Björn Ulvaeus
go.to//
1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1969 1971 1972 1973-82 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus was born in Göteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden on April 25, 1945. When he was eleven years old, his family moved to Västervik in south-eastern part of Sweden. He started playing guitar in a folk group. At the ago of seventeen Björn called three of his musical pals together and told them that he wanted to form a jazz band.
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The boys started playing together and one day during their practice sessions at Björn's home stirred his mother to fill in a form, entering them for an "looking for young talents" programme on Swedish Radio. The group had no name at that time but Mrs Ulvaeus borrowed the English versions of their town name and called them "The West Bay Singers" (Väster=West Vik=Bay).
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After the radio performance a well-known producer Bengt Bernhag became quite interested and he told about the group to the boss of his record company Stikkan Anderson who asked Björn about a demo tape. The music was good, so Bengt and Stikkan asked the group to come up to their Stockholm studios. Björn recalls that it was a very nervous day for all in the group.
The first single and LP
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The first thing that Stikkan Anderson did was changing the name West bay Singers to Hootenanny Singers. The first record for Hootenanny Singers was "Jag väntar vid min mila", an old Swedish traditional song about people who worked in the forest. The single became a big success in Sweden. Stikkan Anderson had just launched his own label - Polar Records and Björn's group was the first artists signed on this label.
The second album
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Hootenanny Singers released their second album in 1964. Several songs for the LP had been written by Björn Ulvaeus. The biggest hits from this album were "Gabrielle" and "I lunden gröna". Even the cover of Charles Aznavour's hit "La Mamma" enjoyed a big success in Sweden.
Älskling på vift (Darling on the run) - the movie
Björn with his group Hootenanny Singers became movie stars in the spring 1964 when they participated in the Swedish film "Älskling på vift" (Darling on the run). Björn performed a song entitled "Darling" in English in the final scene of the film.
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In 1964 Björn and Hootenanny Singers went on tour around Sweden. The group quickly build up a solid following amongst both teenagers and older people. After one year of touring Björn started study Economics and Law at the University of Stockholm. But the study time was not long. He wanted continue in the music business. Hootenanny Singers went back on tour and they stayed together for 4 years as a group making lots of hits.
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Hootenanny Singers - international
Stikkan Anderson and Bernt Bernhag - the producers at Polar Music tried already in 1965 to promote Hootenanny Singers abroad. The album "Hootenanny Singers International" saw its release in 1965. It contained songs from different countries performed in different languages. Benny and Björn's composition "No Time" had been recorded in London, German schlager "Wenn Alle Ströme versiegen" in Munich and the Charles Aznavour classic "La Mamma" was performed in Spanish. Björn's song "Stanna en stund" (Stay for a while) had been translated and performed in Italian. Even if Stig Anderson was a great business man it was not time for international markets - not yet. The album "International" remains a hard-to-find LP nowadays.
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One day in 1966 during Hootenanny's tour in Sweden Björn and his pals met Sweden's biggest rock'n'roll group Hep Stars. One of the musicians in Hep Stars was Benny Andersson. That evening at the hotel outside Västervik Benny met Björn and they started talking about music...
Many Faces
Björn and Benny started collaboration. They wrote music together and Benny performed occasionally with Hootenanny Singers. The first trace of the collaboration between Björn and Benny occurred on the Hootenanny Singers album "Många ansikten - Many faces" released in 1966. The album was thought as the group's trial to come out on the international market. Side A contained songs recorded in Swedish and the side B in English. One of the tracks on the side B was Benny Andersson's composition "Sunny Girl". Even Björn composed several songs on this album as "Baby those are the rules", "Just The Way That You Are", "In Thoughts of you" and "Marianne".
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One day back in 1968 Björn switched on the radio and suddenly heard a beautiful female voice singing. She was singing a soft, sentimental love song. Björn did not like this type of songs but there was something with the singer's voice that made him to go to the record store and buy the single "Jag var så kär" performed by Agnetha Fältskog, a young girl from Jönköping. Björn fell in love with the voice without knowing that Agnetha was one of his biggest fans!
Raring - the first single
In April 1968 Björn released his very first solo single "Raring" (a Swedish version of the world hit "Honey"). The B-side contained self-penned "Vill du ha en vän?" (Do you want to have a friend?). The single entered the Swedish charts Svensktoppen and Topplistan in June 68 where it reached #7 respective #8.
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Fröken Fredriksson - the single
The second Ulvaeus solo single was entitled "Fröken Fredriksson" (cover on "Harper Valley PTA) b/w Ulvaeus own composition "Vår egen sång" (Our own song). The single reached the Swedish charts in November - Svensktoppen #5, Topplistan #7.
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Saknar du något, min kära - the single
The third single released by Björn in the spring of 1969 featured his cover on "Where Do You Go To(My Lovely) entitled in Swedish "Saknar du något, min kära" (Do you miss something, my love). On the B-side there was a song written by Björn and Stikkan "Gömt är inte glömt" (Hidden is not forgotten). The single reached #4 on Svensktoppen in Summer 69.
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The TV show - summer
In the summer 1969 Björn participated in filming of a big TV show devoted to the Swedish composer Jules Silvain. The show was filmed in western Sweden and in Denmark. The other artists who appeared in the show was Agnetha Fältskog, Sten Nilsson (from the group Sten & Stanley) and many others. The show was aired by Swedish Television on August 19th, 1969. Björn and Agnetha fell in love during making the show and quite quickly they were engaged and moved together in a little flat in Stockholm.
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The last solo record
The last solo single released by Björn was "Kvinnan i mitt liv" (The woman in my life).
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Björn and Agnetha started working together making their first record together "Så här börjar kärlek" (Love starts in this way). The love was big and Björn & Agnetha got married in a little church in Verum in southern Sweden on July 6th, 1971.
(go.to/Agnetha or go.to/ABBA related places)
Våra vackraste visor - the LP
At the end of July Hootenanny Singers recorded a new album which was called simply "Our most beautiful folk songs" (Våra vackraste visor). The album was produced by Benny Andersson and the arrangements were made by Björn, Benny and Bengt Palmers. The album was released in Sweden in autumn 1971.
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Våra vackraste visor vol. 2 - the LP
The follow-up album to the Hootenanny Singers' 1971 release was the LP "Våra vackraste visor vol. 2" (Our most beautiful folk songs vol. 2) created and produced by Benny, Björn and Stikkan Anderson. For the first time the name of Michael B. Tretow appeared on this release.
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Dan Andersson på vårt sätt - the LP
Even if Björn and Benny were more and more engaged in ABBA they continued working with Hootenanny Singers. The next album produced by Björn and Benny in the cooperation with Stikkan Anderson was recorded in May and June 1973 and featured compositions of Dan Andersson.
Evert Taube på vårt sätt - the LP
The last album of Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn was released in 1974. The LP contained 11 tracks produced and arranged by Björn, Benny and Sven-Olof Walldoff.
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At the beginning of the ABBA period Björn composed music together with Benny they both wrote lyrics. At the end of seventies though it was more and more Benny who composed and Björn devoted his time to the writing of the lyrics. Björn was from the very beginning "the clever guy" in the group who never was shy in front of the TV cameras and the press. He speaks more or less fluently many languages as English, German and Spanish. His English became better and better during the 1970s and 80s and his lyrics were much more mature than at the beginning of the group's career.
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Björn's and Agnetha's marriage lasted for almost 8 years until January 1979 when the couple announced officially that they go separate ways. They have two children: Linda, born 1973 and Christian, born in 1977.
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It did not take a long time to find a new woman - Lena. The separation from Agnetha was a very difficult step because of two children and the future of the most selling pop acts: ABBA. But luckily the story of ABBA could go on successfully and new albums as well as their children had a very good life even if their parents were divorced.
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After ABBA
Björn in the Swedish press
At the beginning of 1983 Björn was featured in the Swedish weekly "Veckojournalen". He gave an extensive interview where he answered a lot of questions. He was talking roughly about the forthcoming musical. He said that it would be possible to engage both Agnetha and Frida for the main roles in "Chess".
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ABBA did not split up officially but it was not so difficult to understand that after the divorce of Frida and Benny in 1981 the story of ABBA was over. Björn and Benny continued their musical collaboration (go.to/Björn & Benny). After the ABBA revival wave which started in 1992 Björn became a kind of press man talking about ABBA time for TV and and press both in Sweden and all over the world.
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Together with Benny Andersson and Tim Rice he wrote the musical Chess in 1984. The musical was played in London for two years (1986-88) and then was moved to Broadway in 1988 where it became a big flop though.
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After the big success of the musical "Kristina från Duvemåla" Benny made lots of different musical projects which were released on different albums. During the same time Björn decided to give a re-birth to old ABBA hits creating a musical based on several songs with a funny story line. The musical was called "Mamma Mia" and had its premiere in London on April 6, 1999. (more in Björn & Benny Section)
Attending Mamma Mias...
It became more and more usual to see Björn attending all premieres of Mamma Mia all over the world. At the beginning it was still Björn and Benny as a team behind the ABBA success who were seen together in connection of any new premiere of the musical but Benny seemed not to enjoy this kind of publicity so much any more and let Björn be the spokesman. Surprisingly Björn started to be joined on the Mamma Mia stages by Anni-Frid. As he told to Irish press in the summer of 2004 Frida loves premieres of Mamma Mia and she wants to be there.
On November 3, 2002 Mamma Mia had its premiere in Hamburg (Germany). Both Björn and Benny were there but it was mostly Björn who appeared on German TV.
Björn on German TV November 9, 2002
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Björn was a special guest in the TV Show "Wetten dass..." hosted by Thomas Gottschalk. A medley from the musical "Mamma Mia" was performed by the artists from Hamburg. Björn was talking English and German mixing the two languages with each other. It sounded very funny.
Björn on German TV "Beckman" November 11, 2002
In this show Björn was talking a lot about the ABBA time and Agnetha. There will be no ABBA reunion, not even for charity. His relation with Agnetha is very good and they meet each other 5-6 times a year on traditional birthday parties. ABBA actually performed together in 1999 on 50th birthday of Görel Hanser an old friend who has been working with ABBA members since 1970s. As Björn said they rehearsed before they went on stage and it was definitely a strange feeling to perform together again.
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Mamma Mia in Seul
The premiere of Mamma Mia in the capital of Korea was attended by Björn on January 25, 2004.
Mamma Mia in Stuttgart, July 18th, 2004
Björn on RTL TV
The German TV station RTL made an interview with Björn shortly before the premiere of Mamma Mia in Stuttgart. The reporter asked questions about ABBA. Ulvaeus said: "ABBA belongs to my past"/.../"It's strange but I don't think about ABBA at all. Of course when I am passing by a record store I see ABBA CDs and so but nothing more."
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At home 2004
In the autumn of 2004 Björn was interviewed for the Swedish book "Det var dans i Folkets Park (It was dance in the Folk's park).
The original Hootenanny Singers come back
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Rumours about Hootenanny Singers' come back started to circulate already in the summer 2004. Björn and Hansi Schwartz denied this all the time before they made a come back on the Västervik Ballad Festival in the middle of July 2005. They performed twice their old hit "Marianne". It was the first live stage performance for Björn since the "Dick Cavett meets ABBA" TV special in April 1981.
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Björn in Hamburg, April 19th
Björn was in Hamburg where he handed over the "Stagepool" stipendiums. Private pictures from Sascha - thanks a lot.
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Interview with Björn Ulvaeus
"Metro" (Stockholm) 16.10.2006
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Björn dreams about China
”Mamma Mia” continues to be extremely successful in the world. This week the musical celebrates its 5-year-anniversary on Broadway and on last Saturday it had its Russian premiere in Moscow. A Norwegian version of the musical is being prepared and there are plans for a Spanish tour version for South America.
But Björn Ulvaeus dreams about China in the first hand.
- It’s like with Moscow. The industries are still not so developed like in the West so it is very fascinating. If it will be Shanghai or Beijing it’s not known yet.
A couple of weeks ago “Mamma Mia” became a big winner in the Dutch music gala. “De winner heft de macht” (The Winner Takes It All) was awarded as the Best Song. It is good to translate ABBA songs.
-Yes, but there is an idea behind. It is impossible to have a long show in English in for instance Germany. You have to hear it in your own language. You have to follow the story in this case and the songs are only a part of it. People say that they can English but it will never be like in your own language.
English newspapers stated that you and Benny will be judges in the TV show “X-factor”.
- No, no, no, never! I will go over to make a short film with those young people who will sing ABBA and Mamma Mia songs. That’s the only thing. I would never want to sit there and say who is good or bad.
It won’t be a Frida musical either?
- No, it is a real stupid thing. Never ever I would do it. It is completely wrong and it is bad when you don’t know where such rumours come from.
In connection with the discussion about the pictures of Muhammed you wrote an article in “Expressen” about religion and censorship. How does it come?
- I started to feel that I wanted give my opinion in this case. I thought: “Shit, I have to write something” even if I tried to avoid it before. It is in the same way as you talk the politics you have to talk religion. It is one of the biggest problems of our time and we have to discuss it openly. Analize, take away all holy cards and tabus and talk about it how it is.
It’s a pity that you do not want Benny to write music for you article. You would become real proggs that you weren’t in the 1970s.
- Haha. Oh, no! I don’t think we’d ever be any old proggs. The proggs were straighter and my thoughts about the religion are more complicated.
Sunday interview with Björn in SvD
Swedish newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet" published a big interview with Björn Ulvaeus in its Sunday issue (18.02.2007). Björn is talking about intolerance, religion, ABBA and of course Mamma Mia - the movie. He even answers questions about his wife and her illness. Björn reveals that the musical Mamma Mia will be rewritten for the film use and some new songs appear like for instance When All Is Said and Done.
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Björn on Swedish TV, May 12, 2007
Björn attended the show "Stina" on Swedish TV on Saturday May 12. The host of the show Stina Dabrowski was one of the journalists who made the very last TV interview with ABBA as a group in "Nöjesmaskinen" at the end of 1982. Excerpts from that TV special including ABBA singing live "Thank You For The Music" were shown even on this Saturday evening. Björn was talking about ABBA and Mamma Mia the movie as the recording sessions for the film are completed. When Stina asked about ABBA's split up Björn answered that ABBA did not split up but made a break... The reaction from the audience was immediate and Stina said: So we have something to look forward to - a new ABBA album? Björn tried to say that he did not mean like that but the audience applauded and the only words that could be heard were: I did not say that we are going to release a new album.
As asked about his favorite song in the evening's Eurovision Song Contest Björn stated that Sweden had a big chance. Björn said that he was still a fan of Eurovision Song Contest and he followed the contest every year. Totally he talked 23 minutes of 57.
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"ABBA - never!" - Björn Ulvaeus in "Expressen"
Swedish newspaper "Expressen" has published a brand new interview with Björn Ulvaeus surprisingly entitled "ABBA - never!". But the interview is not only about ABBA. Here is the summary of the most interesting things that Björn said to the newspaper.
About nearest future: there will be several trips to London this summer as Mamma Mia is being filmed partly there.
New musical? We've been talking about it a little - Lars Rudolfsson, Benny and myself. Maybe we'll do something more - it feels like it would be fun to do it again.
Is your relation to Benny the same today as it was during the ABBA period? We are still good friends but we do not meet each other in privat so much anymore. We even work in a different way today - Benny makes music and myself lyrics.
Do you meet the other former ABBA members? I meet Frida quite a lot - we are really great friends. I meet Agnetha only when I meet Linda and the grandchildren. Maybe Christmas or birthdays. We've got a good relation to each other.
Would you be able to write hits for ABBA nowadays? I don't think so - it's a young man's talent that you need to write pop hits for the charts.
In 2009 ABBA Museum will open in Stockholm. How are you involved in this project? Not at all. All four of us wanted to have distance to this. We have said: "OK, if you think that it is a good idea so we can help you that you will be given things from us." It would be totally wrong to create your own museum...
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus born 25.04.1945
Lives in Djursholm, a suburb to Stockholm
Married:
with Åse Agneta Fältskog from 6.07.1971 to 9.07.1980
Lena Ingegärd Ulvaeus from 5.01.1981
Children:
with
Agneta Fältskog
Linda Elin Ulvaeus born 23.02.1973
Peter Christian Ulvaeus born 4.12.1977
with Lena Ulvaeus
Emma Eleonora Ulvaeus born 3.01.1982
Anna Linnea Ulvaeus born 29.04.1986
Parents:
Father Erik Gunnar Ulvaeus born 22.04.1912
Mother Aina Eliza Viktoria Ulvaeus born 14.12.1909
Emigrated to Great Britain 15.11.1984, back in Sweden 11.12.1990
Björn's passport.
