Planning on visiting the Abba Museum - Stockholm's latest attraction - this summer? Here are a few facts about Abba to wet your appetite… Words: Kaye Holland.
One Initially Sweden’s greatest national export were known by the rather awkward moniker of Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida rather than Abba, which was the name of a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden! However the quartet negiotated with the canners for the right to use the name Abba – an acronym of the first letters of each group member's name.
Two Dancing Queen is the group’s biggest hit single spending six weeks at number one in the UK and was Abba’s only American number one. The track was recorded in 1975 for the group’s album Arrival and released as a single in 1976. It has proved popular at sporting events and been adopted as a gay anthem
Three Agnetha Faltskog, Abba's youngest member, had a number one hit record in Sweden when she was only 17. However her first performance was at the age of five – when halfway through she dropped her trousers.
Four Abba represented Sweden in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. The song won and in 2005 during the celebration show for the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, Waterloo was voted the best Eurovision song in the history of the contest.
Five Mamma Mia – the hit show based on the songs of Abba - was nominated for a Broadway Tony Award as best musical in 2002. A film version of the musical directed by Tom Hanks with Rita Wilson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson as executive producers and starring Meryl Streep was released in 2008 to critical and commercial acclaim.