How are the band ABBA now, 40 years after the song "Happy New Year" was released?
Nearly 40 years since the famous song "Happy New Year" was released to the public, the members of the band ABBA are no longer together, each choosing their own path.
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| Legendary band ABBA. |
As the new year comes, the familiar melody of ABBA’s “Happy New Year” resounds in almost every corner of Vietnam. As of now, this famous song has reached its 39th anniversary.
“Happy New Year” was released in 1980, originally titled “Daddy Don't Get Drunk On Christmas Day”, which was not intended to celebrate the New Year. It was not until 1999, taking advantage of the world's excitement to enter the new millennium, that ABBA officially released “Happy New Year” as a single.
Two years after the song was released (1982), the group ABBA officially disbanded, ending 10 years together, and never reunited.
ABBA is the most famous Swedish pop band of all time and is also one of the world's legendary bands.
The band was formed in 1972, named after its members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.They won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, launching their career to worldwide fame.
Throughout their career, the group sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide, becoming the first band from a non-English-speaking country to achieve mainstream success in English-speaking countries.
Not only did they collaborate in music, the two couples in ABBA became husband and wife. Benny and Anni-Frid married between 1978 and 1980. Bjorn and Agnetha lived together from 1971 to 1979 and had two children, a boy and a girl.
Along with their broken marriages, ABBA split up in 1982. Despite going their separate ways, the group still made a killing with the release of ABBA Gold in 1992, which sold nearly 30 million copies worldwide.
In 2018, the group returned after 35 years to record two songs, “Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down.” Two years earlier, the four members also appeared on stage together at the 50th anniversary party of Bjon Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. However, they denied the possibility of a reunion.
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| ABBA returns in their old age. |
After ABBA disbanded, Agnetha Fatskog continued to enjoy success as a solo singer from 1982 to 1988.
However, the career of the singer born in 1950 was interrupted for a long time due to a series of life events.
Two failed marriages (the second with Tomas Sonnenfeld from 1990 to 1993), a terrible traffic accident in 1983, her biological mother's suicide in 1994, and being stalked by her ex-lover forced Agnetha to live in seclusion from 1989 to 2004.
In 2013, Agnetha Fatskog made her first live stage appearance in 25 years at BBC Children in Need, singing a duet with Gary Barlow.
Currently, Agnetha lives alone on a farm in the suburbs of Stockholm.
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Also becoming a solo artist after leaving ABBA, Anni-Frid maintained her form, with her first solo album selling over 1.5 million copies.
She remarried Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen of Plauen in 1992. However, Heinrich Ruzzo died of cancer at the age of 49 in 1999. The singer, born in 1945, suffered the pain of losing a loved one after another when her daughter, Lise-Lotte, died in a car accident the year before.
After her husband died, Anni-Frid inherited a "huge" fortune believed to be around £75 million.
The singer, born in 1945, currently lives with her British partner Henry Smith in a small village in Switzerland. Frida was one of the people who helped open the ABBA Museum in Stockholm, Sweden in 2013.
Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Benny and Bjorn continued to work together after leaving ABBA. The two co-wrote hit musicals such as Chess, Mamma Mia…
Bjorn and Benny also co-produced the films Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). They also founded the London-based company Littlestar, which specializes in copyright exploitation of songs inspired by the musical Mamma Mia!. According to Time, the "pair" earned $4.3 million from this work. They also received an Ivor Novello Award in 2008.
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| Benny Andersson. |
The musician, born in 1946, was addicted to alcohol for a long time. He was not able to quit until 2001. Currently, Benny is the richest person in the group, with a fortune of 100 million pounds.
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| Bjorn Ulvaeus. |
Bjorn Ulvaeus also found new happiness with journalist Lena Källersjö in 1981. They have two daughters together. Currently, the musician born in 1945 lives in Sweden, and has an estimated £90 million. However, the former ABBA member has had health problems, having revealed that he suffered from dementia.
