Bienvenidos a mi página dedicada a los fans del grupo ABBA. Encontraréis aquí información y material que os ayudará a comprender mejor la vida y el entorno de ABBA.
In 2001, Benny decided to create his own orchestra.
With 16 musicians, including the entire Orsa Spelmän, he recorded his first
album, naturally titled "Orkester." To date, they have recorded seven
studio albums and one live album.
All of the albums are hits in Sweden and each includes
singles that have charted on the Swedish charts.
The orchestra's strong suit is its concerts. They last
four hours and feature folk, rock, and pop music, as they enjoy performing hits
by the Hep Stars and ABBA, as well as their own songs.
It's also worth mentioning that almost all of the
songs sung by BAO have lyrics by Björn.
2002
In 2002, the 2001 Chess Pa Svenska concert in
Stockholm was released on CD and DVD.
That year, "The Last Video," recorded for
the thirtieth anniversary of Waterloo and broadcast on the Eurovision Song
Contest, was also released on DVD.
As was the BBC documentary and concert filmed from the
1979 Wembley concerts on a DVD called "ABBA in Concert”.
After 17 years, in 2004, Agnetha decided to give
herself a treat by recording the songs she loved in her youth. The result is
"My Coloring Book," with thirteen songs, although she had recorded
21.
"If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind,"
released as a single and aired a few days earlier on the radio, gave goosebumps
to everyone who heard it at the time, because it sounded so wonderfully good.
All the press spoke highly of the album and Agnetha's
voice, which was barely altered by the passage of time and blended perfectly
with the chosen songs.
But again, due to a lack of promotion, the album
failed to climb the charts, and only "When You Walk In The Room" was
released as the second single.
Each single was accompanied by a music video, but they
released two more music videos without a single: "Past, Present & Future"
and "What Now My Love”.
BAO's second album was released in 2004.
The song "Du är min man" spent 243 weeks on
the Swedish charts and is therefore included in the Guinness Book of Records.
2005
In 2005, we received the "Complete Studio
Recordings" box set, even more comprehensive than the previous two studio
album releases, with two DVDs, one including all the music videos and the other
with an interview.
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"
found a new lease on life solely thanks to Madonna who used a sample of it in
her track "Hung Up." She had to beg Björn and Benny to let her use
the sample, as it is something they almost never allow.
In 2005, Moderatto
and Belinda translated Frida's song "Slowly" into "Muriendo
Lento," which became a huge hit in Mexico.
Michael B. Tretow
released two albums this year.
2006
Orsa Spelemän
released the album "Orsa Nasta" in 2006.
On the BAO 3
album, we find "Crush On You," a title taken from ABBA's era that was
never used.
2008
The 2008 London Chess performances were released on
DVD.
DVD 1 DVD 2
In 2008, the musical Mamma Mia was released on the big
screen, starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfrid, Christine Baranski, Julie
Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, and Dominic Cooper,
and grossed $611 million on a $52 million budget.
Finally, in 2009, Universal released the special in
Japan with bonus content on the DVD "ABBA in Japan”.
The song "Innan Gryningen" will be performed
in English under the title "The Silence of the Dawn" by Barbra
Dickson in concert in 2009.
To celebrate Sweden's presidency of the European
Union, BAO performed an English-language concert in London and simultaneously
released the album "Story of a Heart" with English lyrics.
To promote Benny's hotel, the Rival, they wrote
"2nd Best to None" in 2009, which was performed by hotel employees.
2010
ABBA was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010. Benny and Frida attended the ceremony
in New York, where they were introduced by brothers Barry and Robin Gibb. Not
feeling ready to sing, Frida stepped aside for Faith Hill, who performed
"The Winner Takes It All" with Benny.
Princess Victoria asked him for a song for her 2010
wedding to Daniel Westking, and Benny replied with "Vilar Glad I Din
Famn," performed by a choir in the church.
In 2010, Björn
wrote a children's book, "The White Piano”.
The musical
"Kristina" was transformed into a concert that was presented in
English in New York in 2009 and London in 2010, and recently again in Swedish
at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and in Dalhalla.Summer.
2011
In 2011, Frida
sang “Morning Has Broken” on Georg Wadenius's album.
BAO released their
fifth album, "O Klang Och Jubeltid”.
2012
In 2012, Björn
wrote “I Can See Myself In You” for Tommy Körberg and Danny Saucedo.
BAO released their
fifth album, "Tomten Har Åkt Hem”.
In 2002, Björn and
Benny wrote “The Day The Wall Came Tumbling Down” for Barbra Dickson, and it
was Anne Wood, the Australian Donna, who finally released it on her ABBA covers
album, "Divine Discontent," in 2012.
2013
A
In 2013, Jörgen
Elofsson and Peter Nordahl convinced Agnetha to record a new album with songs
written specifically for her. The album was called "A" because it's
the first A in ABBA's song, representing them.
The album would be their biggest hit since "Wrap
Your Arms Around Me”.
The first single, "When You Really Loved Someone,"
enjoyed relative success with its original music video.
For the second single, "Dance Your Pain
Away," he edited music videos sent in by fans, following the rules of a
contest, and the single would also be released in the US.
MundoABBA Video
The final single, "I Should've Followed You
Home," is a duet with Gary Barlow, who invited Agnetha to sing with him on
the program "Children in Need" in England. This would make the single
the most successful of the three in Europe and the US.
Benny, a lover of music and traditional instruments,
paid for the restoration of a 9,000-pipe organ in a church in Pitea, northern
Sweden, in 2013, and composed a song to play on it.
"En Skrift I Snön" was performed with a
choir on a television program for the instrument's unveiling.
That same year, Benny adapted the BAO song
"Saknadens Rum" for Bryn Trefeld and Sissel Kyrkjebö under the title
"Give Me My Song”.
Initially, Hjälp Sökes was a project by Benny and
Kristina Lugn. But Kristina, who was responsible for the lyrics, felt
overwhelmed, and Benny called Björn for help. Thus, we have Björn and Benny's
third musical in Swedish, released in 2013. It tells the story of two farmers
who couldn't cope with the work on their farm anymore and looked for a girl to
help them. We won't say more, except that the beauty of the show is that it not
only featured performers but also farm animals such as chickens, goats, and a
cow, which made each performance unique.
An album compiles the main songs from the show, and
two singles were released: "Svarta Silhuetter" and "Bortom Sol
Och Måne”.
In 2013, to celebrate the Eurovision Song Contest in
Stockholm, Björn and Benny, along with Avicii, wrote their anthem called
"We Write The Story”.
2014
In 2014, for another television show, Benny composed
music that was sent to several Swedish composers who were asked to write the
lyrics. The resulting song was performed live on the show by Helen Sjöholm, and
viewers ultimately voted for the best version, which was recorded as a single
by BAO.
The winning song, "Nyårsballongen," was
written by Horace Engdahl.
The song "Innan Gryningen" will be performed
in English under the title "The Silence Of The Dawn" by Barbra
Dickson on her 2014 album "Winter”.
In 2014, he wrote
the book "Pop Story" for the ABBA Museum.
2015
On February 13, 2015,
"1865," a duet with Swiss artist Dan Daniell, was released to
commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first successful ascent of the
Matterhorn, near Zermatt, the town where Frida and Dan live.
Benny composed compositions for the film
"Cirkeln" in 2015.
In 2015, Benny assisted Sisters Joseffin and Marie
Nilsson with some songs for their show "Systrarna Sister”. A single with
the song "Hej Och Hå, Kan Du Älska Mej Ändå," co-written by Benny,
was released in 2019, followed by an album the following year.
The Hungarian production of Chess by SAKK released his
musical on CD.
2016
In 2016, the album "Hemmainspelade Demos Fran
60-Talet" was released, a compilation of Michael's early work from the
1960s.
BAO released the album "Mitt Hjärta Klappar För
Dig”.
Finally, Mamma Mia the Party combines a show and a
restaurant, releasing a promotional single.
This was also one of only two times all four members of ABBA were seen together, at the restaurant's opening on January 20th.
The second time took place on June 5th, to
celebrate 50 years of collaboration between Björn and Benny.
On this occasion, Agnetha and Frida performed "The Way Old Friends
Do".
2017
Piano
Benny chose his favorite songs from those he had
written so far, performing them on the piano. Thus, we can hear songs by ABBA,
Chess, Kristina, and other projects on his latest album, "Piano”.
Four digital singles were released from that album: "Thank You For The Music," "Chess," and "Flickornass Rum,".
The album was released the following year in a deluxe
version, but with only two more songs: "Money, Money, Money" and
"Jag Hör”.
In 2017, for the opening of the new music academy,
partly funded by Benny, Björn and Benny wrote "Vi Äger Drömmarna,"
which was performed there only.
2018
Finally, for the time being, Frida's last
collaboration outside of ABBA was in 2018 with Arturo Sandoval, where she
performed "Andante, Andante" in Spanish behind Arturo's trumpet.
Björn translated the song "Con Te Partíro" for Tommy
Körberg, but it was Magnus Carlsson and Sofia Källgren who released it as a
single under the title "Jag Går Dit Du Går”.
Björn also wrote the book "You Are Who You
Meet" in 2018.
The second Mamma Mia film, released in 2018, added
Lily James, Jeremy Irvine, Alexa Davies, Hughes Skinner, Jessica Keenan Wynn,
and Cher to the cast. It grossed $402 million on a $75 million budget.
Both films are available to watch on DVD and stream on
CD.
2019
In 2019, Björn wrote the English lyrics for the songs
in the film "En del av mitt hjärta," translated into English as
"A Piece of My Heart," directed by Edward af Sillen. The film is a
musical about the life of Tomas Ledin, but the English version remains
unreleased.
2020
In 2020, he
narrated a children's story called "Goat's Coat" for English
television.
