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Anni-Frid Lyngstad

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Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Anni-Frid, Princess Reuss von Plauen (born Anni-Frid Lyngstad 15 November 1945 in Bjørkåsen, Ballangen, Norway) is a Norwegian-born singer, best known as Frida Lyngstad, one of the four members of Swedish pop group ABBA.[1]

Early life

Frida was born in Bjørkåsen, a small village Ballangen, near Narvik, north of Norway, as a result of a liaison between 19-year-old Synni Lyngstad (19 June 1926 - 28 September 1947), and a (married) German officer, Alfred Haase (born 1919), just before the end of the Second World War and the German occupation of Norway. Lyngstad's father returned to Germany when his troops were evacuated.

In early 1947, Lyngstad, her mother, and her maternal grandmother, Arntine Lyngstad, left her birthplace because of fear of reprisals from people vengeful towards those who had dealings with the Germans during the occupation. This could entail not just insults, but also forced separation of infants from their parents and relatives (see War children and Lebensborn).

Frida was taken by her grandmother across the border to Sweden and eventually south to the city of Torshälla, (near Eskilstuna). Her mother stayed behind in Norway and worked for a period in the south of the country, but then became ill and travelled to Sweden to be with her mother and daughter. Synni Lyngstad died from kidney disease soon afterwards, aged 21. Lyngstad was raised by her grandmother alone. However, a near contact with her family in Norway continued, and Lyngstad recalls with warmth summer holidays spent with them at her birthplace.

Frida believed that her father had died on his way back to Germany when his ship was reported to have sunk during the war. However, after the German teen magazine Bravo published a poster and a complete biography and a background story of Frida´s life, with names of her father and mother, Frida's half brother in Germany went to his father Alfred Haase and asked him if he was in Norway/Ballangen during the war. A few months later in 1977 Frida met Alfred Haase in Stockholm.[2]

Career

File:S frida2x.jpg
EMI album Frida 1967-1972

Lyngstad showed musical talent at an early age. This started already in her first years at school. On Fridays, she was often asked by her teacher to sing in front of the class and she soon became known in school and in the neighbourhood for her beautiful voice. At the age of 13, she got her first job as a dance band and schlager singer in 1958, with The Evald Eks Orchestra. Mr Evald Ek himself remembers: "It was hard to belive, such a young person could sing that well. She was so easy to rehearse with and she was never shy onstage. The only thing I teached her was to sing out. In those days, she had a tendency of holding back her voice a little". With the Evald Eks Orchestra, the 13 year old Lyngstad, performed every weekend in front of a dancing audience. The sets could well last for five hours. The songs she liked most to sing was the evergreens; "All Of Me", "Night And Day" and "Begin the Beguine".[3] To get forward and develop, she also started to take singing lessons. Later, she teamed up with a 15-piece 'big band', who performed a jazz repertoire covering Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and Count Basie; her vocal idols being Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. In 1963, she formed her own band, the Anni-Frid Four. And at the age of 16, she got pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy named Hans. Then she got married to the bass player Ragnar Fredriksson, at age 17. The marriage produced one more child, a girl named Lise-Lotte (1967-1997). The couple divorced in 1970.

On September 3, 1967, Frida won the national swedish talent competition named "New Faces", arranged by record company EMI and held at Skansen, Stockholm. The song she had choosen for this occasion was "En Ledig Dag" ("A Day Off"). The first price in this contest was a recording contract with EMI Sweden. Unbeknownst to Lyngstad, the winner of the contest was also expected to appear the same evening in the country's most popular TV show at that time, Hylands Hörna. This happened on the same day Sweden went from driving on the left hand to the right hand, so almost the whole nation were watching TV this evening. Frida performed her winning song live in the TV-show. This very first exposure to a wider TV-audience caused a big mess and so many record companies and producers got in touch with Frida, EMI started to fear they might loose their new singer. To be sure, on the next morning, EMI drove all the way from Stockholm to the town Eskilstuna and ended up in Frida's home with the recording contract for her to sign. EMI producer Olle Bergman remembers: "We got so interested and fond of her and I thought she had everything a person needs to become something."[4] This first and unic TV performance can be seen in Frida the dvd and the early songs she recorded for EMI Sweden are included in the EMI compilation Frida 1967-1972, digitally remastred and relseased by EMI Sweden 1997. On September 11 1967, Frida recorded the vocals for "En Ledig Dag", wich was to become her first single for EMI Sweden. Professional and selfassure on this first day in the studio, she recorded the vocals in just one take.[5] On 10 January 1968, she performed this song on national TV, and at this occasion briefly met future ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, who also performed her first single in the same programme. Lyngstad toured Sweden in 1968, and recorded several singles for EMI. She decided to move to Stockholm to start working full time as singer. In 1969, she participated in Melodifestivalen - the Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest - with the song "Härlig är vår jord" ("Our Earth is Wonderful"), and finished fourth. Backstage she met her future spouse Benny Andersson, who also participated in the contest as composer. They soon met again at another venue and then became a couple.

The album "Frida"

Her first album, Frida, produced by her then fiancé Andersson, was released in 1971. The album received unanimously generous praise from the critics and the press, who especially noted the precision and versatility of Lyngstad´s voice, hitting every note to perfection. She now scored her first Swedish No.1 hit with "Min Egen Stad" ("My Own Town"). All the four future Abba-members sang back-up vocals on this song. The album is now included in the EMI compilation Frida 1967-1972. Anni-Frid continued to play in cabarets, and tour and regularly perform on TV and radio. Subsequently, her relationship with Andersson, and friendship with Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog eventually led into the formation of ABBA. In 1972, after five years at EMI Sweden, Lyngstad changed record companies and moved to the Polar Music label. She recorded the single "Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Dess Emellan", which became her second No.1 hit in the Swedish charts.

The album "Frida Ensam".

Her next solo album in Swedish, was the Frida ensam (Frida Alone), produced by Benny Andersson. This album includes her succsessful swedish version of "Fernando", wich became a huge hit in Scandinavia. In Sweden, Frida´s "Fernando" stayed at the Nr 1 spot on the charts for 10 weeks. The album was recorded between sessions of the Abba albums "Waterloo" and "Abba". Due to the rising popularity of the group, the album took 18 months to record. It became an enormous commercial and critical success in Scandinavia, topping the Swedish album charts for six weeks and remaining in the charts for 40. The album was mostly a collection of covers of songs by artists like the Beach Boys, 10cc and David Bowie, receiving positive reviews from Melody Maker: "The album portrays Frida as a very strong and emotive singer and shows the true value of the music, that if sung properly and with enough feeling it transcends all language barriers". The album sold so well, Frida was awarded with a Platinum Disc.

The ABBA years 1972-82

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Frida 1980. Photosessions for the "Super Trouper" album.

Lyngstad at first hesitated working together with her boyfriend Benny Andersson, his best friend Björn Ulvaeus and his girlfriend again, Agnetha Fältskog [6] ; their first cooperation was the cabaret act Festfolk, who flopped in the winter of 1970–1971 - and 'Frida' toured on her own while the other three future ABBA members started performing on a regular basis that year [7]. Andersson and Ulvaeus were busy producing other artists, but soon discovered the qualities of Lyngstad's and Fältskog's voices combined: ABBA came to life. With her warm mezzo-soprano voice, Frida contributed leadvocals to some of ABBA's biggest hits like "Fernando", "Money, Money, Money", "Super Trouper", "I Have a Dream", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and shared leadvocals with Agnetha Fältskog on "Mamma Mia", "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "The Name of the Game", Voulez-Vous", "Summer Night City" and others. She became known as 'the brunette' or 'the redhead' of the girls, always surrounded by an air of style, class, elegance and beauty. Lyngstad clearly enjoyed the spotlight more than the other three members of ABBA. She was the only one of the four who really liked to tour and to meet audiences live. She is a real and true performer which clearly can be seen in Abba live footage[8]. She took on an active part in co-designing the famed ABBA costumes for their tours and tv performances.[9]

As ABBA went separate ways, Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been the only one who openly regrets there never was a reunion.

After ABBA

"Something's Going On"

In 1982, during ABBA's last year as a working band, Frida recorded and released her first post Abba solo album. This was also her first solo album in English. The Phil Collins-produced album was called Something's Going On, and became a big success for Frida worldwide. A much rockier sound was found on many of the songs and Phil Collins special drum sound contributed a lot, especially on the lead single. The album sold 1.5 million copies and spawned the succssesful single I Know There's Something Going On, wich topped the charts in Switzerland, Belgium, Costa Rica and France, where it stayed No 1 for five weeks. The song also reached the Top five in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia amongst others. In the United States, the single reached a respectable No.13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.9 on Radio & Records. The song and its video was heavily promoted and played on MTV. This single sold 3.5 million copies worldwide and is the best selling solo record for any of the four former Abba members. The album itself received good critics, with Billboard writing: "Abba´s auburn-haired songstress makes a bold solo project a stunning succsess", while Mark Coleman described the album in the third edition of Rolling Stone Album Guide as "a sharp, rock-oriented, delightfully eclectic album". William Cooper had a similar opinion in Allmusic: "Frida escapes the creative limitations of being a member of one of the world´s most popular groups on this solid and often riveting album". Swedish Television SVT documented this historical event, by filming the whole recording process. The result became a one hour TV-documentary, including interviews with Frida & Phil, Björn & Benny, as well as all the musicians on the album. This documentary is included in Frida the dvd.

Due to the success of this album and its lead-single, Frida was voted "Best Female Artist Of The Year" 1982, by the readers of Swedens biggest eveningpaper Aftonbladet, receiving the Swedeish Music Award Price Rockbjörnen.

In 1983, Lyngstad assisted with ABBAcadabra - the Musical, and recorded one of the tracks with two different male vocalists in different languages, including Frenchman Daniel Balavoine on the track "Belle" and on the English version "Time" with B. A. Robertson. This track was a cover of "Arrival", an instrumental track from the ABBA album of the same name.

File:Frida013.jpg
Lyngstad 1984. Photosession for the "Shine" album.

Lyngstad's next album was the experimental, Shine (1984). This album was recorded at Studios De La Grande Armée in Paris, France and produced by Steve Lillywhite, known for his work with artists like Peter Gabriel, U2, Rolling Stones and Morrissy amongst others. The young producer Lillywhite was only 25 when this album was recorded and he gave Frida a very experimental sound. He managed to create a relaxed atmosphere in the studio and that can be heard in Frida´s vocals. Her voice sounds very natural and relaxed on "Shine". The album reached the Top 20 in many European countries, No.6 in Sweden being its highest position. One of the songwriters and backing vocalist for this album was Kirsty MacColl, was killed in a boating accident in Mexico in December 2000. Lyngstad recently commemorated a song on her most recent compilation album to MacColl, "Chemistry Tonight", which MacColl had co-written.

In 1987 Frida was in the choir when recording her former husband Benny Andersson's song "Klinga Mina Klockor".

Also in 1987, Lyngstad recorded the single "Så Länge Vi Har Varann" ("As Long As We Have Each Other") with the Swedish pop group "Ratata", one of Lyngstad's favourites. One day singer Mauro Scocco called and said he had a song suitable for a duet. After hearing it, Lyngstad accepted immediately. The song was and still is, a big success in Sweden.

In 1990, Lyngstad became a member in the committee of the Swedish environmental organisation "Det Naturliga Steget" ("The Natural Step"). The organization wanted a "famous face" to help them reach the public, and in 1991 she became chairwoman for the organization "Artister För Miljön" ("Artists For The Environment").

In 1992, Lyngstad performed live at the Stockholm Water Festival at the Kings Castle and released the environmental charity single with her cover of Julian Lennon's song "Saltwater". All the money from this single goes to charity.

In 1993, on Queen Silvia's 50th birthday, Frida was asked to perform Dancing Queen on stage, as performed by ABBA when the king and queen got married. Frida contacted The Real Group and together they performed the song live at the Stockholm Opera House in front of the king and queen. The Swedish prime minister at the time, Ingvar Carlsson, also present that night, said it was an ingenious step to do Dancing Queen a cappella. This performance was filmed by Swedish TV and can be seen in Frida the dvd.

The album "Djupa Andetag"

In 1996, Lyngstad recorded her Swedish language album Djupa Andetag ("Deep Breaths"). It was a long awaited album as 12 years had passed since "Shine" was released. The album attracted overall positive reviews and was a big success in Scandinavia and become Nr 1 on the album chart in Sweden. Frida did many TV-appearances in Sweden, Norway, Denamark and Finland to promote the album. Djupa Andetag was one of the very first Swedish albums to be released as a combined audio/video CD-ROM, including interviews with Lyngstad, footage from the making of the album as well as promotional videos. Despite the fact that Djupa Andetag was officially only released in Scandinavia and the songs were entirely sung in Swedish, a remix album of the single tracks "Även En Blomma", "Alla Mina Bästa År" (a duet with Roxette's Marie Fredriksson) and "Ögonen" was released in Germany in 1998, entitled Frida - The Mixes, an evidence of Lyngstad's continuing popularity in Continental Europe. A one hour documentary about the making of this album, both in the studio and from Fridas home in Mallorca, Spain, can be seen in "Frida-The DVD" A follow-up album with producer Anders Glenmark was reportedly in the works, but was shelved due to a death in Fridas family.

German remix album, Frida - The Mixes, 1998.

Several one-off recordings followed, including a 2002 duet with opera singer Filippa Giordano of the Barcarolle from Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffman as well as the song "The Sun Will Shine Again", written especially for Lyngstad by former Deep Purple member Jon Lord, and recorded in 2004. Neither of these were however released as singles: "Barcarolle" is only available on the Japanese edition of Giordano's album Rosso Amore, and "The Sun Will Shine Again" can be found on Jon Lord's album "Beyond The Notes". Lord and Lyngstad made several TV appearances in Germany performing the song, on shows like The Sunday Night Classics and The Golden Henne Gala. Lyngstad also joined Lord on stage singing the song during his European autumn tour in 2004.

For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Lyngstad appeared in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did, among others, Cher and British comedian Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release on the Universal Music label. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group split in 1982 - a truth with modification. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.

Also in 2004, Lyngstad appeared with former band mates Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus at London's fifth anniversary performance of Mamma Mia!, the musical based on ABBA songs. In 2005, she joined all three of her former ABBA colleagues at the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia! at the arena Cirkus in Stockholm.

Frida the dvd and The Frida Box Set

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Frida during the interview in Frida the dvd

On 15 November 2005, to celebrate Lyngstad's 60th birthday, Universal Records released the "Frida Box Set " consisting of all the solo albums she recorded for Polar Music, all digitally remastered and including a set of bonus tracks. Also included is Frida the dvd. On this 3 1/2 hour dvd Lyngstad talks about her entire career in the musicbuisness. Filmed in the swiss alps and with the glorious Matterhorn mountain top in the background, we meet a very open and relaxed Frida. She tells about her singing-technique and about her career both before and after Abba. She explains how songs where performed and recorded and also some funny and memorable moments of the past. Thanks to the colaboration with Swedish TV, SVT, the DVD includes many rare TV-clips, from her early performances. Amongst many others, her first TV performance with "En Ledig Dag", (A Day Off) is included. We can also hear and see her sing jazz as she did in those day´s and also see some funny clips.

A one hour TV-documentary about the recording of the album Something's Going On is included, with interviews with Frida, producer Phil Collins, as well as all the musicians on the album. The same goes for the recording of her 1996 Swedish album Djupa Andetag, (Deep Breaths), wich was also filmed during making and recording. This is also a one hour TV special, with interviews with Frida, producer Anders Glenmark. We can see the making of the video to the single "Även en blomma" (Even a flower). Frida is also filmed and interviewed in her home in Spain. Included are also all her promo videos she made for her international solo projects. The dvd is focussed on Lyngstad as a soloartist and singer but of course she also speaks about Abba.

Personal life

On 3 April 1963, aged 17, Lyngstad married salesman and fellow musician Ragnar Fredriksson. They had two children: Hans Ragnar (born 26 January 1963) and Ann Lise-Lotte (25 February 1967 - 13 January 1998). They separated early in 1969 and were officially divorced on 19 May 1970. On the very same day, Lyngstad's grandmother, Arntine, died, aged 71.

In February 1969, Lyngstad met Benny Andersson, and the couple were engaged in August. By 1971 they were living together, but did not marry until 6 October 1978, during the height of ABBA's success. However, after only three years of marriage, they separated in February 1981 and were divorced in November of the same year. In 1982, Lyngstad left Sweden and moved to London. In 1986 she relocated to Switzerland.

On 26 August 1992, Lyngstad married Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen (24 May 1950 – 29 October 1999).[6] By this marriage, she has two stepdaughters, Princess Henriette and Princess Pauline. The prince died of lymphoma in 1999; a year earlier, on 13 January 1998, Lyngstad's daughter, Lise-Lotte Casper (born Fredriksson), died of injuries sustained in a car accident in Livonia, Michigan in the United States. Through Lyngstad's marriage to Prince Heinrich Ruzzo, who was a student at the same boarding school as the reigning King of Sweden, she became acquainted with the Swedish royal family and eventually became close friends with Sweden's Queen Silvia.

Today, Lyngstad still engages in charity work - environmental issues in particular. In 2005, she stated in an interview that she had no interest in a music career, though eighteen months later she returned to the recording studio. She currently lives in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Awards and recognition

In 1982, Lyngstad won the Swedish music prize Rockbjörnen for the Best Female Artist.

Discography

Swedish albums

English Albums

Compilations

Singles

  • "I Know There's Something Going On" (1982) SWE #1, D #5, US #13, UK #43, AU #5, FR #1, NO#3
  • "To Turn The Stone" (1982) D #39
  • "Here We'll Stay" (1983) US #102, UK #100
  • "Belle" (Duet with Daniel Balavoine, 1983)
  • "Time" (Duet with B.A. Robertson, 1983) UK #45
  • "Shine" (1984) SWE #6, D #51, UK #82
  • "Twist In The Dark" (France only) (1984)
  • "Heart of the country" (UK only 1984)
  • "Come to me (I am woman)" (1985)


Selected Swedish singles

  • "En Ledig Dag" / "Peter, Kom Tillbaka" (debut record - 1967).
  • "En Kväll Om Sommarn" / "Vi Vet Allt, Men Nästan Inget" (1971) with Lars Berghagen
  • "Så länge vi har varann" (A-side to Ratata-single) (Duet with Ratata, Sweden only 1987) SWE #5
  • "As Long as I Have You" (B-side to Ratata-single "Om Du Var Här", also on 12") (Duet with Ratata, Sweden only 1987)
  • "Änglamark / Saltwater" (1991) (Sweden only, as "Artister För Miljö")
  • "Även en blomma" SWE #11 (1996)
  • "Ögonen" (1996)
  • "Alla mina bästa år" (Duet with Marie Fredriksson) (1997)

Other singles

  • "Lieber Gott" (2003) Frida & Dan Daniell CD single - Switzerland in aid of charity Kinder in Not (Children in Need)
  • "The Sun Will Shine Again" (2004) Frida & Jon Lord promotional single only from Jon Lord's album

References

  1. ^ "REUSS". prodigy.net. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  2. ^ [1] Palm, Carl Magnus, page 47 - 49
  3. ^ Carl Magnus Palm "ABBA THE STORY" (Swedish Edition), page 73-74
  4. ^ Inner sleve of EMI compilation album Frida 1967-1972.
  5. ^ Innersleeve of EMI compilation album Frida 1967-1972
  6. ^ [2] Palm, Carl Magnus, page 161
  7. ^ [3] Palm, Carl Magnus, page 164
  8. ^ [4] Palm, Carl Magnus, page 253
  9. ^ [5] Palm, Carl Magnus, page 252

Sources

  • Carl Magnus Palm: Bright Lights - Dark Shadows, Omnibus Press UK 2001, ISBN 0.7119.8389.5
  • Carl Magnus Palm: ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, Century 22 Limited UK, 1994. ISBN 0-907938-10-8
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