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Björn and Benny met each other in the summer 1966 in Västervik and became friends. They started to write music together. Some years later Björn met Agnetha Fältskog and Benny met Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
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Both girls started to participate in Björn and Benny's recording sessions at the beginning of 1970s. They used to contribute with backing vocals and harmonies.
Festfolket
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The show was nothing ABBA members want to remember today but of course it is a part of the ABBA history. After several evenings at the restaurant "Trä'gårn" in Gothenburg the show moved to Stockholm where it was played until December 20th, 1970.
Probably the very first TV performance of the future ABBA was filmed for Swedish TV in 1970. They performed "California Here I come".
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At the beginning of the year all future ABBA members performed together occasionally. Anni-Frid released her first studio album produced by Benny in March 1971. In April Björn and Benny recorded new songs for a new single "Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa"/"På bröllop". The single was released shortly before summer and entered the Swedish chart in July.
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At the end of April Björn, Benny and Agnetha started their bizarre tour in Sweden. They performed several covers during a 30-minutes-show. In June they performed in front of TV cameras in Skansen in Stockholm.
Välkommen till världen
Björn and Benny composed a new song for big Swedish pop star Lill-Babs and the recording of the song entitled "Välkommen till världen" took place at the end of May 1971. Both the composers and Agnetha and Frida were in the studio together with Lill-Babs and recorded backing vocals.
The first marriage
On July 6, 1971 Björn married Agnetha in the Verum church in Skåne in southern Sweden.
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Tänk om jorden vore ung
In July 1971 both Björn and Benny were sure that they would record a new album together. The first recording session brought two new songs: "Tänk om jorden vore ung" and "Trädskofolket". The new single was released at the beginning of autumn 71 and entered the Swedish chart in November where it stayed for 9 weeks reaching the top.
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Anni-Frid worked together with other well-known Swedish artists in a show at the theatre Folkan in Stockholm. Agnetha finished recording of her new solo album together with Frida, Björn and Benny who sang backing vocals.
Björn and Benny worked as producers at Polar Music AB. In 1971 Polar contracted a young talented singer Ted Gärdestad. Björn and Benny produced his albums and Agnetha together with Frida and other Polar singers contributed with backing vocals. Another singer which Stikkan Anderson promoted in Sweden was Lena Andersson. In January 1972 B & B and Lena recorded "Säg det med en sång" and "Cecilia".
Björn and Benny in Japan
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New pictures of B & B were taken in Skansen in Stockholm in February 1972. The pictures would be used for the Japanese promotion of Björn and Benny and their Japanese single issue featuring "On Carousel"/"Lycka".
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The guitar with the Swedish flag on seems to have been used many times for various photo sessions...
Vi i femman - SVT, April 30, 1972
Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid appeared on Swedish TV in the youth programme "Vi i femman". It was one of their very first appearances on Swedish TV on April 30, 1972.
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In March 1972 the foursome were in the studio together again recording a new song called "People Need Love". The single was released in Sweden in June 1972 with "Merry-Go-Round" on the B-side. The group was called Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid on the single cover and on the label on A-side while the B-side with "Merry-Go-Round" was credited only to Björn and Benny. "People Need Love" became #3 on the "Tio i topp" chart in Sweden and #17 on the "Topplistan" chart in July 1972. Promo sessions for this cover were taken on the Djurgården island in Stockholm someday back in 1970.
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Summer 1972
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Private Agnetha and Björn pictures taken in Vallentuna in 1972.
Christmas album with Frida
In September Frida recorded two songs for the forthcoming Christmas album with all artists working at Polar Music. Björn and Hootenanny Singers, Lena Andersson and Arne Lambert were some of the other artists.
People Need Love in France
The single "People Need Love"/"Merry-Go-Round" was released in France and Belgium on October 10th, 1972. Stikkan Anderson signed contract with the publishing company Baboo for a future collaboration. The single was distributed by Vogue in France.
Ted
Recording sessions for Ted Gärdestad's new album started at the Metronome studio in October 1972 and they continued until February 1973. Among backing singers: Agnetha, Frida, Björn and Benny. Benny and Björn were playing several instruments on the album and they even produced it together with Ted.
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He Is Your Brother - the second single
The second single released by the group in November 1972 was "He Is Your Brother"/"Santa Rosa". The single became a number 1 hit on "Tio i topp" chart in Sweden in December 1972.
Without Agnetha
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Björn, Benny, Frida and her friend Inger Brundin performed "People Need Love" on German TV on January 6, 1973. Agnetha did not participate in the show because of her pregnancy.
At the beginning of January the Swedish version of "Ring Ring" was recorded.
Melodifestivalen 1973
Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida would participate in the Swedish "Melodifestivalen" - the outtake for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song they would perform was "Ring Ring" recorded in January 1973. Agnetha was there when the Song Festival was held in Stockholm on February 10, 1973. It was very unsure whether Agnetha would manage to perform the song. But everything went well and... Linda came first 13 days later on February 23, 1973.
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"Ring Ring" became a big hit in Scandinavia and a lot of countries in Europe but it did not win the Swedish song contest.
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Ring Ring
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Polar Music released the single "Ring Ring" (Swedish version)/"Åh vilka tider" on February 14, 1973 in Sweden. The single became number 1 in Sweden both on "Topplistan" and "Svensktoppen" - two leading Swedish charts. The English version of the song with "She's My Kind Of Girl" was the B-side was released on February 19th in Sweden and later in almost all European countries excluding Great Britain.
"Ring Ring" did not manage to enter the West German chart even if the group re-recorded two of their songs in German. Surprisingly the single became #2 in Austria and Norway and #5 in Holland.
In France "Ring Ring" reached only #82. Even Australia was not ready for the group yet where "Ring Ring" became #92. In Belgium the single reached the top on the chart in June 1973. The single was released even in Mexico but it did not enter the chart there. In South Africa "Ring Ring" was #3 and in Zimbabwe #12. The Japanese release of "Ring Ring" was backed by "I Am Just A Girl". No chart entry in Japan
The Polydor cover featured the session taken outside the TV tower "Kaknästornet" in Stockholm. One of the early ABBA sessions.
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The Ring Ring session
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The first promotional trip in Europe
Björn, Benny, Frida and... Inger Brundin went on the promotional tour in the middle of March 1973. Agnetha did not participate because of her first days as mother to little Linda. The group was totally unknown in Europe and it was not so big problem to have a stand-in for Agnetha. Inger pretended to be the other female singer in the group. They did promotion for their forthcoming album performing (of course not live) "People Need Love" and "Ring Ring". The trip went through West Germany, Austria, Holland and Belgium.
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The first album called simply "Ring Ring" was released by Polar Music on March 26, 1973. It included some already well-known hits as "People Need Love" and "He Is Your Brother" as well as some upcoming singles "Love Isn't Easy", "Nina Pretty Ballerina" and of course the title song "Ring Ring" in two language versions: Swedish and English.
The album was good enough to be promoted internationally but it was no "real" ABBA yet. The songs were a mixture of all possible trends. It was quite easy to recognize which songs had been planned for Björn and Benny's second album if you listen to "I Saw It In The Mirror" or "Rock'n'Roll Band". The latter one was in fact performed live on their tours with lead vocals sung by Frida. The old-fashioned sounding "I Am Just A Girl" was maybe an early version of the future success songs: "I Do I Do I Do...", "Hasta Manana" and "I've Been Waiting For You". Having big potential "Nina, Pretty Ballerina", "Another Town Another Train" and "Love Isn't Easy" would be released as singles in Europe. Agnetha contributed for the first and last time during the ABBA period with her own composition "Disillusion" (released as "Mina ögon" earlier on one of her solo LPs) and Frida sang leadvocal on the quite underestimated "Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother".
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Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
The new single release featured "Love Isn't Easy" with "I Am Just A Girl" on the B-side. The SP was released in Sweden in April 1973 and in the other Scandinavian countries in June. The single reached #3 on the Swedish chart.
The photo session were taken in Frida's and Benny's house in Vallentuna.
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Agnetha, Björn and their dog
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Meeting fans in Sweden
Denmark, June 1973
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(in Copenhagen on June 20, 1973)
The foursome went to Denmark in June 1973. They appeared in the TV-show "Sommerlördag" (The Summer Saturday) where they performed "Love Isn't Easy" (the latest single release) and "Ring Ring". They signed their LP in the "Fona" music shop on Ströget in Copenhagen but the interest for the group was very low...
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The Tour 1973
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Their big summer tour started on June 15, 1973 in Göteborg and after 58 shows ended in Malmö on September 9, 1973. The show included several songs and lasted for approximetely 30 minutes.
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On September 1st, 1973 ABBA performed in Vretstorps Folkets park. After the show Agnetha posed for photos with her fans. One of them was published 3 years later in Swedish gossip magazine "Hänt i veckan".
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The photo session in the park
(Danke Birte)
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Polar Music AB celebrated the first ten years as company. A big party was arranged by Stikkan Anderson. Agnetha, Björn, Frida, Benny, Ted Gärdestad and Hootenanny Singers received gold discs for their latest albums. An anniversary album "Sånt som slog" (The ones that hit) including the greatest hits recorded by the Polar artists was released as well.
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Summer in the Stockholm Archipelago
The ABBA members relaxed in the Stockholm archipelago. Bengt Malmkvist took several photos in the summer 73.
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In the autumn 73 ABBA worked in the studio preparing material for a new album.
