Two former members of ABBA have reunited on stage. Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeu performed at the Olivier Awards in London.
It has been 40 years since their breakthrough hit, 'Waterloo', and the band is still a money-making machine. 'Waterloo' won the Eurovision Song Contest and became their first worldwide hit.
It's 15 years since Mama Mia opened in London's West End – another reason ABBA songwriters Ulvaues and Andersson made the rare on-stage appearance together.
"I'm nervous to be singing, if you call that singing, that is," says Ulvaues. "It was great fun."
"It was great fun," says Andersson. "It was nice to be with the cast."
The band has been doing a lot of looking back over the past week, including a party to celebrate the 40 years since their breakthrough hit.
"The mix of the talents was probably a wonderful thing, and also being couples, being together and exploring that world, it was a new thing for all of us," says ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad
ABBA have sold 380 million albums and they still sell a million every year.
"We didn't have hit after hit after hit," says Ulvaues. "We had a hit and then we wrote another song, recorded it and released it. It was like that. It seems today when you look back at it as though it was all happening at the same time but it wasn't."
Ulvaues and Andersson have earned more than $100 million from the Mama Mia musical alone.
"Of the four in ABBA, the two boys, Bjorn and Benny, are far richer than the two ladies, Anna-Frid and Agnetha, because Bjorn and Benny wrote all the songs," says Brand Finance's David Haigh.
It is no wonder they have said no to all offers to tour again. But they say they are open to the idea of recording again, providing the new songs are good enough.
3 News
source: newshub archive
