Editing ABBA (section)

=== 1970–1973: forming the group ===
After the 1970 release of ''Lycka'', two more singles credited to "Björn & Benny" were released in Sweden, "Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa" ("No Doctor Can Help with That") and "Tänk om jorden vore ung" ("Imagine If Earth Was Young"), with more prominent vocals by Fältskog and Lyngstad–and moderate chart success. Fältskog and Ulvaeus, now married, started performing together with Andersson on a regular basis at the Swedish folkparks in the middle of 1971.

[[Stig Anderson]], founder and owner of [[Polar Music]], was determined to break into the mainstream international market with music by Andersson and Ulvaeus. "One day the pair of you will write a song that becomes a worldwide hit", he predicted.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=150}}</ref> Stig Anderson encouraged Ulvaeus and Andersson to write a song for Melodifestivalen, and after two rejected entries in 1971,<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=173}}</ref> Andersson and Ulvaeus submitted their new song "Säg det med en sång" ("Say It with a Song") for the 1972 contest, choosing newcomer Lena Anderson to perform. The song came in third place, encouraging Stig Anderson, and became a hit in Sweden.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=174}}</ref>

The first signs of foreign success came as a surprise, as the Andersson and Ulvaeus single "[[She's My Kind of Girl]]" was released through [[Epic Records]] in Japan in March 1972, giving the duo a Top 10 hit.<ref name="Rees-1991" /> Two more singles were released in Japan, "En Carousel"<!-- When the song was released in Japan for the first time, its title was "En Carousel", not "En Karusell". --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1149457 |title=Cover Art for Björn and Benny Single "En Carousel"/"Lycka" |work=Discogs |access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref> ("En Karusell" in Scandinavia, an earlier version of "Merry-Go-Round") and "Love Has Its Ways" (a song they wrote with [[Kōichi Morita (songwriter)|Kōichi Morita]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=182}}</ref>

==== First hit as Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid ====
[[File:ABBA Logo 1.jpg|First logo for the band|thumb|right|220x220px]]Ulvaeus and Andersson persevered with their songwriting and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements. "[[People Need Love]]" was released in June 1972, featuring guest vocals by the women, who were now given much greater prominence. Stig Anderson released it as a single, credited to ''Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid''. The song peaked at number 17 in the Swedish combined single and album charts, enough to convince them they were on to something.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=185}}</ref>

"People Need Love" also became the first record to chart for the quartet in the United States, where it peaked at number 114 on the ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' singles chart and number 117 on the ''[[Record World]]'' singles chart. Labelled as ''Björn & Benny (with Svenska Flicka)'' meaning Swedish Girl, it was released there through [[Playboy Records]]. According to Stig Anderson, "People Need Love" could have been a much bigger American hit, but a small label like Playboy Records did not have the distribution resources to meet the demand for the single from retailers and radio programmers.<ref>Interview with ''Songwriter'' magazine, 6, 1981, pp.23–25.</ref>

==== "Ring Ring" ====
[[File:ABBA - Popzien 1973 4.png|thumb|left|ABBA (known as Björn & Benny Agnetha & Anni-Frid) at Popzien in 1973]]
In 1973, the band and their manager Stig Anderson decided to have another try at Melodifestivalen, this time with the song "[[Ring Ring (ABBA song)|Ring Ring]]".<ref name="Rees-1991" /> The studio sessions were handled by [[Michael B. Tretow]], who experimented with a "[[wall of sound]]" production technique that became a distinctive new sound thereafter associated with ABBA. Stig Anderson arranged an English translation of the lyrics by [[Neil Sedaka]] and Phil Cody and they thought this would be a success. However, on 10 February 1973, the song came third in Melodifestivalen; thus it never reached the Eurovision Song Contest itself. Nevertheless, the group released their debut studio album, also called ''[[Ring Ring (album)|Ring Ring]]''. The album did well and the "Ring Ring" single was a hit in many parts of Europe and also in South Africa. However, Stig Anderson felt that the true breakthrough could only come with a UK or US hit.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|pp=191–211}}</ref>

When Agnetha Fältskog gave birth to her daughter Linda in 1973,<ref name="Rees-1991" /> she was replaced for a short period by Inger Brundin on a trip to West Germany.

==== Official naming ====
In 1973, Stig Anderson, tired of unwieldy names, started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA (a [[palindrome]]). At first, this was a play on words, as [[Abba Seafood|Abba]] is also the name of a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden, and itself an [[abbreviation]]. However, since the fish-canners were unknown outside Sweden, Anderson came to believe the name would work in international markets. A competition to find a suitable name for the group was held in a Gothenburg newspaper and it was officially announced in the summer that the group were to be known as "ABBA". The group negotiated with the canners for the rights to the name.<ref>{{harvnb|Palm|2001|p=210}}</ref> [[Fred Bronson]] reported for ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' that Fältskog told him in a 1988 interview that "[ABBA] had to ask permission and the factory said, 'O.K., as long as you don't make us feel ashamed for what you're doing{{'"}}.<ref name="Fred Bronson, Billboard">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8505890/abba-waterloo-global-conquest-eurovision-win |title=45 Years Ago Today, ABBA Started Its Global Conquest With Eurovision Win for 'Waterloo' |last=Bronson |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Bronson |date=6 April 2019 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=21 August 2019 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428191721/https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8505890/abba-waterloo-global-conquest-eurovision-win |url-status=live }}</ref>

"ABBA" is an [[acronym]] formed from the first letters of each group member's first name: '''A'''gnetha, '''B'''jörn, '''B'''enny, '''A'''nni-Frid, although there has never been any official confirmation of who each letter in the sequence refers to.<ref name="official_bio_2">{{cite web|title=ABBA's biography, page 2 |website=Abbasite.com |url=http://www.abbasite.com/people/bio.php?id=395&page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030626205305/http://www.abbasite.com/people/bio.php?id=395&page=2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 June 2003 |access-date=16 January 2008 }}</ref> The earliest known example of "ABBA" written on paper is on a recording session sheet from the Metronome Studio in [[Stockholm]] dated 16 October 1973. This was first written as "Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida", but was subsequently crossed out with "ABBA" written in large letters on top.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abbasite.com/story/|title=The Story|access-date=23 June 2022}}</ref>

==== Official logo ====
[[File:ABBA-Logo.svg|right|thumb|This well-known [[ambigram]] logo for ABBA was designed by Rune Söderqvist in 1976.]]
Their official logo, with its distinctive backward "B", was designed by Rune Söderqvist, who designed most of ABBA's record sleeves. The [[ambigram]] first appeared on the French compilation album, ''Golden Double Album'', released in May 1976 by [[Disques Vogue]], and would henceforth be used for all official releases.<ref>Abba Fan Club Magazine, Helga van de Kar, "1976 – Year in Review", December 2016, p. 12</ref>

The idea for the official logo was made by the German photographer {{ill|Wolfgang Heilemann|de|lt=Wolfgang "Bubi" Heilemann}} on a velvet jumpsuit photo shoot for the teenage magazine ''[[Bravo (magazine)|Bravo]]''. In the photo, the ABBA members held giant initial letters of their names. After the pictures were made, Heilemann found out that Benny Andersson reversed his letter "B;" this prompted discussions about the mirrored "B", and the members of ABBA agreed on the mirrored letter. From 1976 onward, the first "B" in the logo version of the name was "mirror-image" reversed on the band's promotional material.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foley |first=Joe |date=2024-05-10 |title=The surprising history of the Abba logo |url=https://www.creativebloq.com/features/abba-logo-history |access-date=2024-06-02 |website=Creative Bloq |language=en}}</ref>

Following their acquisition of the group's catalogue, PolyGram began using variations of the ABBA logo, employing a different font. In 1992, Polygram added a crown emblem to it for the first release of the ''ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits'' compilation. After Universal Music purchased PolyGram (and, thus, ABBA's label Polar Music International), control of the group's catalogue returned to Stockholm. Since then, the original logo has been reinstated on all official products.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080721023557/http://abbamail.com/feature/logo25th.htm ABBA Logo 25th Anniversary] Retrieved from Internet Archive 10 January 2014.</ref>