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In March 1980, ABBA travelled to Japan where upon their arrival at Narita International Airport, they were besieged by thousands of fans. The group performed eleven concerts to full houses, including six shows at Tokyo's Budokan. This tour was the last "on the road" adventure of their career. |
In July 1980, ABBA released the single "The Winner Takes It All", the group's eighth UK chart topper (and their first since 1978). The song is widely misunderstood as being written about Ulvaeus and Fältskog's marital tribulations; Ulvaeus wrote the lyrics, but has stated they were not about his own divorce; Fältskog has repeatedly stated she was not the loser in their divorce. In the United States, the single peaked at number-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became ABBA's second Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one. It was also re-recorded by Andersson and Ulvaeus with a slightly different backing track, by French chanteuse Mireille Mathieu at the end of 1980 – as "Bravo tu as gagné", with French lyrics by Alain Boublil. November the same year saw the release of ABBA's seventh album Super Trouper, which reflected a certain change in ABBA's style with more prominent use of synthesizers and increasingly personal lyrics. It set a record for the most pre-orders ever received for a UK album after one million copies were ordered before release. The second single from the album, "Super Trouper", also hit number-one in the UK, becoming the group's ninth and final UK chart-topper. Another track from the album, "Lay All Your Love on Me", released in 1981 as a Twelve-inch single only in selected territories, managed to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and peaked at number-seven on the UK singles chart becoming, at the time, the highest ever charting 12-inch release in UK chart history. |
Also in 1980, ABBA recorded a compilation of Spanish-language versions of their hits called Gracias Por La Música. This was released in Spanish-speaking countries as well as in Japan and Australia. The album became a major success, and along with the Spanish version of "Chiquitita", this signalled the group's breakthrough in Latin America. ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos, the Spanish equivalent of ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits, was released in 1999. |
In January 1981, Ulvaeus married Lena Källersjö, and manager Stig Anderson celebrated his 50th birthday with a party. For this occasion, ABBA recorded the track "Hovas Vittne" (a pun on the Swedish name for Jehovah's Witness and Anderson's birthplace, Hova) as a tribute to him, and released it only on 200 red vinyl copies, to be distributed to the guests attending the party. This single has become a sought-after collectable. In mid-February 1981, Andersson and Lyngstad announced they were filing for divorce. Information surfaced that their marriage had been an uphill struggle for years, and Benny had already met another woman, Mona Nörklit, whom he married in November 1981. |
Andersson and Ulvaeus had songwriting sessions in early 1981, and recording sessions began in mid-March. At the end of April, the group recorded a TV special, Dick Cavett Meets ABBA with the US talk show host Dick Cavett. The Visitors, ABBA's eighth and final studio album, showed a songwriting maturity and depth of feeling distinctly lacking from their earlier recordings but still placing the band squarely in the pop genre, with catchy tunes and harmonies. Although not revealed at the time of its release, the album's title track, according to Ulvaeus, refers to the secret meetings held against the approval of totalitarian governments in Soviet-dominated states, while other tracks address topics like failed relationships, the threat of war, aging, and loss of innocence. The album's only major single release, "One of Us", proved to be the last of ABBA's nine number-one singles in Germany, this being in December 1981; and the swansong of their sixteen Top 5 singles on the South African chart. "One of Us" was also ABBA's final Top 3 hit in the UK, reaching number-three on the UK Singles Chart. |
Although it topped the album charts across most of Europe, including Ireland, the UK and Germany, The Visitors was not as commercially successful as its predecessors, showing a commercial decline in previously loyal markets such as France, Australia and Japan. A track from the album, "When All Is Said and Done", was released as a single in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and fittingly became ABBA's final Top 40 hit in the US (debuting on the US charts on 31 December 1981), while also reaching the US Adult Contemporary Top 10, and number-four on the RPM Adult Contemporary chart in Canada. The song's lyrics, as with "The Winner Takes It All" and "One of Us", dealt with the painful experience of separating from a long-term partner, though it looked at the trauma more optimistically. With the now publicised story of Andersson and Lyngstad's divorce, speculation increased of tension within the band. Also released in the United States was the title track of The Visitors, which hit the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. |
In the spring of 1982, songwriting sessions had started and the group came together for more recordings. Plans were not completely clear, but a new album was discussed and the prospect of a small tour suggested. The recording sessions in May and June 1982 were a struggle, and only three songs were eventually recorded: "You Owe Me One", "I Am the City" and "Just Like That". Andersson and Ulvaeus were not satisfied with the outcome, so the tapes were shelved and the group took a break for the summer.[47] |
Back in the studio again in early August, the group had changed plans for the rest of the year: they settled for a Christmas release of a double album compilation of all their past single releases to be named The Singles: The First Ten Years. New songwriting and recording sessions took place,[48] and during October and December, they released the singles "The Day Before You Came"/"Cassandra" and "Under Attack"/"You Owe Me One", the A-sides of which were included on the compilation album. Neither single made the Top 20 in the United Kingdom, though "The Day Before You Came" became a Top 5 hit in many European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The album went to number one in the UK and Belgium, Top 5 in the Netherlands and Germany and Top 20 in many other countries. "Under Attack", the group's final release before disbanding, was a Top 5 hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. |
"I Am the City" and "Just Like That" were left unreleased on The Singles: The First Ten Years for possible inclusion on the next projected studio album, though this never came to fruition. "I Am the City" was eventually released on the compilation album More ABBA Gold in 1993, while "Just Like That" has been recycled in new songs with other artists produced by Andersson and Ulvaeus. A reworked version of the verses ended up in the musical Chess.[49] The chorus section of "Just Like That" was eventually released on a retrospective box set in 1994, as well as in the ABBA Undeleted medley featured on disc 9 of The Complete Studio Recordings. Despite a number of requests from fans, Ulvaeus and Andersson are still refusing to release ABBA's version of "Just Like That" in its entirety, even though the complete version has surfaced on bootlegs. |
The group travelled to London to promote The Singles: The First Ten Years in the first week of November 1982, appearing on Saturday Superstore and The Late, Late Breakfast Show, and also to West Germany in the second week, to perform on Show Express. On 19 November 1982, ABBA appeared for the last time in Sweden on the TV programme Nöjesmaskinen, and on 11 December 1982, they made their last performance ever, transmitted to the UK on Noel Edmonds' The Late, Late Breakfast Show,[50] through a live link from a TV studio in Stockholm. |
Andersson and Ulvaeus began collaborating with Tim Rice in early 1983 on writing songs for the musical project Chess, while Fältskog and Lyngstad both concentrated on international solo careers. While Andersson and Ulvaeus were working on the musical, a further co-operation among the three of them came with the musical Abbacadabra that was produced in France for television. It was a children's musical utilising 14 ABBA songs. Alain and Daniel Boublil, who wrote Les Misérables, had been in touch with Stig Anderson about the project, and the TV musical was aired over Christmas on French TV and later a Dutch version was also broadcast. Boublil previously also wrote the French lyric for Mireille Mathieu's version of "The Winner Takes It All". |
Lyngstad, who had recently moved to Paris, participated in the French version, and recorded a single, "Belle", a duet with French singer Daniel Balavoine. The song was a cover of ABBA's 1976 instrumental track "Arrival". As the single "Belle" sold well in France, Cameron Mackintosh wanted to stage an English-language version of the show in London, with the French lyrics translated by David Wood and Don Black; Andersson and Ulvaeus got involved in the project, and contributed with one new song, "I Am the Seeker". "Abbacadabra" premiered on 8 December 1983 at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London, to mixed reviews and full houses for eight weeks, closing on 21 January 1984. Lyngstad was also involved in this production, recording "Belle" in English as "Time", a duet with actor and singer B. A. Robertson: the single sold well, and was produced and recorded by Mike Batt. In May 1984, Lyngstad performed "I Have a Dream" with a children's choir at the United Nations Organisation Gala, in Geneva, Switzerland.[51] |
All four members made their (at the time, final) public appearance as four friends more than as ABBA in January 1986, when they recorded a video of themselves performing an acoustic version of "Tivedshambo" (which was the first song written by their manager Stig Anderson), for a Swedish TV show honouring Anderson on his 55th birthday. The four had not seen each other for more than two years. That same year they also performed privately at another friend's 40th birthday: their old tour manager, Claes af Geijerstam. They sang a self-written song titled "Der Kleine Franz" that was later to resurface in Chess. Also in 1986, ABBA Live was released, featuring selections of live performances from the group's 1977 and 1979 tours. The four members were guests at the 50th birthday of Görel Hanser in 1999. Hanser was a long-time friend of all four, and also former secretary of Stig Anderson. Honouring Görel, ABBA performed a Swedish birthday song "Med En Enkel Tulipan" a cappella.[52] |
Andersson has on several occasions performed ABBA songs. In June 1992, he and Ulvaeus appeared with U2 at a Stockholm concert, singing the chorus of "Dancing Queen", and a few years later during the final performance of the B & B in Concert in Stockholm, Andersson joined the cast for an encore at the piano. Andersson frequently adds an ABBA song to the playlist when he performs with his BAO band. He also played the piano during new recordings of the ABBA songs "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" with opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, and "When All Is Said and Done" with Swede Viktoria Tolstoy. In 2002, Andersson and Ulvaeus both performed an a cappella rendition of the first verse of "Fernando" as they accepted their Ivor Novello award in London. Lyngstad performed and recorded an a cappella version of "Dancing Queen" with the Swedish group the Real Group in 1993, and also re-recorded "I Have a Dream" with Swiss singer Dan Daniell in 2003. |
ABBA never officially announced the end of the group or an indefinite break, but it was long considered dissolved after their final public performance together in 1982. Their final public performance together as ABBA before their 2016 reunion was on the British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show (live from Stockholm) on 11 December 1982. While reminiscing on "The Day Before You Came", Ulvaeus said: "we might have continued for a while longer if that had been a number one".[53] In January 1983, Fältskog started recording sessions for a solo album, as Lyngstad had successfully released her album Something's Going On some months earlier. Ulvaeus and Andersson, meanwhile, started songwriting sessions for the musical Chess. In interviews at the time, Björn and Benny denied the split of ABBA ("Who are we without our ladies? Initials of Brigitte Bardot?"), and Lyngstad and Fältskog kept claiming in interviews that ABBA would come together for a new album repeatedly during 1983 and 1984. Internal strife between the group and their manager escalated and the band members sold their shares in Polar Music during 1983. Except for a TV appearance in 1986, the foursome did not come together publicly again until they were reunited at the Swedish premiere of the Mamma Mia! movie on 4 July 2008. The individual members' endeavours shortly before and after their final public performance coupled with the collapse of both marriages and the lack of significant activity in the following few years after that widely suggested that the group had broken up. |
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, following the premiere, Ulvaeus and Andersson said that there was nothing that could entice them back on stage again. Ulvaeus said: "We will never appear on stage again. [...] There is simply no motivation to re-group. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were. Young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition. I remember Robert Plant saying Led Zeppelin were a cover band now because they cover all their own stuff. I think that hit the nail on the head."[54] |
However, on 3 January 2011, Fältskog, long considered to be the most reclusive member of the group and a major obstacle to any reunion, raised the possibility of reuniting for a one-off engagement. She admitted that she has not yet brought the idea up to the other three members. In April 2013, she reiterated her hopes for reunion during an interview with Die Zeit, stating: "If they ask me, I'll say yes."[55] |
In a May 2013 interview, Fältskog, aged 63 at the time, stated that an ABBA reunion would never occur: "I think we have to accept that it will not happen, because we are too old and each one of us has their own life. Too many years have gone by since we stopped, and there's really no meaning in putting us together again." Fältskog further explained that the band members remained on amicable terms: "It's always nice to see each other now and then and to talk a little and to be a little nostalgic."[56] In an April 2014 interview, Fältskog, when asked about whether the band might reunite for a new recording said: "It's difficult to talk about this because then all the news stories will be: 'ABBA is going to record another song!' But as long as we can sing and play, then why not? I would love to, but it's up to Björn and Benny."[38] |
The same year the members of ABBA went their separate ways, the French production of a "tribute" show (a children's TV musical named Abbacadabra using 14 ABBA songs) spawned new interest in the group's music. |
After receiving little attention during the mid-to-late-1980s, ABBA's music experienced a resurgence in the early 1990s due to the UK synth-pop duo Erasure, who released Abba-esque, a four track extended play release featuring cover versions of ABBA songs which topped several European charts in 1992. As U2 arrived in Stockholm for a concert in June of that year, the band paid homage to ABBA by inviting Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson to join them on stage for a rendition of "Dancing Queen", playing guitar and keyboards. September 1992 saw the release of ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits, a new compilation album. The single "Dancing Queen" received radio airplay in the UK in the middle of 1992 to promote the album. The song returned to the Top 20 of the UK singles chart in August that year, this time peaking at number 16. With sales of 30 million,[57] Gold is the best-selling ABBA album, as well as one of the best-selling albums worldwide. With sales of 5.5 million copies it is the second-highest selling album of all time in the UK, after Queen's Greatest Hits.[58] The enormous interest in the ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits compilation saw the release of More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits in 1993. |
In 1994, two Australian cult films caught the attention of the world's media, both focusing on admiration for ABBA: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding. The same year, Thank You for the Music, a four-disc box set comprising all the group's hits and stand-out album tracks, was released with the involvement of all four members. "By the end of the twentieth century," American critic Chuck Klosterman wrote a decade later, "it was far more contrarian to hate ABBA than to love them."[59] |
ABBA were soon recognised and embraced by other acts: Evan Dando of the Lemonheads recorded a cover version of "Knowing Me, Knowing You";[60] Sinéad O'Connor and Boyzone's Stephen Gately have recorded "Chiquitita"; Tanita Tikaram, Blancmange and Steven Wilson paid tribute to "The Day Before You Came". Cliff Richard covered "Lay All Your Love on Me", while Dionne Warwick, Peter Cetera, and Celebrity Skin recorded their versions of "SOS". US alternative-rock musician Marshall Crenshaw has also been known to play a version of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" in concert appearances, while legendary English Latin pop songwriter Richard Daniel Roman has recognised ABBA as a major influence. Swedish metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen covered "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" with slightly altered lyrics. |
Two different compilation albums of ABBA songs have been released. ABBA: A Tribute coincided with the 25th anniversary celebration and featured 17 songs, some of which were recorded especially for this release. Notable tracks include Go West's "One of Us", Army of Lovers "Hasta Mañana", Information Society's "Lay All Your Love on Me", Erasure's "Take a Chance on Me" (with MC Kinky), and Lyngstad's a cappella duet with the Real Group of "Dancing Queen". A second 12-track album was released in 1999, entitled ABBAmania, with proceeds going to the Youth Music charity in England. It featured all new cover versions: notable tracks were by Madness ("Money, Money, Money"), Culture Club ("Voulez-Vous"), the Corrs ("The Winner Takes It All"), Steps ("Lay All Your Love on Me", "I Know Him So Well"), and a medley entitled "Thank ABBA for the Music" performed by several artists and as featured on the Brits Awards that same year. |
In 1997, an ABBA tribute group was formed, the ABBA Teens, which was subsequently renamed the A-Teens to allow the group some independence. The group's first album, "The ABBA Generation", consisting solely of ABBA covers reimagined as 1990s pop songs, was a worldwide success and so were subsequent albums. The group disbanded in 2004 due to a gruelling schedule and intentions to go solo. In Sweden, the growing recognition of the legacy of Andersson and Ulvaeus resulted in the 1998 B & B Concerts, a tribute concert (with Swedish singers who had worked with the songwriters through the years) showcasing not only their ABBA years, but hits both before and after ABBA. The concert was a success, and was ultimately released on CD. It later toured Scandinavia and even went to Beijing in the People's Republic of China for two concerts. In 2000, ABBA was reported to have turned down an offer of approximately one billion US dollars to do a reunion tour consisting of 100 concerts.[61] |
For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul 30 years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, all four members made cameo appearances in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video Ever". Other well-known stars such as Rik Mayall, Cher and Iron Maiden's Eddie also made appearances in the video. It was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release, retitled The Last Video at the request of the former ABBA members. The video was made using puppet models of the members of the band. The video has surpassed 8 million views on YouTube as of November 2019. |
In 2005, all four members of ABBA appeared at the Stockholm premiere of the musical Mamma Mia!.[62] On 22 October 2005, at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history.[12] On 4 July 2008, all four ABBA members were reunited at the Swedish premiere of the film Mamma Mia!. It was only the second time all of them had appeared together in public since 1986.[63] During the appearance, they re-emphasised that they intended never to officially reunite, citing the opinion of Robert Plant that the re-formed Led Zeppelin was more like a cover band of itself than the original band. Ulvaeus stated that he wanted the band to be remembered as they were during the peak years of their success.[64] |
The compilation album ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits, originally released in 1992, returned to number-one in the UK album charts for the fifth time on 3 August 2008.[65] On 14 August 2008, the Mamma Mia! The Movie film soundtrack went to number-one on the US Billboard charts, ABBA's first US chart-topping album. During the band's heyday the highest album chart position they had ever achieved in America was number 14. In November 2008, all eight studio albums, together with a ninth of rare tracks, was released as The Albums.[66] It hit several charts, peaking at number-four in Sweden and reaching the Top 10 in several other European territories. |
In 2008, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, in collaboration with Universal Music Group Sweden AB, released SingStar ABBA on both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 games consoles, as part of the SingStar music video games. The PS2 version features 20 ABBA songs, while 25 songs feature on the PS3 version. |
On 22 January 2009, Fältskog and Lyngstad appeared together on stage to receive the Swedish music award "Rockbjörnen" (for "lifetime achievement"). In an interview, the two women expressed their gratitude for the honorary award and thanked their fans. On 25 November 2009, PRS for Music announced that the British public voted ABBA as the band they would most like to see re-form.[67] On 27 January 2010, ABBAWORLD, a 25-room touring exhibition featuring interactive and audiovisual activities, debuted at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. According to the exhibition's website, ABBAWORLD is "approved and fully supported" by the band members.[68][69] |
"Mamma Mia" was released as one of the first few non-premium song selections for the online RPG game Bandmaster. On 17 May 2011, "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" was added as a non-premium song selection for the Bandmaster Philippines server. On 15 November 2011, Ubisoft released a dancing game called ABBA: You Can Dance for the Wii.[70][71] In January 2012, Universal Music announced the re-release of ABBA's final album The Visitors, featuring a previously unheard track "From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel".[72] |
A book entitled ABBA: The Official Photo Book was published in early 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of the band's Eurovision victory. The book reveals that part of the reason for the band's outrageous costumes was that Swedish tax laws at the time allowed the cost of garish outfits that were not suitable for daily wear to be tax deductible. |
A sequel to the 2008 movie Mamma Mia!, titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, was announced in May 2017; the film was released on 20 July 2018.[73] Cher, who appeared in the movie, also released Dancing Queen, an album full of ABBA covers, in September 2018. |
In June 2017, a blue plaque outside Brighton Dome was set to commemorate their 1974 Eurovision win.[74] |
In May 2020, it was announced that ABBA's entire studio discography would be released on coloured vinyl for the first time, in a box set titled ABBA: The Studio Albums.[75] The initial release sold out in just a few hours.[citation needed] |
On 20 January 2016, all four members of ABBA made a public appearance at Mamma Mia! The Party in Stockholm.[76][77] On 6 June 2016, the quartet appeared together at a private party at Berns Salonger in Stockholm, which was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Andersson and Ulvaeus's first meeting. Fältskog and Lyngstad sang the ABBA song "The Way Old Friends Do"[78] before they were joined on stage by Andersson and Ulvaeus. |
British manager Simon Fuller announced in a statement in October 2016 that the group would be reuniting to work on a new 'digital entertainment experience'.[79] The project would feature the members in their "life-like" avatar form ('abbatars') based on their late 1970s tour and would be set to launch by the spring of 2019.[80] On 27 April 2018, the members announced that they had recorded two new songs, one entitled "I Still Have Faith in You", to feature in a TV special set to air later that year.[81] The other new track is called "Don't Shut Me Down".[82][83] |
In September 2018, Ulvaeus revealed that the two new songs, "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", as well as the aforementioned TV special now called ABBA: Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute, would be released no earlier than March 2019.[84] In January 2019, Ulvaeus revealed that neither song was finished yet, hinting at a final mix date of spring 2019 and the possibility of a third song.[85] |
In June 2019, Ulvaeus announced that the first new song and video containing the Abbatars would be released in November 2019. In September, he stated in an interview that there were now five new ABBA songs[86] to be released in 2020. In early 2020, Andersson confirmed that he was aiming for the songs to be released in September 2020.[87] |
In April 2020, Ulvaeus gave an interview saying that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the avatar project has been delayed by six months. As of 2020, five out of the eight original songs written by Benny for the new album have been recorded by the 2 female members, and there is a new music video with new unseen technology that cost £15 million, with the release for the music video being decided.[88][89] |
In October 1984, Ulvaeus and Andersson together with lyricist Tim Rice released the musical concept double-album Chess. The singles "One Night in Bangkok" (with vocals by Murray Head and Anders Glenmark ) and "I Know Him So Well" (a duet by Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige, and later also recorded by Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston) were both hugely successful. The former reached number-one in Australia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland; number-two in Austria, France and New Zealand, and number-three in Canada, Norway, Sweden and the US. In May 1986, the musical premiered in London's West End, and ran for almost three years. Chess also opened on Broadway in April 1988, but closed within two months due to bad reviews. In Stockholm, the composers staged Chess på svenska (Chess in Swedish) in 2003, with some new material, including the musical numbers "Han är en man, han är ett barn" ("He's a Man, He's a Child") and "Glöm mig om du kan" ("Forget Me If You Can"). In 2008, the musical was again revived for a successful staging at London's Royal Albert Hall which was subsequently released on DVD, and then in two successful separate touring productions in the United States and United Kingdom, in 2010. |
Andersson and Ulvaeus' next project, Kristina från Duvemåla, an epic Swedish musical, premiered in Malmö, in southern Sweden in October 1995. The musical ran for five years in Stockholm, and an English version has been in development for some considerable time. It has been reported that a Broadway production is in its earliest stages of pre-production.[90] In the meantime, following some earlier workshops, a full presentation of the English translation of the musical in concert, now with the shortened name of "Kristina", took place to capacity crowds in September 2009 at New York's Carnegie Hall, and in April 2010 at London's Royal Albert Hall, followed by a CD release of the New York recordings. |
Since 1983, besides Chess and Kristina från Duvemåla, Andersson has continued writing songs with Ulvaeus. The pair produced two English-language pop albums with Swedish duo Gemini in 1985 and 1987. In 1987, Andersson also released his first solo album on his own label, Mono Music, called "Klinga mina klockor" ("Ring My Bells"), containing material inspired by Swedish folk music – and followed it with a second album titled November 1989. |
During the 1990s, Andersson wrote music for the popular Swedish cabaret quartet Ainbusk Singers, giving them two hits: "Lassie" and "Älska mig" ("Love me"), and later produced Shapes, an English-language album by Josefin Nilsson with all-new material by Andersson and Ulvaeus. Andersson has also regularly written music for films (most notably to Roy Andersson's Songs from the Second Floor). In 2001, Andersson formed his own band, Benny Anderssons Orkester (BAO), which released three successful albums in 2001, 2004 and 2007. Andersson has the distinction of remaining the longest in the Swedish Radio Svensktoppen charts; the song "Du är min man" ("You Are My Man"), sung by Helen Sjöholm, spent 278 weeks there between 2004 and 2009.[91] Andersson released his third album BAO 3 in October 2007, of new material with his band BAO and vocalists Helen Sjöholm and Tommy Körberg, as well as playing to full houses at two of Sweden's largest concert venues in October and November 2007, with an audience of 14,000. |
Ulvaeus has not appeared on stage performing music since ABBA, but had a reunion with his co-members of the Hootenanny Singers on 16 July 2005 at a music festival in his hometown of Västervik, singing their 1966 hit "Marianne". |
Andersson and Ulvaeus have been highly involved in the worldwide productions of the musical Mamma Mia!, alongside Lyngstad who attends premieres. They were also involved in the production of the successful film version of the musical, which opened in July 2008. Andersson produced the soundtrack utilising many of the musicians ABBA used on their albums and tours. Andersson made a cameo appearance in the movie as a "fisherman" piano player in the "Dancing Queen" scene, while Ulvaeus is seen as a Greek god playing a lyre during the closing credits. |
Andersson and Ulvaeus have continuously been writing new material; most recently they wrote seven songs for Andersson's 2011 BAO album O Klang Och Jubeltid, performed as usual by vocalists Sjöholm, Körberg and Moreus. In July 2009, BAO (now renamed the Benny Andersson Band) released their first international album, The Story of a Heart. The album was a compilation of 14 tracks from Andersson's five Swedish-language releases between 1987 and 2007, including five songs now recorded with lyrics by Ulvaeus in English; the new title song premiered on BBC2's Ken Bruce Show. A Swedish-language version of the title track, "Sommaren Du Fick" ("The Summer You Got"), was released as a single in Sweden prior to the English version, with vocals by Helen Sjöholm. In May 2009, Andersson released a single recorded by the staff at his privately owned Stockholm hotel Hotel Rival, titled "2nd Best to None", accompanied by a video showing the staff at work. |
In 2008, Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote a song for Swedish singer Sissela Kyle, titled "Jag vill bli gammal" ("I Wanna Grow Old"), for her Stockholm stage show "Your Days Are Numbered", which was never recorded and released, but was performed on television. Ulvaeus also contributed lyrics to ABBA's 1976 instrumental track "Arrival" for Sarah Brightman's cover version recorded for her 2008 album Winter Symphony. New English lyrics have also been written for Andersson's 1999 song "Innan Gryningen" (then also named "Millennium Hymn"), with the new title "The Silence of the Dawn" for Barbara Dickson (performed live, but not yet recorded and released). In 2007, they wrote the song "Han som har vunnit allt" ("He Who's Won It All") for actor/singer Anders Ekborg. |
Ulvaeus also wrote English lyrics for two older songs from Andersson's solo albums: "After the Rain" ("Efter regnet", 1987) for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, for her Andersson tribute album I Let the Music Speak, and "I Walk with You Mama" ("Stockholm by Night", 1989). Barbara Dickson recorded (but not yet released) a Björn & Benny song entitled "The Day The Wall Came Tumbling Down"; the track was eventually released by Australian Mamma Mia! musical star Anne Wood on her album of ABBA covers, Divine Discontent. As of October 2012[update], Ulvaeus has mentioned writing new material with Andersson for a BAO Christmas release (also mentioned as a BAO 'box'). Andersson (together with Kristina Lugn and Lars Rudolfsson) composed music for a Swedish language obscure musical, "Hjälp Sökes" ("Help Wanted"), which premiered in February 2013. Andersson has also written music for a documentary film about Olof Palme, re-recording the track "Sorgmarsch" ("Dirge"). |
In 1980, Fältskog and her then 7-year-old daughter Linda recorded Nu tändas tusen juleljus, a Swedish Christmas album. Released in 1981, it was Fältskog's first Swedish-language recording for the Polar Music label after she left CBS-Cupol. It peaked at No. 6 on the Swedish album chart in January 1982, and has since been re-released on CD by Polar Music/PolyGram/Universal Music. The album title is derived from one of Scandinavia's best-known Christmas carols, "Nu tändas tusen juleljus" ("Now a thousand Christmas candles are lit"). |
In 1983, Fältskog released the solo album Wrap Your Arms Around Me, which achieved platinum sales in Sweden. This included the single "The Heat Is On", which was a hit in Europe and Scandinavia. It reached number-one in Sweden and Norway and peaked at number-two in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the United States, Fältskog earned a Billboard Top 30 hit with "Can't Shake Loose". The title track of the album was another successful hit, topping the charts in Belgium and Denmark, reaching the Top 5 in the Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden, and the Top 20 in Germany and France. The album sold 1.2 million copies worldwide.[92] The album was produced Mike Chapman, also known for his work with The Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro, Blondie, Pat Benatar and The Knack. |
Fältskog's second English-language solo album, Eyes of a Woman (produced by Eric Stewart of 10cc), was released in March 1985. It peaked at number two in Sweden (becoming a platinum seller). The first single from the album was her self-penned "I Won't Let You Go". Her duet with Ola Håkansson, "The Way You Are", was a number-one hit in Sweden in 1986 and was awarded double platinum status. |