Dancing Queen around the world are saying thank you for the (new) music as Abba dropped their latest studio album, Voyage, this morning.
Fans have been eagerly awaiting the Swedish pop group’s reformation for months after they began hinting at a reunion.
And, while they have made fans wait for almost 40 years, we’re sure you’ve been throwing your money, money, money at tickets for the band’s Voyage tour next year.
But how old are pop sensations Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and when did they last grace the stage?
How old are the Abba members now?
The Abba members are now all in their seventies. Agnetha is 71, Björn is the oldest member at 76, Benny is 74 and Anni-Frid is 75.
Anni-Frid will soon be turning 76, as her birthday is on November 15. Sounds like this Dancing Queen is a Scorpio!
The band was formed in 1972 – with the name ‘Abba’ coming from their four first initials.
They had all enjoyed some degree of musical success prior to the band forming but they had their breakthrough in 1974, after winning The Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo on April 6.
Abba’s greatest hits compilation became the first record to spend 1,000 weeks (over 19 years) in the UK’s album chart in 2021. It is also the UK’s second biggest-seller in history, and has sold 5.6 million copies.
The album entered the charts almost 46 years ago, on November 17, 1975, which was just over a year after Waterloo was released.
The four-piece went their separate ways in 1983 after both couples divorced.
When did Abba last tour?
Abba’s last official shows were in 1980 in Japan, which is where the cracks really began to show.
Björn and Agnetha had announced their divorce by this point. And, while they never officially split as a band Abba’s leading ladies, Agnetha and Anni-Frid, went solo and released their own albums.
On September 2, 2021, Björn explained why he believed the band grew apart.
He told Zane Lowe: ‘We ended for creative reasons. We ended because we felt the energy was running out in the studio, because we didn’t have as much fun in the studio as we did this time. And that’s why we said, “Let’s go on a break.”’
Their upcoming Voyage Tour has been in the works for three years and was delayed for a number of reasons including the pandemic.
After a long wait, you can finally get tickets for the new virtual tour now, which is being held at Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
Expect to see holograms of Abba performing a concert on stage with digital versions of themselves brought to life by motion capture in the custom-built arena.
The band’s statement describes the event as: ‘the strangest and most spectacular concert you could ever dream of.’
It is being held on selected dates every month from May to September 2022.
MORE : Abba postpones concert trailer release after death of two fans at tribute gig
MORE : Abba announce split after Voyage album despite unfinished songs: ‘This is it’
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