Björn Again
#4: Tributes, tributes, tributes...
There's serious brass to be made on the ABBA tribute circuit. Australia's Björn Again began performing in 1989, and their career has long-since outlasted the Swedish originals. It's also proved incredibly successful – the group have so far played more than 4,000 shows and now have five versions of the group touring around the world. In London, there's a tribute band called Gabba performing ABBA's hits in the style of punk legends The Ramones, while in 1995 New Zealand indie label Flying Nun brought its roster together to record the ABBA tribute album Abbasalutely.
#6: The movie
Somewhere between The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night and Spiceworld was the 1977 movie starring the Scandinavian foursome, and starring Robert Hughes as a hapless radio journalist instructed to track down ABBA during their Australian tour for an interview to be aired on the final day. The movie, like most of ABBA's videos, was directed by Lasse Hallestrom, who directed the films The Shipping News and Chocolat.
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
#5: Anni-Frid's dark past
Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born not in Sweden but in Norway, the daughter of a married German soldier who was part of Nazi Germany's forces occupying Norway during World War II. Because of prejudice towards children born to German fathers, she was sent to Sweden to live with her grandparents. Her mother, who remained in Norway, died at the age of 21 of kidney disease. Lyngstad did not meet her father – who she thought had died returning to Germany - until 1975.
#7: Australian mayhem
In 1977 the group travelled to Australia to play 11 shows – resulting in pandemonium in an ABBA-mad Down Under. More than 160,000 people attended the shows, including 20,000 at the Sydney Showground on 3rd March. At one of their three Melbourne shows, then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser attended with his family.
