ABBA

ABBA is a pop music group formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They had many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s.

ABBA on Dutch TV in April 1974. By AVRO - Beeld En Geluid Wiki - Gallerie: Toppop 1974

When the band formed, Benny and Anni-Frid were a couple, as were Björn and Agnetha. The band name is their initials as an acronym.

ABBA had to ask the ABBA seafood company, which produces marinated herrings, to share their name. The firm said, "they were not to harm ABBA's good reputation."

ABBA aren't all Swedes. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in the Norwegian village of Bjørkåsen on November 15, 1945 to a Norwegian mother and German soldier father — the result of a Nazi project to ‘enrich’ the Aryan gene pool. Her mother and grandmother were branded as traitors and ostracized in their home village in Norway, and were forced to flee to Sweden.

Agnetha was just 17-years-old when she had her first number one song in Sweden. It was her debut single "Jag Var Så Kär" ("I Was so In Love"), which she also wrote.

ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest singing "Waterloo" on April 6, 1974, launching their international career. Their first attempt to sing for Sweden had ended in failure the previous year. The act that did represent the country in 1973, Nova and The Dolls, came fifth.

In 1973, ABBA promoted Semper’s baby food, and it was Björn and Agnetha’s daughter Linda who debuted in this advert.

The glittering hotpants, sequined jumpsuits and platform heels that ABBA wore, were chosen because of Swedish tax law. If they bought clothes for performance they could get a tax deduction, but they had to prove they couldn't be worn on the street. According to Björn in Abba: The Official Photo Book, "we looked like nuts [...] Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were."

When ABBA was active, only the Volvo car company made more money in Sweden.

S.O.S. by ABBA was the only Top 20 hit in history in which the title of the song and the name of the artist are both palindromes - they spell the same thing forward and backward.

When ABBA toured America for the first and only time, they visited the White House. They met there President Carter's daughter Amy, who was a big fan.

In 1992, Anni-Frid married German prince Prince Heinrich Ruzzo of Reuss, Count of Plauen. She officially became Princess Reuss and Countess of Plauen with the style of Her Serene Highness following their marriage. He died in 1999.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad during the opening of ABBA: The Museum in 2013. By Frankie Fouganthin 

ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries,

Sources Abba Artistfacts, Event magazine, Daily Mail