Top 10 Interesting facts about ABBA Music band

Museo de ABBA by BugWarp from Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Interesting facts about ABBA Music band

1. Their bizarre outfits were tax deductible

ABBA by AVRO from Wikimedia Commons

They were deductible under Swedish law as long as they didn’t dress in the outrageous costumes they made a name for themselves wearing onstage. This undoubtedly encouraged the group to express their creativity to the fullest, but Björn would later acknowledge that things occasionally went a little beyond.

“Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were,” he explained in Abba: The Official Photo Book. “In my honest opinion, we looked like nuts in those years.”

2. The group had to obtain permission to use the name “ABBA”

ABBA by Bengt Nyman from Wikimedia Commons

The initial names of the band members—Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad—are all combined into the acronym ABBA, which is perhaps best known to fans as the group’s name.

However, did you know that in order to utilise the acronym, the group had to engage in legal negotiations with a seafood company? Originally established in the 1800s, the Abba Seafood Company is a Swedish herring producer. The band ABBA had to negotiate the use of the name with executives because they were the first corporation to use “Abba”.

3. They’ve rejected numerous requests from famous people who wanted to use their music

ABBA by Raph_PH from Wikimedia Commons

Yes, Madonna, it is well known that the pop star had to “beg” and “implore” ABBA to use some of their music in a song. Hung Up, her single, featured the song Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight).

Being fiercely protective of their music, ABBA is renowned for granting relatively few people the right to sample its songs. Madonna was cited as stating in a conversation with Attitude magazine:

4. Benny designed their famous logo

Benny’s horizontally flipped “B” during a photo shoot served as the inspiration for their official logo, which was later given a proper design by Rune Soderqvist. The band ABBA was finally given the name it is today, an acronym for the first letters of each member’s name. They also needed to obtain consent from the same-named popular Swedish fish canning company in order to use the rights.

5. Anni-Frid is actually from Norway

Anni-Frid by Frankie Fouganthin from Wikimedia Commons

They left Norway soon after Anni-Frid was born in 1945, fearing harsh criticism and ridicule from their neighbours if they learned about her father, as the brunette’s mother, a Norwegian, had a relationship with a German soldier during World War II.

At the height of ABBA’s stardom, when a pop magazine published in-depth biographies for each member, a half-sibling learned about their relationship. Anni-Frid had spent the majority of her life thinking he had died in the war. Despite spending so many years apart, she eventually met her father but they never really connected.

6. Their video director is an Academy Award nominee

Lasse Hallström by Miami Film Festival from Wikimedia Commons

Acclaimed Swedish director Lasse Hallström was responsible for most of their advertising videos and their 1977 documentary, ABBA: The Movie. His films My Life as a Dog from 1988 and The Cider House Rules from 2000 both received Oscar nominations.

7. They were paid with oil by Russia to perform

According to the BBC, the band made the unusual arrangement while on tour in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, when rubles were subject to an embargo. The band was in such high demand.

8. Before 2008, they hadn’t had a number-one album in the US

ABBA by Peter Mazel from Wikimedia Commons

In their prime, they were only ever able to get as high as #14 on the American charts, but the Mamma Mia soundtrack helped them finally reach the top! the Meryl Streep movie adaption of the Broadway musical by Benny and Björn. The band is pictured above with the cast of the movie, reuniting all four members for the first time in their 22-year separation.

9. Agnetha and Björn’s daughter baby was quite famous at some point

Björn Ulvaeus by Martina Clara from Wikimedia Commons

When the band used their music to advertise Semper baby food in the early 1970s, the pleased parents were happy to smile for the camera.

Even so, their manager quickly sold another tune to an electronics retailer, ending their brief career in advertising. Benny put a stop to the usage of their music in any additional commercials by putting up a fight.

10. Anni-Frid is a royal

:ABBA Frida by Pascal CARQUEVILLE from Wikimedia Commons

Following her breakup with Benny in 1981, Anni-Frid began dating Heinrich Ruzzo, Prince Reuss of Plauen, in 1986. The two were wed in 1992, making her a princess, and remained together until his untimely passing in 1999.

15 years after its first release in the US in 1993, the compilation album ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits became the band’s first album to reach number one on any Billboard album chart when it topped the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in August 2008. There, 6,000,000 copies have been sold.

The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb gave ABBA a star-studded induction ceremony into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010. At the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, the event took place. Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson represented the group. A Grammy nomination for Record of the Year went to ABBA in November 2021. From the album Voyage, the track “I Still Have Faith In You” was their first-ever nomination.