Das Freizeit-Magazin, 1978: Anni-Frid: this is my life

Because Anni-Frid grew up without a father, she always fantasized about a real family in her childhood. "When I'm grown up I will get married and then I will only care for my husband and children," she once said to her grandmother in the middle of Sweden, where she grew up after her mother had died at a young age. She was singing in the folk parks merely to keep her head above water until she got married. When she was eighteen she already reached the destiny of her dreams. Anni-Frid got married to the musician Ragnar Fredriksson and gave birth to two children. But the family bliss she was hoping for failed to materialize. Only today, with her Benny and the ABBA success, she is truly happy.

Pictures from left to right.
When she was only thirteen she already performed as a singer in parks and halls. Frida: "I had to make money to earn my living." That's what she kept doing after she got married as well.

Frida started concentrating more and more on her success as a solo singer, a pretty girl, constantly radiant and with many different looks.

In a 1967 TV show, Frida sang every competition into the ground. Although the long-desired breakthrough had been achieved, her private happiness was shattered. Because Frida hardly lived with her family anymore.

For 32 years, Anni-Frid had felt like an orphan. But her father had not - as it had been assumed for a long time - died in the turmoil of war in 1945. These days he is living as a pastry cook in Karlsruhe and he only found out about the existence of his daughter after stories about the ABBA girl's fate had appeared in the newspapers. In 1944, the then 26-year-old German sergeant had met Anni-Frid's mother in Norway. The war separated them.

This was the start of a tremendous career: in 1974, four unknown Swedes called ABBA sang a song at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton that would become a worldwide hit: 'Waterloo'. One of the girls on stage was Anni-Frid. The three others: Agnetha, Björn and Benny. This line-up remained and they scared the top class of pop musicians stiff. Two years after Brighton, the four Swedes had already sold more than 26 million records, mostly albums. Previously, only the Beatles had achieved such a feat. And that's how the story continued.

No matter what ABBA sang, it always became a worldwide hit, whether it was in the East or in the West. It was also raining gold records from all kinds of different countries. On their trip to Warsaw as well, where they are pictured here.

A happy family: Frida with her husband Ragnar and both of their children Lise-Lotte and Hans. But scenes like this were very rare in Frida's marriage. Frida: "It wasn't what I had always fantasized about."

In this building in Stockholm it all started for ABBA. The first songs of the group were created here. And today, ABBA's office is still located in this building.

The marriage to Ragnar fell apart. But Anni-Frid has found her private happiness: Benny, her partner in ABBA. "Benny is my security, I depend on him completely," Frida declared happily.

Das Freizeit-Magazin, 1978: Agnetha: this is my life

Blonde, blue-eyed, long-legged: Agnetha embodies the typical Swedish girl. Music is in her blood. After school she earned her living as a singer with a dance band. And when she was only eighteen she recorded her first solo single. The song 'Jag Var Så Kär' became a hit, at least in Sweden. "All of a sudden I was well-known and I appeared in TV shows," remembers Anna, that's how Agnetha likes to be called nowadays. "I also met the Hootenanny Singers there." She was especially smitten with one of the boys from the group: Björn Ulvaeus. "It was love at first sight," both of them affirm these days. After a joint holiday they started living together and a couple of months later - in 1971 - they got married. Their joint success with ABBA has only brought Anna and Björn closer together. But the most important thing to the both of them remains their family, to which - after daughter Linda - a little son was added.

Pictures from top left to bottom right.
The typical Swedish girl: long blonde hair, blue eyes and a lot of naturalness. You wouldn't guess that she is 28 years old and has two children. Up till now she has always had good luck on her side. Her first solo single, that she recorded when she was eighteen, became a big hit in Sweden. When she was twenty, she married the man of her dreams: Björn Ulvaeus. Little daughter Linda (meanwhile five years old) is growing into a lively girl and up till now Anna doesn't have any worries about her now four months old son either.

At the end of November 1967 Agnetha had all the reason in the world to smile. After she had toured through Sweden and Europe for two years with a dance band, she finally achieved her breakthrough as a solo singer with a self written song. Swedish TV shows were tripping over each other for the blonde singer. "I even received offers from Germany," Anna remembers from her first success.

The blonde girl from ABBA was born on April 5, 1950 in Jönköping. Agnetha's father, an organizer of amateur revues, introduced her to the stage when she was still a child. She learned how to play the piano and the organ and she started to write her own lyrics.

Anna always maintained a good relationship with her parents, Ingvar and Birgit Fältskog. Mona is very attached to her older sister as well and she often pays her a visit in her Stockholm home. This family picture was taken in 1968.

In one of these TV shows Anna met Björn, in those days the star of the Hootenanny Singers. The both of them got along right away, they went on a holiday together and got married in July 1971.

Björn and Anna prefer to spend the little spare time they have between their tours, recording sessions and TV shows with their little daughter in their cottage on one of the Swedish isles. This year, their little son Christian will join them as well.

Anna and Benny are getting their make-up done for a TV show. Last year, the Swedish broadcasting company has persuaded the four superstars to chronicle their lives in a TV show. Obviously the ABBA hit 'Waterloo' was featured as well in the big television extravaganza, the song that won the group the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974.

Anna feared that her voice would suffer from a tonsillectomy in 1976. But she recovered from the surgery without scratches and little daughter Linda was enjoying her mother's compulsory break.

The Swedish quartet ABBA was presented to the world for the first time in November 1970 in Göteborg. Years later, the four of them returned to leave their hand prints for the Liseberg park.

Björn and Anna in Germany during the ABBA tour last year. After that, the group took a baby break for the sake of Anna. The family takes precedence for Björn and Anna in 1978 as well.

Already in her childhood, Agnetha took ballet classes. These days, the ABBA girls keep in shape for their tours and TV performances with morning gymnastics.

Last December, ABBA enjoyed a glittering movie premiere in Stockholm. Manager Stikkan Anderson and director Lasse Hallström were congratulating.

Anna's son weighed exactly 3.920 grams. He was born in December after a difficult childbirth. Obviously, Björn was present during the delivery in Stockholm.

Joepie, 1977: ABBA off to America for good?

In America, it's buzzing with rumours that ABBA is allegedly planning to move to Los Angeles - the centre of the superstars - for good. It is said that Stig Anderson, the manager of the group, has made use of the quiet period that followed after filming for the movie was completed to travel to Los Angeles and look for suitable residences over there. Officially, ABBA doesn't want to talk openly about this subject yet, but it has become a public secret that ABBA is tired of having to pay so much taxes to the Swedish government.

Joepie, 1977: Why Robert got the leading part in the ABBA movie

We already discussed ABBA's very first feature film, 'The Girl With The Golden Hair', earlier. And although the title of the movie refers to the beautiful Frida, the film actually revolves around Robert Hughes, a rather popular DJ in Australia. He plays the part of a radio presenter who hopelessly tries to get an interview with ABBA and starts daydreaming when he doesn't succeed. He imagines himself in the arms of the two girls, he goes out with the group to have a drink, to play some golf and he invites Frida for a ride on a horse.
In short, in his imagination he is having a real good time. Insiders who have witnessed the filming of the scenes claim that Robert will be the biggest revelation of the movie. And that his popularity will rocket to new heights.
Why exactly was this Robert chosen as a key figure? Why was he chosen to play this dream part? "Robert has always supported us in his radio broadcasts. Even shortly after we won the Eurovision Song Contest (when we hadn't achieved our international breakthrough yet), he already played our records. And he kept doing that so we owe him a great deal for our Australian breakthrough. Look, now that we are as popular as we are, the requests for interviews and things like that come pouring in. There are so many of them that we simply can't accept them all. But a man like Robert, a friend from the times before we hit the big time, we can't disappoint or ignore someone like that. That leading part is our way of saying thank you..."
Meanwhile, ABBA has completed filming the scenes for the movie. One of these days, the new single 'The Name Of The Game' will be released, but there aren't any further activities on their schedule yet.
"Björn and I will mainly focus on composing new songs," according to Benny. "And Anna, well, she is waiting in all peace and quiet until her baby arrives. Supported by my Frida, by the way..."
You can find a couple of neat pictures from the ABBA movie on these pages. In anticipation of the day that you can watch the movie yourself in the movie theatre...

Das Freizeit-Magazin, 1977: ABBA at work

Observing ABBA at work in the studio is almost as difficult as breaking into Fort Knox. But we did it. Our magazine was there when Anni-Frid, Agnetha, Björn and Benny were busy recording their new album, that should be released in the beginning of next year.
The atmosphere in the studio is a little irritable. It's late in the evening and the foursome has been on their feet for ten hours. "A day like this wears you out completely," red-haired Anni-Frid sighs. "The small studio, no fresh air, nothing decent to eat, just a sandwich every now and then: it's really not very pleasurable."
On top of that, Björn and Benny are perfectionists. They won't let any wrong sound or musical inaccuracy pass through.
"We are a product from which the audience can expect the very best," blonde Björn states clearly. "We won't and we can't afford ourselves a flop." But the quartet had no need to lift their fingers. They made a profit of 28 million dollars in the past few months. With this achievement, they have overtaken Sweden's most important export article Volvo.
The four of them are still not in agreement what song should be released as their next single. Either the somewhat rocky 'Thank You For The Music' or the gentle love song 'Joanne'. Anni-Frid and Agnetha are in favour of the latter. For hours, they deliberate and listen to the tapes again and again. Until they decide to go with 'Thank You For The Music'.
Blonde Agnetha is relieved and says: "That was a difficult delivery. I'm happy that we will soon be finished completing our new single, the album and our feature film. Sometimes I'm downright knocked out."
That's not surprising, after all she is already in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But despite her huge belly she is looking positively pretty and healthy. "It will certainly be a broth of a boy," she says gleefully. "And for sure enormously musical. But I won't be able to bring him along yet, when we come to Germany in January..."

1977: Those were the days!

Did you know that Benny was already collecting gold records in the sixties, and that Anni-Frid was already on stage at the age of eleven?

"Actually, we have too little time to rummage around in memories!" Anni-Frid says with regret. "But when we start taking out old pictures, then it is guaranteed that we burst into a big laughter."
"Can you imagine Björn with a short haircut?" Agnetha grins while she shows a picture from Björn's childhood. In those days he performed with three other college boys as the Hootenanny Singers.
"I was already on stage when I was only eleven years old," Anni-Frid remembers. "I was performing a jazz number at a charity event. It's a shame that there aren't any pictures of that occasion." But the ABBA girl is proud of another picture. "I always wanted to have a happy family because I grew up as an orphan."
She shows a picture of herself with her first husband Ragnar. Today, she has completely come to terms with the fact that this marriage came to an end. Anni-Frid: "Now I have Benny and that's the best thing that could happen to me."
And Benny's favourite photograph from his past? "In the old days, I played with the Hep Stars. In the sixties, we were the most popular group in Sweden." And he shows his picture: "This is when we just got our fourth gold record. At the time I was extremely proud of our success."

Joepie, 1979: We never want to miss the Swedish midnight sun!

Stikkan Anderson is notorious in Sweden because of his sharp statements. All Swedes were angry with him when he declared that his compatriots weren't just dumb, but even dumber than they thought. But he isn't thinking about leaving the country. Sentimental reasons are playing a part in that. "We simply love Sweden: the midnight sun, the northern lights, the woods, the Swedish summers," Stig muses.

A long time ago in the sixties, Stig had a hit. His song was translated and recorded in Dutch by country singer Ria Valk. Stig still remembers the Dutch title of the song. 'Howa jenekhhth noejahkth mah mhnei, Rockin' Billy'. Of course he means: 'Hou Je Echt Nog Van Mij, Rockin' Billy'. It even gave him a gold record. It was the start of his first company called Sweden Music, because Stikkan had discovered that the big money was up for grabs. In the sixties, Sweden Music grew into one of the biggest music companies in Sweden. During those years, Stikkan also decided to quit being a teacher. "I learned the whole profession of being a music publisher from someone from Belgium. I owe him a lot. I wouldn't be where I am today without that man."

In 1964 he decided to give other artists a chance. That's how he discovered Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (not related). In 1971 they were appointed as producers at Sweden Music. The twosome sang as well and they were accompanied on backing vocals by two girls: Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. In 1974 ABBA achieved its international breakthrough. The group only just had the name ABBA by then. And that took some doing. In Uddevalla, there was a canned fish company with the same name and at first the company's manager refused permission to lend their well-known name - all over Sweden - to a couple of musicians. He thought he had the exclusive right to that name. Eventually, the canned fish company gave in. Even today, the company is still the biggest of its kind in Sweden. But ABBA doesn't have any shares in that company. But they do have shares in the bicycle factory Monark. More than one third of the shares is in their hands. One thousand people are working at that company.

Invest-Finans is another investment of the group. That new company is closing lease contracts for expensive machinery compounds for different companies. Only recently, this company landed an order worth 100 million Swedish krona (14 million Dutch guilders). All these activities are administered by Polar Music International: Stikkan owns 25 percent of it and the rest is owned by the ABBA members.
ABBA's studio is famous as well, established in a former, huge sports hall just outside Stockholm center. Once there was a swimming pool in the building. But ABBA rebuilt it into a parking-lot. The studio is of an excellent quality. There's a long waiting list of artists who want to record there. Only recently Led Zeppelin has recorded an album there.

Stikkan Anderson would love to fix the parking problems in front of the head quarters too, but the authorities in Stockholm can't be persuaded. They won't give in, that's why Stikkan parks his car illegally every day, and every day this is costing him 75 Swedish krona (30 Dutch guilders). Today as well, he takes his parking ticket out from under his windshield wiper and gets into his Rolls Royce. In the distance, we can hear the siren of a Swedish police car. It sounds American. Stig is humming along unconsciously. Perhaps a new hit is born...