Icons - 22 June 2022

132 Pages·2022·112.4 MB·English

100% UNOFFICIAL
FRE Ww THE STORY OF

DISCOVER THE RISE, RECORDS & REUNIONS BEHIND
POP MUSIC'S BIGGEST BAND .

UNCOVER THE
BAND'S ORIGINS

DIVE INTO THE ERA
OF ABBAMANIA

EXPLORE EVERY
STUDIO ALBUM

VOYAGE

1) aS
NEW ALBUM
BEHIND THEIR

100% UNOFFICIAL

TOUR

: YOY LY.
eT

"ny Wy Y

HOW CAN I RESIST YOU?

Images Alamy, Getty Images

hey say the winner takes it all, and
when it came to fame, fortune and
writing their name into the annals
of pop music, ABBA certainly did.
But just how did four young Scandinavian
singers join forces to become the biggest-
selling pop band in history? Valkommen to the
story of ABBA.
From their early days as budding artists
to winning Eurovision, storming the global
charts and bringing Australia to a hysterical

“Vee
3 ae

halt, this is the history of arguably the most
iconic pop act the world has ever seen.

With in-depth analysis of all nine studio
albums, accounts from their tours and a look
at how the band managed to keep turning
out the smash hits even as their private lives
collapsed, prepare to dive into a world of glitzy
gear, record-breaking songs and blockbuster
movies. Oh, and there’s the fishy agreement
that made it all possible. 1 hope you enjoy the
journey. 1 do, 1 do, I do, 1 do, I do...
EUROVISION
19/4

version francaise fj

<] b

Aina-frid
De!

De!
ARE

HONEY HONEY
SO LONG

THE STORY OF

Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA] UA

Editor Charles Ginger
Senior Designer Thomas Parrett
Senior Art Editor Andy Downes
Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker
Editorial Director Jon White

Alex Henderson/Getty Images
All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected

Media packs are available on request
Commercial Director Clare Dove

Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw
[email protected]
www.futurecontenthub.com

Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers

Head of Production Mark Constance
Production Project Manager Matthew Eglinton
Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby
Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson
Production Managers Keely Miller, Nola Cokely,
Vivienne Calvert, Fran Twentyman

William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road,
Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT

Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 SHU
www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: [phone]

© 2022 Future Publishing Limited

We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed,
certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this bookazine was sourced
and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and
socioeconomic standards. The paper holds full FSC or PEFC certification and accreditation.

All contents © 2022 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. Alll rights reserved.
No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number
2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury,
Bath BAI UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far
as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility
for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and
retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps
and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for
their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and
not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

a | L.
FUTURE Connectors.

Creators.

an | r Experience

Makers.
Future ple is a public Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne
company quoted on the Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford
London Stock Exchange Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand

(symbol: FUTR)

wwwfutureplc.com Tel [phone]

For press freedom
with responsibility

Widely
Recycled

Image Getty Images

LL

v

j
|

ae
q
-| GEA
@ CONTENTS
A) CHAPTER IT

KNOWING ME,
KNOWING YOU

Fey

| CHAPTER?

TAKE A CHANCE
ON ME

/ CHAPTERS
5 a Oey. MONEY,

ch CHAPTER 4
poppe

A CHAPTERS

MAMMA MIA!

Tt

DISCOGRAPHY

RING RING
WATERLOO

ABBA

ARRIVAL

ABBA: THE ALBUM
VOULEZ-VOUS

2D SUPER TROUPER
THE VISITORS
VOYAGE

CHAPTER G
A NEW VOYAGE

IY)
IN)

AS

IN
@ ©

@l +
I)

IQ
718

=
Nw © @
N N WN

CONTENT
Image Alamy

JUST A NOTION: THE ORIGINS OF ABBA
THE FAMOUS FOURSOME

RING RING: SUPERSTARDOM CALLING rr

¥

Bjorn Ulvaeus
photographed in
" Stockholm, Sweden, 1967

Benny Andersson in the
studio with the group
The Hep Stars 1967

Bj6rn visiting his
hometown Vdistervik in
southern Sweden,1969

JUST A NOTION:
THE ORIGINS

“ABBA

How Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson
became stars... even before ABBA

WORDS BY JOEL MCIVER

=== he roots of the biggest pure pop group of all time go
back as far as World War II, but only just. On 25 April
1945, just four months before the world’s superpowers
lll + agreed to co-exist in peace, a rather smaller - but still
welcome - piece of good news was announced in the Swedish
town of Gothenburg, when a baby called Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus
was born.

Around a year and a half later, Goran Bror Benny Andersson
— as no one calls him - was born in Stockholm on 16 December
1946. Neither child had much in common at first, apart from the
fact that both had younger sisters born in 1948, although both
displayed a keen interest in music from an early age. Benny's
father Gésta and grandfather Efraim both played the accordion,
in line with the traditional Swedish music of the day, and
presented him with his own instrument in early childhood. He
later took up the piano.

It’s interesting to note that the latter half of ABBA’s career
coincided with the rise of punk rock, perhaps their polar (pun
intended) opposite in theme and sound. For this reason, when
the Sex Pistols- and Clash-obsessed members of the press
interviewed them in the late 1970s, the early folk-music leanings
of Bjorn and Benny - and especially the latter’s accordion
skills - were the source of frequent derision. Perhaps slightly
hurt by the mockery, Benny told the NME: “That is the popular
traditional music of Northern Europe. Our folk songs sound
like that. The first instrument I ever had was an accordion. My
parents bought it for me when | was about ten.”

To understand Bjorn and Benny’s creative minds between
becoming interested in music as kids and making it big with
ABBA in 1974 - when they were the grand old age of 28 and 26
respectively - we need to understand what Swedish popular
music really sounded like in the 1960s and early 1970s. Sure,