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Agnetha Åse Fältskog (born 1950, age 59) is a Swedish pop singer-songwriter and record producer, most notable for being a member of the popular Swedish pop group ABBA. Chartwise, she was by far the most successful solo artist of the four ABBA members, both before and during the band's international career.[1]
2. Born in Jönköping, Småland, Sweden, Faltskog started taking piano lessons when she was eight, encouraged by her father who showed much interest in music and show business. In the early 1960s, she formed a trio, The Cambers, with two female friends. The trio performed in unimportant venues and soon dissolved because of a lack of engagements.
3. In 1966, at the age of 16, while working as a switchboard operator in a car dealership, Faltskog started performing with Bernt Enghardt's Orchestra, which toured on weekends, as all the members had day jobs. However, she had to quit her job after a few months because of overwork. The following year, the band sent a demo tape to the record label, Cupol. Cupol, however, was more interested in Faltskog than the orchestra and she thus got her first solo recording contract. In late 1967, Faltskog recorded her first two singles and in 1968, released her first album. Her 1970 song, Om tårar vore guld, was perhaps her most successful song in Sweden before the ABBA period.
4. Faltskog met Björn Ulvaeus in May 1969 while performing a schlager special for television.[1] Around the same time, Benny Andersson, Ulvaeus' co-composer, had met his future spouse, 24-year old jazz and schlager vocalist, Anni-Frid Lyngstad. As the two couples began supporting each other during their recording sessions, the sound of the girls' voices convinced the two men to model their 'group' on the likes of MOR acts, Blue Mink, Middle of the Road, and The Sweet and thus, ABBA came to life.
5. ABBA's breakthrough came with winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with Waterloo in April 1974. As their popularity grew, they were sought after to tour Europe, Australia, and North America, drawing crowds of near-hysterical fans. Touring, however, became a contentious issue, being particularly unpopular with Faltskog, but they continued to release studio albums to great commercial success. At the height of their popularity, however, both marriages failed, and ABBA finally broke up in 1982.
6. After leaving ABBA, Faltskog continued with her music career, taking a break and completely withdrawing from public life after the release of I Stand Alone in mid-1988. She married for a second time in 1990, albeit briefly, to a surgeon named Tomas Sonnenfeld. Faltskog made a comeback in 2004 with the single, If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind which reached No. 2 in Sweden, and became a sizeable hit throughout Europe. Faltskog is currently still active, releasing a new compilation album, My Very Best, in Sweden in October 2008. more... at Chronology
