Weddings, sweet sixteens, birthday parties — most of life’s biggest celebrations usually include a moment on the dance floor in which everyone gathers under the spell of one particular song: “Dancing Queen.” The masterminds behind the hit, beloved 1970s pop group ABBA, are one of the most successful groups of all time, loved for their pop-centric, disco hits put out over the last 50 years.
The creation of ABBA
ABBA consists of four members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, using the first initials of their first names to create the famous moniker. At the time of the band’s conception, Fältskog and Ulvaeus, and Lyngstad and Andersson were married, but eventually both couples split.
But the Swedish supergroup rose to fame with their 1974 victory of the Eurovision Song Contest with the hit song “Waterloo.”
After their Eurovision win, hits followed like “Honey, Honey”, “SOS”, “Mamma Mia”, “Fernando”, “Money, Money, Money”, “Dancing Queen” and more. While the group never announced an official breakup, in 1982, they performed for the last time together until their 2016 reunion.
Reaching a new generation
In 1999, their musical catalog was adapted into the musical, Mamma Mia!, which was later adapted into the 2008 film starring Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep, followed by a 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
In 2021, ABBA released new music together for the first time in decades: an album called Voyage that featured singles “I Still Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down.” This release came after the group announced they would be reuniting for a live “entertainment experience” through virtual reality avatars.
“The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence,” the group said in a statement. “We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did.”
The VR concert, ABBA Voyage, residency opened in London in 2022 and is still going strong today.
ABBA members then and now
Today, the ABBA legacy continues to live on — take a look at all four beloved members then and now (and these aren’t avatars)!
