ABBA
During ten years of its existence, a famous Swedish quartet managed to become as popular as most pop-artists of that time could not even dream about. This group is recognized one of the most successful in the music industry’s history and is the most spectacular example of how the undisputable talent and desire to win the public recognition lead to the world glory. When four Swedish musicians launched their work in 1966, they did not even think that soon their songs would blow out the world of the popular music, and their albums would top hit-parades at the beginning of the new millennium.
The group was founded by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. They met each other at the party and when they found common interests, two men decided to work together. Soon after, they were joined by two girls – young singers Anni-Fris Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog, whose talents captured the attention of the musicians. The Swedish quartet started singing in 1970 but this fact did not stop way to own projects. For example, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson released their separate album, and a year later, they successfully tried themselves as producers.
The quartet became popular in 1973 when the song “Ring Ring”, which never reached the Eurovision contest, topped charts of many European countries and, surprisingly or not, in Southern Africa. In the same year, the group released their first joint album titled Ring Ring, and in 1974, members of the Eurovision commission were not very strict anymore. ‘Abba’ performed the song “Waterloo” and was certified the absolute winner of the contest. It was a starting point of the Swedish quartet’s star way. Next twenty songs, written by the members of the group, ranked among the first of British hit-parades. Such hits as «Mamma Mia», «Dancing Queen», «Knowing Me, Knowing You», «Take A Chance On Me», «Super Trouper», and some other songs that were written from 1976 to 1980 and topped hit-parades of different countries, are known worldwide to the present day.
The group had its greatest success in Europe. The American public was not the biggest fan of the Swedish team, though album sales were rather high across the sea. In Europe Abba captured hearts of millions of fans, performed in the most famous concert halls, and made shows for the royal set of Great Britain. The end of 70s was the most successful and active period in the band’s work but in the early 80s, it went down. In 1981, Abba recorded its last hit “Thank You For The Music” and disbanded but some of its members pursued the musical career.
However, this was not the end of the history of Swedes, who made a breakthrough in the pop-music world. In 10 years after disbandment, in 1992, millions of rerecorded albums of Abba were again sold out due to several multimedia companies’ efforts. Their songs peaked at #1 on European charts again. The band’s image became an example for many group-imitators that were in a great demand among listeners and viewers. Enjoying its second boom, Abba, nevertheless, refused from the reunion and billionth contract for the round-the-world tour offered members of the ex-band in 2000. In this situation it is doubly strange that the Abba’s songs are still popular with music fans worldwide. And its rereleased albums do not leave the charts not only being on them but leading in top ten from time to time.
