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From : aarontrinidad
Added: Oct 14, 2009
FORMED: 1971, Stockholm, Sweden DISBANDED: 1983 During the 1970s, fate - in combination with talent and hard work - would have it that one of the most dominating forces within the field of popular music was a group from Sweden. ABBA, a musical entity consisting of two couples, became by far the most successful act of that decade, even one of the biggest phenomenons of the whole century. As far as the world knew, ABBA's story started in April 1974 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo, but by that time the group had existed for two years and the individual members were virtual showbusiness veterans in their native Sweden. It all began in June 1966, when Björn Ulvaeus met Benny Andersson for the first time. Björn was a member of the Hootenanny Singers, a popular folk music group, while Benny was a member of the Hep Stars, Sweden's number one pop band at the time. In the summer of 1966, the two groups were touring Sweden's popular open-air Folkpark circuit when they happened to meet up at a crossroads. The Hootenanny Singers were planning a party that night and invited the Hep Stars to come along. Björn and Benny soon found that they had a lot in common, and when they met at another party later that summer, they decided that they should try to write something together. With the help of Björn's father, they transported all the instruments and amplifiers to his office in the middle of the night. The result was a song called Isn't It Easy To Say, which was later recorded by the Hep Stars, and the first seeds had been sown for what eventually would blossom as ABBA. By 1969, the popularity of the two groups hade begun to wane somewhat, and after their respective summer tours of that year, the Hootennany Singers became more or less a recording act doing the occasional live performance, while Benny chose to leave the Hep Stars altogether. The two friends continued to write and record songs, encouraged by record company owner and publisher Stig Anderson who was to become ABBA's manager. Stig had great belief in the the songwriting and producing talents of Björn and Benny, assuring them that they would achieve worldwide success sooner or later. The second Björn & Benny single was a song called Hej gamle man! ("Hey Old Man!") which featured the backing vocals of their respective fianc閑s Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, the first time the four future ABBA members appeared on the same record. Frida, who had been a recording artist since the autumn of 1967, had met Benny when she appeared with a cabaret act in the town of Malmö in the south of Sweden in March 1969 - the Hep Stars had an engagement at another venue in the same town. Agnetha, a successful solo singer since her
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