Agnetha FältskogAgnetha Fältskog
Part 1
gnetha Åse Fältskog was born on April 5th, 1950, in the southern Swedish town of Jönköping. Not even her parents, Ingvar and Birgit, could have predicted the fame their daughter would eventually achieve. Agnetha's father opened a door that would eventually lead to stardom. Ingvar Fältskog loved the local amateur dramatic society and often put together shows for the local community. In 1956, he organized a Christmas show that was Agnetha's stage debut. During her singing of the song, Billy Boy, an unfortunate but hilarious incident happened to Agnetha, her pants fell down! This did not discourage Agnetha at all, she had been taking piano lessons and was becoming quite good. She started to compose songs at an early age. She also played at a local church. At the age of thirteen, Agnetha with two of her friends, Lena Johansson and Elisabeth Strub, began singing and performing locally. They were called The Cambers. Agnetha idolized American singer, Connie Francis, and loved her style of music. At age 15, Agnetha decided to leave school and pursue a career.
She worked as a telephonist for a car firm while performing with a local dance band, headed by Bernt Enghardt. The band became so popular that Agnetha had to make a choice, her job or to continue singing with the band. She continued to sing with the Bernt Enghardt band for two years. It was during this time that she broke up with her boyfriend, Björn Lilja. This event inspired her to write a song that would soon catapult her to fame, Jag var så kär. She sang this song with the Enghardt band and it soon was a favorite request for the audience. A member of the band had a relative named Little Gerhard (Karl Gerhard Lundkvist). He in his own right had become a very big rock'n'roll star, but had retired and now was a producer at Cupol Records. Bernt sent a recording demo of the band. Two things impressed Little, Agnetha's song and her voice. Agnetha had some misgivings because Little was not interested in the band and they were not to be included on the record. During the autumn of 1967, Agnetha and her father boarded a train and were on their way to Phillip Recording Studio, Stockholm. For the first time in her life the shy and nervous Agnetha could not believe what was happening to her. As she went down the steps to the studio, she could hear all the musicians practicing her music. The feeling overwhelmed her with excitement. Hearing the very notes that she had picked on her piano and music she had written played by Studio musicians somehow made it real.
Agnetha signed with the CBS-Cupol label and her record topped the Swedish charts on Sunday, January 28th, 1968. Her first album released by Cupol was called Agnetha Fältskog. Agnetha still went on many folk park tours and she was even involved with a campaign to help young school childeren learn how to brush their teeth. She had written a special song, Borsta Tandtrollen Bort, which she sang at local schools around her hometown of Jonköping. This song was not a commercial release, but copies were pressed to give to the children.
Her success continued throughout the late 60's with hit after hit. It was during this time that she met German songwriter/producer Dieter Zimmerman. They became engaged. Agnetha's records were reaching the German charts and Dieter promised Agnetha she could achieve great success in Germany. Agnetha went to Germany and met with record producers, she described their choice of material as ``horrible'' and she refused to meet their demands. Her career in Germany was short lived as was her engagement to Dieter.
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Part 2
n 1969, Agnetha wrote and released a new single in Sweden named Zigenarvän. It was met with great controversy from the national newspapers. It was pure coincidence, but long after the song had been written, the Swedish were in a heated and nasty debate over gypsies living there and poor Agnetha was accused of exploitation. Another of her single releases Om tårar vore guld also turned into a controversy. A Danish band leader named Per, accused Agnetha of stealing the melody to one of his songs. He intended to sue her, stating that she must have heard the song when he had toured Sweden in 1950. When Per was told Agnetha was born in 1950 the lawsuit was quickly dropped. The year 1969 also brought a second album titled, Agnetha Fältskog Vol. 2. It was a major success and Agnetha had a place in history as one of Sweden's leading female vocalists. But something even greater than all of this was about to happen in the summer of 1969... she met Björn Ulvaeus, the man of her dreams, and the beginning of a musical collaboration between four wonderfully talented people. The groundwork for ABBA was being laid.
Björn Ulvaeus was writing songs with Benny Andersson. They had both left their respective bands to work together. Benny had been seeing a girl named Anni-frid Lyngstad. Anni-frid also had a solo career at the time. Benny and Björn had formed their own company, Union Songs. They had a partner named Stikkan (Stig) Anderson. He was very anxious for them to sing songs in English. He felt they had all the makings of becoming superstars and for a Swedish act to achieve worldwide fame. In 1969, the personal lives of ABBA were taking shape. Benny and Frida had become engaged. Two months following this Agnetha and Björn were engaged. It was only a matter of time before all four would be performing together as a group.
