Melody Maker, 1979: Agnetha and Björn are getting a divorce, but no danger for ABBA!

The ABBA members Agnetha and Björn were always one of the happiest couples in the pop business, always smiling and still in love, even after eight years of marriage. But the appearances were deceiving: since quite some time there was something wrong in the Fältskog/Ulvaeus marriage. And now Agnetha and Björn have confessed in an interview that they have been living separately for some time and that they want to get a divorce. MM correspondent Jan Bengtsson is reporting from Sweden.

“Already six months ago, we have decided that we want to get a divorce,” Agnetha confesses, “and since Christmas we are living separately. However, the distance between our houses in Lidingö is only seven minutes, because we want to keep on taking care of the upbringing of our children together.”
But what is the reason for the divorce? Infidelity perhaps? Agnetha: “Speculations are pointless. Fact is that Björn and I couldn’t live together any longer. When people don’t have anything to say to each other any longer and don’t get through to each other anymore, it’s no use to keep living together. But I want to emphasize that we are separating as good friends.”
The victims of these proceedings are the two children of the couple, Linda (6) and Christian (1). “The most difficult thing was telling our daughter gently that we are getting a divorce. All three of us ended up crying.”
The report about the divorce came just as unexpected to ABBA manager Stig Anderson as it did to the rest of the world. Only the other two ABBA members, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, knew that their colleagues wanted to get a divorce.
However, although the collapse of Agnetha and Björn’s marriage surely is regrettable, in the end it’s definitely a private matter that only concerns those involved. But for the ABBA fan, the question now rises if this will have any consequences for the group ABBA. Melody Maker posed this question to the ABBA management in Stockholm and got a pleasant reply. ABBA will go on and they will go through with their schedule for 1979 as planned. In February, the group will film a TV show in Switzerand, entitled ‘Snowtime Special’. The proceeds from this broadcast will flow to Unicef, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
The new ABBA album, that still hasn’t got a title yet, will probably be released in the middle of April. And in the beginning of August, the start of a world tour is even scheduled.
So it’s clear: some things have definitely changed for Agnetha and Björn, but not for the millions of ABBA fans all over the world!