Bjorn Ulvaeus Remembers it Like it Was Yesterday
Bjorn Ulvaeus, the 79-year-old Abba legend, recalls the moment when his band won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with their glam-rock stomper Waterloo. The next morning, he and his wife, Abba singer Agnetha Faltskog, flew back to their home in Stockholm, becoming overnight stars. However, Faltskog was suddenly something else too: a global sex symbol. According to an interview with The Times, Ulvaeus remembers making a rock-solid decision: “this cannot go on. This must change immediately, because this is not what a pop star looks like.”
Ulvaeus thought he was too fat to be famous and began running and eating more healthily that same day. “There are many myths about Abba, but that one is true,” he says. “I nearly split my trousers and something needed to change and change it did. I began running and eating more healthily that same day.” At least one account says Ulvaeus found it “irritating” being married to a sex symbol. However, Ulvaeus denies this, stating, “No, I don’t think I ever said I was irritated. I mean she was very… Yeah, but the reason I went on a diet wasn’t because of her. It was because pop stars were thin. And that’s what I was supposed to be. A pop star.”
Ulvaeus turns 80 in a few days and appears in remarkably good shape. That’s no surprise: we’re looking at 50 years of salad and workouts here. In the mornings back home in Sweden, he sails around a lake on his surf ski, doesn’t eat until midday, and in the evening works out on his cross-trainer, TRX suspension cables, and a “vibrator plate.” He also drinks 15-20 cups of coffee a day, which might explain why he vibrates slightly.
The Times reports that Ulvaeus married Christina Sas, a music industry executive 28 years younger than him, and got married for the third time. When asked about having loads of sex, Ulvaeus jokingly responds, “Oh God no, that was a joke. Move on.” Giles Smith’s book, My My!, explores Ulvaeus’s genius for using pop to explore mature subjects such as divorce, the jitters of a romantic ingenue, and parental heartbreak.
Ulvaeus started playing guitar after receiving one for his 11th birthday. For reference, that was in 1956, when Elvis was in the charts with Heartbreak Hotel. Now he finds himself at the nexus of extraordinary technological change. Over in east London, the virtual Abba show Voyage has now played to more than three million fans, way more than ever saw them live in the UK.
Ulvaeus is still very concerned about the impact of tech on the future of music. As president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, he is advocating for creators’ rights in the age of AI, trying to make sure that songwriters and musicians get fairly paid. “AI is changing all the creative industries beyond recognition,” he asserts.
Before Abba, Ulvaeus served a long apprenticeship playing in various bands and writing songs for other artists. Today that apprenticeship is more difficult. He wonders if he would even make it in today’s world. “I mean, I’d like to believe I’d have tried hard and broken through, but who knows? I might be an Uber driver telling you about this song me and my friends are working on called Dancing Queen that you never get to hear.
Ulvaeus used AI to create the avatars for Abba Voyage. But he can’t help wondering if shows like these might become part of the problem. After all, others are soon to follow: Ulvaeus is helping US rockers Kiss launch their own avatar show in Las Vegas in 2027.
Is this the future? Legacy acts dominating for ever? “That might be part of it: young people today are finding music from 1970 or 2010 or now. It’s true that when we started, we didn’t have to compete with decades of other music.” Will Voyage continue when one of Abba dies? “That’s a very good question. That remains to be seen. We are allowed to stay in our current venue till 2029, but ticket sales might drop, you never know.
Bjorn Ulvaeus is set to turn 80, and he feels very passionate about “ageism.” “You reach 50 and people just walk past you in the street,” he says. “They don’t really see you. You don’t count. I think society wastes so much by discarding the skills and wisdom of the elderly. My father-in-law went from relevance to irrelevance from one day to the next.”
Ulvaeus and his wife, Christina Sas, make for a remarkably ordinary couple. No one recognised them in Waterstones where they went shopping for books this morning. No one recognises them in the bar. Ulvaeus has never been particularly starry. He embodies the Scandinavian creed known as janteloven: everyone is equal and even if you enjoy success, never get too big for your boots.
Ulvaeus married Agnetha Faltskog in 1971 and divorced music journalist Lena Kallersjo after 41 years of marriage. He began dating Christina Sas soon after and got married. The age difference really troubled him. “It was love at first sight, at least from my side,” he says. “But immediately I had severe problems with myself and the age difference.
Ulvaeus is reputedly worth close to £250 million. When asked about having such a large sum of money, he responds, “Past a certain point, it [money] doesn’t matter… First of all, it’s freedom from the worries most people have — jobs, bills, the rent. That is so great.”
Bjorn Ulvaeus will be speaking at SXSW London (June 2-7; sxswlondon.com)
Source link
