Who are ABBA, what were their biggest hits, and will there be a reunion?
We love a good ABBA song here at Magic – so, let's take a closer look at the Swedish pop sensation.
Last updated 27th Apr 2018
The most commercially successful pop group of the 1970s, ABBA achieved global success with some of the most memorable pop music ever recorded.
How did ABBA get together and how did they get their name?
The popular misconception about ABBA is that they formed for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. In fact, the quartet first performed together as early as 1971 when singer-songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were joined on backing vocals by Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog.
Playing under the less-than-catchy name of Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, the quartet scored a modest hit with the single ‘People Need Love’. Nonetheless, it was pretty obvious that the quartet shared an undeniable chemistry and magic that could develop into something quite special.
And we’ve got manager Stig Anderson to thank for that name. Realising that Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid would hardly roll off the tongue, he took the first letter of their first names, and so ABBA was born. Just as well it wasn’t BABA, though. We don’t think that would’ve caught on so well.
ABBA's success at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest
ABBA’s first stab at the Eurovision Song Contest came in 1973 with ‘Ring Ring’ but the single failed to qualify as the Swedish entry. Undeterred, the group’s songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus hunkered down and planned their attack for 1974.
Their work paid off. The result was the brilliantly catchy ‘Waterloo’, a song that won over the Swedish judges who duly dispatched ABBA to Brighton to compete in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. ABBA’s victory is the stuff of pop legends. Dressed in their finest glam outfits, ABBA stormed the scoreboard to victory. Representing the UK, Olivia Newton-John’s alliterative but hardly memorable ‘Long Live Love’ had to settle for fourth place, behind Italy and the Netherlands.
What were ABBA's biggest hits?
Between 1973 and their split 10 years later, ABBA scored 25 UK Top 40 hits. Of those, nine - that’ll be ‘Waterloo’, ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Fernando’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, ‘The Name Of The Game’, ‘Take A Chance On Me’, ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and ‘Super Trouper’ – hit the top spot.
Other Top 10 smashes included ‘SOS’, ‘Money, Money, Money’ ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ and ‘Does Your Mother Know’.
Amazingly, their last four singles – ‘Head Over Heels’, ‘The Day Before You Came’, ‘Under Attack’ and ‘Thank You For The Music’ – all failed to crack the UK Top 20.
Were the members of ABBA married?
Oh yes. And then later divorced. All of which inspired some of their best music. Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog were married on 23 February 1973, and Benny Anderson was the organist at their wedding.
Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad had been living together as a couple since 1971 when they tied the knot on 6 October 1978. However, the couple separated after two years of marriage and were divorced in 1981. Likewise, Björn and Agnetha separated in 1978 and were divorced in 1980.
The divorces would inform ABBA’s later music. ‘The Winner Takes It All’ is a particularly mature piece of songwriting by Ulvaeus and Anderson and performed with incredible dignity by Agnetha and Anni-Frid. Likewise the minor hits ‘When All Is Said And Done’ and ‘The Day Before You Came’.
It certainly got too much for all the members. Though they never officially called it a day, they quietly went their separate ways after making one last public appearance on Noel Edmonds’ ‘The Late, Late Breakfast Show’ in December 1982.
What happened to the members of ABBA next?
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus worked with composer Tim Rice on the musical ‘Chess’. Having worked on the Swedish musical ‘Kristina’ (which was also translated into English), the pair became heavily involved in Mamma Mia, the jukebox musical based on their many hits. Andersson produced the subsequent movie soundtrack and used many of the musicians featured on the original recordings.
Anni-Frid and Agnetha launched solo careers and their last albums where ‘Djupa Andetag’ (1996) and ‘A’ (2014) respectively.
Will there be an ABBA reunion?
Yes, ABBA have announced they will be releasing new music!
In a post on the band's official Instagram account, the fantastic foursome revealed that working together for their upcoming hologram experience brought them back together – and they felt like recording some new material.
Their last public appearance together was at Mamma Mia: The Party in Stockholm in January 2016. It was their first time together in public since the Mamma Mia premiere in 2008.
When will ABBA's new songs be released?
The new songs will be broadcast as part of a TV special in December 2018. One of the songs is named 'I Still Have Faith In You', and it'll be performed by digital versions of the band members in their full 70s glory.
It'll be the first new music from ABBA since 1982.