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Agnetha Fältskog
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Agnetha Fältskog was born in 1950 in Jönköping in Sweden. At six she wrote her first song, after that she had piano lessons and sang in a church choir. At fifteen she left school, worked as a telephonist and sang in a dance band in the evenings. A broken heart inspired her to write Jag var så kär, her first single. At the beginning of 1968 that song was at number 1 in Sweden, and she grew into one of the most popular singers in the country, writing many of her own songs. In 1972 she played Mary Magdalene in the Swedish version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Music and breakthrough
In 1971 she married Björn Ulvaeus. Together with Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad they formed ABBA, the group of two couples that won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974 and then had hits all over the world. Fältskog sang the lead part in many of the best-known songs, such as SOS, The Winner Takes It All, One of Us and The Day Before You Came. She and Ulvaeus divorced in 1980; their failed marriage inspired him to write the words of The Winner Takes It All. After ABBA she made solo albums such as Wrap Your Arms Around Me (1983), then withdrew for a long time. In 2021 the album Voyage appeared with ABBA after all.
Influence
Fältskog has a clear soprano voice with a wide range. She named Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin and Petula Clark as examples. It was precisely her voice that became, for many listeners, the sound of ABBA.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1968Agnetha Fältskog
- 1969Agnetha Fältskog
- 1970Som jag är
- 1971När en vacker tanke blir en sång
- 1975Elva kvinnor i ett hus
- 1981Nu tändas tusen juleljus
- 1983Wrap Your Arms Around Me
- 1985Eyes of a Woman
- 1987I Stand Alone
- 1987Kom följ med i vår karusell
- 2004My Colouring Book
- 2013A
- 2023A
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 12: The Hit FactoryNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Waterloo Song
In the years that followed they made hit after hit in Stockholm, with a sound that worked in any language, sung by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.