Anni-Frid Lyngstad celebrates 80 years / Minnenas Journal

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Here is your life

Anni-Frid Lyngstad celebrates 80 years

A congratulations is in order. This year Anni-Frid celebrates her 80th birthday. More than half a century after she conquered the world with the supergroup ABBA, she is still a household name. We celebrate her birthday through some well-chosen pictures.

Text: Veronica Trajkovski Malheden

Mamma Mia

It can't have escaped anyone's notice that the musical Mamma Mia, based on a selection of ABBA's songs from the 1970s and 1980s, was also made into a film with superstars Meryl Streep and Christine Baranski in some of the roles? Here are Meryl Streep, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Christine Baranski during the film premiere in Stockholm on July 4, 2008. Photo: TT

A distinctive voice

Anni-Frid Lyngstad became Frida to the whole world when ABBA's career took off. With her distinctive voice and elegant charisma, she has remained a beloved icon for several generations.

Photo: Getty images

From Norway to Sweden

She was born in Ballangen in northern Norway on November 15, 1945. When she was 2 years old, her mother died of kidney failure and she grew up with her grandmother in Torshälla, Sweden. In the pictures, Anni-Frid is 7 months and 5 years old, respectively.

Photo: Gettyimages

World stars in rocket speed

In Stockholm 1974, Anni-Frid won the Melodifestivalen with Waterloo, along with Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus. They also won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, Great Britain, the same year

-and the success was a fact, Photo: Getty Images

On their own

After Abba dominated the disco scene for more than a decade-with hits like Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Super Trouper-Anni-Frid's solo career resumed. Here she is seen in New York in 1982.

No. 11/2025

Photo: Gettyimages

Popular album

In Polar's studio, Anni-Frid Lyngstad recorded the solo LP Something's Going On together with British musician Phil Collins. Photo: TT

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FRIDA HAS NO REGRETS

 

"Månads journalen" nr 10 – October of 1996

FRIDA

HAS NO REGRETS

Now Anni-Frid Lyngstad talks about her difficult life.

I HAVE NO REGRETS

There are so much more than her voice that has matured with Anni-Frid Lyngstad, when she now is back after twelve years. Life has never been easy for the ABBA-princess, but she has made it through the pain.

- Talk naturally to each other,” says the guy with the TV-camera.
- Ignore us, just sit there and talk." Anni-Frid Lyngstad is picking the salad with her plastic fork. Anders Glenmark raises his water glass. The microphone is dangling a decimeter away, the silence feels complete, like in a recording studio, three men from the state television are observing them:
- Sit like that, a little more to the right, naturally, you hear?
- Talk now, it could be useful, talk now, there, to the left for the light for Frida, be natural.
Frida says something about that it must be fun for the philharmonics to play pop music. What can you say. The tone of the conversation is so positive:
- I had no idea you were so talented...
It's a very unnatural situation. But pretend closeness is part of promoting almost any product nowadays, even music. Swedish Television has followed Anni-Frid Lyngstad monthly to make a film to show when she releases her first album in twelve years. It will probably be great, shots from Mallorca where Frida has a luxurious house, the mild voice of Mark Levengood and so on. But anyone who is genuinely curious about the ABBA-singer, the international celebrity, the multimillionaire and friend of the Swedish royal family Anni-Frid Lyngstad, married to prince Ruzzo Reuss for a decade or so, should choose to listen to the lyrics of her songs.
That's where she is. The music is written by Anders Glenmark, and the lyrics also and he oversees the production. But the feeling is Frida's:
- I have been dwelling on myself in these songs.
So even though Anders Glenmark, who is ten years younger and a man, has written the lyrics, this is what's behind it:
- I wanted to portray the mature woman I am. The fact that I still have a little girl inside me, that I allow myself to be young, but don't have to be 20 anymore, all at the same time.
No wonder Glenmark's wife said she didn't recognize her husband anymore. Among the eternal pop words always and never flows intoxicating minor chords and the dream of being the woman of your life, your loved one and your best friend. Among the caressing sounds that remind you of outdoor dancing we will see what happens, may it be good, suddenly a dandelion appears that longs for the sun. An intense longing after closeness, I want more, a breath from your soul.
- You become braver as you get older. It would be great if women my age can relate to this. It's 1996 now, I want time and room for both sex and sensuality.
It's almost twenty years since ABBA was at the height of their fame, so long ago that the group has had a revival and their records have been re-released. Recently, earlier this year, a bestselling British book was published, telling the "truth" about the differences and separations within ABBA.
Frida's attitude towards the media and the reporters is not divided. It's totally negative. The book is not worth anything more than a shrug of the shoulders, "just a concoction of the old gossip". And this interview for this magazine is of course a part of promoting the new album, just like the TV film. Frida is out "doing press". The magazine must be approved, just like the reporter, the photographer has to be the right one, clothes have been carefully picked, the copy must be read, the pictures seen. Those are the conditions; I should have gotten used to it. For our first meeting I arrive with a surly face, but friendly, just to not ruin the job. I never got used to it. I feel like I'm forced to do it.
But how did Frida feel?
Who never got a positive reaction from the media (apart from her breakthrough the night when Sweden changed their traffic rules and started driving on the right side of the road instead of the left in 1967. When the mother-of-two Anni-Frid Lystad-Fredriksson, 21, from Eskilstuna, (including the misspelling of her last name, sang on TV so well that the whole population forgot their worries about the new traffic rules). Whose professional ambitions were despised, whose world fame didn't sit well with the political situation in Sweden in the 70's, whose finances were something suspicious, whose success were laughed at, whose looks were watched like they were an issue of international importance, whose private life was sold in the form of colorful eye candy?
Not to mention her relationship to Agnetha Fältskog.
- When we first met Agnetha was 17 years old. I was married and had two children - I got pregnant for the first time when I was 16. Five years age difference is enormous when you are that age - and besides that Agnetha and I had, and will always have, two completely different personalities. That does not mean that we don't like each other a lot. She has had hardships as well. The famous animosity has never existed.
- How was it back then, when you were singing together?
- We pushed each other in a positive way. Anything you can do I can do better! Now, when I listen to what we did, I think our voices sound fantastic together. I have wanted us to make a record together for years, and Agnetha wants to do that too. But not yet. I must wait until she feels ready.
But long-lasting friendship does not make very good headlines.
Divorces, on the other hand, do. There was a day when Frida popped into her local store in Lidingö to buy milk and was faced with the billboards announcing her and Benny Andersson's divorce. Frida left the milk and went home:
- That was the moment I decided I had to move abroad. I understood that I would be easy prey for the press. This spring I got to relive that feeling, good friends faxed me billboards saying that I and Ruzzo were divorcing. I felt sick. It physically hurt. For eleven years they had left me alone, now I was back in that position again. To be honest I wanted to tell the whole press and media to go to hell. I'm hurt. I really don't want to spend any time with that category of people.
From the archives I retrieve a typical article from Dagens Nyheter, published in 1977, where the culture reporter Ingemar Glanzelius is taking offence over "ABBA ignoring the idealistic dream of culture and aim straight for the capitalistic reality of our society". Glanzelius mean that ABBA "are making the most political music in our country". It is "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)" he is talking about.
Twenty years later it's funny but back then it was serious. During the years when Frida continued to be a celebrity because she is a celebrity, the distrust hasn't gone away at all.
Here starts the process of a wish for total control. The wish to be in control. The new album will only be released in Scandinavia, it is in Swedish, mostly because Frida wanted to avoid the international media circus:
- People like to gossip about others, I do to. But if you choose to make up lies for a living, you must lead an empty life.
Before our second meeting Frida has called a mutual friend and the conversations between us flow much easier.
So finally both her and me stop acting like we were on a stage. It's now we talk about grandmother.
In every person's life there is a base that explains a lot of what comes later. In Frida's life it's her grandmother. It's from her she has made her race to the top. When media through the years have compared the former ABBA member's ability to manage their fortunes, Frida has always come out on top. Smart girl. Emotions drove her from Sweden, and it was important that the money came with her. They were, and are, the ticket to a completely different life than the one she shared with her grandmother. During the interview Frida says that she is a socialist. That surprises me. Afterwards she calls me up and says that she has looked up the word:
- And I'm not a socialist. But I have my roots in the working class, it has to do with my reality, I grew up in it. I know what it means to be poor and left behind. My race to the top has nothing to do with cottage and castle, but with self-worth. I have made the transition from being a loser to some who has made a success of her life.
Frida's mother fell in love with a German soldier when she was a teenager in Norway during the war. She became one of the despised "German's girls" and on top of it she got pregnant. The man was married and had children whom he went back to when the war was over. In the sorrow over his betrayal her mother didn't want to live anymore. She died when she was 19.
- My grandmother had already lost her husband, now she lost her daughter and was stuck with me. I wasn't even two years old when she left Norway to find a new life in Sweden. An incredibly strong woman. She found an apartment building where she became the caretaker, so she didn't have to pay any rent, she grew potatoes and vegetables, kept everything tidy and made all my clothes. Frida smiles.
- Do you remember those sleeveless ribbed shirts? I really wanted one. But there was no chance she would buy me clothes as long as she could sew.
Now, with some distance from the past, Frida is able to see the pain in her grandmother’s life and she also realize that one way to express love is to take care of someone's basic needs. That wasn't as obvious as she was growing up. Her grandmother didn't express her affection and didn't hug or kiss her.
- We were two lonely people who were together, you could say. Even as a grown up I have the need to be completely alone at times. Especially when I need to heal from something bad, there have been some hard times in my life.
Is it starting to sound sad?
Well, let's change that then.
Frida may have had a rocky start in life, but it gave her strength. When the unknown, German father appeared during the most hectic ABBA years, suddenly interested in her, Frida was curious to meet him. Who wouldn't have been? After she had noticed some similarities, and after realizing that her father had known that his Norwegian girlfriend was pregnant, but still didn't reply to her letters, she decided the contact with her father was something she could do without.
- I'm rather be with people who don’t betray. Her voice is firm.
- I'm not easily impressed. I have found my place, and there no one can touch me.
I don't know how Frida is in private. Like the three other former members of ABBA she is surrounded by people who limit their comments about them to superlatives. Or they do as Michael B Tretow did in a TV-interview recently; make up a story about how ABBA drank 'gäddjuice' (pike juice). Gäddjuice? But it sounded true. The next day a reporter was really excited about the new, true ABBA story.
How many times during the years have people enjoyed themselves by spreading rumors. Though, in Frida's case, her description of herself is immovable, that's the word that comes to me. An incredible volition. The voice is pleasant; the tone is stern. The look in her eyes is friendly, and she never looks away from you. She is not giving in.
Is it her attitude towards the media again? Her upbringing with her grandmother? Never exposed again. How much should an interviewer try to find the answers to these questions when Frida herself says that maybe it's all in her personality, from birth?
But as long as Frida can remember she always had a vision of a different life. Her singing voice was her chance, the ambition, limitless. The fact that she had children didn't stop her professional ambition. Every time an opportunity came she took it:
- All fame cost, mine too. Today I have a loving relationship with my grown-up children. But there was a time when my daughter denied that I was her mother. I'm afraid the loneliness from my childhood with my grandmother was transferred to my children, I'm not a very physical person either. The only one I touch gladly, without hesitation, is my husband.
To summarize, Frida's children got to see the bad sides of being famous.
- Suddenly some fans walked in through the door, and there stood my children. Not all of the fans are completely sane. That hurt me and it hurt my children. It has taken a long time, and many talks between us to heal our relations. Now, in hindsight, I can see the price of fame, but I don't regret what I did. Did?
- I always put myself first. All the time. That didn't change until I met my husband, Ruzzo. Once we had moved in together, I made a decision. For the first time in my life, I would give my all to someone other than me. I devoted myself completely to him.

Ruzzo Reuss**, a German** prince, is a golf course architect. Frida became his caddie, around the world and learned to play golf at the same time. Suddenly she was part of the royal circle who hunted and ski together. Since the 70s Ruzzo is a friend of the Swedish king and queen. And now, so is Frida. Their common interest in nature and children's wellbeing has deepened their relationship and queen Silvia is, among other prominent people, a member of an international foundation, which Frida, in classic upper class style, is a member of:
- I think it's important to give something back when I have received so much.
Her involvement in Mentor Foundation for the prevention of substance abuse is not the only one. An article in a paper about the acid rain, in the early 80's, made Frida so upset she immediately joind the environmental foundation The Natural Step. In the legacy from her grandmother she is, as Frida herself calls it "extremely pedantic". The work consumed her. After founding and being the CEO of Artister För Miljö, she preferred her own foundation, “Stiftelsen Anni-Frid Lyngstads Miljöfond”, which for example support two summer camps that teaches children about ecology.
In the mid 80's, when Frida's interest in the environment still was new, I interviewed her for Expressen. We were at Skeppsholmen, where The Natural Step had its office. I liked her, she was unexpectedly serious. But what impressed me most was her hair color. Wasn't she the one who introduced the unlikely color "black tulip"? There she was, in totally different light. She had changed class, that's how it felt. What used to be glass pearls were now real.
Even at home at her grandmother's she used a napkin to wipe her mouth. But:
- Where I started, that's where I belong. A part of me is still the little girl my grandmother led around the house showing me how housework was done.
Describe that girl:
- Always searching, often alone, never scared.
She would not have put it like that during the ABBA years. She says that ABBA belongs to her youth, there is so much more than her voice that has matured, gotten deeper.
- The big change came after the divorce from Benny. It was then I broke out of the little world. I was forced to change my life radically. The safety net was gone; I was alone.
The step out into the unknown killed the feeling of break up. The need to hide from the world would have come no matter where in the world she was. However, in London, it became possible. "My need for solitude" as Frida calls it has only grown stronger. It started when she read some of what the Indian philosopher Krishnamurti wrote when she was in the middle of the big ABBA era.
- I took his advice; I focused on one thing at a time. In the middle of the chaos, I could sit down and completely devote myself to lifting a glass of water.
Nowadays Frida finds the solitude and calmness in Switzerland. The farm outside of Bern, the smell of cows. And of course, the Alps.
- To go hiking the way I do nowadays is a way to expose oneself. You reach a narrow passage and it's literally a matter of life and death to get passed it. That situation is like what I have been through emotionally. It is such a liberating feeling to get passed it, if you have done it once you will be able to face your pain in a completely different way.
Her biggest spiritual experiences have always happened on mountains, like last year when she was hiking on Mount Kenya. On the morning of New Year's Day, she was approaching 5000 meters. At noon the group reached the difficult passages. Suddenly there was a sign:
Go careful friend, for here is high
Go daringly where eagles fly
Go eternally with Jesus nigh
- I cried, it was so big, I felt close to God, and the feeling of that almightiness it lifts you.
And now she releases a CD.
- When I walked into the studio I remembered something Tina Turner said once, that the voice is hanging in there, just waiting for you. That's exactly how it felt.

LENA KATARINA SWANBERG

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My faith in God has helped me

 

xpressen – 2000-05-24

I AM A VERY STRONG WOMAN. I also have a strong faith in God and a fantastic family. That has helped me through the difficult time, says Anni-Frid Reuss-Lyngstad. Expressen met her in Toronto where she watched the premiere of "Mamma Mia". When she saw the performance in London, Anni-Frid was invited on stage. "There was a fantastic cheer. I felt terribly appreciated," she says.

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My faith in God has helped me

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Anni-Frid talks about the grief for Prince Ruzzo.

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TORONTO. The last years of the 90s were dyed in pitch black for Anni-Frid Reuss-Lyngstad.

She lost her daughter and her husband in a short time. Expressen met her last night in Toronto, and she spoke for the first time about her grief and loss.

-I have a very strong faith in God. It has helped me.

Anni-Frid Reuss-Lyngstad arrived in Canada on Sunday and is traveling back today. It was Björn Ulvaeus who, a few weeks ago, wondered if she would like to come over and watch the premiere of the Abba musical "Mamma Mia".

Why not? I thought. At the same time, it gave me the opportunity to meet my family here. My grandson Jonathan lives in the US, not too far from here. And my daughter Henriette is studying in Boston. They are both here now.

When the request came, she still hadn't seen "Mamma Mia", even though it had been in London for a year.

I haven't been that involved in the work itself. Then there are private things that have made me never get away. But last weekend she finally made it to England and saw and heard the 22 Abba songs in the musical for the first time.

Singing along with the audience

It was very refreshing. It's amazing how they got the story and how it integrates into the music in a very natural way. It was exciting to hear Abba music in that way.

The audience sang along. Me too. My son was sitting next to me and gave me an elbow on the side. He thought I should stop.

I don't sing that loud, I said. I turned to Görel (good friend Görel Hanser) and asked. Yes, you do, said Görel.

Invited on stage

Anni-Frid was also invited on stage afterwards.

I thought, “how will this go. Will the audience recognize that old lady? I look a bit different now, than with Abba. But there was a fantastic cheer. I felt terribly appreciated.

It was a kind of joy ride in this. Joy is otherwise something that Anni-Frid has been severely deprived of in recent years. In 1998, her daughter Lise-Lotte Casper was killed in a car accident in the USA. Last year, tragedy struck again. Her life partner of 15 years, her husband Ruzzo Reuss, who died of cancer on October 30. He was only 49 years old. How have you found strength to continue facing the future?

-First of all, I'm a very strong woman. I understood that. Then I have a very strong faith in God. That is probably what has helped me.

Fantastic family

I have a very strong faith in a power and an eternity, and that helps me through my day. Plus, I have a fantastic little family. We are very close to each other. We help each other. It is not just me who suffers. There are several. Both family and friends. Stepdaughters Henriette and Pauline are both studying abroad. Henriette is studying economics in Boston and Pauline is studying public art in London. They are 23 years old and live their own lives. But we meet regularly and have good contact. It helps a lot.

Thrives in Switzerland

Anni-Frid has lived in Switzerland for 18 years now. She has no plans to move home, she says. She likes it far too well there. Not least, it has been nice not to have to be recognized. That's what I least want to be. It's extremely nice to live anonymously, ordinary life in Switzerland. I haven't regretted for a moment that I moved there.

In Stockholm, it is more difficult. Even in London. But really, it doesn't matter that much anymore. With the right age, you can enjoy being recognized and get some praise for what you have done.

She says that she visits Sweden a few times a year. Then she usually tries to meet Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.

We meet quite a lot. We meet quite regularly when the opportunity arises and I'm in Stockholm.

How much contact do you have with Agnetha Fältskog?

Not so much. She has a slight tendency to withdraw. But we exchange letters from time to time and

two, three times a year we talk on the phone.

•Is there any scenario you can imagine where Abba would sing together again?

It is difficult to see it, for the reason that Agnetha is not particularly willing to imagine herself in that situation. I certainly think that we could imagine doing something that all four of us thought would be fun. But that is not the case, so now you cannot write that there is a chance for a reunion. It is simply out of the question.

But could you imagine it?

Yes, but not a reunion like Abba. But a reunion to do something musical in some way. That would certainly be fun. But then there would need to be four of us.

Anni-Frid released a solo album a few years ago but has no plans to go back into the studio. She says that for her it feels like the circle is closed.

Do you sing much yourself? No, not very often. Circumstances meant that you don't feel particularly inclined to sing. But I try from time to time. The voice is there. If I ever decide, I just have to train it.

Do you have any projects going on?

No, I've got myself going. It's my biggest project right now. It may take the time it takes,

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Expressen facts

On stage at 11 years old

Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway in 1945. Her mother died at the age of 22 and her father was a German soldier.

Her grandmother took Frida with her to Sweden where she grew up. At the age of 11, she performed for the first time in front of an audience.

When she was 18 years old, she became a wife to a bandleader and together they had two children, son Hans and daughter Lise-Lotte.

Frida won the talent show “New Faces” in 1967, was part of "Hylands Hörna" and met Benny Andersson at a nightclub in Malmo. They married in 1978 and made Abba a success worldwide.

In 1981, the marriage ended, Abba split up and Frida moved to Switzerland in 1984. There she met the

newly divorced prince Ruzzo Reuss. After two years they moved in together and in 1992 they got married. Ruzzo Reuss has twin daughters Henriette and Pauline from a previous marriage. He died on October 30 last year of cancer.

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Grandson JONATHAN , 11 years old, likes Abba and Metallica. "He is very musical and plays drums," says grandmother Anni-Frid proudly.

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ANNI-FRID'S HUSBAND Prince Ruzzo Reuss died of cancer in October last year. Photo: CHARLES HAMMARSTEN

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