palace of Culture, more or less the historic monument of Warsaw, like our Atomium and the French’ Eiffel Tower. As it happens, good times don’t last long and before we knew it, it was time to catch our plane again, back to Sweden. Our umpteenth torture in the air...

De Nationale Hitparade, November 1976: ABBA: gold, platinum and the Hitkrant trophy – triple celebration in The Hague

Yes, it was indeed a triple celebration on November 19 at the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague: not only was the supergroup ABBA finally welcomed in our country in the flesh, and not only did Agnetha, Frida, Björn and Benny receive an impressive pile of gold and platinum records and even a gold musicassette. Apart from that, the Dutch press, radio, television and the record industry had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Hitkrant. And for the first time, on behalf of this new magazine, the Hitkrant trophy was handed out. To ABBA, obviously: a tribute from a young pop magazine to a world famous pop group!

Of course it cost a good deal of trouble before we could have this celebration: endless discussions and phone calls. With ABBA, with ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson and with record company Polydor whose help was vital. But in the end everything turned out right and that’s why that Friday a celebration was held that will be talked about for a long time to come.
It all started at 12 o’clock noon, when ABBA arrived at Schiphol Airport (not by helicopter, but it still was a spectacular ‘arrival’) and they were welcomed by representatives of the record company and Hitkrant (Ruud van Dulkenraad and Ad Visser). The interest from the press and television was more than we had expected. When ABBA came out of the tunnel at Schiphol, it was completely crowded with people. A VOO television crew was filming the proceedings and without a doubt you will be able to watch it on your television screen in the near future.

From there, the four stars took off in limousines to The Hague where they had the opportunity to catch their breath in their hotel room for a while. And they would need that breath for the rest of the day, because their schedule was packed: rehearsals for Mies Bouwman’s programme Eén Van De Acht, that would be broadcast that same evening from the Congress Centre situated next-door to the hotel and that you undoubtedly have watched.
And then there was the press conference that started around five o’clock, where ABBA would be surprised with a load of gold and platinum and of course the Hitkrant trophy: an award that will be presented on a yearly basis from now on to the group or artist that deserves it the most according to its readers.

Because already now, before the closing date, it became clear from your submissions to the Poster Top 5 and the NHK Poppoll 1976 that ABBA had a huge advance that could not be beaten anymore. The popularity of the Swedish group seems to be immensely big. This also showed during the rehearsals for Eén Van De Acht when a spontaneous applause erupted from the television people and representatives from the press when ABBA entered the stage and performed three songs from ‘Arrival’, professional as always, even when the strip of Björn’s guitar broke during the first bars of the first song...

Meanwhile, Björn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha (to name them in a different order for a change) were on their toes from fatigue. But still they remained friendly and appeared in good spirits at the press conference in their hotel, under loud cheers from the people present.
The president of record company Polydor handed over an impressive pile of gold and platinum records and even – that’s a novelty – a gold musicassette. After that, the Hitkrant representative Ad Visser came on stage who not only presented them with the Hitkrant trophy but also the so-called zero issue of Hitkrant, wherein – who would have expected anything else – an ABBA photo turned out to be the first colour poster.
Subsequently, the press got the opportunity to ask some questions and girls dressed in Hitkrant T-shirts entered the room to hand out zero issues to the people present.

A zero issue isn’t meant to be commercially available, but it serves the purpose of showing interested people what the first issue will look like: it almost looks the same as issue one and the reactions we heard were actually only positive, reason enough to look at the future with confidence.
Besides, ABBA themselves were pleasantly surprised by this new magazine as well. Frida: “This is something very special and I’m almost certain that it will be very successful.” In the first issue of Hitkrant, there will be an extensive interview with ABBA by Ad Visser, of course accompanied by exclusive pictures. But you will have to have some patience for a little while longer. We also saw Willem van Beusekom working industriously with his tape recorder, so chances are that you will hear more about this on the radio too.
It was a day that we won’t easily forget: the meanwhile most popular group in the world and the first Hitkrant together in Holland!

Popshop, May 1976: Is Anna going to leave ABBA?

ABBA is a group that has already established itself in pop history. It is namely the only group that has kept on scoring worldwide hits after winning the Eurovision Song Contest, two years ago in London. This is a striking contrast to – for instance – the Dutch group Teach In, that saw their singer Getty Kaspers leave the group only one year after their triumph in Stockholm.

At the time, emperor Napoleon may have been left with less pleasant memories of Waterloo, for top group ABBA, the victory started with ‘Waterloo’. It is generally known that ‘Waterloo’ brought them worldwide fame. And since then it has been clear sailing for the sympathetic quartet. Number one hits all over the world – yes, including America – time and time again.
Writing about this group or interviewing one of its members is definitely a nice job, because in fact everything is positive about ABBA: the women – blonde Anna and auburn Anni-Frid – are beautiful and both men Björn and Benny are always willing to talk about the group and their music. But considering the fact that ABBA hasn’t been able yet to come to Holland or Belgium, Popshop decided to look up the quartet in Hamburg. They were filming a TV special there, with their current worldwide hit ‘Fernando’ obviously as its highlight.
Since Popshop has already met ABBA several times before, there was no need to break the ice and – after ABBA’s obligations in front of the German cameras – we went straight to a cosy bar to catch up on the latest news.
Despite all their tiring efforts, Anna and Anni-Frid still looked so fresh, as if they had just come out of the shower. After we had all taken our seats, the waiter was called in. Anna ordered some refreshments, while Benny and Björn glanced through a couple of issues of Popshop.
After some small talk, we asked Benny about the secret of ABBA’s success. Benny looked surprised. “Secret,” he asked, “I didn’t know that we had a secret. Our success is the result of working very hard and being alert.”
We told ABBA that their Eurovision successor Teach In didn’t achieve half as much success and that they probably split up because of that.
“That’s a shame,” Björn said. “I thought Teach In was a nice group. But who knows what went on behind the scenes.”

To get into that subject, we immediately asked: What’s going on behind the scenes with you? Anni-Frid smiled and said: “Oh well, there’s always something going on everywhere, isn’t there. But we are trying to separate our job and our private lives as much as possible. It prevents big problems from happening. Both of the men determine the musical course, but whenever Anna and I are having reservations, then they are taken into consideration. And this professional approach is always the best way to do it. We are very popular at the moment so why would we start aguing?”
So you are consciously making very commercial music, we asked Björn and Benny.
“Commercialism is a controversial concept,” Björn replied. “No one knows exactly where it begins and where it ends. If it sells, then it’s commercial.”
When it comes to being successful abroad, there is a big similarity between you and the George Baker Selection: groups from a musically rather insignificant country, that still manage to score worldwide hits with simple tunes that catch the imagination of the audience. Do you feel the same way?
“There is some truth in that,” Benny said. “Sweden and Holland are indeed small suppliers of top groups. And that goes for Sweden most of all. Holland still has a couple of excellent groups. I think the George Baker Selection is a very good group. They have been scoring huge hits for about five years now. I think that they have sold more records than us.”
Your current hit ‘Fernando’ resembles the former Baker hit ‘Fly Away Little Paraguayo’ a little when it comes to atmosphere and lyrics. Is that a coincidence?
“Yes, it’s purely a coincidence,” Björn replied. “We did listen to this song at the time, but to be honest I had completely forgotten about it already.”
“And the subject, the South American revolutionary? Here is the story,” Benny continued. “You can go on singing about love forever and there is nothing wrong with that, but we want to put as much variation as possible into our songs. Our last single had an Italian title ‘Mamma Mia’. We were looking for something different as its follow-up. And a South American rhythm always goes down well. In the lyrics, we could have sung about black-haired women and tequila or red wine, but we thought that a more dramatic lyric would suit the melody better. That’s how the story about the revolutionary came into being. However, it’s not a song with a message. We won’t get into that area.”

It is known that you are doing very little live performances. Why is that?
“We try to reach as many people as possible at one blow,” blonde Anna replied. “In a concert hall, you reach about 2.000 people, with a television appearance it’s hundred times as many as that. You must understand that we have to travel all over the world and then this is simply the best way to reach everybody. Extensive tours are very exhausting, we won’t be able to keep that up. That’s when tensions, frustrations and mutual conflicts will arise.”
It is known that you don’t want to travel for too long because of your little daughter. Is that true?
“Of course,” she said fiery like a tigress. “A child should never be too long without its parents. A month is already too long.”
Would you give up your career for the sake of your child?
“Immediately,” Anna said.
Did you ever get to the point of cutting the knot?
“Yes, sometimes I think about it,” she admitted honestly. “But on the other hand, I am also working on her future. Money is important, you know.”
(We knew). Haven’t you made enough money yet to lead a pleasant life?
“Oh no, it takes a long time before you get the money from the records that are being sold. And appearing on television doesn’t make you a lot of money. And then we have to split everything in half. After the tax-collection office has taken the largest part of it. But I am not complaining. We make a nice living, but we don’t make as much money as often is being suggested. A millionaire? I wish it was true.”
It is claimed that ABBA would fall apart if you would leave the group. Do you believe that’s true?
“Oh well, so much is claimed,” she replied. “No one is irreplacable. Besides, I don’t write the hits. I would say that Björn and Benny are the most important ingredients. It’s easy to find two new singers. But for the time being, that’s out of the question.”
And with this last revelation from beautiful Anna, Popshop says goodbye to the Swedish miracle group. Until the next hit.

Das Freizeit-Magazin, December 1976: ABBA wishes you a Merry Christmas

1976 has been the most successful year for the four Swedish pop singers Björn, Benny, Anna and Anni-Frid. Never before did you show so much enthusiasm for a group as you did with ABBA. The quartet is saying a heartfelt thank you to all the Magazin readers for that.

The ABBA headquarter in the upscale diplomatic neighbourhood of Stockholm was decorated festively. This time, Anni-Frid, Benny, Björn and Anna didn’t talk about their upcoming performance dates, but they were having a discussion about how to thank the loyal Freizeit-Magazin readers.
“After all, the readers have contributed to the fact that we are now one of the most successful groups in the world,” Benny says.
Despite their countless appointments, they have taken the time for a thank you. During this celebration, Anni-Frid was the Queen of Lights.

“Here in Sweden, the Queen of Lights is something like Baby Jesus in Germany,” Anna explains. “Then we lit the candles on Anni-Frid’s crown of lights and we sang a song together, a musical thank you to all our fans. Obviously, we will celebrate Christmas again in a private gathering.”
At Christmas, the foursome will be able to let off steam to the top of their bent. There are even home-baked delicacies.
Benny says with light sorrow: “Christmas is the only time when we actually have some time for ourselves. That’s why we surprised the Magazin readers beforehand with a poster in issue number 50. Christmas is completely dedicated to the family. Once again, a Merry Christmas to our numerous friends from Magazin. There won’t be any interviews until next year. We deserve a break. Friends should understand this,” he adds astutely.
After Christmas, it’s back to business again for ABBA. They are rehearsing for their German tour, that will kick off on February 2. There will be concerts in Berlin, Cologne, Essen and Hamburg.

Joepie, 1976: ABBA is conquering Poland

A report from Belgian magazine Joepie about ABBA’s trip to Poland in October 1976.

“Within a few minutes, we will be landing in Stockholm, where the temperature is now 8 degrees Celcius. We hope to see you again soon on one of our flights...” Listening to the pilot’s voice, you can hear that a landing like this is just a formality to him. Just like we use the brakes of our car. Marcel is peaking through the window carefully to see how everything is going and together we sigh with relief when the plane puts its wheels safely on the ground. Flying is simply not our favourite hobby...

It’s very chilly when we step out of Arlanda airport, but we don’t mind, we have arrived. Sweden, the ultimate holiday resort, like we had been told. The city centre of Stockholm is approximately 40 kilometres from the airport and that bus trip already costs us 240 Belgian francs. You get tired of looking at the landscape pretty quickly, you don’t see anything else but trees and more trees. Stockholm itself is an impressive city: broad streets, large stores, monumental buildings. In short, a city that’s a couple of years ahead of its time. But also impressively expensive: you pay 80 Belgian francs for a coke in a random café. After a short walk through the city – within 15 minutes we are of course completely lost – we decide to get back to our hotel. The next morning we are having an appointment with ABBA. To fly along with them to Poland...

The appointment was at 8 o’clock at Arlanda airport. There were already a couple of people walking around when we arrived, because ABBA had invited some Scandinavian friends to the trip as well. Björn and Benny were fifteen minutes late, but they were excused. Traffic jams and things like that, you know. The duo plumped down in the relaxing chairs at the bar and welcomed everybody with a little wink. Benny asked us if we had brought along the most recent Joepies so that he could glance through them while waiting for the plane to arrive. “Oh yes, that interview about our European tour,” he winks. “Did I really say all this?” he asks us when he sees that – for him incomprehensible – text. It wasn’t until five minutes later that Anni-Frid caught our eye, who was reading something in a silent corner. “I don’t like all this fuss at the airport,” she told us. “I’d rather seclude myself to do some reading.” Anna was nowhere to be found, we thought. Anni-Frid must have read our minds. “Oh yes, Anna has left for Poland one day early. Björn and Anna mostly travel separately, for the sake of their children. If something goes wrong, they will still have their father or their mother. Anna travelled together with her father...” There was a Polish camera crew as well, to film the entire trip for television. To show as an introduction to the special that they were going to film in Warsaw.

Only minutes before we boarded the plane, Benny dropped in the tax free shop for a while. “He always does that,” Anni-Frid smiles. “He only smokes Swedish cigarettes and you can’t get them anywhere else...” The plane is full of Swedish guests. It’s a language that you can’t understand at all as a Fleming. There’s a communal laughter in the plane when the Polish pilot welcomed the group ABBABA on the speaker. “Definitely not a fan,” Benny joked. The motors started running and the second torture in the sky was about to start for us. During the entire flight, the new ABBA album was played, namely ‘Arrival’. But for the take off they had chosen an appropriate song, namely ‘SOS’. To put our backs up even more...

ABBA is extremely popular in Poland. You noticed this immediately when the plane landed and thousands of Polish reporters and fans were waiting for the group. Anna was there too, with her father. She was beaming. “I’m not afraid of flying myself,” she said when we got off the plane. “But I’m ever more worried about the flight of the other three. Even if the plane is only five minutes late, I’m biting my nails with nervousness...”
We wouldn’t see much of ABBA that day anymore. With a special taxi they were rushed off to the television studios, while we had some time to stay at our hotel. An hour later we were in the studio as well. There’s not much to say about that, because all television studios look the same, no matter where you are in the world. And the working method is identical: rehearsing, taking a break, rehearsing again and then filming. That first day ended with a press conference for Polish journalists, at the Novotel. You could tell by the questions that were fired at ABBA in the first fifteen minutes that ABBA’s success in Poland is still very fresh. There was even someone who asked if they had ever considered to enter the Eurovision Song Contest.
The atmosphere got a little more tense when they started asking rather offensive questions about financial and political aspects. At some point, Anna even replied resolutely that this was none of their business. The final blow was dealt to the atmosphere when an arrogant character remarked without batting an eye that ABBA was better at singing than talking. The president of Pagart, the Polish agency that’s taking care of ABBA’s business, decided to go ahead with the closing ceremony of the evening, namely handing over a couple of gold records. A busy day had come to an end and at the hotel we had the opportunity to talk to Anna about this first visit to Poland. “I think the people are extremely friendly over here, and although they are not as rich as us, they look very happy. However, I thought that the media were rather arrogant, I have to say. But it’s been an exhausting day, I’m very tired. I’m glad that we will be able to take a stroll through the city – just like a normal tourist – tomorrow.” You can see and read in our next issue how that visit to Warsaw passed off.

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...”

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.”

Bravo, December 1976: Benny reveals his secret

Part two of the Bravo series about the ABBA-members.
How does Benny Andersson create the ABBA-superhits? How does he live privately? For the first time, he reveals in an interview what no one knew about him yet...

Bravo: For three years, you’ve been writing the melodies to the ABBA-hits. Are you a genius?
Benny: “For heaven’s sake, no. I’ve just learned my craft from the basics. I originate from a very musical family, I learned how to play the flute when I was four years old, and the accordion when I was six. For years to come, this remained my favourite instrument. My parents and I were performing as a trio with Swedish folk music. Around my place of birth Stockholm, I was even some kind of child star and – barely being able to write – had to sign autographs.”
Bravo: When did your pop career start?
Benny: “Already when I was seventeen years old, not many ABBA-fans are aware of that these days. At the time, 1963, the Beatles had their first hit in Sweden with ‘Love Me Do’ and I was fascinated by this new sound. After a long discussion with my father, I left our family trio and founded the Beat group Hep Stars. It didn’t take long before we were called ‘Sweden’s answer to the Beatles’. Around this time, I started to compose my first songs and managed to score my first number one hits in Sweden. Altogether, the Hep Stars received eight gold records, four of these were entirely my compositions. At the time, I thought I was the best, I gladly let myself be celebrated as a star at parties and for a while I had five girlfriends at the same time...”
Bravo: That’s the complete opposite of the current state of affairs, since ABBA is known as the ‘cleanest’ group in the world...
Benny: “Like every young man between 17 and 20, I had some wild times as well. That’s simply how it should be. I don’t like to talk about it much these days, because Anni-Frid tends to get a little annoyed by it.”
Bravo: Did you ever flirt with Anna?
Benny: “A little, obviously, when we just started out. I’m a curious guy and I wanted to find out how Anna is like, whether she liked me. She really delighted me, to be honest. But that was just playing with fire. I’ve never made any serious attempts, because for me, the girlfriend of a mate like Björn is obviously off-limits.”
Bravo: What do you like especially about Anni-Frid?
Benny: “She is a passionate woman in every situation, it doesn’t matter if she’s at home cooking or dancing around like a teenager in a discotheque. Although we have been together for seven years already and have two children, our relationship is full of surprises. Recently, when I came home, Anni-Frid was waiting for me, wearing the same miniskirt that she wore when we first met. This really blew me away...”
Bravo: According to rumours, all ABBA-hits are being composed on an island, the location of which you won’t reveal. Is that true?
Benny: “Indeed, that island exists. It takes an hour to get there (by boat) from Stockholm and it’s so small that you can get around it once in five minutes. Björn, Anna, Anni-Frid and I have two houses there. We spend most of our time there when we are working on new songs.”
Bravo: Do the ABBA-songs come into being with a special formula?
Benny: “Usually, I come up with the melody and Björn with the lyrics. In the beginning, we work separately. While Björn – who’s best at speaking English – is writing the words, I’m simply jingling away on my keyboard, at which only my dog Zappa is allowed to listen in. As soon as I like a melody, I’m singing some dummy lyrics to it in the vein of ‘the pigs have crooked legs and a curly pig-tail’. Very often, children’s songs give me an idea as well. When this work is roughly done, I play it to Björn, who then writes a decent lyric to it. It often takes hundreds of hours of work before an ABBA-song is completely finished. We’ve worked a full three months on ‘Money, Money, Money’, before we were really satisfied. More than a dozen of concepts have been thrown in the waste-paper basket...”
Bravo: With this busy working schedule, is there any time left for some spare time and hobbies? Benny: “We simply take the time. I’m now 30 years old and I don’t want to die from a cardiac arrest when I’m 35. I’m keeping fit with cycling, tennis and sailing. Apart from that, I see to it that I’m not bothered in my private life. The only magazine in the world that is allowed to visit us privately, is Bravo...”

Bravo, December 1976: Anni-Frid breaks her silence

In 1976, German magazine Bravo started a series that focused on each member separately. This is part one: Frida. Too bad the writer of this article didn’t get his facts straight. According to this article, Benny and Frida had two children, Frida had hosted the TV-show Hylands Hörna and ABBA already had ten number one hits by 1976...
In six weeks time, ABBA will come on tour in Germany. Bravo singled out the four Swedes for a cross-examination for a collectible portrait-series. Really surprising, the things that Anni-Frid revealed...

Bravo: Anni-Frid, you are 31 years old and the most ‘secretive’ ABBA-member. Your first marriage, your four children, your career before ABBA, not much is known about all these things...
Anni-Frid: “Firstly, I must admit that, according to my passport, my name is Fredriksson and not Lyngstad, my maiden name. Fredriksson is the name of my ex-husband. We got divorced more than seven years ago. After the divorce, I didn’t get to changing all the paperwork. In the meantime, I’ve come to terms with this ‘wrong’ name.”
Bravo: Why did you get married at the age of 16?
Anni-Frid: “It’s not that extraordinary in my country. He was my ‘first man’ and we were both deeply in love, therefore we wanted to get married. Our parents didn’t oppose to that either. When I was only 17, I got my first son Hans and two years later, my daughter Liselotte.”
Bravo: Why did your marriage end?
Anni-Frid: “Because we were both too young when we got married. After our second child, I suddenly got a wake-up call. I thought to myself, ‘now you are twenty years old and already a mother of two’. My husband was very occupied with his job, while I was chained to the housekeeping. Therefore, we involuntarily started to grow apart. I had imagined a marriage to be more romantic. When our marital crisis got even worse, we decided, after long conversations, to get a divorce. That was the best solution for the both of us. Nowadays, my husband, who has remarried, and I have a very amicable and open relationship. Hans and Liselotte are also living with him. I visit them once a month.”
Bravo: And after the divorce, your career started?
Anni-Frid: “I was forced to do something. That’s where my dance training came in handy, something that I’d been doing since I was six years old and that I continued to do after the two childbirths to keep in shape. I got a job as a chorus girl with the Swedish television ballet; and that’s how I was discovered. Some time after that, I got the opportunity to host the popular TV-show Hylands Hörna and that’s how I became known in the entire country.”
Bravo: How did singing get into your life?
Anni-Frid: “Privately, I have played some guitar and sung folksongs my entire life. But it wasn’t until my TV-show that I sang in front of a big audience. My first song was a Christmas song. That’s how the record producers started to take notice of me. Some time after that, I recorded a duet with the Swedish singer Lars Berghagen. However, the single didn’t become a big success, but I had laid the foundation.”
Bravo: How did you meet Benny?
Anni-Frid: “In the recording studio. At the time, Benny was already a big star with his band Hep Stars, that was Sweden’s most popular group. In front of a broken coffee machine, we got into a conversation and made an appointment for our first date. At the time, we both could not have imagined that we would end up singing in the same group...”
Bravo: What aspect of Benny did you like most?
Anni-Frid: “His boyish charm and his dry sense of humour, those were the first things that I noticed. Later on, I found out that Benny can be very serious and sensitive as well. And this combination was exactly what I’d been looking for. We really are an ideal couple.”
Bravo: Nowadays, you and Benny have two children, but you never got married. Why is that?
Anni-Frid: “Because those are two different things, that’s what I’ve learned from my first marriage. Even Helen (8) and Peter (7) know by now that their parents are not married and they think it’s quite common. Compared with other families, I believe that things are far more relaxed in our household. Of course, our profession plays an important part as well, this irregular life. But also the fact that Benny and I are together because we want to and not because we have to, due to a marriage certificate.”
Bravo: You are right in the middle of the seven year itch – are there disagreements as well?
Anni-Frid: “Regularly even, and that’s always shortly before the recording of a new ABBA-single. After a string of ten consecutive number one hits, Benny and Björn are under an enormous pressure to succeed. Then it happens once in a while that things get to a boiling-point in both families. At these times, the fact that I smoke too much or that I’ve forgotten to take out the trash, can be enough to ignite Benny’s anger. But as soon as the record is in its cover, the touchy tiger turns into a tame cat again...”
Bravo: How do you and Benny get along with Anna and Björn?
Anni-Frid: “Long before ABBA, we already worked together as a family company. Therefore, we know each other inside out. We have a sort of brother-sister relationship. To avoid frictions, we lead our private lives separately as much as we can. We only spend our sailing holiday, once every summer, together with Anna and Björn.”
Bravo: Is there something that you’re afraid of?
Anni-Frid: “To be honest, I’m afraid of our world tour in the spring, which will take us to Germany as well. I’m quivering at the thought whether we will be able to fulfil the high expectations of our fans. Even when we have been rehearsing our show almost every day since November. But when you’ve had as much hits as we have had, there will always be plenty of people who are just waiting to see you fall flat.”

Studio, December 1976: ABBA

A report from Dutch TV-guide Studio about ABBA’s brief promotional visit to Holland, taking place on November 19, 1976. At a press conference, ABBA were presented with numerous awards for their record sales in Holland. They also appeared on the highly rated TV-show Eén Van De Acht, hosted by Mies Bouwman, where they performed three songs from their newly released album Arrival.
You may think what you like about ABBA’s music, but on November 19 it became clear that it had been many years ago since a pop group could gather so many people together for a press conference, a pop group that is realising its song ‘Money, Money, Money’ literally at the top of the charts at the moment. Nathalie Kester was present at this press conference for Studio. On February 4, ABBA will give a one-off concert in Holland.

It’s half past five and the temperature in the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague is reaching boiling point. The commotion in the fully packed room concerns a group of four people who turn everything they lend their voices to into gold, under the name ABBA. With a beaming smile, they enter the room, get up on the small stage and keep on smiling during the speeches that are fired at them in disastrous English. They accept a load of gold and platinum records, while the smile on their faces doesn’t fade away at any moment. Someone shouts through a megaphone that the reporters in the room can now ask their questions. All hell breaks loose. The assembled reporters and photographers are throwing themselves at the small stage that threatens to collapse under this assault. Blonde Anna almost faints in the stampede and is being guided to a chair in the corner of the room by her husband Björn. Two reporters from women’s magazines throw themselves at Björn and I’m joining in the fight for Anna. At the same time, she desperately tries to sign the records that are shoved in her face, answer numerous questions and on top of that say ‘Happy New Year from ABBA’ in a microphone for someone from a hospital broadcasting.
When I ask Anna, in between the most outrageous and shameless questions (“Do you and your husband fight a lot?” – “Will your daughter be a singer as well?” (Anna’s daughter is three and a half years old) – “Is there a lot of animosity between the couples in the group?”) how they are planning to live up to their ABBA-sound live on stage, when the group goes on tour later on, she looks at me gratefully. Finally someone who asks about their music. “We will start our tour in Oslo on January 25. To reproduce the sound of our records as close as possible, we will take along a thirty-piece orchestra from Sweden. In every country, we will hire a couple of extra violin players.”
Have you been on tour before? “To be honest, we’ve only done a small tour in Scandinavia once. Now we will travel through, among other countries, Scandinavia, Holland and England to America and finish in Australia. We’re preparing ourselves as good as possible. That’s why Frida and I are now taking ballet lessons as well.”
I’m interrupted rudely by people who ask about ABBA’s tax problems and who entice Anna to make the statement that she’s very happy about the new, more right-wing government, because before that, at least 85 percent of ABBA’s income went to the country’s tax authority. For that matter, it remains to be seen whether that will change now.
Desperately trying to get back to the music, I ask Anna whether she plays an instrument herself. “I play the piano. Not that well, but it’s nice that I can read music.” On the other side, Frida is complaining that her make-up is starting to fade. But the girls keep on smiling. And then, after only half an hour, ABBA’s manager appears to remind the group forcefully, that it’s high time for television recordings. Well-behaved, they go along. After all, it’s all about ‘Money, Money, Money’.

Veronica, November 1976: ABBA is here to stay

An article from Veronica magazine, November 1976. ABBA’s popularity was reaching boiling point in Holland at this time. In 1976, every single and album they released rocketed to the number one spot in the charts, the compilation The Best Of ABBA was the biggest selling musicassette of all time, Arrival had just been released and on November 19 they appeared on the highly rated TV-show Eén Van De Acht, dressed in their iconic kimonos.
The popularity of the Swedish group ABBA has reached unprecedented heights. If we only take a look at our own country: numerous Top 40 hits, of which ‘Dancing Queen’ has been the biggest, one compilation album of which more than a quarter of a million copies were sold and the new album ‘Arrival’ of which more than one hundred thousand copies were sold already in advance sales. It was high time for the group to show their faces in our country. And that’s just what they’ll do: ABBA will be in our country this week to appear in Mies Bouwman’s television show and at the beginning of next year they will be back for a one-off concert. A unique event that will take place on the fourth of February at the Jaap Eden hall in Amsterdam.
This concert is part of a big European tour that has been a long time coming. ABBA doesn’t tour very often. They’d rather stay at home in Stockholm. Even for a television performance it’s practically impossible to entice Benny, Björn, Anna and Frida to travel abroad. But now a European tour has been put together with great care: ABBA will go to France, Germany, Scandinavia, England and Holland. They will be accompanied by a sixteen-piece band, while a gigantic light show and specially designed costumes will bring about extra effects.
After Europe, ABBA will travel to America, Japan and Australia. Especially in that last country ABBA is insanely popular. “This year, we’ve performed for forty thousand people over there and we were welcomed as if we were the Beatles!” The Australian audience is completely mesmerized by the Swedes: in hardly two months time no less than eight hundred thousand albums of the group have been sold. But actually the same story goes for the rest of the world. One record after the other is storming up the local charts. And with that these Swedes are the first artists, not coming from an English-speaking country, that have conquered a constant position in the international pop scene.

Veronica, July 1976: ABBA is not a hit machine

An article from Dutch magazine Veronica, published in the week that the Musikladen television special was broadcast on Dutch TV (July 14, 1976).
ABBA is not a hit machine, according to Benny Andersson. But it’s raining hits for this group. On Wednesday July 14, they can be seen on the screen with a special, now they are on our pop pages. We travelled to Stockholm to interrogate these superstars where they talked to us, thankfully alive and kicking. It turns out that ABBA is a serious and hardworking group, that remains completely cool in face of their success.

A few weeks ago, the world was startled with a terrifying report: it claimed that the pop group ABBA had been killed in a car accident. Luckily, this alarming news could be contradicted instantly. German television made Anna, Frida, Benny and Björn appear in front of its cameras to prove that everything was fine. The group was a bit startled by this report as well. “It’s only now that you realize that you are indeed in great danger when you’re on the road constantly,” Benny says, “and to think that we are travelling during half of the year.”

We went to see these busy Swedes at their home base. The ABBA headquarter is situated in one of the fanciest neighbourhoods of Stockholm. It’s the place where manager and producer Stig Anderson, his lovely secretary Görel Johnson and Sussie Wageborg, leader of the Swedish ABBA-fanclub, reside. ABBA’s worldwide success is directed from this mansion. It’s a clean office with an efficient organization.
“But please don’t think that we are a hit machine,” Benny says when I make a remark about it. “You must look upon it as some kind of self-discipline. We’ve had very little time for ourselves the last few years and we’re trying to make some changes in that respect. It can only be done when you plan your activities ahead. For instance, when we need new material for our records, we retreat in our country house that we have on one of the islands near Stockholm.”
Doesn’t that leave very little room for spontaneous creativity?
“Not at all, everyone has his own way when it comes to writing songs. Some people can only work when they’re on the road, others really have to sit down and put their mind to it. And that’s how we work as well. By the way, just like Neil Sedaka who wrote the lyrics for our first Scandinavian hit ‘Ring Ring’.

ABBA’s success in Scandinavia started with ‘Ring Ring’. Europe was conquered with ‘Waterloo’ and soon the rest of the world followed with huge hits such as ‘I Do, I Do, I Do’, ‘SOS’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. Hits in virtually every country in the world, but still ABBA has rarely performed outside Sweden.
“We have consciously made the decision not to perform for the time being,” talkative Björn explains, “we mainly want to focus on television and radio performances and obviously our records. That way, you can reach as much people as possible and that’s the most important thing for us.”
Rumour has it that ABBA has tried several times to perform abroad but mostly public interest was minimal. Björn has a good laugh. “We have performed in front of very few people occasionally, but that’s a very long time ago. However, it’s true that we are preparing a world tour for next year. We will be performing in a couple of places in Europe. For the time being, concerts are scheduled in Germany and England. When all decisions have been made, we will inform everyone. Only after long contemplation we’ve made this decision. Some time ago, we decided not to perform anymore due to personal reasons, so that we would have some spare time as well. But it seems that the fans are anxious to see us. And we want to show ourselves as well. We want to prove that we not only can make nice records, but that we can be convincing on stage as well and put on a good show.”

From our conversation, it becomes clear that both men play the leading parts in ABBA. Björn is a friendly and plain-spoken guy. Benny is a bit more introverted and makes a serious impression. He ponders on every question and only then he answers. Both ladies are just decoration. While they are the centre of attention on stage, privately they stay behind the scenes. After exchanging the obligatory courtesies, Anna and Frida leave the office where the interview is conducted. The boys need to do the talking. And perhaps rightfully so: they are the creative team, that brought the group its worldwide fame, together with Stig Anderson.

Do they have any idea why they have achieved this fabulous success?
“We try our best to make our records as good as possible, that’s all I can say. Apparently, there’s a demand for the records that we release.”
Carefully, I try to put forward that their records are indeed expertly produced, but they do come across as somewhat naive every now and then.
“We’ve thought about that a lot, but it’s not easy for us Swedes to be creative in English. We are working on it, but thankfully the things that we put on our records are good enough for the Brits and the Americans! At least, they buy our records.”
The answers are rather unsatisfactory, despite Björn and Benny’s efforts. Probably there’s only one answer to the question why they are so successful: working hard. That’s what they can do, dead serious.

Pop Foto, November 1976: ABBA's Agnetha: I used to be a simple country girl...

When you see ABBA’s Agnetha steal the show on television, full of confidence, it’s hard to imagine that that same Agnetha used to be a shy, withdrawn girl. A girl, that turned red at the slightest incident, that was never asked out by a guy and that thought her girlfriends were showing off when they put on a hip dress...

At least she’s honest, the now 26-year-old Agnetha Ulvaeus, mother of a 3-year-old daughter, but above all the blonde star of the world-famous group ABBA. She’s not ashamed of old pictures that are less flattering. She can even have a laugh about them, and that is very rare with artists of her standing.

“You know,” Agnetha confesses while showing us pictures from years ago, “I used to be a lump of a girl. Yes, really! You mustn’t forget that Jönköping, where I’m from, was just a small village in the country side in my childhood. And I was a country girl. The girls wore re-adjusted dresses of their older sisters, and because that was very normal, no-one dared to object. I'll tell you something else. Girls who dared to come up with something exceptional, were laughed at. Yes, by me as well! I was the worst of them all. I was very shy in those days.” While she’s telling all this, Agnetha smiles and when you watch closely, you can see her cheeks are starting to blush. “And I didn’t have the nerve to speak. Especially not to boys. It was just a disaster. I blushed and when I knew that a boy liked me, I just wanted to vanish into thin air as soon as he laid his eyes on me. I felt so unattractive in those days.”

When Agnetha was 15 years old, her singing career was starting to get serious already. With her father’s dance-band she toured the country and gained a lot of experience. “Strange really. The moment that I was on stage, the spotlights were on and I heard the music behind me, I was freed of a burden. I could be myself then. All of a sudden I couldn’t care less that all those people were staring at me. That tour was crucial for me, I just had to overcome my shyness, no matter what, because I wanted to become a singer, my mind was set on that. I’m still shy today and I like to stay at home, but I’m a singer as well and I have to show my face. During that tour I’ve learned that you might as well do it right then.”

“So there I was, with my stupid braided hair and my old-fashioned dresses and I could just hear the people whispering: “Sure, she can sing, but she isn’t much to look at!” I was crying for nights on end about remarks like that. And that’s when I decided to do something about it. I was about eighteen years old and already well-known in Sweden when I started to use make-up. Me, who used to think make-up was repulsive. And I went to Stockholm and Götenburg, just to shop for clothes, I couldn’t even dream about that when I was in my father’s revue. But it did help me. I gained more self-confidence. About one year later, I met Björn. In those old pictures you can still recognize that silly girl from Jönköping, but I’m a different person now,” according to Agnetha.
It goes to show, the self-confident Agnetha that dances across the TV-screen, wasn’t born as trendy as she is now. She’s had to fight hard, not least against herself. Just like so many other girls, she felt like an ugly duck and could lay awake for nights over one bad remark. When she was sixteen years old, she was just as vulnerable and sensitive like you and me, and on top of that she was in the limelight as a singer. Jealous of her success, other singers were spreading dreadful stories about her. But still, no matter how many tears and sleepless nights it has cost Agnetha, she did something about it. And now she’s just very happy about that!

Pop Foto, 1976: We've neglected our child!

An article published in 1976 (it says Linda is three years old), but I think the pics are from 1975.

Being a mother and father, what do you do when your own daughter thinks she doesn’t have a mummy or daddy anymore... just a nanny? Well, what do you do? You take a long holiday, the three of you! At least, that’s what Agnetha and Björn Ulvaeus did when they started to notice they were becoming strangers to their little Linda.

“I remember it as if it was yesterday,” says blonde ABBA-singer Agnetha. “After a tour, we had travelled all day to be with our little Linda again as soon as possible. It was already getting late when we finally arrived home. Our nanny had already put Linda to bed, but Björn and I just couldn’t wait to see her, so the three of us went to her nursery. Linda stood in her little bed. But when I took her in my arms and cuddled her, she started to cry! Björn tried to calm her, but she was terrified of us. We were strangers to her! It seemed as if she didn’t remember who we were, and hid her face against the shoulder of the nanny. I’d never been so startled in my life! Our own child didn’t recognize us anymore...”

Agnetha gives her little girl, that is running through the waves of the Mediterranean during our conversation, a hug and continues with her story. “When we recovered from the shock, we immediately called our manager and cancelled all our performances. We just had to get out, just the three of us. That’s how we came to Crete. Here we can get used to each other again, and here Linda started to call us mummy and daddy again!”

Agnetha and Björn are determined to never leave their daughter alone for such a long time again. “We’ve come to realize that we’ve neglected the little sweetheart. But that’s going to change! Even if it means we can perform a lot less, or even never again, from now on we will be real parents for Linda,” says Björn, while Agnetha and her cheerful daughter build a beautiful sandcastle on the hot sand. “With most artists, only the man or the woman is away from home a lot, so their child at least has one parent. But with us it’s different, of course. Linda is now three years old, she’s starting to talk, to think for herself, to ask questions and so on. You just have to be there as a parent! I want to be a good father, and Agnetha a good mother, so, one way or the other, Linda always comes first!”