Editing ABBA (section)

==== Member origins and collaboration ====
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| caption1          = Benny Andersson (second from left) with the [[Hep Stars]]
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| caption2          = Björn Ulvaeus (foreground) with the [[Hootenanny Singers]]
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[[Agnetha Fältskog]] (born 5 April 1950 in [[Jönköping]], Sweden) sang with a local dance band (headed by Bernt Enghardt) who sent a demo recording of their music to [[Little Gerhard|Karl-Gerhard Lundkvist]]. The demo tape featured a song written and sung by Agnetha: "Jag var så kär" ("I Was So in Love"). Lundkvist was so impressed with her voice that he was convinced she would be a star. After going through considerable effort to locate the singer, he arranged for Agnetha to come to [[Stockholm]] and to record two of her own songs. This led to Agnetha at the age of 18 having a number-one record in Sweden with a self-composed song, which later went on to sell over 80,000 copies. She was soon noticed by critics and songwriters as a talented singer/songwriter of [[schlager music|schlager]] style songs. Fältskog's main inspiration in her early years was singers such as [[Connie Francis]]. Along with her own compositions, she recorded [[Cover version|covers]] of foreign hits and performed them on tours in Swedish [[folkpark]]s. Most of her biggest hits were self-composed, which was quite unusual for a female singer in the 1960s. Agnetha released four solo LPs between 1968 and 1971. She had many successful singles in the Swedish charts.

[[Björn Ulvaeus]] (born 25 April 1945 in [[Gothenburg]], Sweden) also began his musical career at the age of 18 (as a singer and guitarist), when he fronted [[the Hootenanny Singers]], a popular Swedish [[folk music|folk]]–[[skiffle]] group. Ulvaeus started writing English-language songs for his group and even had a brief solo career alongside. The Hootenanny Singers and the Hep Stars sometimes crossed paths while touring. In June 1966, Ulvaeus and Andersson decided to write a song together. Their first attempt was "Isn't It Easy to Say", a song that was later recorded by the Hep Stars. [[Stig Anderson]] was the manager of the Hootenanny Singers and founder of the [[Polar Music]] label.<ref name="Rees-1991" /> He saw potential in the collaboration, and encouraged them to write more. The two also began playing occasionally with the other's bands on stage and on record, although it was not until 1969 that the pair wrote and produced some of their first real hits together: "[[Ljuva sextital]]" ("Sweet Sixties"), recorded by Brita Borg, and the Hep Stars' 1969 hit "Speleman" ("Fiddler").

[[Benny Andersson]] (born 16 December 1946 in [[Stockholm]], Sweden) became (at age 18) a member of a popular Swedish pop-rock group, the [[Hep Stars]], that performed, among other things, covers of international hits.<ref name="Rees-1991">{{Cite book|title=Guinness Book of Rock Stars|last1=Rees|first1=Dafydd|last2=Crampton|first2=Luke|publisher=Guinness Publishing|year=1991|isbn=978-0-85112-971-6|location=Enfield|pages=1–2}}</ref> The Hep Stars were known as "the Swedish [[The Beatles|Beatles]]".<ref>[http://www.virginmedia.com/music/pictures/profiles/ten-things-abba.php?ssid=4 10 Things You Never Knew About Abba] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419025056/http://www.virginmedia.com/music/pictures/profiles/ten-things-abba.php?ssid=4 |date=19 April 2014 }}. Virginmedia.com. Retrieved 19 April 2014.</ref> They also set up Hep House, their equivalent of [[Apple Corps]]. Andersson played the keyboard and eventually started writing original songs for his band, many of which became major hits, including "[[No Response]]", which hit number three in 1965, and "[[Sunny Girl (song)|Sunny Girl]]", "[[Wedding (song)|Wedding]]", and "[[Consolation (song)|Consolation]]", all of which hit number one in 1966.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|pp=86–87}}</ref> Andersson also had a fruitful songwriting collaboration with [[Lasse Berghagen]], with whom he wrote his first [[Svensktoppen]] entry, "Sagan om lilla Sofie" ("The tale of Little Sophie") in 1968.

Andersson wrote and submitted the song "Hej, Clown" for [[Melodifestivalen 1969]], the national festival to select the [[Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest|Swedish entry]] to the [[Eurovision Song Contest]].<ref name="Rees-1991" /> The song tied for first place, but re-voting relegated Andersson's song to second place.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=110}}</ref> On that occasion Andersson briefly met his future spouse, singer [[Anni-Frid Lyngstad]], who also participated in the contest. A month later, the two had become a couple. As their respective bands began to break up during 1969, Andersson and Ulvaeus teamed up and recorded their first album together in 1970, called ''[[Lycka]]'' ("Happiness"), which included original songs sung by both men. Their partners were often present in the recording studio, and sometimes added backing vocals; Fältskog even co-wrote a song with the two. Ulvaeus still occasionally recorded and performed with the Hootenanny Singers until the middle of 1974, and Andersson took part in producing their records.

[[Anni-Frid Lyngstad|Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad]] (born 15 November 1945 in Bjørkåsen in [[Ballangen Municipality]], Norway) sang from the age of 13 with various dance bands, and worked mainly in a jazz-oriented cabaret style. She also formed her own band, the Anni-Frid Four. In the middle of 1967, she won a national talent competition with "En ledig dag" ("A Day Off"), a Swedish version of the bossa nova song "A Day in Portofino", which is included in the EMI compilation ''[[Frida 1967–1972]]''. The first prize was a recording contract with [[EMI]] Sweden and to perform live on the most popular TV shows in the country. This TV performance, among many others, is included in the {{frac|3|1|2}}-hour documentary ''[[Frida – The DVD]]''. Lyngstad released several [[schlager]] style singles on EMI with mixed success. When Benny Andersson started to produce her recordings in 1971, she had her first number-one single, "Min egen stad" ("My Own Town"), written by Benny and featuring all the future ABBA members on backing vocals. Lyngstad toured and performed regularly in the folkpark circuit and made appearances on radio and TV. She had a second number-one single with "Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Dessemellan" in late 1972. She had met Ulvaeus briefly in 1963 during a talent contest, and Fältskog during a TV show in early 1968.

Lyngstad linked up with her future bandmates in 1969. On 1 March 1969, she participated in the Melodifestival, where she met Andersson for the first time. A few weeks later they met again during a concert tour in southern Sweden and they soon became a couple. Andersson produced her single "Peter Pan" in September 1969—her first collaboration with Benny & Björn, as they had written the song. Andersson would then produce Lyngstad's debut studio album, ''[[Frida (album)|Frida]]'', which was released in March 1971. Lyngstad also played in several revues and cabaret shows in Stockholm between 1969 and 1973. After ABBA formed, she recorded another successful album in 1975, ''[[Frida ensam]]'', which included the original Swedish rendition of "[[Fernando (song)|Fernando]]", a hit on the Swedish radio charts before the English version was released by ABBA.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|pp=41–58}}</ref>
During filming of a Swedish TV special in May 1969, Fältskog met Ulvaeus and they married on 6 July 1971. Fältskog and Ulvaeus eventually were involved in each other's recording sessions,<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=162}}</ref> and soon even Andersson and Lyngstad added backing vocals to Fältskog's third studio album, ''[[Som jag är]]'' ("As I Am") (1970). In 1972, Fältskog starred as [[Mary Magdalene]] in the original Swedish production of ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' and attracted favourable reviews. Between 1967 and 1975, Fältskog released five studio albums.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|pp=112–129 and 135–136}}</ref>