259 Hello Abba - Waterloo

Chart  entered : 20  April  1974

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 25

The  third  of  the  three  titans  who  arrived  in  1974  came  from  an  unexpected  quarter.

All  four  members  of  Abba,  particularly  the  guys,  had  substantial  and  successful  recording  careers  in  Sweden   before  the  group  was  formed   and  I  apologise  straightaway  for  not  having  the  time  or  linguistic  ability  to  investigate  these  fully. I'll  pick  up  the  story  in  1969  when  Agnetha  Faltskog a  successful  solo  artist  who  wrote  some  of  her own  material  first  crossed  paths  with  Bjorn  Ulvaes  a  member  of  Swedish  folk  group  The  Hootenanny  Singers. Bjorn  already  had  a  side  career  writing  songs  with  Benny  Andersson,  keyboard  player  with  a  rock  group  The  Hep  Stars  who  recorded  English  language  songs  in  an  ultimately  unsuccessful  bid  to  break  out  internationally. Around  the  same  time  Benny  bumped  into  another  female  singer, Norwegian  Annifrid  Lyngstad   at  the  Swedish  heats  for  the  Eurovision  Song  Contests.

Shortly  afterwards  Bjorn  and  Benny  left  their  respective  bands  to  work  as  a  duo  imaginatively  titled  Bjorn  and  Benny. Their  first  single  was  "She's  My  Kind  of  Girl"  an  attractive  Turtles-style  jaunty  piano  pounder.  It  was belatedly  a  big  hit  in  Japan  giving  the  boys  their  first  international  success. For  their  1970  single  "Hej  Gamle  Man"  they  enlisted  both  their  girlfriends  to  do  backing  vocals  so  its  the  first  recording  to  feature  all  four  members. Unfortunately  it  sounds  like  a  Eurovision  nul-pointer. They  first  performed  together  in  the  autumn  as  "Festfolket "  but  were  discouraged  by  terrible  reviews.

In  1971  Agnetha  married  Bjorn  and  joined  the  boys  on  tour. Both  she  and  Annifrid  contributed  vocals  to  further Bjorn  and  Benny  singles.  In  June  1972  they  released  an  English  language  single  "People  Need  Love"  with  the  girls'  vocals  more  prominent  which  prompted  their  label's  owner  Stig  Anderson  to  release  it  under  the  cumbersome  name  "Bjorn  and  Benny, Agnetha  and  Anni-Frid". It  sounds  a  lot  like  Blue  Mink  both  in  music  and  lyrics    and  made  minor  ripples  in  the  US. The  similarly  preachy  "He  Is  Your  Brother"   was  the  follow  up  single.

The  quartet  were  encouraged  by  Anderson  to  record  an  album  which  became  "Ring  Ring". The  title  track , with  translation  help  from  Neil  Sedaka  and  Phil  Cody  was  submitted  for  the  Eurovision  Song  Contest  but  didn't  get  through  the  heats. Nevertheless  it  was  a  number  one  hit  in  Sweden  and  also charted  in  Norway, Austria, Holland  and  South  Africa. With  the  guys  taking  more  of  a  back  seat  vocally  it's  more  recognisably  Abba  with  an  abundance  of  melodic  hooks  and  a  chorus  that  you  only  have  to  hear  once  before  you  can  sing  along  to  it.  They  made  a  promo  for  it  where  the  band  , particularly  Bjorn, adopted  garish  clothes  influenced  by  glam  rock. The  album  of  the  same  name  also  sold  well  topping  the  charts  in  Belgium. Different  tracks  were  released  as  subsequent  singles  depending  on  the  country.

Stig  Anderson  first  came  up  with  "Abba"  as  a  less  unwieldy  moniker  for  the  group  in  the  autumn  of  1973  and  encouraged  them  to  try  for  Eurovision  again. "Waterloo"  was  the  result .
Here's  the  Popular  take Abba  I   must  admit  I  hadn't  thought  of  the  Wizzard  link  but  it's  a  good  call.