Music Folks

ABBA Before Waterloo: How Four Swedish Careers Became One Band

October 14, 2026 · by Music Folks

Most people’s ABBA story starts on April 6, 1974, with “Waterloo” winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton. But by then, all four members had spent the best part of a decade building careers in Swedish music. A folk singer, a keyboardist from the country’s biggest beat group, a teenage chart-topper and a jazz-loving talent-show winner took years of side projects, near misses and one notable flop to become the band the world knows.

Quick Facts

Members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad
From: Sweden
Pre-ABBA acts: Hootenanny Singers (Björn), Hep Stars (Benny), solo careers (Agnetha and Frida)
First recordings as a foursome: 1970
Key early releases: Lycka (1970), “People Need Love” (1972), “Ring Ring” (1973)
Name adopted: 1973

Four Separate Careers

Björn Ulvaeus, born in Gothenburg in 1945, joined the Hootenanny Singers at 18. The folk group from Västervik was managed by Stig Anderson, whose label, Polar Music, had made them its first signing. Benny Andersson, born in Stockholm in 1946, joined the Hep Stars in October 1964 and helped turn them into one of Sweden’s top acts, with No. 1 hits such as “Cadillac,” “Wedding” and “Sunny Girl.”

Agnetha Fältskog, from Jönköping, sang with a local dance band before her self-written debut single, “Jag var så kär,” topped the Swedish chart in January 1968. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway in 1945 and raised in Sweden, singing with dance bands from the age of 13. On September 3, 1967, she won a national talent contest with “En ledig dag,” appeared on television the same evening and earned a recording contract with EMI.

Björn and Benny Team Up

The two men met in 1966 when their bands crossed paths, and by that June they had decided to write together. Their first song, “Isn’t It Easy to Say,” was recorded by the Hep Stars. Stig Anderson encouraged the partnership. The Hep Stars had broken up by the end of 1969.

Their partners soon joined the picture. Frida met Benny backstage at the 1969 Melodifestivalen, where she finished fourth, and he produced her 1971 album, Frida. Agnetha and Björn became a couple in 1969 and married on July 6, 1971.

Trying It as Four

In 1970, Björn and Benny recorded the album Lycka, with Agnetha and Frida singing backing vocals. Its song “Hej gamle man!” became a hit and was the first recording to feature all four future members. Frida later described the album as “the birth of ABBA in a way.” The same year, the foursome tried a cabaret show in Gothenburg called Festfolket, which opened on November 1, 1970. Reviews were mostly negative, and they shelved the idea of working together for a while.

“People Need Love” and “Ring Ring”

They tried again in 1972. “People Need Love,” credited to Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, came out that June and reached No. 17 on the Swedish chart. In February 1973 they entered Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s Eurovision selection, with “Ring Ring,” co-written with Stig Anderson. It finished third, so they missed out on Eurovision that year, but the Ring Ring album still reached No. 2 in Sweden.

A Name Borrowed From a Fish Company

In 1973 Stig began calling them ABBA, a palindrome made from their first initials. There was a snag: ABBA was also the name of a Swedish fish-canning company. It agreed to let the group use the name, and the first records credited to ABBA appeared that October.

Then Came Waterloo

Second time lucky: “Waterloo” won Melodifestivalen in February 1974 and then the Eurovision Song Contest at the Brighton Dome on April 6, beating Italy’s Gigliola Cinquetti. Everything that followed rested on those years of trial and error. As of October 2026, the group’s ABBA Voyage show in London has been seen by more than 4 million people and is booked to run until June 2027.

Sources

Tagged: 1970s, Pop, Swedish