Why did Abba break up? The darkness behind the return of the Dancing Queens

It was the album announcement that thrilled the world, but why did it take 40 years? Swedish pop group ABBA have dealt with their fair share of torment, from failed marriages and suicide to a twisted affair with a stalker. Richard Kay reveals the reasons for the hitmakers’ hiatus.

Mrs Thatcher was in Downing St, Prince Charles was dating a 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer, and ABBA was enjoying the last of the band’s nine number-one hit records in the UK.

Yet almost 41 years after ABBA’s last hit album Super Trouper topped the charts in November 1980 (The Visitors in 1981 was nowhere near as successful), the enduring appeal of a quartet that embodied all that was fun and exhilarating in pop seems undimmed, as the extraordinary reaction to recent news of their reunion has proved.

Two new dazzling songs have been released already, a full album is due in November and a “cyber theatre” – a new global hub for ABBA fans worldwide – is being built at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will put on virtual shows from next May, featuring digital versions of each band member, reunited once again (albeit computer generated).

For while beautiful frontwomen Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad were the focus of the band’s success – and were made rich beyond dreams – stardom also brought them a measure of torment and tragedy which their male bandmates, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, have all but managed to avoid.

https://skysportt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/abbadolce-gabbanaoutfit-2-1658334576-1.avif

In fact, the disparity between their damaged lives – which saw both at times retreat into isolation and seek psychiatric help – with that of their ex-husbands (Benny was married to Frida and Björn to Agnetha) could not be greater.

After the group’s break-up in 1982, Benny and Björn, who had penned all the smash hits, went on to enjoy even greater triumph and riches.

They wrote West End and Broadway smash Chess, and then, of course, there was the spectacular success of Mamma Mia! (while not their creation, the two were deeply involved with both the stage musical and the two films).

They also wrote lucrative hits for other artists, including the British band Steps, and have accumulated fortunes worth more than $388 million each. Now 74 and 76 respectively, they have always seemed entirely comfortable with their fame.