ABBA Members: The place Are They Now?

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Swedish supergroup ABBA catapulted to worldwide fame within the Seventies with their hits “Dancing Queen” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”

ABBA’s members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad loved huge success for a decade earlier than the group’s hiatus in 1982.

In 2016, ABBA announced plans to reunite as virtual avatars for a reside “leisure expertise.” Two years later, the group revealed that they’d additionally recorded new music. In a joint assertion, they explained, “The choice to go forward with the thrilling ABBA avatar tour mission had an sudden consequence. All of us 4 felt that, after some 35 years, it may very well be enjoyable to hitch forces once more and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood nonetheless and that we solely had been away on a brief vacation.”

The quartet launched their ninth and ultimate studio album, Voyage, in November 2021. And the next Could, all 4 ABBA members attended the premiere of their virtual concert series in London.

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“After we bought again collectively within the studio I had no concept what to anticipate,” Fältskog mentioned in a press release. “However Benny’s recording studio is such a pleasant and secure atmosphere, and earlier than I knew it I used to be actually having fun with myself! I can hardly imagine that lastly, the second has come to share this with the world!”

Fellow bandmate Lyngstad added, “These first classes again in 2018 had been such enjoyable and when Benny known as and requested if I would contemplate singing some extra I jumped at it! And what songs! My respect and love exit to those exceptionally gifted, actually genius songwriters! Such pleasure it was to work with the group once more. I’m so proud of what we have now made, and I dearly hope our followers really feel the identical.”

ABBA’s comeback album Voyage has since earned 4 Grammy nominations.

Here’s a look into the lives of the members of ABBA, then and now.

Agnetha Fältskog, 72

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ABBA’s lead vocalist Agnetha Fältskog was recognized for her curiosity in music as a baby, and he or she wrote her first tune on the age of 6, in line with ABBA’s official website. Her first single, which she wrote as a part of the band Bernt Enghardts, was launched in 1967.

Fältskog started relationship fellow ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus in 1969 and the couple bought engaged the next yr. They wed on July 6, 1971, and welcomed two kids collectively, daughter Linda Elin Ulvaeus and son Peter Christian Ulvaeus, earlier than their divorce in 1980.

Following her divorce from Ulvaeus and ABBA’s subsequent cut up, Fältskog went on to launch three English-language albums: Wrap Your Arms Round Me in 1983, Eyes Of A Girl in 1985 and I Stand Alone in 1987.

She married her second husband, Thoms Sonnenfield, in 1990, although the pair quietly divorced in 1993. Over a decade later, Fältskog returned to the highlight when she signed a solo record deal in 2004.

Björn Ulvaeus, 77

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Björn Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, and grew up within the small city of Västervik. Like the opposite members of ABBA, Ulvaeus was additionally fascinated about music from an early age. He started his profession within the Swedish people band Hootenanny Singers, which is how he was launched to keyboardist Benny Andersson, a member of the band the Hep Stars. The 2 started collaborating, ultimately working collectively and forming ABBA with their fiancées.

Ulvaeus wed fellow bandmate Agnetha Fältskog in 1971 and so they had two kids collectively. After the couple cut up, Ulvaeus married his second spouse Lena Källersjö in 1981 and had two extra youngsters.

He and Andersson continued to work collectively lengthy after ABBA disbanded within the early Nineteen Eighties. The duo wrote the musical Chess with lyricist Tim Rice, with the present opening on London’s West Finish in 1986 and premiering on Broadway two years later.

In accordance with ABBA’s official website, Ulvaeus was additionally concerned within the staging of Mamma Mia, the musical — and later movie sequence — based mostly on ABBA’s songs.

In 2022, The Daily Mail reported that Ulvaeus and his spouse of over 40 years, Källersjö, introduced their plans to divorce.

That July, he arrived on the premiere of his new musical, Pippi on the Circus, hand-in-hand with Christina Sas, a music supervisor for Common Music Group. In December 2022, the couple attended the Stockholm premiere of A Man Known as Otto, a movie starring Tom Hanks.

Benny Andersson, 76

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Born in Stockholm, ABBA vocalist Benny Andersson was launched to music as a baby, as each his father and grandfather performed the accordion and taught him the instrument.

Andersson was part of a number of musical teams earlier than the formation of ABBA. He began his profession within the band for singer Christina Grönvall. (The 2 ultimately began relationship and had two kids collectively.) Then, he joined Elverkets Spelmanslag earlier than turning into the keyboardist of the Hep Stars.

It was whereas he was with the Hep Stars that Andersson first met Ulvaeus and the pair wrote the tune “Is not It Straightforward To Say” for the band. They recorded their first album, Lycka, in 1970, on which their girlfriends, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang backup vocals. Andersson and Lyngstad had been engaged for practically 9 years earlier than tying the knot in 1979, nonetheless, they divorced two years later.

Andersson continued to work in music following ABBA’s 1982 hiatus, producing work with Anders and Karin Glenmark and his first solo album was launched in 1987. He presently performs with the band Benny Andersson’s Orkester.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 77

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Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway in 1945 and moved to Sweden along with her grandmother practically two years later. In accordance with ABBA’s official website, Lyngstad’s father was a German soldier and “thought to have vanished when his ship was sunk on the best way again to Germany,” although they had been later reunited within the Seventies. Her mom died lower than two years after she was born.

As a teen, Lyngstad carried out with numerous bands. She married her first husband Ragnar Fredriksson when she was 18 years outdated and had two kids, although the pair divorced forward of ABBA’s rise to fame.

She met her second husband and fellow ABBA bandmate Benny Andersson in 1969 and the 2 shortly bought engaged. Lyngstad additionally launched a Swedish-language solo album in 1975 whereas part of ABBA. She was already engaged on solo work earlier than ABBA’s 1982 hiatus, and he or she launched her first English-language solo album, which was produced by Phil Collins the identical yr.

Lyngstad was married to her third husband, Prince Henrich Ruzzo Reuss, Rely of Plauen, from 1992 till his dying in 1999. Her daughter died the yr prior after a automotive accident.

Right this moment, Lyngstad is “devoting herself to charity work,” per ABBA’s official web site.