ABBA

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with Waterloo, the Swedish quartet developed into one of the most successful pop groups of the 1970s.

Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni -Frid Lyngstad, aka ABBA , had already had a musical life, either solo or together, when they decided to continue as a quartet in 1972, initially as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid—but that quickly proved too cumbersome a band name. Their first international hit in 1973 was Ring Ring, but their worldwide breakthrough came after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the energetic pop song Waterloo.

Hits like Mamma Mia, SOS, Bang-A-Boomerang", I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, Fernando and Dancing Queen followed one another in rapid succession. ABBA made a great impression worldwide with their well-performed, cheerful pop songs featuring the golden voices of the two singers. ABBA was initially mainly regarded as a singles act, but with ABBA (1975), Arrival (1976) and ABBA: The Album (1977), the quartet proved that they could also make serious albums, and artistic appreciation for the composer duo Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson also grew. ABBA: The Movie (1977) perfectly depicted how the world had fallen into the grip of ABBA-mania.

Voulez-Vous (1979) showed that disco hadn't passed the quartet by. It yielded new hit successes. Behind the scenes, however, things were tumultuous, resulting in their last two official albums, Super Trouper (1980) and The Visitors (1981), sounding more subdued and at times somber. The marriages between Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, had meanwhile fallen apart, one of the reasons why ABBA ceased all activities in the early 1980s.

Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson focused on musicals, with Chess, written with Tim Rice, being the most compelling result. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad successfully launched solo careers. In the early 1990s, interest in ABBA revived thanks to the compilation ABBA Gold, which quickly spawned a sequel in the form of More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits. The name has since been kept alive thanks to new compilations and the successful film and musical Mamma Mia!. After 40 years, there was another addition: ABBA finally released one final album: Voyage (2021).

At Platenzaak.nl we have a huge selection of ABBA CDs and LPs, including exclusive versions.