Agnetha Fältskog
| Agnetha Fältskog | |||
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Fältskog in 2013
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| Born |
Agnetha Åse Fältskog 5 April 1950 Jönköping, Småland, Sweden |
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| Residence | Ekero, | ||
| Nationality | Swedish | ||
| Other names | Anna | ||
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| Years active | 1967–1988, 2004–present | ||
| Spouse(s) |
Björn Ulvaeus (m. 1971; div. 1980) Tomas Sonnenfeld (m. 1990; div. 1993) |
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| Children | 2, Linda and Peter Christian Ulvaeus | ||
| Parent(s) | Ingvar Fältskog Birgit Johansson |
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| Relatives | Tilda Eliza Frida Ulvaeus-Ekengren Esther Ulvaeus-Ekengren Signe Ulvaeus-Ekengren |
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| Website | agnetha |
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Agnetha Åse Fältskog (Swedish pronunciation: [aŋ²neːta ²fɛltskuːɡ], born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her debut album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which has sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music artists in history.
Since the break-up of ABBA, Fältskog has continued to have success as a solo artist, albeit interspersed by periods of relative recording inactivity.
Agnetha Åse Fältskog (known as Anna in some countries) was born in Jönköping, Småland, Sweden on 5 April 1950. She was the first of two daughters of department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922–1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923–1994). Ingvar showed much interest in music and show business, whereas Birgit was a calm and careful woman who devoted herself to her children and household.
Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, entitled "Två små troll" ("Two Little Trolls"). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers, with her friends Lena Johansson and Elisabeth Strub. They performed locally in minor venues and soon dissolved due to a lack of engagements. At age 15, Fältskog decided to leave school and pursue a career.
Fältskog cites Connie Francis, Marianne Faithfull, Aretha Franklin and Lesley Gore as her strongest musical influences.
Fältskog worked as a telephonist for a car firm while performing with a local dance band, headed by Bernt Enghardt. The band soon became so popular that she had to make a choice between her job and her musical career. She continued singing with the Bernt Enghardt band for two years. During that time, Fältskog broke up with her boyfriend Björn Lilja; this event inspired her to write a song, "Jag var så kär" ("I Was So in Love"), that would soon raise her to media prominence. At that time, Karl Gerhard Lundkvist, a relative of one of the band's members, retired from his successful rock and roll career and began working as a record producer at Cupol Records. Enghardt sent him a demo recording of the band, but Lundkvist only showed interest in Fältskog and her song. She was worried because he was not interested in the band and they were not to be included on the record. However, she decided to accept the offer, and signed a recording contract with CBS Records.
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Wikipedia