Bravo, October 1979: In the morning in bikini, in the evening on stage

This article is almost identical to the previous one (even the text is nearly the same). Only, this one is from German magazine Bravo and it features different pics.
In the pic of Agnetha trying on sunglasses, tour promotor Thomas Johansson is mistaken for Benny.
On September 10th it kicked off: with an entourage of 60 people ABBA started their extensive tour of North-America and Europe. The first two weeks, the Swedish group celebrated triumphs in Canada and the north-west of the USA. Then they came to California.
And there, under the everlasting Los Angeles sun, they inserted their first recovery-break. They installed themselves for a week at the well-known Hotel Sunset Marquee, that is favoured by many rock-stars. And from this venue, they flew to their concerts in the vicinity every afternoon: Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco. All with their private jet, a Hawker Jet, that once was owned by the famous billionaire Howard Hughes. Mostly around two o’clock at night they would return to their hotel...
And there, at Sunset Marquee, Bravo had the opportunity to experience ABBA totally private for once. Every morning, all four ABBA-members with their five children could be found at the swimming pool. They swam, sunbathed, oiled each other up with suntan oil – in other words – under the Californian sun they recovered from all the strains of their super-tour.
They especially enjoyed being able to go out shopping on the nearby Sunset Strip, without being recognized. Indeed, the ABBA-songs are known in the USA, but the members themselves are relatively unknown. Up ‘til now they’ve only been seen twice on US TV-screens. But there’s no doubt about it that this will change drastically after the ABBA-tour. Like everywhere else in the world, ABBA will then be hunted for autographs over there as well...

Pop Foto, December 1979: Who talks about quarrels within ABBA?

This article is showing lots of private snapshots from behind the scenes of the 1979 tour, meanwhile also reassuring fans that all is well in ABBA-camp.Who talks about quarrels within ABBA? About tensions, irreconcilable differences or even a possible break-up? That’s certainly inconceivable. Even more so when you have seen the four and their loved ones on one of the few days off during their major world-tour...

Agnetha, all giddy, is goofing around with her six year old daughter Linda in the swimming pool. Linda has just learned how to swim, but is still holding on tightly to her mother as much as possible. When she’s had enough of swimming, mummy Agnetha takes a seat on a comfortable couch next to Lena, Björn’s new girlfriend. Björn himself is watching it all, sitting relaxed at the poolside. A little further away, we see Benny getting everybody laughing, by putting a big spider on the bare back of one of the members of the ABBA-band. Meanwhile, Annifrid is walking through the whole scene with a broad smile, chatting away here and there. That afternoon in the sunny backyard of the Sunset Marquee Hotel in Los Angeles, it becomes clear that it’s virtually impossible that there are enormous quarrels and unbearable tensions in the ABBA-camp. The children flew in for a few days from Stockholm. The ultra-fast private jet, rented especially for the ABBA-concerts at the American Westcoast, will stay put for 24 hours. Just for a moment, there will be no working, only having fun.
“The atmosphere within the group is now better than ever,” is what Björn would later state after the ABBA-concert in Holland. And he might just be right about that.
“Us, breaking up? That’s absolute nonsense! We couldn’t, even if we wanted to. This business is addictive,” says Benny.
A couple of hours later, the pool area is deserted. ABBA has gone out shopping at the big warehouses in Los Angeles. “At least here we can still walk the streets virtually unnoticed. Here in the States they’ve only seen us twice on television. It feels good not to be hounded by fans, for once,” Björn says. “But still, we’d rather see that the other way around as soon as possible!”

Hitkrant, January 1982: ABBA show their colours

An article that appeared in Dutch magazine Hitkrant, shortly after the release of the The Visitors album, informing us that two songs from that album had been recorded in Spanish.
Of course, there has been much ado about ABBA’s Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s new, fire red hairdo. But not only in that respect has ABBA shown their colours; that mainly happened with the new album ‘The Visitors’ of which the general opinion is that ABBA is showing a completely new and personal side. In the meantime, subsequent work for ‘The Visitors’ has begun, because obviously it’s not just about recording an album and then sit and wait how many copies are being sold.
The past few years ABBA has focussed more and more on the South American market, and subsequently has released several singles and albums in Spanish. That’s also the case with ‘The Visitors’: two songs from the album have been recorded in Spanish as well. As ever, Buddy Mary McCluskey translated the lyrics and that’s how ‘When All Is Said And Done’ turned into ‘No Hay A Quien Culpar’ and ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ turned into ‘Se Me Esta Escapando’. Of course, the version of the album with these two Spanish songs is aimed at the Spanish-speaking countries, and has been released already in Mexico, Latin-America and South-America.
As a consequence, three promotional films are available at the moment. One for ‘When All Is Said And Done’, one for ‘One Of Us’ (which has been broadcast on TV already) and one for ‘No Hay A Quien Culpar’. Yes, you could buy them, but you would have to order them in Stockholm and pay about 500 Dutch guilders for them, excluding postage! Obviously, the promotional films are primarily made to be used for television.
That’s how the ABBA-machine is working at full force. The combination of the endless musicality of the Swedish foursome and the brilliant business-skills of Stig Anderson is still a guarantee for one success after the other.

Muziek Parade, 1983: I feel better than ever!

An article published in Dutch magazine Muziek Parade, following Agnetha's promotional visit to Holland for the Wrap Your Arms Around Me album.At the big ANWB TV-show, Muziek Parade met ABBA’s Agnetha. Behind the scenes she talked about the difficult time she has behind her. It became clear that Agnetha went through hell, and that the break from ABBA did her good. Full of courage, she’s looking at the future again. And there’s no doubt about it that the future looks promising!

The past two years we haven’t heard much of Agnetha. And probably it was all for the better, because she herself wasn’t motivated to do anything. ABBA was drawing to its close, the hits weren’t as convincing as they once were and the harmony in the group, or rather the lack of it, was perceptible. The energy had been lost and who dared to re-energize the group?
Frida was the first to make some drastic changes. After her divorce she cleared the air. Together with Phil Collins she started a new life. Her solo-album ‘Something’s Going On’ brought a new and daring sound and gave her her first solo-successes, albeit short-lived.
Meanwhile Agnetha kept things quiet. Her divorce was harder on her than many could have imagined. She was upset and nothing seemed to inspire her. The friends she met in those days couldn’t make a permanent change in her state of mind. The time that’s behind her caused her a lot of pain and it seems as if those years are written on her face.
“You know,” she says after a while during the interview we had with her backstage, “in hindsight you wonder why it all took so long. Everything that has happened, was a long time coming. Our divorce had been in the air for a long time. The birth of Christian could not turn things around. Even before that, things hadn’t been good between Björn and me. What do you expect, we saw each other 24 hours a day, ultimately that has to cause problems. In a normal family the husband works and the wife is keeping house. She only sees her husband in the evenings and the weekends, so when disagreements arise it’s possible to let a day go by and let things quiet down, before talking it out. The biggest tension is then relieved, but with us that was different.
During tours we saw each other every day and that wasn’t fun. On top of that we were fed up with being away from home so much and not being able to even go out on the town, shopping or something. All those things can get annoying. And the times we were at home, Benny and Björn had to go out again to write songs in total isolation. That would go on for weeks on end and then it would be time again to get to work in the studio. That’s not a life, is it?”

In the past ten years, ABBA was the leading group in Western-Europe. After their Eurovision victory in Brighton in 1974, they stormed the charts. Not as one-hit-wonders, the following nine years every single would be a top 10 hit. Not bad for a group from Sweden and a group that could equal the popularity of the Beatles and even surpass it, in time-span.
“Yes, getting divorced is a heavy blow,” she says. “Even more so when you are famous. These are aspects you reckon with from the start, and it makes you try to keep a divorce at a distance. But eventually, we had to make the decision. Christian, who will turn six years old this year, was our last hope, but it wasn’t to be. No, it’s not that there were big fights between us, but the love wasn’t there anymore, we didn’t have anything to say to each other anymore. And I’m only human. I cried a lot in those times, it was really bad.”

Agnetha is doing well again. Really well, actually. Together with the English hit-maker Michael Chapman she has recorded a well-balanced album. Not only the single ‘The Heat Is On’, but also the album ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me’ is of the kind of perfection we could expect from Agnetha. Her eyes start to sparkle when we talk about it and she says: “That album-title says it all, really, don’t you think. Take me in your arms, a feeling I have missed for years and only since recently I know what it means again. It means there’s someone there who loves you, someone to turn to when something bad happens, or when you feel depressed, someone who helps you to get back on your feet again. Sometimes words are not able to express what you want to say. A gesture like an arm around your shoulder can be enough, it speaks volumes. It gets you going again. That’s why I wasn’t able to do this record sooner. I needed someone to talk to, someone who could take my insecurity away. I have someone like that now. I felt relieved of an enormous pressure, I was able to see things in perspective again. The children, Linda and her brother Christian, have had time to recover as well, they are coming back to life again. Finally, I’ve found the right balance between my work and my family. Especially Linda has helped me a lot lately, as little as she is. I really don’t know, where she gets it from. Maybe childlike simplicity is the answer to difficult issues. I know now that the hard work of the past years has left its mark on me. It has worn me out, but it’s very strange, I’ve started again with new courage and when I see the results, I can honestly say: I feel better than ever!”

Story, January 1982: The truth about the sadness of the ABBA-girls

Gossip-magazine Story published this article, after Agnetha and Frida had appeared on Dutch TV-show MIES for a short interview. The video for One Of Us was also premiered on that show.
Obviously, this 'interview' is made up: starting to record the album without any songs ready; Agnetha and Frida recording their vocals and shooting the One Of Us video, without Benny and Björn being present... lol! I suppose they also thought Benny and Björn were edited into this picture.

Did you see them on television the other day? ABBA’s Agnetha and Annifrid were looking rather lifeless. But what exactly was hidden behind those tired faces? And what do the two famous singers really want, deep in their hearts?

It all seemed so ideal. At the time, the story of ABBA really started out as a fairy tale. Four happy, young people won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with their song ‘Waterloo’. Since then ABBA turned into the most successful group in the world. Everything the group did after that, became an enormous success. Although in their private lives things were starting to go downhill for the two married couples: Björn decided to divorce Agnetha. Later on, the same thing happened to Benny and Annifrid. Still this wasn’t a reason for the foursome to go their separate ways professionally as well. The four Swedes took up the courage to continue on the successful path, they have been following for ten years now. As it turns out, that’s not so easy. Especially the past few months have been difficult, according to Agnetha and Frida, who talked about the problems within ABBA, just before their holiday...

“I’m so glad that our new album ‘The Visitors’ is finally finished and in the shops all over the world,” sighs Agnetha, before she sits down next to her friend and colleague Annifrid. “Believe me, this time the recording of the album really was an uphill struggle. Normally, we would enter the studio with the pre-written material. This time, nothing had been written yet when we came to the studio. On top of that, Benny and Björn were never satisfied with the results. And if they weren’t, it would be our manager Stig Anderson. We kept on re-recording, until it drove us crazy... exhausting, really!”
Annifrid agrees completely with her: “It was really awful this time. Things became even more complicated because of Benny and Björn, who involve us to a lesser extent in the proceedings and therefore are starting to do more and more things separately from us. This time, they recorded all the music in advance. Later on, when they weren’t there, we had to come in to record the vocals. When they came back to the studio later and heard that things weren’t satisfactory, we were at home again. That’s how we kept running back and forth to the studio! In the past we always did everything together. That went much faster. It also took a lot of planning before the promotional film for our single ‘One Of Us’ was ready. That was a complete disaster as well! Like I said before, the boys Benny and Björn want as little to do with us as possible. Also, they have lots of other things on their mind at the moment. That’s why we taped the film first and the boys were edited in later on. I don’t think I want to continue like this, and I reckon Agnetha thinks the same.”
Annifrid looks questionally at the blonde singer beside her, who is nodding decisively. “I don’t feel like it any longer this way,” she says. “We are growing further apart. There’s not much left of the good atmosphere, that was always so wonderful. Annifrid and I are not happy with the situation at all. You can also sense it, listening to our new album, that isn’t exactly a happy record. It consists only of sad songs, that reflect exactly how we feel at the moment. Probably, Benny and Björn feel the same way, because in the end they have written the songs. Maybe things will get better in the future, when we all have had a long holiday. That’s what I hope wholeheartedly, otherwise ABBA can end tomorrow, as far as I’m concerned. I really mean that. That way, Annifrid and I will get the chance to do other things as well. And to spend more time with our children. Taking everything in consideration, our children are obviously more important than ABBA. No matter how much we enjoyed it in the past. Now I’m actually waiting for the moment that ABBA is definitely over. Because like I said, I don’t feel like continuing like this any longer...”

Hitkrant, November 1977: ABBA-special

Another ABBA-special from 1977, dedicated to ABBA-The Movie and ABBA-The Album. This one is from Hitkrant, featuring a lot of great pics.
Already in 1977 there was talk of a musical to be written at some point in the future. It would take another 7 years before that musical would become reality, and then obviously not as an ABBA-project.

The failed interview

The working-title of the ABBA-movie that will open in Holland in December is ‘The Girl With The Golden Hair’. But everyone will probably call it ‘the ABBA-movie’. And that’s what it is: ABBA from start to finish, in all kinds of situations, during live-performances, taking a horse-ride and at a picnic.

It hasn’t been easy for director Lars Hallström to make a movie about the Swedish foursome. But cleverly he chose the right approach: the dream.
It’s the dream of every ABBA-fan: to be in the presence of their idols just once, to talk to them and touch them.

The Australian journalist Robert Hughes has that dream as well, but more for professional reasons: he wants to do an interview with ABBA no matter what, during their Australian tour. But he doesn’t seem to succeed. The cheerful Swedes manage to avoid him and despite several schemes, Robert does not manage to get in contact with ABBA.
For poor Robert there’s not much else to do than escape in his dreams. In those dreams, everything is possible: he meets ABBA, has diner with Agnetha, Björn, Anni-Frid and Benny, takes a horse-ride with the girls and finally gets his much-desired interview.
But like it is with every dream, there’s the inevitable waking up. Gone is ABBA, there’s just Robert Hughes...
Anyway, we will be able to see it all for ourselves; on December 21 we will be at the Hitkrant world-premiere of the ABBA-movie, together with 500 Hitkrant-readers. See you in six weeks!

A new ABBA is born

Four letters: A-B-B-A. The initials of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid. A household name for millions, from eight years old to eighty, from Melbourne to Moscow. You can write books about ABBA (and that has happened as well), but in this Hitkrant-special we will have to limit ourselves just a little. There are two things we can’t ignore: ABBA now and of course the ABBA-movie.

The ‘ABBA now’ part is very important: the new single ‘The Name Of The Game’ is a five-minute long introduction to a new ABBA. The time of the ‘sweet pop-songs’ seems to be over: this is grown-up pop-music.
“Actually, it wasn’t a conscious decision that we had to come up with something new,” says Björn. “But you are right to say that new things are happening. One thing is for sure: from now on we will definitely pay more attention to the lyrics.”
A lot of hard work has been put into the new album. Also in that respect changes can be heard in the ABBA-pattern: all songs on the record have a connection, like in a musical. That’s also ABBA’s dream: being able at some point to write a musical.
Björn: “Sooner or later that dream will certainly become reality. When it will happen, I don’t know. But our new album is a first step in that direction, it’s a test.”

The release-date of the album will probably be postponed until February, mainly because of Agnetha: she is obviously pregnant and although she’s doing well, the doctor prescribed complete rest for her. There was a danger that the baby – expected to be born on November the 24th – would come too early. That’s why Agnetha has to rest in the new mansion of the Ulvaeus-family in the Stockholm suburb Lidingö.
“I would love the baby to be a boy,” says Agnetha. “Then we would have one of each!” She feels good, but she’s strictly following doctor’s orders: exercise everyday and no smoking!

In 1978, there will probably be no tours for ABBA. Björn: “To be honest, we don’t like it at all. On top of that, we don’t make a profit on it. The only reason to do it is for the fans, and the added factor there is that there will always be a lot of fans who will have to be disappointed, not being able to get tickets!”

ABBA is doing very well. Manager Stig Anderson is expecting a turnover of 30.500.000 Dutch guilders, of which an estimated 23.000.000 is pure profit. Actually, that is the main worry for Stig and ABBA: finding ways to invest all that money!

Weekend, November 1982: I enjoy my freedom...

An interview from Dutch magazine Weekend, published after Frida's visit to Holland in 1982, promoting the Something's Going On album. Part of the visit was an appearance on the highly-rated Dutch TV-show MIES, on which she was interviewed and performed the then current single To Turn The Stone.
Cliff Richard was one of the other guests on the show. I've added a poster from German magazine Pop Rocky, featuring a picture of Frida and Cliff taken at this occasion.

Dutch people are not known for showing their emotions. Only a handful of artists has managed to unleash those inner feelings of ecstasy within us (that every human being has). But those are the real stars. One of them is Annifrid Lyngstad, member of Swedish pop-group ABBA. She paid a visit to our country for promotion of her solo-album. Naturally, Weekend was there for you.

The fans have been waiting for hours. There is a cosy atmosphere among the hundreds of people who gathered together to see their idol ‘in the flesh’ and hand over a flower or a present. Inside, at the Singer-theatre in Laren, the well-known AVRO people, Mies Bouwman, Fred Oster, Leen Timp and their co-workers are busy preparing the first ‘MIES-show’ of this season. The rehearsals conclude without problems. The special guest of this evening hasn’t arrived yet. Inside, the company is now patiently awaiting her arrival as well.
“Here she comes,” someone yells. Outside, the young, agitated people storm towards a car, that’s immediately surrounded by the enthusiastic crowd. Inside the car is Frida Lyngstad. She is used to this, for her it’s all very common. For almost ten years it has never been different for her, but she was together with her ABBA-colleagues then. Now she’s alone. The people are coming to see her.
Frida gets out of the car calmly and without any reserve she goes to her fans. She tries to give everyone the feeling they haven’t been waiting in vain, accepts flowers and presents, takes time to chat here and there, until her secretary slowly takes her inside. Frida is very nicely dressed in a colourful, suède dress, all in the latest mini-fashion, just above the knee. Her narrow waistline is accentuated by a beautiful, broad belt. A brown pantyhose and boots lined with fur complete the tasteful outfit. The rehearsals can continue. Frida performs a song from her first solo-album. It sounds good. Then she disappears to her dressing-room to recover from the trip. An hour later I’m having coffee with her. The fans have discovered her presence again and constantly tap the window behind us. It’s difficult to have a conversation. After a few minutes, Frida gets up. “Would you mind to go and sit somewhere else, Honnie? We could try to find a quieter corner.” We find a cosy table, where we can talk without interruptions.

I ask Frida if this constant attention annoys her.
“No, absolutely not. I even enjoy it. I think it’s wonderful that the fans go through so much trouble to come near me. But sometimes it just isn’t possible. That people love my music is of course fantastic. That’s what every artist longs for. I need my fans, without them I don’t exist. The organisers always get very nervous when they see those crowds of people. In the end, it’s not so bad.”

Annifrid Lyngstad (her name is Frida at the moment, because of her solo-career) has become known because of the enormous success of the Swedish pop-group ABBA. “For my family and friends I have always been Frida, so that name isn’t new, actually,” she explains.
What is new is her musical direction. Has it been difficult for her to do something totally different from ABBA?
“There has been a full year of preparations until I finally entered the studios in London for the first recordings. So I felt ready for it. Still, I was very nervous. You are in different surroundings with other people. So I was very tense in the beginning. But it soon faded. When we started rehearsing, we all got used to each other pretty quickly. In no-time we all got very close and in those six weeks, that we worked together on the record, we have become one big family.”

What gave you the idea to work with Genesis’ Phil Collins?
“My daughter had bought his single ‘In the air tonight'. I thought that was a marvellous record. Soon after that I bought his album ‘Face Value’. When I had listened to that, I was determined to contact him for a possible collaboration. When I called him eventually with the proposition to produce my solo-album and play the drums as well, he was enthusiastic immediately. The result has become totally different from the ABBA-sound, but that was my intention. For me, it was essential to create an own sound and, despite the fact that I worked with different musicians and in totally different circumstances, I think I succeeded.”

Isn’t it possible that Frida’s own popularity and business interests will cause conflicts with ABBA’s interests?
“There is a misunderstanding about our professional lives. Working with ABBA doesn’t take up all of my time. Björn and Benny write all our music together, and that takes very much time. That means that Agnetha and I are free to do whatever we want. Agnetha has just made a movie. We all have our own lives. That’s much healthier four our cooperation, which is still excellent. Soon, a special album will be released to commemorate our tenth anniversary. I still prefer ABBA. I don’t neglect ABBA, now I’m performing as a solo-artist as well. It’s easy to combine and I’m still faithful to ABBA, as always.”

You’ve said that music is your greatest passion, and that you couldn’t live without it. Do you think you sacrificed your personal happiness for your career?
“I don’t have any regrets about my life. ABBA has been a dream come true for me. I’ve always wanted to become a singer from when I was a child. I dreamed of becoming rich and famous. It all came true. I’ve met lots of interesting people, travelled the whole world and experienced so much. I feel privileged. How many people get the opportunity to achieve that? Yes, I’m very thankful and don’t regret anything. I have a good and happy private life with my children and friends. I spend most of my spare time in their company. I have a very positive attitude. The future is the only thing that’s really important to me. It’s no use to look back and ponder about things that can’t be changed anyway. If you do that, you become bitter and unsatisfied, and I never want that to happen.”

Frida comes across as a very calm and steady woman. Her wealth has changed a lot in her life, of course, but she will never be blasé about it.
“I’m eternally grateful for the success and at the same time it makes me feel humble. It’s still hard to conceive that it all turned out the way it did. Wealth means a special kind of freedom. I think that’s the most important thing for me. Other than that I don’t think about it very much. I don’t live in overflowing luxury, but I do enjoy my freedom to do whatever I like to do.”

And that means for Frida: being at home with her children and friends and working on her music. No diva-behaviour whatsoever.
“My children are very steady and critical, so they make sure things don’t get out of hand,” she says smiling. And that’s Frida Lyngstad – a normal and authentic woman.

Frida is still Cliff’s fan
During the taping of the show, Frida met an old acquaintance: the English pop-singer Cliff Richard. With their performances, both stars would cause a certain amount of emotions with the many admirers in the audience.
Frida revealed she had been a big fan of the now 42-year old singer as a teenager. “I collected photographs of Cliff and bought all his records. I never would have imagined I’d ever be on the same TV-show,” says Frida. Cliff, polite and charming, was very complimentary about his Swedish colleague: “She’s a born artist, a woman I’d like to work with. I’ve followed ABBA’s career closely and am impressed by their qualities. I hope the group will stay together for a long time to come.”
About a possible duet with Frida, Cliff could only say he would definitely consider such a proposition. When Weekend came to the subject of marriage, both stars got considerably less talkative. Cliff would only say that marriage is a big responsibility, especially for people in show-business. Rumours about a possible marriage between him and tennis-star Sue Barker, were discarded with the words: “We’re just good friends.”
Frida wasn’t very revealing about this subject either. Frida: “I will never say ‘never’, but for now I’m concentrating on my career. I will see what the future has in store for me. For now I’m happy being free.”

Together they posed for Weekend, and subsequently disappeared to their dressing-rooms: rich, famous and sometimes happy...