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ABBA were a Swedish pop music group active from 1972 until 1982.
ABBA is the most successful popular music group ever to come out of Scandinavia, and ranks amongst the top acts in the history of popular music. The quartet topped worldwide charts from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. They remain a fixture of radio playlists and continue to sell albums. The group has sold more than 370 million records,[1][2] all but one being self-penned.[3]
They were the first act from the European continent to enjoy consistent success in the charts of the anglophonic world (the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and their enormous popularity subsequently opened the doors for many other European acts. They introduced Scandinavian music into the international mainstream, and have done much to establish pure pop as an equal among more \"hip\" music genres.
Songwriters Andersson and Ulvaeus were unable to write notated music on paper. Only Fältskog could do so (as revealed in a Dick Cavett interview with the group from 1981). The instrument parts were experimented, improvised, and overdubbed in the recording studio.[4] This limitation would later affect the production of the Mamma Mia musical as other musicians were brought in just to sit and listen to the existing recordings and notate everything that was considered for use in the musical - a demanding task that required six months as Andersson and Ulvaeus insisted on near-exact notation of their past performances.[5] The composers have also indicated that they almost always start with the music and add the words afterwards.
Before ABBA
Benny Andersson was a member of the immensely popular in the mid- to late 1960s Swedish rock/pop group Hep Stars. The band was modeled after various American and British groups such as Herman\'s Hermits, The Who, and The Rolling Stones and mostly performed covers of international hits. The strongest side of Hep Stars was their live shows that invariably created mob scenes, many of their fans being teenage girls. Andersson played keyboards and eventually started writing original compositions for his band, most of which became major hits.
Björn Ulvaeus was fronting The Hootenanny Singers, a popular folk/skiffle group whose sound was softer and more easy-listening than Hep Stars. He and Andersson sometimes crossed paths and decided to write songs together. Ulvaeus also occasionally guested with Hep Stars on tours as a guitarist. Stig Anderson, manager of the Hootenanny Singers and founder of the Polar Music label, saw much potential in the collaboration of Andersson and Ulvaeus, and encouraged them to compose more. Eventually the duo recorded an album called Lycka (\"Happiness\"), on which they included their own compositions and handled all lead vocals. It was released on the Polar label in 1970.
Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA\'s youngest member, had a #1 record in Sweden when she was only 17 and was noted by the critics and songwriters as a talented composer, most of her songs being in the schlager style. Along with her own compositions, she also recorded covers of foreign hits and performed them on tours in Swedish folkparks, the main \"live circuit\" at that time, eventually having established herself as one of the most popular Swedish female pop singers of the time. In 1972, she starred as Mary Magdalene in the original Swedish production of Jesus Christ Superstar and attracted favourable reviews. During filming of a Swedish TV special In 1969, she became romantically involved with Björn Ulvaeus, and their marriage in 1971 was the Swedish celebrity wedding of the year.
Anni-Frid \"Frida\" Lyngstad (Norwegian by birth) from her early teens sang with various dance bands and worked mainly in a jazz-oriented cabaret style. In 1967, she entered and won a national talent competition. Sweden was changing over from driving on the left side of the road to the right and a series of TV shows was being aired to encourage people to stay off the roads on the night of the switchover. Invited to appear on TV that evening with her winning song, Lyngstad attracted record company attention. She signed with EMI and her professional musical career began in earnest. At that time Lyngstad struggled to get her records on the charts, despite the consistent critical acclaim for her singing skills, and even contemplated a career change. In 1969, she participated in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish heat of the Eurovision Song Contest. Her entry, Härlig är vår jord, placed fourth. That same year Lyngstad met Benny Andersson during a concert tour in southern Sweden and soon they were engaged. Andersson also invited Lyngstad to sing backing vocals with Fältskog on the Lycka album and during this time started producing Lyngstad\'s solo records. His work is generally credited with enhancing her chart success.
ABBA\'s success in the United States
Contrary to a widespread notion, ABBA did achieve a major success in the United States. During their active career, from 1974 to 1982 fourteen of their singles reached Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and on Cashbox singles chart, ten of them reached Top 20 and four of them placed in Top 10 on both charts, with \"Dancing Queen\" peaking at No.1 also on both charts. While Fernando and SOS didn\'t break Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 chart, they reached Top 10 on Cashbox (\"Fernando) and Record World (\'SOS\") singles charts.
The group also had twelve Top 20 singles on Billboard Adult Contemporary chart with two of them, Fernando and The Winner Takes It All, reaching No.1. \"Lay All Your Love On Me\" was ABBA\'s fourth No.1 single on Billboard charts topping its Hot Dance Club Play chart. \"Dancing Queen\" and \"Take A Chance On Me\" singles were certified gold (more than 1 million copies sold) by RIAA.
Nine ABBA albums made its way into the Top 100 on Billboard 200 album chart with seven of them getting into the Top 50. Four of those albums reached Top 20 with ABBA The Album at No.14 being the highest position. Five albums received RIAA gold (more than 500,000 copies sold) certification, and three acquired platinum (more than 1 million copies sold) status. ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits collection released in the US in 1993 became a 6-time platinum bestseller and reached No.7 on Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart.
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