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Chronology:Björn Ulvaeus  

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Björn Kristian Ulvaeus
  • 1945, April 25: Born in Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • 1956 (age 11): Moved to Västervik with his family,[1] and later played and sang in a skiffle group, called the Mackie's Skiffle Group. The group was formed by two older schoolmates, Hansi Schwarz and Johan Karlberg. They played at school parties, entered amateur contests and even travelled through Europe in an old Volvo car, making some money for their expenses by busking.[1]
  • 1962 (age 17): The Mackie's Skiffle Group changed its style into folk and was renamed the West Bay Singers.[1] Ulvaeus played the banjo and guitar.
  • 1963 (age 18): Ulvaeus' mother entered the West Bay Singers for an amateur national talent contest, 'Plats på scen', which was sponsored by Swedish Radio. They attracted the attention of Bengt Bernhag and his partner Stig Anderson of the newly formed Polar Music record company who signed them and persuaded them to change their name to Hootenanny Singers. The Hootenanny Singers won the amateur contest with the song, Jag vänter vid min mila, which was released as a single. It became the first hit for Polar Music records and the Hootenanny Singers, and Hootenanny became a big thing not only in Scandinavia but also in the United States.[1]
  • 1966 (age 21): While on the road in southern Sweden, the Hootenanny Singers encountered the Hep Stars and Ulvaeus quickly became friends with Benny Andersson, the group's keyboard player. The two musicians shared the passion of writing and together, they composed their first song, Isn't It Easy To Say, during their second encounter that same summer, a song soon to be recorded by Andersson's group. The two continued teaming up for music, helping out when the other's band were in the recording studio, adding guitar or keyboards respectively to the recordings.
  • 1967 (age 22): Studied business and law at Lund University for a short period,[1] after doing his military service with stand-up comedian, Magnus Holmström.
  • 1968 (age 23):
  • 1969 (age 24):
    • May 4: Met 18-year-old singer/songwriter, Agnetha Fältskog, while filming a nostalgic schlager special for television.[1] (Andersson had met his future spouse, 24-year old jazz and schlager vocalist, Anni-Frid Lyngstad around the same time.)
    • Another hit came for Ulvaeus and Andersson with "Speleman", recorded by the Hep Stars.
    • Continued recording and touring with the Hootenanny Singers to great acclaim, while working as in-house producer at Polar Record Company, together with Andersson as new partner. The twosome produced records by other artists, and continued writing songs together. Polar artist Arne Lambert's Fröken Blåklint, the Swedish version of A Flower In My Garden was one of their first in-house productions. Ulvaeus released two more solo singles, Saknar du något min skära and Partaj-aj-aj, the latter co-written with Benny Andersson.
    • The Hootenanny Singers released an album called De bäste med Hootenanny Singers & Björn Ulvaeus ('The best of Hootenanny Singers and Björn Ulvaeus').
    • December: Recorded with Andersson the new song, She's My Kind Of Girl, which became their first single as a duo, released in March 1970, giving them a minor hit in Sweden (and by chance, a top-ten hit in Japan, two years later).
  • 1970 (age 25): The Hootenanny Singers entered Svensktoppen, the Swedish radio charts, with Omkring Tiggarn Från Luossa, a cover of an old folk/schlager song, and remained in the charts for 52 consecutive weeks, a record which was held until 1990. The song was produced by Ulvaeus and Andersson, and had Ulvaeus' solo vocal and Andersson's piano.
  • 1971, July 6 (age 26): Married Agnetha Fältskog. The marriage resulted in two children: Linda Elin Ulvaeus (born February 23, 1973), and Peter Christian Ulvaeus (born December 4, 1977).
  • 1974, April 6 (age 28): ABBA's breakthrough came with winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with Waterloo.
  • 1980, July (age 35): Divorced with Agnetha Fältskog, but both agreed to remain in ABBA.
  • 1981, January 6 (age 35): Married music journalist, Lena Kallersjö. This marriage produced another two daughters: Emma (born in 1982) and Anna (born in 1986).
  • 1982 (age 37): ABBA broke up, but Ulvaeus continued writing music with Andersson. Their first project was the stage musical Chess, with lyrics written with Tim Rice.

After ABBA