British manager Simon Fuller announced in a statement in October 2016 that the group would be reuniting to work on a new "digital entertainment experience". [9] The project would feature the members in their "life-like" avatar form, called ABBAtars, based on their late 1970s tour and would be set to launch by the spring of 2019. [91] Plaque commemorating their 1974 Eurovision win

The group have long denied they would ever perform live again. In 2014, Lyngstad said: “We only have one answer and that is no … No amount of money would change our minds. Maybe we sometimes say it would be good to do a song together again, just a recording and nothing else.” In a recording for the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Thursday evening, Andersson said there was “no way” the group was going to reunite or even walk on stage together during Eurovision. Ulvaeus said they chose London to host their live show because “London is the best city to be in when it comes to entertainment, theatre, musicals … We have always felt that the Brits see us as their own.” Brought on board for help with the English lyrics was Neil Sedaka - the acclaimed American singer who had also penned plenty of hits for other artists, including Stupid Cupid for Connie Francis and (Is This the Way to) Amarillo for Tony Christie.ABBA at 50 skillfully treads the line of entertaining the casual ABBA fan while bringing plenty of detail that the most ardent might fan might have missed. Peppered with fascinating insights and tasty anecdotes that certainly we at The Recs had not come across. Did you know that ABBA had a failed Eurovision attempt before their triumph in 1974 with Waterloo? Or that a future Hollywood director would help ABBA conquer the world? Or hilariously that Dancing Queen was originally titled Boogaloo, Honeypie became Waterloo and SOS had the working title Turn Me On. In Australia, the airing of the music videos for "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" and "Mamma Mia" on the nationally broadcast TV pop show Countdown (which premiered in November 1974) saw the band rapidly gain enormous popularity, and Countdown become a key promoter of the group via their distinctive music videos. This started an immense interest for ABBA in Australia, resulting in "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" staying at number one for three weeks, then "SOS" spending a week there, followed by "Mamma Mia" staying there for ten weeks, and the album holding down the number one position for months. The three songs were also successful in nearby New Zealand with the first two topping that chart and the third reaching number two. 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. [22] Two more singles were released in Japan, "En Carousel" [34] ("En Karusell" in Scandinavia, an earlier version of "Merry-Go-Round") and "Love Has Its Ways" (a song they wrote with Kōichi Morita). [35] First hit as Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid [ edit ] In March 1976, the band released the compilation album Greatest Hits. It became their first UK number-one album, and also took ABBA into the Top 50 on the US album charts for the first time, eventually selling more than a million copies there. Also included on Greatest Hits was a new single, " Fernando", which went to number-one in at least thirteen countries all over the world, including the UK, Germany, France, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, and the top five in most other significant markets, including, at number four, becoming their biggest hit to date in Canada; the single went on to sell over 10million copies worldwide. [50] Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the band’s main songwriters, said they would not reunite with Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad to mark 50 years since they won the 1974 contest with Waterloo.

Andersson and Ulvaeus co-wrote numerous musicals, including Chess with Tim Rice, and in 2013 they worked with EDM producer Avicii to compose the theme for the Eurovision Song Contest, which they had won with Waterloo in 1974. As if all this wasn't enough, the French edition of the book was also made available as a special edition magazine, published by the newspaper Le Monde. A book titled ABBA: The Official Photo Book was published in early 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of the band's Eurovision victory. The book reveals that part of the reason for the band's outrageous costumes was that Swedish tax laws at the time allowed the cost of garish outfits that were not suitable for daily wear to be tax deductible. ABBA At 50 is a book with plenty of photos and a 50,000 word text written by me. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of ABBA's first release - the 'People Need Love' single - the book tells the story of the group from childhood to the present day. In about five weeks from now, my book ABBA At 50 will be published in English, so I thought it would be timely with a little recap on what the book is, its various editions, and some other things.ABBA At 50 is the English-language edition of the book and will be published in the UK on 8 September. My understanding is that it will be made available in other English-speaking territories later this year.

In mid-January 1979, Ulvaeus and Fältskog announced they were getting divorced. The news caused interest from the media and led to speculation about the band's future. ABBA assured the press and their fan base they were continuing their work as a group and that the divorce would not affect them. [59] Nonetheless, the media continued to confront them with this in interviews. To escape the media swirl and concentrate on their writing, Andersson and Ulvaeus secretly travelled to Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, where for two weeks they prepared their next album's songs. Upon their arrival in Melbourne, a civic reception was held at the Melbourne Town Hall and ABBA appeared on the balcony to greet an enthusiastic crowd of 6,000. In Melbourne, the group gave three concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with 14,500 at each including the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and his family. At the first Melbourne concert, an additional 16,000 people gathered outside the fenced-off area to listen to the concert. In Adelaide, the group performed one concert at Football Park in front of 20,000 people, with another 10,000 listening outside. During the first of five concerts in Perth, there was a bomb scare with everyone having to evacuate the Entertainment Centre. The trip was accompanied by mass hysteria and unprecedented media attention ("Swedish ABBA stirs box-office in Down Under tour...and the media coverage of the quartet rivals that set to cover the upcoming Royal tour of Australia", wrote Variety), [ citation needed] and is captured on film in ABBA: The Movie, directed by Lasse Hallström. At that same contest in 1969, Benny had co-written Hej Clown for Jan Malmsjö, which had tied for first place but ended up finishing second after a further set of votes was called upon to break the tie. And so while neither Frida nor Benny managed to take the win that year, they did come away from the competition with each other's phone number! The pair started to date not long after meeting at Melodifestivalen. Finally, I'm happy to announce that 2023 will see publication of ABBA At 50 in two more languages, bringing the total up to five. A publisher in Poland (I am not allowed to reveal which at this point) and the Hungarian publisher Helikon will both release their own editions. At this time, I don't know anything about the publication dates, but will post information as soon as I have it. The group also announced that meeting up for the project had “an unexpected consequence. We all felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”The English-language Ring Ring was released just 5 days after its Swedish counterpart and peaked at number 2 on the charts in Sweden - right behind the original! ABBA: Thank You For The Music is the German-language edition, scheduled for publication 16 September. This version also has a Luxury Edition, published 14 October, which comes in a slipcase with a poster. ABBA was widely noted for the colourful and trend-setting costumes its members wore. [136] The reason for the wild costumes was Swedish tax law: the cost of the clothes was deductible only if they could not be worn other than for performances. [137] In their early years, group member Anni-Frid Lyngstad designed and even hand sewed the outfits. Later, as their success grew, they used professional theatrical clothes designer Owe Sandström together with tailor Lars Wigenius with Lyngstad continuing to suggest ideas while co-ordinating the outfits with concert set designs. [138] Choreography by Graham Tainton also contributed to their performance style. Abba’s digital avatars were created using motion capture technology, similar to that used by Andy Serkis and others to portray CGI beasts in Hollywood movies: the group was filmed in skintight suits for the lifelike recreations. Wayne McGregor, resident artist at London’s Royal Ballet, choreographed the band’s performance, and an 850-strong team from George Lucas-founded effects company Industrial Light & Magic designed and animated the de-aged avatars from the footage. Abba, who have sold more than 400m albums and singles, were the first Swedes to clinch a Eurovision victory. This year Loreen sang Sweden’s seventh winning song, Tattoo, having already triumphed with Euphoria in 2012.

Ulvaeus, who also said it was a no from him, added: “We can celebrate 50 years of Abba without us being on stage.” If you ever wondered who gave ABBA their name and why it was a bit on an in-joke in Sweden, or how the famous ABBA logo with the reverse B came about, then Carl Magnus Palm has the answer for you.On 22 September 2020, all four ABBA members reunited at Ealing Studios in London to continue working on the avatar project and filming for the tour. Ulvaeus confirmed that the avatar tour would be scheduled for 2022. [106] When questioned if the new recordings were definitely coming out in 2021, Björn said "There will be new music this year, that is definite, it's not a case anymore of it might happen, it will happen." [107] ABBA appearing in a pre-recorded curtain call at the end of a ABBA Voyage concert There had been increasingly feverish speculation that the band would reform and perhaps even compete as Sweden’s entry, despite having not played together since appearing on Noel Edmonds’ The Late Late Breakfast Show on the BBC in 1982.