Chronology:Hootenanny Singers  

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• 1961: The Mackie's Skiffle Group, the predecessor of the Hootenanny Singers, was founded by Hansi Schwarz and Johan Karlberg, two older schoolmates of Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame). The other member of the band was Tony Roth.
• 1962: The group changed their style to folk music and renamed themselves the West Bay Singers.
• 1963: Ulvaeus' mother entered the group in Plats på scen, an amateur national talent contest sponsored by Swedish Radio. They attracted the attention of Bengt Bernhag and Stik Anderson of Polar Music, a newly-formed record company, and was soon signed and persuaded to change their name to Hootenanny Singers. The Hootenanny Singers won the contest with the song, Jag vänter vid min mila, which was subsequently released as a single and became the first hit for both the company and the group.
• 1964:
  • Spring: All group members passed their final school examinations and became professional musicians. That year, they scored a big hit with Gabrielle and by the end of the year they had become one of the most popular acts of Sweden. They went on their first folkpark tour and two albums were released, both simply titled Hootenanny Singers.
  • 1964 - 1966: The Hootenanny Singers began to release some singles abroad, including the United Kingdom, United States, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, including an album in the United States. However, they were not very successful.
• 1965: The album, Hootenanny Singer sjunger Evert Taube, was released. It was a tribute to the Swedish songwriter, Evert Taube. Ulvaeus then dreamed of being a part of the pop music scene, and the group gradually changed their style away from American hootenanny music towards pop music.^[1] Their second album that year, International, contained Ulvaeus' first self-written folk/pop compositions, No time and Time to move along. Under the name of the Northern Lights, their single, No time scored a hit in South Africa. Baby, those are the rules, one of Ulvaeus' compositions, was featured on the B-side of their fifth album and became a hit in Sweden that year. The group also released a Dutch single, Gabrielle, in the Netherlands.
• 1966:
  • June: Three members of the group had to join the Lifeguards in Lindköping, as part of their National Service. Hansi Schwarz was exempted because he was German. The day before they entered military service, the Hootenanny Singers met the immensely popular group, Hep Stars, just outside Ålleberg. That evening, Ulvaeus met the Hep Stars' organist, Benny Andersson, for the first time and they sat outside all evening, playing Beatles songs. Later that summer, they composed Isn't it easy to say together.
  • Autumn: The album, Många ansikten ('Many faces'), which Benny Andersson also contributed by playing organ on Blomman, was a final attempt to present the Hootenanny Singers as a pop band. Side A was entirely in Swedish, while side B contained only pop-oriented songs in English. 'Marianne' from side A was the second hit for the Hootenanny Singers that year.
• 1967:
  • January: The Hootenanny Singers had their biggest hit so far with a cover version of Tom Jones' Green green grass of home, called En sång en gång för längesen.}}
  • After their military service, all members of the Hootenanny Singers decided to go to university. Ulvaeus went to Stockholm University to study business, law, and economics. Alongside his studies, however, he worked in the Polar Music offices and seemed to be the only member of the group who still dreamed of a full-time career in the music business. That year, two albums, Civila and Bästa, were released.
• 1968:
  • Spring: Ulvaeus released Raring, his first solo single. His second solo single that year, Fröken Fredriksson, became a Swedish top ten hit. Both songs were cover versions of American hits, but the B-sides were Ulvaeus' own compositions (Vill du ha en vän and Gömt är inte glömt).
  • The Hootenanny Singers released their albums, 5 år and Bellman på vårt sätt. By this time, they had totally abandoned the idea of presenting themselves as a pop-oriented group, focusing instead on interpreting traditional Swedish songs. The Bellman på vårt sätt album was a tribute to the famous Swedish 18th century composer, Carl Michael Bellman.
• 1969:
  • The Hootenanny Singers released an album called De bäste med Hootenanny Singers & Björn Ulvaeus ('The best of Hootenanny Singers and Björn Ulvaeus').
  • Spring: Johan Karlberg left the group to work as a car salesman in his father's car firm. Consequently their second album that year was called På tre man hand ('With the three of us').
  • Ulvaeus released two more solo singles, Saknar du något min skära and Partaj-aj-aj. The latter is another Ulvaeus composition, co-written with Benny Andersson.
• 1970: Despite being a threesome, the Hootenanny Singers still went on tour and released Skillingtryck, a new album containing old Swedish folk songs.
• 1971: The Hootenanny Singers released another album, Våra vackraste visor.
• 1972: The Hootenanny Singers released Våra vackraste visor 2.
• 1973: The Hootenanny Singers released Dan Andersson på vårt sätt, a tribute to famous Swedish poet, Dan Andersson. By this time, the songwriting duo, Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson had started to collaborate with their girlfriends, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
• 1974: Evert Taube på vårt sätt, yet another tribute to the Swedish songwriter, Evert Taube, was released. It was the last album that Ulvaeus released with the Hootenanny Singers. That same year, Ulvaeus made a significant breakthrough with ABBA by winning the Eurovision Song Contest and from this point on, his career was focused entirely on ABBA and the Hootenanny Singers was dissolved.