Not in money, money, money happiness
ABBA turned down a billion dollars
Former members of the Swedish quartet ABBA refused the contract of the Anglo-American concern, which offered them to reunite and hold 100 concerts. The contract amount was unprecedented - $1 billion.

In the mid-70s, The Beatles offered a similar thing - the reincarnation of the group was estimated at $30 million. The sensational offer to the members of the no less famous Swedish quartet is believed to come from the newly formed EMI-Warner concern. Probably, the costs would be more than recouped: “Money, Money, Money”, “Mamma Mia”, “Dancing Queen” or “SOS” would easily be picked up on all continents, and the concerts would be sold out. Including in Russia - teenagers know ABBA, if not in the original, then from Ereasuare or ABBA-Teens remix records, and former citizens of the USSR from Melodiya vinyl and late-night television programs "Melodies and Rhythms of Foreign Pop." By the way, Konstantin Ernst also made attempts to unite ABBA, trying to lure them to the filming of “Old Songs about the Main Thing.”
But despite their unfading popularity, the four famous Swedes were not tempted by even a billion. Apparently, the members of ABBA decided not to tempt fate again - there were enough incredible reunions and meetings in their lives.
The most dramatic story happened with Anni-Frid Lyngstad-Fredriks, better known as Frida. She was born in Norway at the end of 1945, her mother soon died, and her father, a German occupier, did not even know about the birth of his daughter, leaving the country. Frida was taken by her grandmother, and together they moved to Stockholm. The future star began working at the age of 13, and at the age of 16 she married musician Ragnar Fredriksson for the first time and gave birth to two children. In 1977, when ABBA was at the zenith of its fame, the almost incredible happened - Frida’s father was found. Alfred Haas, after reading an article in Bravo magazine, went to Sweden to meet his 32-year-old daughter.
By the time ABBA was formed, each of its members was already a star. At least in Scandinavia. Frida won a competition for young performers and appeared on television. In August 1969, in the city of Malmo, she met Benny Andersson, the star of the most popular group in Sweden, Hep Stars. Andersson, together with his friend Björn Ulvaeus, wrote a simple song about Peter Pan for Frida, and from then on the three of them appeared more and more often.
As for Ulvaeus and Andersson, they met in 1966 - they met at a party after a concert (Ulvaeus played in the popular Swedish band Hootenanny Singers). True, the first fruit of their joint work turned out to be curious: their song, either by accident or intentionally, ended up on the soundtrack of a pornographic film. However, meeting Bjorn promised great prospects - he was a member of the Polar studio.
To create a quartet, one member was missing. And Björn Ulvaeus invited his friend Agnetta Fältskog. She was the most independent in the team and, throughout ABBA’s triumphant march across the planet, she regularly released solo records in her native Swedish. By the time of the first recording of the future group, Agnetta had been hesitating for a long time whether to take part in this project or continue performing in the Swedish version of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. But in the end she succumbed to the persuasion of her friend Bjorn.
The first joint project of Anna, Benny, Bjorn and Agnetta was released under the name "Festfolk", and only then the name ABBA appeared. In 1973 - debut at the Eurovision Song Contest (3rd place), in 1974 - the famous "Waterloo" and victory at the same competition. Then millions of copies, world tours, first lines of the charts, Abbamania, the breakup of the group in 1984, the divorce of Frida and Benny, solo projects of all participants.
The musicians did not dare to repeat history. “This, of course, is a lot of money, but still we think that this offer is not for us. The next rise in the popularity of our music is precisely due to the fact that the group has never been revived and has no intention of doing so,” say the quartet members .
Perhaps the only person who could unite ABBA again was the fifth member of the group - the group's permanent producer, founder of Polar Music, Stig Andersson, or Stikkon, as he was friendly called. It was he who formed a new word from the first letters of four names - ABBA. He united ABBA for the last time in 1997, when all members of the group gathered for his funeral.

ILYA Kommersant-NAGIBIN

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 18 dated 02/05/2000, page 6