BritSAL's List

 

  Edition 33
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 How do you download? Right click on the  title of the music on the right hand side of the circular file logo, and SaveTarget As ( on IE ) or Save Link As  ( On Firefox ).


 

 ABBA Special Tribute Page


 

Abba - Knowing Me Knowing You.mp3

 
 
Abba - Knowing Me Knowing You.mp3 Abba - Knowing Me Knowing You.mp3
Size : 3776 Kb
Type : mp3
 

 More Abba music downloads further down the page. Pause the player on this page before listening.

Abba Official Site Click HERE

Abba International Fan Site Click HERE

The ABBA story began in June 1966 when Björn Ulvaeus (born 1945) met Benny Andersson (born 1946) for the first time. Björn was a member of the Hootenanny Singers, a very popular folk music group, while Benny played keyboards in Sweden’s biggest pop group of the 1960s, The Hep Stars.

The pair wrote their first song together later that year, and by the end of the decade they had established a regular partnership as composers. By that time, Benny had left The Hep Stars, while the Hootenanny Singers only existed in the recording studio. The Hootenanny Singers released their records on the Polar Music record label, owned by Stig Anderson (1931–1997), who was to become ABBA’s manager. Stig also contributed lyrics to many ABBA hits during the first years of the group’s career.

In the spring of 1969, Björn and Benny met the two women who were to become not only their fiancées but also the other half of ABBA. Agnetha Fältskog (born 1950) had been a successful solo singer since releasing her first single in 1967. She and Björn were married in July 1971. Anni-Frid Lyngstad (born 1945), also known as Frida, started her recording career shortly before Agnetha. Frida was of Norwegian origin, but had moved to Sweden at a very early age. Benny and Frida didn’t get married until October 1978.

At first, the four members collaborated musically mainly by contributing songs, instrumental backing, production work or backing vocals to the recordings they each made as solo or duo acts. In 1970, the attractive sound of their four voices combined gave them the idea to put together the cabaret act Festfolk (which had the double meaning "engaged couples" and "party people"). This first attempt failed, but in the spring of 1972 they recorded a song called ‘People Need Love’, garnering a medium-sized hit in Sweden. At this time they called themselves Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.

Encouraged by this success, they entered the 1973 Swedish selections for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Ring Ring’. They finished third, but the single and the album of the same name competed for the top positions on the Swedish chart. ‘Ring Ring’ also became a hit in several other European countries.

The group entered the selections again in 1974, this time with ‘Waterloo’, which took them all the way to the finals in Brighton, England. By this time they had changed their name to ABBA, an acronym of their first names. ABBA was also the name of a Swedish canned fish company, which luckily agreed to lending their name to a pop group. The Eurovision Song Contest on April 6, 1974 turned out to be the most famous moment in ABBA history, when the group won the international juries over with ‘Waterloo’.


During the band's existence, Fältskog and Ulvaeus were a married couple, as were Lyngstad and Andersson - although both couples later divorced. At the height of their popularity, both relationships began suffering strain that led ultimately to the collapse of first the Ulvaeus-Fältskog marriage (in 1979) and then of the Andersson-Lyngstad marriage in 1981. In the late 1970s and early 1980s these relationship changes began manifesting in the group's music, as they produced more introspective lyrics with different compositions.

ABBA remains a fixture of radio play lists and is one of the world's best-selling bands, having sold over 375 million records worldwide, making them the fourth best-selling popular music artists in the history of recorded music. They still sell two to three million records a year.ABBA was the first pop group from a non-English-speaking country to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. As well as reaching the top of the charts in different countries like Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru among others, the band also released a compilation of their hit songs translated into Spanish.


 

ABBA - The Winner Takes It All.mp3

ABBA - The Winner Takes It All.mp3 ABBA - The Winner Takes It All.mp3
Size : 4620 Kb
Type : mp3
 
 

ABBA - Chiquitita.mp3

ABBA - Chiquitita.mp3 ABBA - Chiquitita.mp3
Size : 5100 Kb
Type : mp3
 
 

ABBA - Thank You For The Music.mp3

ABBA - Thank You For The Music.mp3 ABBA - Thank You For The Music.mp3
Size : 3634 Kb
Type : mp3
 

 


 

I have always loved the music of Abba, and remember buying all their music on Vinyl, even a special edition LP in Spanish.

In the 1970s I had the opportunity to buy a ticket to see them perform on their world tour at Wembley London, and it remains a regret that I turned the offer down. I do however remember standing in a line outside the cinema for a midnight premiere showing of Abba The Movie when it came out, and Eagle remains my favourite track from this film. Please enjoy my special tribute page to a brilliant group, whose music I am sure will live on and on..


 



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