The 1974 Eurovision Song Contest winner at Brighton, named after a Belgian battlefield (1974)
"Waterloo" — later voted the best song in the contest's history at its fiftieth anniversary.
Popular music · Pop
ABBA
1972–1982; reunited 2018– · Swedish
Europop — Polar Music, Stockholm
ABBA were a Swedish quartet of two couples — Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad and Benny Andersson — whose Eurovision win in 1974 launched a decade of meticulously produced, melancholy-tinged pop. Björn and Benny wrote and produced; the two women sang the leads in close harmony. They stopped in 1982 without ever formally splitting, were revived commercially by the musical Mamma Mia!, and returned in 2021 with a new album and a London show performed by digital avatars.
How to spot them
- ▸Two male writers, two female voices in unison-and-thirds harmony; the wall-of-sound Polar Studios production
- ▸The name is an acronym of the four first names, coined by manager Stig Anderson; the logo has a reversed first B
- ▸Eurovision 1974 at Brighton; Polar Music; the satin and the platform boots
- ▸Two marriages inside the group, both of which ended during its lifetime
Songs & albums
A 1976 single about a seventeen-year-old having the time of her life at the disco, and their only US number one (1976)
"Dancing Queen" — premiered at the gala before the wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
A 1980 ballad about a marriage ending, written by her ex-husband and sung by Agnetha (1980)
"The Winner Takes It All".
A 1979 disco single about a woman alone after midnight, later cleared as the hook of a Madonna hit (1979)
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", sampled on Madonna's "Hung Up".
A 1980 song sung by a touring performer under the spotlight, longing for a letter from home (1980)
"Super Trouper" — named after a brand of follow-spot lamp.
A 1999 West End musical built from their back catalogue and set on a Greek island (1999)
Mamma Mia!, filmed in 2008 with Meryl Streep.
A 2021 album, their first in forty years (2021)
Voyage.
A London arena show from 2022 in which digital avatars of the band perform with a live band (2022)
ABBA Voyage, at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Quick-fire facts
- •Formed in Stockholm in 1972; the name was settled in 1973 after manager Stig Anderson tired of listing all four names
- •They won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden at the Brighton Dome on 6 April 1974; the conductor, Sven-Olof Walldoff, dressed as Napoleon
- •They recorded for Polar Music, the label Stig Anderson founded, and built Polar Studios in Stockholm
- •Björn Ulvaeus married Agnetha Fältskog in 1971 and Benny Andersson married Anni-Frid Lyngstad in 1978; both marriages ended before the group stopped
- •They had nine UK number-one singles; "Dancing Queen" was their only US chart-topper
- •Björn and Benny went on to write the musical Chess with Tim Rice
- •They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 by Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
- •Voyage (2021) was their first new album since The Visitors in 1981
- •In 2024 the four members received the Royal Order of Vasa, revived by the Swedish king after half a century
Drill it — 7 cards
1 / 7new card
Sources
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — ABBA — Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee
- Official Charts Company — Dancing Queen — full Official Chart history