Editing Björn Ulvaeus (section)

=== Pre-ABBA ===
Before gaining international recognition with [[ABBA]], Ulvaeus was a member of the Swedish folk-[[schlager]] band [[Hootenanny Singers]], known earlier as the "West Bay Singers", who had an enormous following in [[Scandinavia]]. While on the road in southern Sweden in 1966, they encountered the [[Hep Stars]], and Ulvaeus quickly became friends with the group's keyboard player, [[Benny Andersson]]. The two musicians shared a passion for songwriting, and each found a composing partner in the other. On meeting again that summer, they composed their first song together: "Isn't It Easy To Say", a song soon to be recorded by Andersson's group. The two continued teaming up for music, helping out each other's bands in the recording studio, and adding guitar or keyboards respectively to the recordings. In 1968, they composed two songs together: "A Flower in My Garden", recorded by [[Hep Stars]], and their first real hit "Ljuva Sextiotal", performed by popular Swedish artist [[Brita Borg]], for which [[Stig Anderson]] wrote lyrics. The latter, a cabarét-style ironic song about the 1960s, was submitted for the 1969 Swedish heats for the [[Eurovision]] Song Contest, but was rejected. Another hit came in 1969 with "Speleman", also recorded by Hep Stars.[[File:Hootenanny singers 1967.jpg|thumb|left|Björn Ulvaeus (second from right) with [[Hootenanny Singers]], 1967]]

While filming a nostalgic schlager special for television in May 1969, Björn met eighteen-year-old future wife and singer-songwriter [[Agnetha Fältskog]].

Björn Ulvaeus continued recording and touring with Hootenanny Singers to great acclaim while working as in-house producer at [[Polar Record Company]] (headed by future manager [[Stig Anderson]]), with Benny as his new partner. The twosome produced records by other artists and continued writing songs together. Polar artist Arne Lamberts Swedish version of "A Flower in My Garden" ("''Fröken Blåklint''") was one of Björn & Benny's first in-house productions. In December 1969, they recorded the new song "She's My Kind of Girl", which became their first single as a duo. It was released in March 1970, giving them a minor hit in Sweden and a top-ten hit in Japan two years later.

The Hootenanny Singers entered [[Svensktoppen]], the Swedish radio charts, in 1970 with "Omkring Tiggarn Från Luossa", a cover of an old folk-schlager song. It remained on the charts for 52 consecutive weeks, a record which endured until 1990; the song was produced by Björn and Benny, and had Ulvaeus's solo vocal and Benny's piano.