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For many years, Björn Ulvaeus managed the legacy of ABBA by saying: “We are the band that doesn’t come back.” When she came back with an album in 2021 and as an avatare in a virtual show in London, some found that it was not necessary. Abba had been legend since 1982 when they brought out their last song, “The Day Before You Came”. They didn’t go with a bang, but with a whisper. Agnetha Fallskog, with which Ulvaeus was married from 1971 to 1979, no longer wanted to go on tour. And Ulvaeus and his songwriting partner Benny Andersson wrote the musical “Chess”. Also the success of the musical “Mamma Mia!” The group has not brought together again since 1999. At least Meryl Streep, who sings Abba songs, gave us the film version of this scene revue.
Björn Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg, but grew up in Västervik. Since 1961 he had played the guitar in a folk band, which finally called Hootenanny Singers. As well as the HEP stars who played somewhat awkward rock’n’roll, in which Benny Andersson served the keyboards. The two met again and again at festivals.
The most successful was Agnetha Fältskog, who had published records with his own songs in Swedish since 1968. Ulvaeus jumped in a concert for the guitarist of the HEP stars in 1966, and from then on he and Andersson wrote songs together, of which only “Hej Gamle Man” became a moderate hit. In 1970 they performed with a Western Revue on television with a felling cog and the singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The show was a fiasco, but the group published the first record in 1972, “People Need Love”, as Benny, Björn, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.
He, the atheist, thought about the continued life as an avatar after
After they failed in 1973 in the Swedish preliminary decision for the European Song Contest, they were succeeding with “Waterloo” next year. And then won the competition in Brighton. In a quick episode, new albums from ABBA appeared, of which “Arrival” (1976) is the best. However, even better are the singles with songs that Ulvaeus and Andersson interpreted in a hut on a archipelago: “SOS”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You”, “Dancing Queen”, “Fernando”, “Thank you for the music”, “Money, Money, Money”, “The Windner Takes it all”. The texts come from Ulvaeus. In Australia, they triumphed unprecedented, as a film by Lasse Hallström showed in 1977. Your melancholy late work “The Visitors” from 1981 must finally be rediscovered.
Benny Andersson returned to his folklore band, where he played accordion, and Björn Ulvaeus became ABBA ambassador all over the world. After the separation of Agnetha, he married again and again. He, the atheist, thought about the continued life as an avatar.
Today the very lively Björn Ulvaeus is 80 years old – and has traveled on vacation with children and grandchildren.