Stockholm - spring 1983

Already at the beginning of 1983 Frida started thinking about next album. It was thought that Phil Collins would produce it as well. She wrote some songs by herself and recorded demos in Polar Studios but the real recording sessions started one more later in February 1984 in Paris.

Paris - spring 1984

Anders Hanser - ABBA photographer went to Paris and took some pictures of Frida during the recording sessions (above)

The producer Steve Lillywhite was mostly associated to modern rock acts as Ultravox, Peter Gabriel, U2, Simple Minds and Big Country - the groups and artists who were popular at the beginning of the 1980s.

From the press release from March 1984:

" The song titles recorded so far are: "Twist In The Dark", "Come To Me", "One Little Lie", "The Face", "Heart of the Country", "I'm One of God's Children" (unreleased), "Can't Be Serious" (unreleased), "Don't Do It", "Slowly", "That's Tough", "When Love Turns to Lies" (unreleased) and "Comfort Me". Frida is back in the studio right now laying down two "rockier" tracks (there are six ballads in the above list) and a selection will then be made for the album. /.../"

April 1984 - SVT Måndagsbörsen

Frida gave a longer interview for SVT in April. She was talking about the forthcoming album and a possible future for ABBA. She was ready to record one more album with the group, as she said in the interview.

Frida in Paris

On April 7th, 1984 Frida, Björn and Benny arrived in Paris. They appeared on French TV and promoted their solo projects - Frida the musical ABBAcadabra, Björn & Benny the musical Chess.

The United Nations Gala

Frida performed "I Have A Dream" and "I Know There's Something Going On" on the United Nations Gala at the end of May. She sang live together with a children choir.

Shine - the single

The first single "Shine" was released in the early autumn of 1984. It contained Frida's composition "That's Tough" on the B-side, a song which was not included on the album. The new Frida sound was extremely modern for its time and it was probably the reason to the bad sales. In UK "Shine" reached #82 in September 84. In West Germany the single came up to #51. The single was more successful in Sweden but even in Frida's homeland it did not reach the top but only #6. In Belgium "Shine" became #7 and in Holland #23. In Poland "Shine" entered the chart on October 13th, 1984 where it stayed for 6 weeks reaching #17.

The maxi version of "Shine" was extended to 6.27 and it was available in both Sweden and Germany. Polar released a limited edition of the 12" on white vinyl.

Shine - the album

The album contained 10 songs including two real rarities: the song "Slowly" written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as well as Frida's own composition "Don't Do It".  The French singer and composer Daniel Balavoine (who performed together with Frida the ABBAcadabra duet "Belle" the year before) contributed to the album with one song "The Face". The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite and Steve's musicians played there. The only musician from the ABBA family was Ruger Gunnarsson who played bass on the title song and "Chemistry Tonight". The album contained both modern up-tempo songs as "Shine" , "One Little Lie" and "Chemistry Tonight" and some beautiful ballads: "Come To Me", "Slowly", "Don't Do It" or "Comfort Me" which can be maybe called for "Shine's" "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" - a very different song with a very special sound and interpretation which suits Frida very good. Two songs which are quite difficult to understand musically are "Twist in the Dark" and "Heart of the Country" - two interesting compositions but definitely wrong choice for single releases.

Frida made a big promotional work for the album but it was not shining on the charts anyway. It appeared shortly on the British album chart (1 week) where it reached number 67. Very bad promotion work done by Frida's record company in Great Britain was probably the main reason to the flop.

The official photo sessions

Lots of wonderful photos were taken during the photo sessions for "Shine". Frida wore various outfits with two dominating colours: green and purple.

Musikladen - West Germany

The international promotion of "Shine" started in Europe. One of the first countries where Frida appeared on TV was West Germany in the show "Musikladen" where she performed "Shine".

Frida in Denmark - September 1984

Frida went to Copenhagen and made a TV promotion for the new album featuring an interview in Danish/Swedish.

Glädjehuset SVT Special - September 1984

Frida appeared on the TV special "Glädjehuset" in the Autumn of 1984. She was talking about the new album and her plans for a new LP one year later. She sounded absolutely self-confident and happy about the new album. "Shine" became successful in Sweden.

Come To Me - the second single

The second single release followed in Sweden, West Germany, Holland and some other countries in late autumn 1984. On the B-side there was Benny and Björn's composition "Slowly".  After the flop of "Shine" even "Come to Me" did not become successful. The Swedish release of the single contained the full length version of the song (5.04) as the German release featured  shorter mix (4.24).

Heart of the Country - the second single in UK

"Heart of the Country" was chosen exclusively for the UK release as the second single from "Shine" b/w "Slowly". It was a wrong choice as the single did not enter the UK hit list. The single version of "Heart of the Country" was shortened from 4.38 (the LP version) to 4.00.

Twist in the Dark - the second single in France

Even France went its own way in the choice of the second single from Frida's album. The single "Twist in the Dark" backed by "Come To Me" was released in November 1984. Frida appeared on French TV in the show Cadence 3 at the same time.

Belgium - Autumn 1984

Frida made an appearance in the Belgian talk-show "Mike" in the autumn. She performed "Come To Me" and "Shine" and talked with the show host about song festivals and ABBA's future.

Holland

After Belgium it was time to go to the neighbour country Holland. The first pictures were taken at the Shiphol airport in Amsterdam.

In Holland she performed at the Avro Platen gala and was extremely warmth welcome by the fans. It was one of the best performances promoting the album "Shine".

She sang "Shine" and "Come to me" in the second part of the show.

Finland

For the first time since 1974 Frida came to Finland in the Autumn of 1984. She appeared on the Weekend TV singing "Shine" and "Come To Me". She was also interviewed about the new album. Of course it was difficult to avoid questions about ABBA and the group's future. Frida said: "ABBA had its time and now it's another time. It was wonderful to be one in the group and I do not regret anything. But I love to work on my own as well. Sure, it would be nice to get together again and maybe make one more record in the future."

West Germany - November 1984

On November 29, 1984 Frida, Björn & Benny participated in the TV show "Na sowas - Extra" aired by German TV. Frida promoted her latest single "Come To Me" and together with Björn and Benny sang choir in "One Night in Bangkok". Both performances were though playback so there is no recording of "One Night in Bangkok" with the three members of ABBA singing background vocals.

Razzel - December 84

The participation in the Swedish TV special "Razzel" was one of the last promotional performances for "Shine". Frida sang three songs from her latest album: "Heart of the Country", "Come To Me" and "Twist in the Dark". The two first songs were performed live.

Lördags Cirkusen, Norway

Frida made one more TV appearance in front of Norwegian TV cameras shortly before Christmas. She performed "Shine" and "Come To Me" as well as she gave a short interview for the show hosts. The interview was held in Norwegian/Swedish.

1985

The year 1985 was relatively quiet for Frida. After the intensive "Shine" period Frida decided to withdrawn from the music business. The album "Shine" did not become that success that Frida had been waiting for. She enjoyed life and travelled a lot. She was caught by cameras at several places in the spring and summer 1985.

Oslo

At the end of April she she visited Oslo - the capital of Norway.

Gothenburg

On June 8th, 1985 she was seen together with her friend Charlotte Klingspoor in Gothenburg in Sweden on the Nya Ullevi stadium where the US star Bruce Springsteen had his concert.

London

On October 5th, 1985 Frida, Stig and Görel were in London to see the musical "Les Miserables".

1986

On May 14, 1986 Frida attended the UK premiere of the musical "Chess".

1987

Så länge vi har varann 

(As Long As I Have You) - 1987

The Swedish pop group Ratata invited Anni-Frid to participate on one of the tracks for their new album "Mellan dröm och verklighet" (Between dream and reality). Anni-Frid accepted the invitation and  Swedish and English versions of the song "Så länge vi har varann" were recorded. The song became a big hit in Sweden and can be still heard on the radio. The English version of the song was released as a B-side of the SP "Vem är han". The gold remix of the song "Vem är han" was released as a maxi single and parts of "Så länge vi har varann" featuring Frida can be heard there as well.

Klinga mina klockor

In the Autumn of 1987 Frida participated in the recording session for the title song for Benny Andersson's new LP. Benny invited 21 female Swedish singers  for this session in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

1988

Chess on Broadway

On April 28, 1988 Frida and Ruzzo attended the premiere of "Chess" on Broadway.

(see even The story of Björn & Benny)

Frida's daughter's wedding, August 1988

Ann Liselott Fredriksson, 21 years old, got married in August 1988 in a little church in Fors outside Eskilstuna. Anni-Frid was of course there. The other guests were: Benny Andersson, Peter Grönvall and Nanne Nordqvist. Liselotte married Charles Geritt Casper, her American boyfriend. They had met each other at the college in USA where both studied. The wedding dinner and party were held in Sudbyholm outside Eskilsutna - Liselotte's hometown. Liselotte and Charles moved to USA where they would live together until Liselotte's tragic death 10 years later...

1990

On Swedish TV

The Swedish TV journalist Stina Dabrowski invited Frida to her TV special at the beginning of December 1990. It was one of the rare appearances of Frida on Swedish TV at that time. She was talking about her environmental engagement and she even answered some private questions. She did not want to speak about her singing career and nobody thought at that point that she would ever make a musical comeback 1,5 year later on stage in Stockholm and 5,5 years later with a new CD.

Frida & Ruzzo 1990-93

1992

Frida in Stockholm, May 14, 1992

On May 14, 1992 Frida attended the fair "Kvinnor Kan" (Women can) in Älvsjö (Stockholm). She was talking about environment. The presence of Frida on the fair was announced in newspapers (Dagens Nyheter & Svenska Dagbladet) some days before and that's why a lot of ABBA fans were there. I managed to take pictures and ask one ABBA related question after the press conference at 1.40 pm. Frida gave some short interviews for local radio stations and answered some of our questions.

Frida on Älvsjö fair in Stockholm, May 14, 1992

time: 13.40-13.50

Private picture gallery

More Frida pictures from Swedish press - May - August 1992

On TV       

A couple of days before the gala "Artister för miljö" Frida appeared on Swedish TV where she was interviewed by Sissy Elfwing. Frida performed "Saltwater". The programme was recorded on the island Helgeandsholmen outside Museum of Medieval Stockholm. More private pictures - thanks Michael.

The Artists for Environment project and the gala on August 14, 1992

After 5 years of silence as a singer Frida was back on stage in 1992. She was one of the organizers of the gala "Artister för Miljö". The most famous artist were invited and the gala was held on August 14, 1992 on the castle in Stockholm.