Agnetha Fältskog
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| Agnetha Fältskog | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Agnetha Åse Fältskog |
| Born | April 5, 1950 |
| Origin | Jönköping, Sweden |
| Genre(s) | Easy Listening, Pop Music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Composer, Producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Piano |
| Years active | 1967 - 1988, 2004 - 2005 |
| Label(s) | Cupol CBS Records Polar Music Warner Music Group |
| Associated acts | ABBA |
| Website | http://www.agnetha.net |
Agnetha Åse Fältskog (pronounced [aŋne:ta o:sɛ fɛltsku:g]) (born 5 April 1950 in Jönköping) is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and producer, most notable for being a member of the popular Swedish pop group ABBA.
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[edit] Before ABBA
Agnetha Fältskog was born the first of two daughters to department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922 - 1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923 - 1994). Ingvar Fältskog showed much interest in music and show business while Birgit Fältskog was a very calm and careful woman who devoted herself to her children and household. Agnetha often said that female singers like Connie Francis, Marianne Faithfull, Aretha Franklin, and Leslie Gore were among her strongest influences.
Agnetha started taking piano lessons at the age of eight and continued until she was 14. She also sang in the church choir. In the early 1960s she formed a trio, The Cambers, with two female friends. The trio performed in unimportant venues and soon dissolved because of the lack of engagements.
At the age of 16, when she was working as a switchboard operator in a car dealership, she started performing with Bernt Enghardt's Orchestra, which toured in the weekends, since all the members had day jobs. Eventually Agnetha had to quit hers though, because of overwork. The following year the band sent a demo tape to the record label Cupol. At CUpol, they were more interested in Agnetha than the orchestra and she thus got her first solo recording contract. In the autumn of 1967 she recorded her first two singles. In 1968 she released her first album.
In 1969 she released the single "Zigenarvän" about a young girl attending a gypsy wedding and falling in love with the bride's brother. Its release coincided with a heated debate about gypsies in the Swedish media and Agnetha was accused of deliberately trying to make money out of the situation by writing the song.
In 1970 she released "Om tårar var guld" which was perhaps her most successful song in Sweden before the ABBA period in spite of a claim from a Danish composer postulating that Agnetha has used 22 bars from his composition "Tema", even though this was written in the 1950s and had never been recorded. The case dragged on until 1977 when a settlement was reached and Agnetha paid the Dane SEK 5,000.
In 1971 Agnetha recorded the song "Dröm är dröm, och saga saga". Björn, Frida and Benny all contributed with backing vocals. This song demanded a lot from the singer's breathing technique and made Agnetha decide to take singing lessons.
In 1972, she starred as Mary Magdalene in the original Swedish production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, providing vocals for its original Swedish cast recording. Her relationship with Björn Ulvaeus, and friendship with Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson eventually led into the formation of ABBA.
In 1975, during the same period as her bandmate Anni-Frid Lyngstad recorded her Swedish number one album Frida ensam, Fältskog recorded and produced her solo album Elva kvinnor i ett hus. These albums were both recorded between sessions and promotion for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA. Even though ABBA was already a number one act in Sweden by 1975, Fältskog's album failed to reach the Top 10 on the Swedish album charts, peaking at #11. Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus did however spend a staggering 53 weeks on the chart, in fact even longer than any of the ABBA albums, and it also contained three further Svensktoppen entries for Fältskog; her Swedish language version of ABBA's "SOS" (also #4 on the single sales chart), "Tack För En Underbar Vanlig Dag" and "Doktorn!". Except for the version of "SOS", all the songs had lyrics by Bosse Carlgren and music by Agnetha herself. The album had been underway since 1972 when Agnetha started writing the songs, but it got delayed because of the work with ABBA and her pregnancy. In 1974 she and Carlgren agreed on a concept for the album: It should consist of 12 songs, sung by 12 different women living in the same apartment building, each having a distinct name, identity etc. In the end, only 11 songs were put onto the album, and the concept was never fully developed.
Between the years 1968 and 1980 Fältskog had an impressive total of 18 entries on the important Svensktoppen radio chart, starting with debut single "Jag Var Så Kär" in January 1968 (peak position #1) and ending with "När Du Tar Mig I Din Famn" from compilation Tio år med Agnetha twelve years later, in January of 1980 (peak position #1). The 18 entries, most of which were composed or co-written by Fältskog herself, spent a total of 139 weeks on the chart during this time, with the biggest hit being 1970's "Om Tårar Vore Guld" (#1, 15 weeks).
She also recorded the Swedish Christmas album Nu tändas tusen juleljus with daughter Linda Ulvaeus which reached #6 on the Swedish album sales chart in December of 1981. Chartwise Fältskog was therefore by far the most successful solo artist of the four ABBA members, both before and during the band's international career. [1]
[edit] After ABBA
In the 1980s, Fältskog released three English-language solo albums. Their success was mostly limited to Europe, Scandinavia in particular.
At the end of 1982, she duetted with Swedish singer (and former ABBA backing vocalist) Tomas Ledin on a song called "Never Again", which became a Top Five hit in Sweden, Norway, Belgium and South America. In the summer of the same year, Fältskog starred in the hit Swedish movie Raskenstam[2], and received positive reviews for her film début.
In May 1983, Fältskog released her first post-ABBA solo album, Wrap Your Arms Around Me. The album became a moderate hit in North America and Australia, and reached the higher regions of the charts across Europe, including No.1 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium and Denmark (where it became the biggest-selling album of the year). It also reached No.18 in the UK. Critically, the album received a mixed reaction: "[This] treacly, string-sopped outing doesn't begin to do [Fältskog] justice", wrote Rolling Stone. However, Stereo Review magazine concluded it as a "highly entertaining piece of good commercial record making". Two singles from the album became relatively big hits in continental Europe, with the first, "The Heat Is On", becoming a No.1 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. The title track also reached No.1 in Belgium. In North America, the album track "Can't Shake Loose" was released as the lead-off single, reaching No.29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No.23 on the RPM Top 50 singles chart in Canada.
The same year, Fältskog was voted by the readers of Aftonbladet as "Best Female Artist Of The Year", and received the Music Award Price Rockbjörnen.
Her next album, Eyes Of A Woman, produced by Eric Stewart of 10cc fame, was released in March 1985. "She is quite content to grace the works of various other lesser mortals with her immaculate, sugar-sweet voice", wrote Barry McIlheney in Melody Maker. The album sold well in parts of Europe, reaching No.2 in Sweden and the Top 20 in Norway and Belgium, but failed to match the success of Wrap Your Arms Around Me.
In 1986, Fältskog recorded another duet, "The Way You Are", with Swedish singer Ola Håkansson, which became another No.1 hit in Sweden.
In the summer of 1987, Fältskog travelled to Malibu, California, to record the album I Stand Alone, produced by Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsch (Fresh off Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita' collaboration). Released in November of that year, it was a minor hit in Europe, except for Sweden where it spent eight weeks at No.1 and became the biggest selling album of 1988. The single from the album, "I Wasn't The One (Who Said Good-Bye)", on which Fältskog duetted with Peter Cetera, was released primarily in North America, and became her second solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (No.93). It was also a Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit.
After the release of I Stand Alone - in mid 1988 - Fältskog took a break from her musical career and completely withdrew from public life. In 1996, her autobiography Jag är som was published in Swedish (in English the following year as As I Am), followed by several compilation CDs of her Swedish and English recordings.
In April 2004, Fältskog released a new single, "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (a cover of the song originally recorded by Cilla Black). It reached No.2 in Sweden, No.11 in the UK, and became a sizeable hit throughout Europe. "It is exciting to hear her voice, utterly undimmed, delivering a tellingly-titled song", commented London's Music Week. A few weeks later, the album My Colouring Book, a collection of Fältskog's covers of 1960s classic oldies, was released, topping the charts in Sweden, hitting the Top Five in Finland and Denmark and peaking at No.12 in the UK. "I love this record", enthused Pete Clark in London's Evening Standard, while Daily Mail pointed out that "it reveals a genuine affection for the era's forgotten pop tunes". The Times reviewer noted that "her voice is still an impressive pop instrument", and The Observer shared the same sentiment suggesting that "time hasn't diminished her perfect voice". Reviewing the release in The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan wrote: "Agnetha Fältskog has a vulnerability that gets under the skin of a song. She may be cheating a trifle by including no original material on this collection of 1960s covers, but if anyone can do justice to the likes of Sealed with a Kiss, it's her. The soaring sentimentality evokes Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw in their mini-skirted pomp, and I don't say that lightly". The release attracted major media attention across Europe, but Fältskog staunchly refused to be involved in any extensive promotion of the album (including personal appearances), and thus limited her public exposure to several short newspaper interviews, a few videos and a Swedish-language low-key TV special. Yet, the album managed to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide, 50,000 of those in the UK alone.
Shortly after this release, for the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Agnetha appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group spilt. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.
In 2004, she was nominated for Best Nordic Artist at the Nordic Music Awards, and at Christmas of that year (for the first time in almost 20 years), she gave an extensive interview which was filmed by Swedish TV. Around the same time, Sony Music released a lavishly produced 6 CD boxed set comprising Fältskog's Swedish solo career before ABBA (five original solo albums - 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975 - and an additional compilation disc with bonus tracks).
In January 2007, Agnetha appeared at the final performance of Mamma Mia! in Stockholm (as she had at its opening in 2005). Together with ex-husband and former colleague Björn, she appeared on stage at the after show party held at Stockholm's Grand Hotel. She also sang a duet, "True Love", with Tommy Körberg of Chess fame. Agnetha did not invest in the musical "Mamma Mia!".
[edit] Personal life
On 6 July 1971 (aged 21), Fältskog married Björn Ulvaeus; the marriage resulted in two children, Linda Elin Ulvaeus (born February 23, 1973) and Peter Christian Ulvaeus (born December 4, 1977). The couple decided to separate in late 1978 and Agnetha moved out of their home on Christmas night of that year. In January 1979, the couple filed for divorce, which was finalised in June the following year. Both Fältskog and Ulvaeus agreed not to let their failed marriage interfere with their responsibilities with ABBA. Fältskog subsequently married for the second time, albeit briefly, in December 1990 to a surgeon named Tomas Sonnenfeld. She was also the victim of a well-publicised stalker from The Netherlands, Gert van der Graaf. [1]
Fältskog is regularly compared to Greta Garbo because of their usual disdain of the limelight. This is largely an image produced by the media. In a 30-minute interview for a Swedish television channel in 2004, she commented on the Garbo image, saying it's nothing but a product of her general shyness and anxiety for public appearances. In the interview, Fältskog also stated that she does not consider her English to be good enough for an interview in English. She also has a fear of flying and said that she had not been on an airplane for the last 10-15 years. When she goes abroad she prefers to travel by car. She prefers a tranquil life in a rural suburb south-west of Stockholm, away from the noisy city atmosphere.
[edit] Solo discography
[edit] Swedish albums
- Agnetha Fältskog (1968)
- Agnetha Fältskog vol. 2 (1969)
- Som jag är (As I am) (1970)
- När en vacker tanke blir en sång (When a beautiful thought becomes a song) (1971)
- Elva kvinnor i ett hus (Eleven women in a House) (1975)
- Nu tändas tusen juleljus (Now a thousand Christmas candles are lit) (1980, with Linda Ulvaeus)
- Kom följ med i vår karusell (Join us on our carousel) (1987, with Christian Ulvaeus)
[edit] English albums
- Wrap Your Arms Around Me (1983) UK #18, NO#1, SWE #1 NL #2, BE #1 GER #12
- Eyes of a Woman (1985) UK #38 SWE #2
- I Stand Alone (1987) UK #72 SWE #1 NL #18
- My Colouring Book (2004) UK #12 SWE #1 GER #6
[edit] Post-ABBA singles
- "Never Again" (1982) SW #2, GE #37, FR #44 NL #18 Chile #1 NO #5
- "The Heat Is On" (1983) UK #35, SW #1, GE #20, FR #9 NL #2 DEN #1 NO #1 BE #1
- "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (1983) UK #44, GE #30 NL #3 BE #1
- "Can't Shake Loose" (1983) UK #63, US #19, FR #42, AUS #76
- "It's So Nice To Be Rich" (1984) (Swedish release) SW #8
- "I Won't Let You Go" (1985) UK #84, SW #6, GE #24 NL #12 BE #5 DEN #1
- "One Way Love" (1985) GE #37[citation needed]
- "The Way You Are" (Duet with Ola Håkansson) (1986) (Swedish release)SW #1
- "The Last Time" (1987/1988) UK #77, GE #49
- "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" (Duet with Peter Cetera (1988) (North-American release) US #93 CAN #93 US AC #19 CAN AC #21
- "Let It Shine" (1988) DNC
- "The Queen Of Hearts" (1998) SW #53
- "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (2004) UK #11, SW #2, EU #17, NO #5, DEN #7 NL #18
- "When You Walk in the Room" (2004) UK #34, SW #11, EU #53
[edit] Compilations
- Agnetha Fältskogs bästa (1973)
- Tio år med Agnetha (1979)
- Teamtoppen 1 (1985)
- Sjung denna sång (1986)
- Agnetha Collection (1986)
- Agnetha in Germany (1989) (official Japanese fanclub compilation of all German single records)
- Geh' Mit Gott (1994) (probably not official publication of 'Agnetha in Germany')
- My Love, My Life (1996)
- Svensktoppar (1998)
- That's Me (1998)
[edit] Book
- As I Am: Abba Before & Beyond (1997) ISBN 1852276541
[edit] References
- Svensktoppen.nu, detailed chart info
- Wille Wendt: Topplistan - The Official Swedish Single & Album Charts, Premium Förlag, ISBN 91-971894-2-1
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition - 1988
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
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