ABBA - mer än bara musik

 ABBA - mer än bara musik - Företagskällan

Företagskällan 2022-09-26 (uppdaterad 2025-04-25) — Tiempo de lectura: 11 minutos

Volvo symboliserar trafiksäkerhet och elegans. Ikea står för väldesignade inredningslösningar till överkomligt pris. Men hur har en svensk popgrupp kommit att bli ett varumärke av högsta internationella klass?

ABBA Foto Baillie Walsh

Inför släppet av senaste skivan Voyage skapades fyra digitala versioner av medlemmarna, som kan framföra gruppens hits på scen. Foto: Baillie Walsh.

Varumärket ABBA har kommit att representera mer än bara en musikgrupp. När Sverige tar OS-guld är det ABBA som dånar ut över läktarna, och avslöjar man sitt hemland utomlands blir ofta ABBA (i tät strid med Ikea) det första samtalsämnet. ABBA har kommit att symbolisera hela Sverige. Det skulle dock ta flera år innan den musicerande fyrklövern faktiskt kom att bli just ABBA. Artisterna bakom den allra första gemensamt inspelade låten Hej gamle man! lanserades bara som »Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson«.

Första gången man framträdde på scen tillsammans, den 1 november 1970 på Restaurang Trädgårn i Göteborg, kallade man sig »Festfolket« (vitsigt, då Björn och Agnetha respektive Benny och Frida var förlovade med varandra). 1972, när gruppens första gemensamma singel, People Need Love, gavs ut i USA på skivbolaget Playboy Records, löd artistnamnet »Bjorn & Benny (with svenska flicka)«. Inte ens 1973, då gruppen kom trea i melodifestivalen med låten Ring Ring hade man fått till något vidare fängslande namn, utan uppträdde som »Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni- Frid«.

Ett varumärke skapas

Alla fyra var dock rutinerade artister vid det här laget. Agnetha Fältskog och Anni-Frid Lyngstad hade turnerat med diverse dansband sedan tonåren. Benny och Björn hade rest land och rike runt med Hep Stars respektive Hootenanny Singers sedan början av 1960 talet. De hade träffats 1966 och skrivit sin första låt tillsammans, Isn’t it Easy to Say, bara ett par veckor senare. Grabbarna hade dessutom arbetat som producenter och låtskrivare åt en viss Stikkan Anderson, som låg bakom skivbolaget Polar Music, som skulle ge ut ABBA:s sex kommande studioalbum.

Stikkan Anderson (Stig Andersson, 1931–1997), hade genom sin yrkesbana som korrekturläsare, lärare och trubadur gjort sig känd som »den sjungande folkskolläraren«. Han skrev också egna låtar, och det var 1959 års succé kring Lill-Babs Är du kär i mig ännu, Klas-Göran? som fick honom att lägga folkskolehatten på hyllan för att fullständigt ägna sig åt musikindustrin. Stikkan var också en fena på att vaska fram guldklimparna ur den internationella musikströmmen. Via Polar Music blev 1961 exempelvis amerikanen Roy Hamiltons You Can Have Her till Sånt är livet med Anita Lindblom. I utbyte fick världen flera utländska versioner av den gode Klas-Göran, som dock döptes om till det något fräsigare Rockin’ Billy.

Namn var viktigt, på vilken produkt som helst. Det visste Stikkan, och det var han som 1973, efter att Ring Ring blivit en internationell hit, började kalla den nya stjärnan på Polarhimlen för ABBA. Dessvärre fanns det ett svenskt fiskkonserveringsföretag som sedan länge hade verkat under samma namn. Stikkan ringde upp Abba (ursprungligen AB Bröderna Ameln), som gick med på att dela namn med popgruppen, »med reservation för att ungdomarna skötte sig och inte skadade Abbas goda rykte«.

nzzcfutw-1

Stikkan Anderson spelade en stor roll för att göra ABBA till ett globalt fenomen. Foto: Centrum för Näringslivshistoria.

Ett speciellt sound

Framgången med låten Ring Ring gjorde att man inför 1974 års melodifestival helt gjorde om jurysystemet för att bättre avspegla svenska folkets musikaliska åsikter. Återigen uppträdde fyrklövern från 1973 med melodi nummer 5, men nu med Waterloo. Och den här gången vann de.

Vann gjorde de också hela Eurovisionsschlagern, som detta år hölls i Brighton. En ABBA-våg svepte nu över Europa, men alla svenskar var inte lika entusiastiska: Stikkan Andersons schlagerfabrik, som den hånfullt kallades, fick ta emot kritik inte minst från vänsterrörelsen, som tyckte att ABBA representerade allt det onda inom musikbranschen. Stikkan själv bemötte kritiken med »visst skriver jag mycket skit, men det är åtminstone bra betalt«.

Via Polar Music hade Björn och Benny sedan länge arbetat med den begåvade ljudteknikern Michael B. Tretow. Micke Tretow, som bidrog stort till vad som i dag klassas som ABBA:s typiska sound, var inspirerad av musikproducenten Phil Spectors »wall of sound« (ljudvägg) som hade revolutionerat skivindustrin omkring tio år tidigare. Alla olika komponenter i en låt spelades in separat, ofta två eller tre gånger. När de mixades samman med en anings förskjutning, uppstod en subtil avvikelse i rytm och tonhöjd, vilket bidrog till att skapa ABBA:s karakteristiska dynamik. Och som även skulle komma att locka världsartister som Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin och Céline Dion till Polar Studios i Stockholm.

abba-bild-1

En ABBA-våg svepte över världen efter vinsten i Eurovisionsschlagerfestivalen. Här uppträder de på Gröna Lund 1975. Foto: Gröna Lunds arkiv hos Centrum för Näringslivshistoria.

På sina håll viftades ABBA:s enorma framgång bort med det faktum att gruppen omgav sig med ytterst kompetenta yrkesmän inom den svenska musikbranschen, eller skylldes på den säljande varumärkesförpackningen (vackra människor i glittriga trikåer). Det finns förstås gott om exempel på storsäljare inom musikindustrin som har skapats genom att sätta ett attraktivt omslag på ett par välputsade hitlåtar. De flesta är dock ense om att det krävs något mer för att en produkt ska hålla i ett halvt sekel, oavsett om det är en bil, en bokhylla eller en popgrupp: ett högkvalitativt grundmaterial. Och grunden till ABBA var helt enkelt de fyra medlemmarnas måttlösa musikalitet. Bennys förmåga att fläta samman skenbart enkla melodier och ljudfragment till komplexa harmonier, som genom sin kombination av livsglädje och vemod skapar en form av musikalisk storm, omöjlig att inte bli bortsvept av. På textfronten kokar Björn ned grekiska myter, historiska händelser och livsöden till kompakta fyraminutersdraman. Eller som världens största musiktidning Rolling Stone entusiastiskt uttryckte det 2021: »det finns en ABBA-låt för varje emotionell kris«.

Och så rösterna: Agnethas kristallklara sopran och Fridas själfulla mezzosopran som tillsammans ger ett sällsynt omfattande register för Benny att plinka fram sina melodier från. Professorn i psykologi och neurovetenskap Daniel Levitin förklarade ABBA-effekten i sin bok The World in Six Songs (2008) med att ABBA:s musik »stimulerar evolutionära ekon« i våra hjärnor, från en tid då människor sjöng och musicerade tillsammans, samtidigt som de sprudlande melodierna med lättsjungna refränger ger våra hjärnor en kraftfull dos av »lyckojuice i form av dopamin«.

Erövrade världen

Om ABBA:s lyckojuice var uppskattad på hemmaplan, växte sig törsten i utlandet alltmer fanatisk. 1976 kom gruppens fjärde album, Arrival, som innehöll låten med världens mest kända 5-sekundersintro. Dancing Queen nådde toppen på singellistor i elva länder, till och med på den eftertraktade Billboardlistan i USA. Men nu ville världen se ABBA, inte bara höra, och 1977 gav man sig ut på turné i Europa och Australien. Responsen var överväldigande. ABBA möttes av en så intensiv hysteri att engelskan fick ett nytt ord: Abbamania. I London uppträdde gruppen två kvällar på rad i Royal Albert Hall. Biljetterna ansöktes om via post och sammanlagt inkom 3,5 miljoner förfrågningar. Det hade räckt till 580 konserter.

abba-bild-2

1977 gav sig bandet ut på en omfattande turné i Europa och Australien. Foto: Innovator Designs arkiv hos Centrum för Näringslivshistoria.

I Australien gavs elva konserter på åtta dagar i fyra olika städer, i en musikalisk frenesi som fångades i Lasse Hallströms semidokumentär ABBA – The Movie. Filmen producerades av Stikkan Anderson tillsammans med den australiske tv-mogulen Reg Grundy, som också förvärvade varumärkeslicensen för ABBA under turnén. Kringprodukter såldes i containerlass: väskor, speglar, strumpor, tygmärken, kuddvar, kalendrar, tröjor – allt som man kunde klämma ned de fyra storsäljande bokstäverna på.

Gruppen var hetare än någonsin, men på den personliga nivån började pressen av att gå från att sjunga Hej gamle man! på Frälsningsarméns ungdomsting till att förkroppsliga fenomenet ABBA, ta ut sin rätt. 1979 valde Agnetha och Björn att gå skilda vägar. Benny och Frida gav upp 1981. Samma år gav gruppen ut albumet The Visitors. ABBA hann börja på ytterligare ett album, men avslutade det aldrig. I stället gav man ut ett samlingsalbum med två nya singlar. Detta skulle bli det sista som gruppen spelade in. Sagan om ABBA var över.

Det var åtminstone vad alla trodde. Inte minst abborna själva. Frida och Agnetha satsade på solokarriärer. Björn och Benny skrev musikalen Chess (1983) och senare Kristina från Duvemåla (1995). Till och med Stikkan Anderson gav upp sina rättigheter till ABBA, då han 1989 sålde Polar Music till det amerikanska skivbolaget PolyGram (sedan 1998 en del av Universal Music Group).

ABBA blev stadigt alltmer »ute«. Musiken stämplades som ytlig och kommersiell, looken som konstlad och gammaldags. Det var pinsamt att (ha) gilla(t) ABBA. Men under 1990- talets början hände något. Allt fler kända profiler, inte minst musiker, började komma ut som ABBA-fans: U2-stjärnan Bono, grunge-fenomenet Nirvana, Noel Gallagher från Oasis, KISS frontfigur Gene Simmons. Plötsligt var det coolt att digga den »svenska supergruppen«.

abba-bild-3

ABBA:s logotyp med det bakvända första B:et introducerades för första gången 1976 på det franska samlingsalbumet Golden Double Album. Idén stammade från den grafiska artisten Rune Söderqvist, som menade att varje B «tittade« på ett A för att symbolisera att gruppen bestod av två par. Rune Söderqvist kom att formge alla ABBA:s album från Arrival (1976) till ABBA Live (1986).

1992 satte PolyGram ihop samlingsskivan ABBA Gold, som skulle bli en av världens bäst säljande skivor. Samma år gav den brittiska synthduon Erasure ut hyllningsalbumet Abbaesque. Att sångaren Andy Bell var öppet homosexuell bidrog till att ge ABBA en ny profil: den inkluderande, HBTQ-vänliga, vilket ytterligare befästes genom inte en, utan två spelfilmer från 1994 där ABBA:s musik hade en central roll i handlingen: Muriels Bröllop och Priscilla – öknens drottning, där två dragartister framför en glittrande show till tonerna av Mamma Mia. Det är dock Dancing Queen som har kommit att bli en av HBTQ-rörelsens ledmotiv.

Musikal och film

In på ABBA-scenen trädde nu teaterproducenten Judy Craymer. Sedan mitten av 1980 talet, då hon arbetade med Chess i London, hade Craymer tjatat på Björn och Benny om att få skapa en tv-serie baserad på ABBA:s låtar. Det tog tio år, och en omstöpning av tv- konceptet till en musikal, för de två upphovsmännen att ge med sig. Benny var dock tydlig med att Mamma Mia! skulle drivas separat från ABBA, bland annat på grund av musikalens stora avvikelse från ABBA:s legendariska ljudbild. Man grundade produktionsbolaget Littlestar, där Judy Craymer respektive Björn och Benny äger 50 procent var, som hanterar alla rättigheter kopplade till Mamma Mia!. Inkomsterna har blivit tämligen ansenliga. 1999, på dagen 25 år efter att Waterloo vann Eurovisionsschlagern, hade Mamma Mia! premiär i London. Sedan dess har musikalen spelat in över 4 miljarder amerikanska dollar och är i dag världens tredje mest inkomstbringande. I musikalens farvatten steg varumärket ABBA så ofantligt i värde att gruppen år 2000 erbjöds 1 miljard US-dollar för att ge sig ut på en ny turné. De tackade nej.

abba-bild-4

Bakom de flesta av ABBA:s mest ikoniska scenkläder stod företaget Artist Dressing, som drevs av Owe Sandström och partnern Lars Wigenius. De skapade en stor del av gruppens scenkläder, bland annat de klassiska gula och blå katt-dräkterna från tidigt 1970-tal och de blå-lila-vita spandexdräkterna från turnén i Europa och USA 1979. På ABBA-museet i Stockholm kan man se många av de mest kända scenkläderna. Foto: David Pineda Cortes.

Även filmindustrin ville nu ha en del av framgångssagan Mamma Mia!. 2008 lanserade Universal Studios filmversionen producerad av Rita Wilson och maken Tom Hanks, där Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård med flera sjöng och dansade sig runt den påhittade lilla grekiska ön Kalokairi. Filmen var en av årets stora biosuccéer och dvd:n blev den bäst säljande någonsin, både i Sverige och i Storbritannien. 2018 kom uppföljaren Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, som fick den amerikanska affärstidningen Forbes att konstatera att »ABBA säljer mer musik än någonsin«.

Filmen hade lanserat ABBA:s musik till en helt ny, yngre publik, vilken man tog fasta på i det interaktiva ABBA-museet som öppnade i Stockholm 2013. Här kan de cirka 270 000 årliga besökarna bland annat studera selfie-vänlig filmrekvisita på nära håll och delta i sångauditioner och digitala dansnummer, medan ABBA själva leder besökarna genom utställningen via audioguide. »ABBA: The Museum« drivs i dag av underhållningsföretaget Pophouse, där Björn Ulvaeus är en av huvudägarna.

Återuppståndelsen

En musikal, två filmer och ett museum hade kunnat avrunda berättelsen om ABBA. Men 2021 kom den Stora Smällen i ABBA:s universum. Gruppen återuppstod. 40 år efter The Visitors kom plötsligt en helt nytt album: Voyage. Samtidigt avslöjade de mellan 71 och 76 år gamla popstjärnorna att man under fyra års tid hade arbetat med en digital form av återförening, i samarbete med specialeffektsföretaget Industrial Light and Magic (som grundades 1975 av visionären bakom Stjärnornas krig, George Lucas). Genom att spela in varje medlems minsta muskelrörelse till varje låt via närmare hundra kameror och låta dessa digitala kopior genomgå en föryngringsprocess på cirka 40 år, har man skapat fyra tredimensionella avatarer, eller »ABBAtarer«, som framför gruppens hits inför ett tiomannaliveband i en specialbyggd arena i London. Projektet ABBA VOYAGE och nya »ABBA Arena«, ingår också i Björns Pophouse.

abba-bild-5

Hela gruppen samlade i studion igen för produktionen av Voyage. Foto: Ludvig Andersson.

Albumet Voyage sålde över en miljon exemplar under den första veckan och placerade sig som etta på albumtoppen i 18 länder. Därtill hade musiken i november 2021 streamats drygt 190 miljoner gånger via digitala kanaler. Och comeback-singeln, I Still Have Faith In You, gav 2022 gruppen dess första nominering någonsin till en amerikansk Grammy. Av allt att döma är ABBA:s resa ännu inte över.

abba-visste-du-att-1

Foto: Eric Salard/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

VISSTE DU ATT...

... alla royalties från låten Chiquitita (1979) tillfaller UNICEF? 2014 hade inkomsterna genererat 20 miljoner till organisationen.

... ABBA 2010 blev den första icke-engelsktalande artisten/bandet som valdes in i det amerikanska Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

... ABBA vid ett tillfälle hade fem olika låtar på tio-i-topp i Australien?

... The Visitors var världens första album i cd-format, tryckt hos Polydor i tyska Langenhagen?

... Stikkan Anderson, då han sålde Sweden Music, donerade 42 miljoner till Musikaliska Akademien, vilket resulterade i världens största musikpris, Polar Music Prize?

... både Björn och Benny dyker upp i rutan i de två Mamma Mia!-filmerna?

... ABBA har närmare 21 miljoner unika lyssnare på Spotify varje månad?

Ur Företagshistoria 2022:3

Text: Kristin Peneda Svenske

subscription-background

Var först med det senaste och få vårt nyhetsbrev - fyll i din e-postadress och välj "Prenumerera"

https://foretagskallan.se/abba-mer-an-bara-musik/

Anni-Frid Lyngstad celebrates 80 years / Minnenas Journal

 https://www.facebook.com/homagetoannifridlyngstad/posts/pfbid03T5p43iCsZpTKLNLa4Bmth6ksoVp46CrRNtsVPuq31TBh5c2bA11ZwAtciXKGMDsl

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

Repost Homage to Anni-Frid Lyngstad on Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQZH48XipOP/?img_index=1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

https://www.reddit.com/.../1o9k748/frida_has_no_regrets/

-----------------------------------------