Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, actress, and author. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her debut album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which has sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists in history.
Background
Agnetha Åse Fältskog was born in Jönköping, Småland, Sweden on 5 April 1950. She was the first of two daughters of department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922–1994) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923–1995). Ingvar showed much interest in music and show business, whereas Birgit was a calm and careful woman who devoted herself to her children and household.
Education
Encouraged by her father, Ingvar, to participate in theater and music, Fältskog fell in love with performing and began writing her own songs on the piano while still very young. At only 13 years old, she formed a musical group called The Cambers with two of her friends. The group performed only at small, local events, but nonetheless provided Fältskog with early experience in a career that would take her to the heights of international fame.
In 1965, at the age of 15, Fältskog left school to focus on music more seriously. She was in a band headed by Bernt Enghardt, who later sent a demo of the group's music to a producer at Swedish label Cupol Records.
Career
Still a few months shy of her 18th birthday, Fältskog had already become famous in her home country. Throughout 1968 and 1969, her singles and albums remained very popular with Swedish listeners, but Fältskog was poised to take on a larger audience.
In 1969, Fältskog became engaged to Björn Ulvaeus. At the time of their engagement, Ulvaeus was working with a songwriter named Benny Andersson. Andersson was engaged to an Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who, much like Fältskog, was becoming an increasingly popular singer in Sweden. The two women sang back-up vocals for their fiancés and performed with them at small concerts. In time, these two couples used the first letters of their first names - Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid - to form the name of their musical group, ABBA.
In the meantime, Fältskog looked for ways to further her career. The first Swedish production of Jesus Christ Superstar was set to premiere in 1971, and Ulvaeus encouraged Fältskog to try out for a part. Fältskog won the role of Mary Magdalene, and participated in the first Swedish cast recording of the musical. That same year, Fältskog married Ulvaeus in a small church in southern Sweden.
In 1972, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson were approached to write a song for Sweden's submission into the upcoming 1973 Eurovision song contest. They chose to enter a song called "Ring, Ring," which did not win, and failed to make much of a name for ABBA at the time. The band was still relatively unknown in 1973, when Fältskog gave birth to her and Ulvaeus' first child, Elin Linda Ulvaeus.
Despite their lack of success the year before, ABBA was again chosen to submit a song to Eurovision in 1974. Their entry this time was "Waterloo," and it hit the mark. The song not only won the Eurovision contest, but even reached No. 1 on the charts in many European countries. Riding the wave of this newfound fame, ABBA began an international tour that included a stop at The Merv Griffin Show in the United States.
ABBA had made its name as a one-hit wonder, but the band managed to shake that reputation by releasing another album with hit songs like "S.O.S." and "Mamma Mia." At the peak of their powers, Fältskog and her fellow ABBA members were selling hundreds of thousands of albums and playing sold-out shows around the world.
Around this time, Agnetha Fältskog was becoming increasingly concerned about how little time she was able to spend caring for her child due to her ABBA responsibilities. She also developed tonsillitis, and had to take time over the Christmas holidays to have her tonsils removed. Still, despite these worries, Fältskog was determined to keep ABBA moving forward. The band continued to tour, and churned out signature hits such as "Fernando" and "Dancing Queen."
After ABBA broke up, Agnetha Fältskog went on to once again actively pursue her solo career. She lives in Sweden, and has kept a relatively low profile in recent years. Her solo albums have not gained the popularity of ABBA's records, but, she says, "I am now doing what I always wanted to do, writing songs, singing and recording, and being a little star. I like being a little star, being a big star is too much pressure and I don't like pressure at all. I don't really miss all the fame and success of ABBA."
Religion
Agnetha prefers not to talk about religion.
Politics
Agnetha Fältskog prefers not to voice her political views.
Views
Quotations:
"I'm not the person who looks back or looks forward. I try to live in what is now."
"I think I was more like the black sheep, maybe, that, I was someone that you could blame on, but we were actually agreed on, that we had to stop now, because we came to a point, when it doesn't feel good anymore."
"I have been described as a very mysterious human being and that hurts a little bit, because it's not like that at all."
"I think to look in the future, to plan another one, it's not realistic right now. But I don't close any doors. I'm very open for what comes up. At the moment, we are so happy with this one. I really hope people will like it as much as we do."
Personality
Fältskog was phobic of flying, which turned worse for her during ABBA's 1979 American tour, when the band's plane, heading to Boston, Massachusetts, was short of fuel and hit a tornado, forcing an emergency landing. Fältskog said as of 2013 that she still needs therapy to deal with the fear. During her solo career years Fältskog would always travel by bus.
Fältskog has reportedly suffered from stage fright, fear of crowds and open spaces, fear of heights, amongst others.
Physical Characteristics:
ABBA was widely noted for the colourful and trend-setting costumes its members wore. The reason for the wild costumes was Swedish tax law. The cost of the clothes was deductible only if they could not be worn other than for performances.