But then the ABBA Arena and ABBAtars show came along, and all of a sudden they had a platform for it … or an outlet, I should say. The author balances the professional aspects (recording, touring and promoting, studio interactions) with the personal aspects (romantic relationships and children) seamlessly.

The ABBA machine continues to function, and the industry around the band clearly continues to flourish. After winning 1974's Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Waterloo," ABBA catapulted to fame, capturing hearts across the globe with their melodic and ever-so-catchy pop songs. But of the bands that are around today, the ones that I’ve bought every album and everything are the Fleet Foxes. In 2021, after a forty-year hiatus, the band released a new album Voyage, and announced an accompanying concert featuring their digital avatars, dubbed “ABBAtars. I remember 30 years ago when people said to me, when I was working on my first book, ‘You better hurry up, before the ABBA revival dies down.A decade on, the ABBA Gold greatest hits compilation became a global bestseller, then in 1999 their music was adapted into successful musical Mamma Mia! As a child of the 70's, I was very aware of ABBA right from the start of their popularity in the United States; my older brother had a 45 of "Waterloo".

In 2021, after a forty-year hiatus, the band released a new album Voyage, and announced an accompanying concert featuring their digital avatars, dubbed "ABBAtars. Beautifully illustrated with essential images, this book examines the group's enduring legacy and much-loved musical repertoire of perfectly crafted pop.Responsible for ABBA music reissue liner notes and several books including the exhaustively comprehensive "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows", this book comes at a perfect time. As a 50+ year ABBA fan, while I enjoyed the written portion as a career compilation recap, there was nothing new in the content to set it apart from other biographies written by individuals other than the subjects themselves.

He presents them honestly as fallible people who have gone through extraordinary things in their lives. What I really took away from this book was a greater appreciation for the work that went into the songs, the musicianship and engineering as well as the songwriting. I mean, the group’s real 50th anniversary – when they started recording together English language pop songs – is this year, because it was 1972. After winning 1974’s Eurovision Song Contest with their song “Waterloo,” ABBA catapulted to fame, capturing hearts across the globe with their melodic and ever-so-catchy pop songs.It can be a musical based on their melodies, and that musical can be a motion picture, and then you can take that musical and turn it into this dinner party concept, Mamma Mia: The Party. You truly get a sense that the author is invested in ABBA and sharing their story to the world in a way which fans and all others can appreciate.