July 4 2003
By Barbara Davies
IT WAS, to say the least, an unlikely venue for an Abba reunion. But three years ago, in a house in the heart of Stockholm, Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny and Bjorn crammed themselves into a downstairs toilet and quickly ran
through their song in whispered tones.
When they emerged minutes later and performed their impromptu number at a friend's 50th birthday party they brought the house down.
Bjorn Ulvaeus - the clean-shaven one who was married to the blonde one - vividly remembers the moment they sang together for the first time in nearly two decades. "It was so strange," he says, revealing the reunion for the first time. "I was standing on that little stage and I looked right and saw Agnetha singing beside me again and it felt so odd." What made their appearance even stranger is that just a year earlier the four members of one of the most successful bands in history had turned down a billion-dollar offer to reunite and perform together for the last time.
"I know it sounds incredible," says Bjorn, now a 57-year-old grandfather, "but all we could see was a disappointed audience. How could we live up to what we were? The stress wasn't worth it."
It's not as if he and the others - ex-wife Agnetha, bearded Benny and brunette Anni-Frid - need the money. After storming on to the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest nearly 30 years ago, the group went on to sell 350 million records, score nine British No 1 hits and earn an estimated £250 million between them.
But all that is starting to look like small change to Bjorn, thanks to his current venture, the smash-hit musical Mamma Mia!
The show, for which he and Benny Andersson wrote the music and lyrics, was watched by its 10millionth audience member this week. It has grossed more than £300million worldwide, from London to Las Vegas, Tokyo to Sydney,
Hamburg to Toronto.
"It's going to make me richer than ABBA ever did," admits Bjorn, but he doesn't give the impression that he's given it much thought. "In the 70s, groups didn't make the incredible deals that they did in the 80s and 90s," he explains. "They never became as rich. It's never bothered me. We were only ever in it for the love of music. Having too much too soon can be very dangerous anyway."
Despite their unforgettable Eurovision-winning rendition of Waterloo in 1974, no one could ever accuse Abba of having it all too soon. "Everybody thought we were a gimmick," says Bjorn laughing. "They couldn't believe we
really were two married couples. But we'd already been together for a few years before we even thought about singing as a group.
"Even back then, Eurovision winners were seen as one-hit wonders and we had to claw our way back to prove we were here to stay. "At first our singles bombed. It took about a year before SOS brought us back. It was so wonderful to see it going up the charts and people talking about us with respect." More than quarter of a century later, Abba music is still worshipped around the world. Today it has a new generation of young fans.
Bjorn laughs when he recalls a teen pop magazine article which read: "If you like Steps, check out Abba".
"It was charming to read that," he says, smiling.
He has heard the songs he wrote with Benny thousands of times. While they still have the ability to make the rest of us want to dance and sing along, it's not the same for him.
"I don't get that feeling," he says. "I never play our songs at home. If one comes on the radio, I either turn it off or I listen critically and think: 'It still sounds good. It sounds so fresh considering it was so long ago.'"
He takes the emergence of Abba tribute bands as a compliment. "I'm proud of it," he says. "But I'm amazed that people can make a living out of it."
He has never seen them perform, but singles out the most famous, Bjorn Again, for criticism.
"I heard them on the radio once and I hate that phoney Scandinavian accent they do for me and Benny. I sound like the Swedish chef from The Muppets."
But it worries him that other pop acts have failed to match Abba's success.
"It really bothers me that there's not a lot of real groups, " he says.
"Pop is so manufactured and I hate these terrible programmes like Popstars. These days, I very rarely go out and buy a CD." But there is one artist he rates. "I think Eminem is an excellent example of something that is 100 per
cent original, that is really itself," he says. "There's not a lot of that around. I would love to see him in concert."
He concedes that his style has little in common with that of the foul-mouthed US rapper.
"Our lyrics are very different," he says, laughing again. "I guess I didn't have quite the same relationship with my mother."
At home in Stockholm, he listens to the music played by his two younger daughters by his second wife Lena - Anna, 17, and Emma, 21. But none of it really grabs him.
His girls - and his two children with Agnetha, actress Linda, 30, and civil engineering student Christian, 23 - are proud of his past.
"They don't play Abba music, but they think it's good," he says.
"They still tease me about the outfits I used to wear. We found a picture the other day and I'm wearing a red cape and tight blue-sequined leotard. I just cringed.
"But that was glam rock - you had to be outrageous to get noticed. Most of the clothes we wore are in a museum in Stockholm now. I don't suppose they'd fit any of us now anyway." Ever since the band split up, rumours of rows
over money and animosity between the girls have persisted. "We're actually the best of friends," insists Bjorn. "We just have different lives now. We've all mellowed with age."
He remains close to Agnetha and they are now grandparents.
He says: "Linda has a two-year-old girl called Tilda and we both adore her."
When Abba split in 1982, Agnetha retreated to a secluded mansion on a remote Swedish island and turned her back on the showbiz lifestyle. A second marriage to surgeon Tomas Sonnenfeld ended in divorce in 1992.
For the past few years she has been haunted by a stalker, Dutchman Gert Van Der Graaf.
Despite being banned from Sweden, newspaper reports in Stockholm say he has reappeared.
"It causes Agnetha a lot of distress because she's living on her own now," says Bjorn. "If you expect someone to look in the window at any moment, it's a horrible feeling. He's a strange guy. Although he's not legally allowed to
leave Holland, he just ups and goes."
Frida, also a grandmother, divides her time between Sweden and Switzerland. Her second husband, German prince Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen, died two years ago after battling cancer.
"Frida and I meet up when she's in Stockholm," says Bjorn. But his most enduring and most lucrative relationship has been with Benny. "We've never fallen out," he says.
Before Mamma Mia! they chalked up a songwriting success with Chess, and now, while they could be forgiven for sitting back and watching Mamma Mia! earn them a fortune, they are working on new projects.
A revised version of Chess, with two new songs, is set to be relaunched and the pair are taking their Swedish musical, Kristina, which tells the story of immigrants travelling from Sweden to the US in the 1850s, to Broadway in
the next couple of years.
They met in 1965, the night before Bjorn was due to start his year-long compulsory military service.
"We were both in different bands, performing at the same venue," recalls Bjorn. "I'd arranged a 'farewell to freedom' party and invited Benny. It ended up with Benny and me sitting with two guitars under a big oak tree singing Beatles songs in the early morning. A year after that, we wrote our first song together."
They met the Abba girls within three months of each other.
"I met Agnetha first and fell hopelessly in love," says Bjorn. "But we never contemplated forming a group together until two years later."
Their first song, People Need Love, was a minor hit in Germany and Holland, and gave the four enough faith to go on."By 1973, we regarded ourselves as a group," says Bjorn "But the group was called Agnetha, Anna-Frid, Benny and Bjorn. It wasn't very catchy.
"People actually started calling us Abba. It could just as easily have been Baba. We weren't as clean-cut as we seemed. There were no drugs and very few groupies, but there were a few wrecked hotel rooms. Both couples were really bad."
But by the early 80s, the group was running out of steam. "We weren't enjoying it any more," says Bjorn.
"We tried everything but we decided to take a break. We thought we'd get together again in a couple of years, but it never happened. I'm not nostalgic for those days. I wouldn't like to have it back. Creating was what I really enjoyed.
"In this business, it all begins and ends with a song. Without that, no one is anything."
Thanks to ABBAMAILer Claes Davidsson, Orlando Florida and also to James Leroth.
