Mikory's ABBA-blog

Agnetha's best friend Lena tells everything...

...about Agnetha's ordeal in Jönköping.
AGNETHA AND I COULD SIT FOR HOURS
DREAMING ABOUT BECOMING FAMOUS
Not since Agnetha Fältskog became worldfamous has she been back in her hometown - not until now! Here some of her closest friends from the past tells their stories about how they remember Agnetha.

Jönköping wasn't exactly considered the most "happening town" But that was about to change. In connection with the city's 700th anniversary has the normally so quiet and peacful town decided to have a huge celebration, which even will be televised.To top it off the town has convinced Agnetha Fältskog to parttake in the festivities, which she will be hosting. It's the first since Agnetha became ABBA-Agnetha with the whole world as a stage when she will be back to sing. So there's no wonder that the Jönköping citizens are a bit excited now. Agnetha probably thought long and hard before she accepted this honour. She has become more reclusive and avoid the big stages. And on top of it all this TV-show is going to be aired live. The jubilée show went with a theme of the many memories of Agnetha during the years. The show will be something special for Agnetha fans, a tribute to Jönköpings daughter. Many of the performing artists are Agnetha's closest friends, most of them have known her forever. Her mother Birgit, the food market cashier and her dad Ingvar, who works for the local electricity company will keep their fingers crossed.
     One of the guest were kept  a secret until the very latest minute. It was Agnetha's old muscial teacher from school, Eivor Stenäng and her girl choir. There was a lot of secrecy about their performance. Saxons did manage to get a chat with Eivor ahead of the show.

     - It's going to be fantastic to meet Agnetha again, it has been a while, 20 years. Agnetha was 13 and I myself was 21 and new as a musicteacher, Eivor rembers. I had so many students and I didn't have the chance to get to know Agnetha personally, But I do recall the girl with the long blond hair who loved to perform and sing.

     - It was difficult to get any of the girls to sing solo in front of the class. That is probably why I remember Agnetha so vividly I also remember that she had a beautiful, clear voice, but I couldn't dream that she would one day become world famous.

     One of the local singers Agnetha insisted on having with her on the show was her best friend from her teens - Lena Lagerkvist.

     - Actually there were three of us that were inseparable; Agnetha, I and a girl named Elisabeth Strub. We did everything together and had a lot of fun. Sometimes we went out dancing but for most of the time we stayed by yourselves and sang together. Singing and music were our greatest hobby, Lena tells us.

     - When we weren't singing we were dreaming about what big stars we were going to become and what fantastic careers we would have, Lena laughs.

     And the trio had some engagements.

     - We sang at Folkets Park and at Rigolette which was the cool place to be in Jönköping during that time. For two years we were lucky to participate in the New Year's Revue produced by Vincent Bagge.

     Elisabeth and Lena got 'normal' jobs. Only Agnetha persued the music career all of three of them had dreamt about.

     - I'm not surprised at all that it was Agnetha who made it. She was very musically talented and the one who was most competitive and focused on her goal. There was just nothing else that interested her. Her biggest idol was Connie Francis and she tried hard to sound like her, Lena remembers. I will never forget the first time I saw her on TV. I was so happy for her, I got chills all over my body!

GREAT TO SEE EACH OTHER

     - We kept in touch a little while after Agnetha's breakthrough. She used to visit me when she came back home to Jönköping. But after both Elisabeth and I moved away we lost touch. It will be great to see each other again. To see what she's like today.

     - Back when I knew her she was an ordinary girl. Happy and funny, great to be with. She was quite shy and soft, definitely not the kind that steps over anyone else in life.

     - I don't think she has changed that much. Of course somethings must have changed when you become world famous, but I firmly believe that deep inside she is still the same kind and ordinary girl that I know, said an excited Lena a couple of weeks before the show.

     Agnetha got to experience another friend from her past. It was the band leader Bernt Enghardt. It was in his band Agnetha started singing.

     - Agnetha and I worked together for three years. Then I left that group for another one, but Agnetha stayed on for another year. I remember her as a very nice girl, talented and ambitious. A little shy, just like the rest of us in the band, Bernt says.

     Agnetha was just 16 when she became the lead singer in Bernt Enghardts Orkester.

     - We used to joke about how Agnetha only got the job because her predecessor also was called Agnetha, and it saved us the cost to print new posters, Bernt laughs.

     All members of the band had normal jobs during the weeks. Agnetha was a switch board operator at the car firm Atteviks Bil, where she mostly was half asleep dreaming of her next gig.

     - It was a tough, but very enjoyable time. On weekends and some week nights we played around at different Folkets Hus. When the dance was over we packed up and went back home. Very rarely we spent the night. We were all short of money and we had to get up the next morning to go to work.

     But there were other reasons for Agnetha not spending the night. Agnetha's parents...

     - I was terribly nervous when Agnetha went off on the tour bus. Sixteen is a dangerous age when it comes to boys and I was worried she was going to stay in a hotel with all of the boys, Agnetha's father Ingvar said in an interview a couple of years ago.

     - Yes, we all knew that Agnetha's father was watching us, Bernt says.

     Agnetha was still working with Bernt Enghardts when she had her breakthrough with "Jag Var Så Kär".

     - I clearly remember when Agnetha came with this song to a rehearsal. It was the first song she wrote. After playing it through once we all said "that this will take you to Svensktoppen". Agnetha objected, but we were right.

     As we all know...

Beautiful Agnetha

This is one of my absolute top ten pictures of Agnetha. Still so young, recently married and a new mother, having had a strong career before Benny, Frida and Björn came into her life and changed t completely.a career.  So enjoy this picture and how it was back then...

Linda Ulvaeus in »Steel Magnolias«

A lot of us probably remember when Julia Roberts got her first Oscar nomination for her part in the Hollywood movie »Steel Magnolias« from 1989.  Originally it was a play, written by the debutant Robert Harling and performed on stage in New York for the first time in 1987. A Swedish version of the stage play will open at Vasateatern in Stockholm on 16 October 2008. One of the women is portrayed by no other than the Fältskog/Ulvaeus daughter, Linda Ulvaeus. The others are: Pernilla August, Suzanne Reuter, Gunilla Nyroos, Melinda Kinnaman,  och Cecilia Nilsson.
     Tickets available through www.ticnet.se

Agnetha enjoys the unusually warm winter and steps out in her underwear once again! ;)

The Swedish tabloids are filled with stories like "Third time is a charm" in accordance with the 3 times Agnetha Fältskog has been seen out and about in the Stockholm night life together with TV3 Manager Max Lagerbäck. And good on her! She is 58 this year and Max will be 38 so the age difference is only 20 years. I'm hoping she has a good time, no mattter what she does.

Getting out more, is probably a good advice, and it does get easier with time if you keep yourself calm with a glass of wine or a cognac...

Former ABBA stars reach settlement over script of "Kristina från Duvemåla"

     — Former ABBA stars Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson said Monday they have reached a settlement with a Swedish playwright in a copyright dispute over one of their musicals.
     In a joint statement, the two musicians and Carl-Johan Seth said they had requested the case be recalled from an appeals court that was supposed to hear it this week.

Both sides had been feuding over who wrote the script for the musical "Kristina from Duvemåla", which has been seen by more than one million people in Sweden.

Seth appealed a lower court ruling last year in favour of Andersson and Ulvaeus, who rejected Seth's claims that he was the main writer of the script.

However, both sides agreed to drop the case after reaching a settlement that made it possible to "move on as friends," Monday's statement said. It did not give other details.

Seth's lawyer, Staffan Michelson, said his client's reputation as a playwright has been "completely restored" and that the scheduled court hearing this Wednesday had been cancelled.

The musical is based on novels by Swedish writer Wilhelm Moberg, which depict the journey by Swedish emigrants to the U.S. in 1850.

ABBA, which also included singers Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, gained worldwide fame in the 1970s and early 1980s.

A different picture of the girls in ABBA

This is the gray everyday life for the two girls of ABBA, Agnetha Fältskog, 26, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 30:

• Dance rehearsals
• Domestic chores such as doing dishes, washing clothes, cooking and looking after the children
• Depressive thoughts about not being able to full fill people's expectations
• Insomnia

That's far from the glitter and the glamour on the big stages around the world and the tours around the world.
     - If you think about it we really are as every other women. The only difference is that we have an unusual kind of job. During an interview like this one they sit very relaxed with  a cup of coffee each , noone is smoking. They don't look for help from each other for, but still manage to reply very self assured They know each other as well as a couple of sisters.They have nothing to say, that the other member doesn't already knows about.
     - Yes, that's very much how we feel, like a sisters.

One thing has taken it's toll during the ABBA years; both Agnetha and Anni-Frid are tortured by insomnia. 

     - It's horrible Agnetha says. You lie there awake and brude over problems and the longer you stay awake the more desperatee one becomes. - I have to get up early for Linda's sake, I know that I can't stay in bed until 12.00am Linda is Agnetha's and Bjorn's three year old daughter.

     - I have nightmares says Anni-Frid. Both girls believes the problems stems from the pressure on them. The expectations on them and on ABBA, to always be better than you were on the previous album etc. And the stress of touring, the boring plane trips. Despite all of this ABBA is their lives. How long will the group last? - Forever says Frida very quickly. - As long as Björn and Benny wants to write songs. - But who knows, maybe there comes a time when we are utterly fed up with ABBA, and then we will try to find somethings else to do. They hardly have any time for anything else apart from ABBA and mainting their homes. Dancing is a hobby, but it is of course also a part of the job. Anni-Frid would love to have time to study languages. Agnetha wish she could have more time for exercis, like swimming. But there just isn't enough time. If ABBA never had existed what would the two girls have done instead today?     - I woked in an office before I started singing, says Agnetha. But I don't think I would have continued doing that. Perhaps I would have worked with children or studied to become a dental nurse. But I'm quite sure that I would have been composing music on the side.

     - I can't think of anything else to do than what I am doing, says Anni-Frid.

SIMILAR LIFESTYLES
The roles at home are quite similar for the two ABBA-girls. Agnetha and Björn live in a house on Lidingö and they have a daughter, Linda who demands their attention all the time. When ABBA are out working around the world Linda has a live in nanny.
     - Being with Linda is the best way to relax for me, says Agnetha. A typical ordinary day begins around 6.00 or 7.00 in the morning, just like it does in most families with small children.
     For Benny and Anni-Frid who live in Gamla Stan slightly different but still very similar. Anni-Frid has two children, Liselotte 9, and Hans, 13. They live in Eskilstuna. But they come to Stockholm on every weekend and school break and during the summers.
     - That, to me is the biggest happiness, to have my children close to me.
     - Sure, ABBA is important, but it can't be compared to being with your own children.

SPLIT THE CHORES
In both families most of the chores are split fifty/fifty.
     - Benny has so much to do, so perhaps I'm doing a little bit more of the domestic chores than he does.  But then again, he is an excellent cook and he likes doing that.
     - So is Björn, Agnetha says. More than me. So it's almost him fixing dinner every day.
So who does the dishes afterwards?
     Agnetha smiles:
     - Noone, we both have dish washers. But of course some one has to manage them as well...

What a great job...

This ad was printed in the Stockholm paper Dagens Nyheter in the spring of 1975. I was only 11 at the time and I was pretty sure this family were looking for someone older with more experience....

The ad reads in English:
Nanny or Manny
Preferrably over 18 years old, for Linda 2 years old. Lighter house keeping, flexible working hours. Private room with separate entrance.
Agneta Fältskog och Björn Ulvaeus
Please call 63 03 10 during office hours and ask for Görel Johnson.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2008

Dear readers,
Thank you for all your mails, criticism, cheers friendship I have received this year. I'm proud to tell you that this blog now has reached 300.000 hits since the start in 2005. We certainly aren't a very little group of ABBA fans. The interest is higher than ever before. I'm sure Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Frida are all really proud that people still care so much for their music.
     To get you into the Christmas mood here are four songs from Agnetha and Frida that have connections to the holiday.    

     Thank you for this year and let's all hope for an even better 2008!Love, Mikael
     SONG 1 SONG 2 SONG 3 SONG 4

Agnetha spotted dancing (very, very close) with Max, 37...

In this week's issue of Svensk Damtidning (#50, 2007) there are speculations about Agnetha's love life again. Is she romantically involved with this man? The question was raised dure to her participation in TV3's 20th Anniversary party last week. She was seen (and photographed) dancing with, and very close to, Max Lagerbäck, 37 - a manager at TV3.  It's the same man she was seen  with last year according to Svensk Damtidning. A friend of Agnetha's invited her to come along to the party. Agnetha had a great time and she said:
     - I don't go out very often. But this party I didn't want to miss, it's great fun to be here, TV3 has had so many fun shows during the years. And it's nice to get out once in a while to meet up with friends.

Thanks to Magda for providing photos. I think Agnetha looks great., looks like she's having a good time.

We had the first feeling of winter this evening...

Winter is definitely coming. A lot of rain quickly turned into snow. What bettero photo to illustrate this with than Agnetha Fältskog and her dog Hampus  who is a Leonberger. They seem to get along fine, the two of them both in nice fur. Lets's not hope that the winter wont be as cold as is was back in 1984....