Pop · Eurovision
From Eurovision to the world’s pop songbook.
The biography
ABBA is a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972, made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad. Their breakthrough came with a win at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with “Waterloo,” and from there their music spread around the world. The peak years brought a run of albums — ABBA (1975), Arrival (1976) and The Album (1977) — and a chain of hits including “Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance on Me” and “The Winner Takes It All.”
The group stopped working as a recording and performing band in 1982. Their music continued through the stage musical Mamma Mia! and its films, but that later life is only a footnote to the 1970s story told here. What made ABBA last was not a single sound, but a songwriting partnership that could write a joyful pop chorus and a heartbreaking ballad with the same clarity. Their melodies are easy to remember and hard to forget, and their harmonies — two voices, close and bright — became a signature as recognisable as any instrument.
