Editing Stig Anderson

{{short description|Swedish songwriter and music manager (1931–1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2010}}
{{other people5|Stig Andersson (disambiguation){{!}}Stig Andersson}}

{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Stig Anderson
| image               =Stikkan Anderson 1968 001.jpg
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Anderson in 1968
| image_size          =
| background          = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name          = Stig Erik Leopold Anderson
| alias               = {{hlist|Stig Erik Leopold Anderson|Stikkan Anderson|Stikkan Erik Leopold Andersson<ref name="allmusic"/>}}
| birth_date          = 25 January 1931
| birth_place         = [[Hova, Sweden|Hova]], Sweden
| origin              = <!-- The origin field is reserved for where the singer started their career. -->
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1997|9|12|1931|1|25}}
| death_place         = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
| instrument          = 
| genre               = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| occupation          = {{flatlist|
*[[Music manager]]
*[[entrepreneur]]
*[[lyricist]]
*music executive
}}
| years_active        = 1950s–1997
| label               = [[Polar Music]]
| associated_acts     = 
| website             = 
}}

'''Stig Erik Leopold''' "'''Stikkan'''" '''Anderson''' (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997)<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=2006-01-01 |title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-531373-4 }}</ref> was a Swedish [[music manager]], lyricist and [[music publisher (popular music)|music publisher]].  He was the co-founder of [[Polar Music]] and is best known for managing the Swedish pop band [[ABBA]].<ref name="obitulary">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-stig-anderson-1239364.html|title=OBITUARY : Stig Anderson|last=Perrone|first=Pierre|date=14 September 1997|newspaper=Independent|access-date=30 March 2017}}</ref>

==Early life==
Stikkan Erik Leopold Anderson was born on 25 January 1931 in [[Hova, Sweden|Hova]], [[Sweden]],<ref name="allmusic">{{Cite web |title=Stig Anderson Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/stig-anderson-mn0000625152 |access-date=8 December 2023 |publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> the son of a single mother named Ester. Anderson began his career as a chemistry and mathematics teacher at a primary school, by taking night classes<ref name = obitulary/> after leaving school at the age of 15.<ref>ABBA: The Lovers Who Conquered The World&nbsp;— Harry Edginton {{ISBN|0-905018-74-5}}</ref>{{Clarify|date = January 2011|How could he become a teacher if he left school at 15?}} Having written his first song at age 16,<ref name = obitulary/> Anderson soon entered the [[Swedish popular music]] scene, becoming a music producer, [[Talent manager|manager]] and occasional performer.<ref name = obitulary/>

[[File:Ria Valk en Stig Anderson (1961).jpg|thumb|left|Stig Anderson and Dutch singer [[Ria Valk]] (1961)]]
Anderson began writing songs as early as 1951, and in 1959 gained his breakthrough with the song "''Är du kär i mig ännu, Klas-Göran?''" ("Are You Still in Love With Me, Klas-Göran?"), written for Swedish singer [[Lill-Babs]]. During the 1960s, he was one of Sweden's most prolific songwriters. According to Anton Stimm in the Swedish SVT documentary 'Stikkan' Stig Anderson wrote 767 published titles. Anderson also founded Sweden Music in 1960, as well as several other companies. Three years later, Anderson co-founded [[Polar Music]] with Bengt Bernhag.{{citation needed|date = November 2022}}

==Management before ABBA==

By the late 1960s, Anderson was the manager and producer of [[Björn Ulvaeus]] and [[Benny Andersson]], who would become the two main songwriters of ABBA. He joined the careers of these two, after previously managing the [[Hootenanny Singers]], of which Ulvaeus was a member. Later, in 1972, he began managing [[Anni-Frid Lyngstad]], and finally in 1976 [[Agnetha Fältskog]] (until December 1975, Fältskog was still bound to Cupol/[[CBS]] Records under a contract).{{citation needed|date = November 2022}}

Before his time with ABBA, Anderson managed some of the biggest Swedish artists at that time, and had a huge number of hits on the Swedish [[Record chart|charts]]. His success earned him the nickname "The Business" since he often had several artists in the Top 10 at any time with whom he had written, published, and recorded the songs. When requiring fresh ideas, Anderson would travel to New York City, buy songs that had been American hits, and then [[Translation|translate]] or [[Transcription (service)|transcribe]] the [[lyrics]] on the return journey ready for a [[Studio recording|recording session]] shortly after and then have the record on the shelves within a few days. Some songs were sent to [[IFPI]]/[[ASCAP]] for [[copyright infringement]]. {{citation needed|date = April 2021}}

== ABBA ==
In the early years of ABBA's existence, Anderson co-wrote many of the songs' lyrics, among them some of the band's biggest hits, such as "[[Ring Ring (ABBA song)|Ring Ring]]" (1973), "[[Waterloo (ABBA song)|Waterloo]]" (1974), "[[Honey, Honey]]" (1974), "[[I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do]]" (1975), "[[Mamma Mia (ABBA song)|Mamma Mia]]" (1975), "[[SOS (ABBA song)|S.O.S]]" (1975), "[[Dancing Queen]]" (1976), "[[Knowing Me, Knowing You]]" (1977) and "[[The Name of the Game (ABBA song)|The Name of the Game]]" (1977).<ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-09-14 |title=OBITUARY : Stig Anderson |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-stig-anderson-1239364.html |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

Sometimes referred to as the "fifth member" of ABBA, Anderson also owned the band's record label and publishing company.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/abba-the-sound-of-business-74740/|title=Abba: The Sound of Business|last=Marsh|first=Dave|date=1977-07-14|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-21}}</ref> He shared the ownership<!--of which?--> with Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and [[Michael B. Tretow]], the main [[Audio engineering|sound engineer]] for the company.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Schulan|first=Leif|date=14 January 1974|title=A Day In The Life Of Stig Anderson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=piQEAAAAMBAJ&q=stig+anderson&pg=PT81|magazine=Billboard|pages=84–85|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Anderson was one of the dominant figures behind ABBA, representing their commercial interests and global success through successful record deals. At the same time, he also managed the investment of funds and the enormous financial incomes of Polar Music, holding the majority of stocks<!--in Polar alone, or other?-->. This was an agreement dating back to 1974, and a great deal of the money came from individual record deals he struck for the group, including a ground-breaking agreement for record sales in the [[Soviet Union]] in which ABBA recordings were released in exchange for [[Barrel (unit)#Oil barrel|barrels of oil]]. In the mid-1980s, a considerable part of ABBA's fortune was lost by mismanagement, bad investments, high demands for [[taxation|tax]] and the rise of credit rates.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}

=== Legal disputes ===

The contract with the performers, as well as the international distribution, ran from a standard publishing and recording deal involving identical contracts, rather than from one written specifically with the performers of the band. This led to problems later, when three of the four ABBA members terminated their relationship with Anderson when it was revealed that Anderson had used this contract to take a percentage of profits at a value of 4.5 million [[euro]]s over the course of many years. A complaint against Anderson was submitted to the Stockholm District Court in June 1990 by Agnetha Fältskog's company ''Agnetha Fältskog Produktion AB'', Benny Andersson's company ''Mono Music AB'', as well as a Dutch company holding Björn Ulvaeus's rights. The dispute was eventually settled out of court in July 1991; the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}

In 1982, Anni-Frid Lyngstad had sold all the shares in the Polar Music company given to her by Anderson, as she moved abroad.<ref name = obitulary/> She remains the only member of the band never to seek legal recourse for past [[Royalties|royalty fees]] and was not involved with the legal proceedings against Anderson.{{citation needed|date = May 2020}}

== Polar Music Prize ==
In 1989, Anderson made a substantial financial endowment to found the [[Polar Music Prize]] from money he made when he sold the multimillion-dollar record company Polar Records. In this deal nearly all utilisation and license rights, and the registered ABBA trademark, were sold for an unknown sum of money to [[PolyGram]] shortly before the ABBA members took him to court over royalty back payments. Previously, Anderson had licensed ABBA and the members' solo releases to labels internationally as a means to increase royalties. In 1998, PolyGram was in turn sold to [[Seagram]] and merged into what is now one of the Big Three record labels, the [[Universal Music Group]], the company that holds the rights to the entire ABBA back catalogue.{{citation needed|date = November 2022}}

== Personal life and death ==
Stig Anderson was married to Gudrun Anderson (née Rystedt, 1931–2010), and had two sons, Anders and Lasse and a daughter Marie. His daughter, Marie Ledin (born in 1957, wife of Swedish star and ABBA concert backing vocalist [[Tomas Ledin]]) was also involved in the music industry. In the mid-1980s she started a new, highly successful record label called ''Record Station'' (sold to German [[Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG]] in the early 1990s), followed by ''Anderson Records''. ''Anderson Records'' released Anni-Frid Lyngstad's Swedish comeback album ''[[Djupa andetag]]'' in 1996, as well as Michael B. Tretow's ''Greatest Hits'' in 1999.{{citation needed|date = November 2022}}

On 12 September 1997 at the age of 66, Stig Anderson died of a heart attack.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stig "Stikkan" Anderson|website=www.abbasite.com|url=http://www.abbasite.com/stig-stikkan-anderson/|access-date=January 23, 2021|archive-date=March 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323155207/http://www.abbasite.com/stig-stikkan-anderson}}</ref> His funeral was broadcast live by [[Sveriges Television]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* [[Carl Magnus Palm]]: ''Bright Lights&nbsp;— Dark Shadows'', Omnibus Press UK 2001, {{ISBN|0-7119-8389-5}}

{{ABBA}}
{{List of Eurovision Song Contest winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Stig}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Gullspång Municipality]]
[[Category:Musicians from Västra Götaland County]]
[[Category:ABBA]]
[[Category:Swedish lyricists]]
[[Category:Swedish male composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish businesspeople]]
[[Category:Eurovision Song Contest-winning songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish classical musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish composers]]
[[Category:Swedish male songwriters]]
[[Category:Swedish record producers]]
[[Category:Swedish music managers]]
[[Category:Burials at Galärvarvskyrkogården]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish male musicians]]