Mikory's ABBA-blog

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.

ABBA & Me

Robert Verbeek of ABBA Plaza fame has written a book about ABBA fandom. From his press release:

"What does it mean to be an ABBA fan? What was (and still is) the impact on someone’s life? Some subjects covered in the book are: why is ABBA so good, collecting ABBA items, creating websites, visiting fan club conventions, releasing bootleg albums, meeting ABBA, working for ABBA, editorials and much, much more.
     It's a personal book about my ABBA fandom, but if you read it, it will remind you of the effect that ABBA has on YOU.
     The book will be available in English and in Dutch (title: ABBA & Ik). It's a 15.6 cm x 23.4 cm paperback of 190 pages with a glossy full colour cover and lots of photographs in black and white. The book will be published in April 2008 and will be available through my ABBA Plaza site. The proposed price is € 18 (excl. shipping and handling).
     Are you curious yet? Feel free to read the previews here. "
     Sounds like a very interesting book, Robert. I'm looking forward to reading it.

ABBA Quotes - new book

A tiny little book called "ABBA Fakta/Citat" has beem released as a part of a series of quotes from famous icons like Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and others. The publishing company is Ikonbok, you can find their webpage here.
      Here's a couple of examples from the ABBA book:

»I had a dream and it was fullfilled when
I met Benny, Björn and Agnetha.« Anni-Frid
»ABBA will never reunite!« Benny

New ABBA book

A new book in German has recently been published. Authors are Frédéric Tonnon and Marisa Garau. The book takes you through the complete career of ABBA and even includes the early solo years for the girls, Björn and Benny's Hootenanny Singers and Hep Stars experiences. You also get a good look into Agnetha's comeback in 2004 and her and Frida's post-ABBA years as well as Björn and Benny's musicals; "Chess", "Kristina Från Duvemåla" and "Mamma Mia!".

It contains a lot of good photos, some quite unusual. I'm sure most ABBA fans, apart from the German fans of course, will buy this for the photos. Maybe it will be translated into English, I'm not sure.

You can buy this book from Amazon in Germany, it's easy to buy from them with their 1-click Ordering. Or you can get it from the ABBF Fan Club, they always give you excellent service.

All the pictures here are from the book.