On Saturday April 6th, 1974, in the English coastal town of Brighton, a group known in their native Sweden but unknown to the rest of the world, won the Eurovision Song Contest with a song entitled WATERLOO. ABBA had arrived and the rest is not merely history but the stuff of legend. To date, ABBA has sold over 350 million records worldwide.
Following their Eurovision triumph, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the initials of their first names made the name ABBA) were catapulted onto the world stage. WATERLOO topped pop charts all around the globe and made number six on the American Billboard chart.
Over the next eight years, ABBA would achieve countless hit singles, platinum albums, sell-out concert tours and even a hit movie - ABBA - THE MOVIE. The group's chart domination of Europe was unequivocal - with, at the time, only The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and The Beatles having achieved longer runs of top ten singles. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the American hits continued: I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO reached the top twenty, TAKE A CHANCE ON ME and THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL both made the top ten and DANCING QUEEN took ABBA to number one. A truly global success, DANCING QUEEN was also number one in 12 other countries.
Europe and North America were not the only continents to experience 'ABBAmania' - the 1976 release of MONEY, MONEY, MONEY marked ABBA's fifth consecutive number one single in Australia. In Mexico, the group scored eleven top ten hit singles, with seven reaching number one; and in Zimbabwe there were thirteen top ten singles and no less than eight consecutive number one albums (excluding the compilations still on general release!).
But by 1982 it was all over. Plans for another new album were abandoned and THE SINGLES- THE FIRST TEN YEARS released in its place. The year ended with the release of the single UNDER ATTACK which was the last for the group. Yet despite the fact that ABBA ceased to record or tour together, their music continued to entertain, to enthral, to inspire. ABBA is very much a continuing success story. The countless hits have transcended time to remain as popular today as they were when first released, in some cases more so. ABBA GOLD and MORE ABBA GOLD remain best-selling albums worldwide. The movies MURIEL'S WEDDING and PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT both featured ABBA's music and also won the group whole new generations of fans. The opening of MAMMA MIA! has not only seen theatregoers dancing in the aisles - reliving memories or discovering the ABBA sound for the first time - but also saw the album ABBA GOLD back at number one in the UK charts within weeks of the show's London premiere.
While the ABBA phenomenon is seemingly unstoppable, the song-writing partnership of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus has also continued to flourish. Their first musical CHESS, written with Tim Rice, has generated a top-selling concept album; two hit singles - ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK, which reached number 3 in the U.S. Billboard charts, and I KNOW HIM SO WELL; sell-out concert tours and many different stage productions - including a three year run at London's Prince Edward Theatre. KRISTINA FRÂN DUVEMÂLA, an epic story of Swedish immigrants journeying to America, remains the most successful musical ever to premiere in Sweden, where it opened in 1995.
