Latest news with #AgnethaFältskog
Daily Mail
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus reveals heartbreaking update on the future of Voyage
Abba 's Björn Ulvaeus has shared his uncertainty on whether the holographic Voyage concerts would continue after one band member dies. The iconic band, whose international fame was solidified by their victory at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Waterloo, is composed of Björn, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Their seventies heyday has been reimagined by a long-running show where fans can watch ABBA's avatars in a custom-built arena. ABBA Voyage is a virtual concert experience in London where digital avatars of the Swedish pop group ABBA perform their greatest hits. However, the singer has now cast doubt over the future of the first of its kind concert, as he confessed to the Radio Times that the four of them need to decide prior to their deaths if they would continue the shows. Björn told Jane Mulkerrins for her new Sunday morning programme, 'That's a question I've never had before...I honestly don't know, hadn't thought about that. 'It's good you raise that question - I'll talk to the others about that as we need to decide beforehand between us if it's OK for all four of us to go on after we're gone' The iconic band, whose international fame was solidified by their victory at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Waterloo, is composed of Björn (bottom right), Agnetha Fältskog (top right), Benny Andersson (top left) , and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (bottom left) ABBA was formed in 1972 and released eight albums between 1973 and 1981. They are considered one of the best-selling groups in history, with estimate album sales between 150 million and 385 million records worldwide. The group had been disbanded since 1982 but their music still lived on in the intervening years. The compilation album ABBA Gold was a worldwide best seller, and their music was adapted into the hit musical Mamma Mia in 1999, which was then adapted into two feature films - 2008's Mamma Mia and 2018's Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. The group reunited in 2016 and started working on this virtual concert, which used motion-capture technology from George Lucas' visual effects house Industrial Light and Magic to create 'ABBA-tars' of the group, as they would have looked in 1979. The group members all performed for several hours in front of 160 motion cameras to get the motion-capture look just right, with over 1 billion computing hours from ILM. ABBA also started recording new music in 2018, which resulted in their first new studio album in 40 years - Voyage - also said to be the band's final album, which has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. The Voyage virtual concert opened May 27 at a custom venue in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, earning rave reviews from fans, critics and even ABBA members themselves. The show avatars, created using motion capture technology, appear on stage alongside a live 10-piece band. The concert is housed in a custom-built arena called the ABBA Arena. The 90-minute concert includes such hits as Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All and Voulez-Vous. The Abba experience has backed more than 5,000 jobs in London, including people employed at the venue as well as those in other sectors.
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
As ‘Pretty Little Baby' Goes Viral, Connie Francis Is Joining TikTok
Sixty-four years ago, Connie Francis recorded 'Pretty Little Baby' as one of dozens of songs in a marathon recording session that yielded three albums within two weeks. It did not, at the time, feel like a song that had the makings of a hit, so it landed on the B-side of the 1962 single 'I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter' that was released in Britain. Since then, it was more or less overlooked. Then came TikTok and its canny ability to resurrect decades-old songs for a new generation. Over the last few weeks, 'Pretty Little Baby' has been trending on the social media app — it has been featured as the sound in more than 600,000 TikTok posts and soared to top spots in Spotify's Viral 50 global and U.S. lists — bolstered by celebrities and influencers, like Nara Smith, Kylie Jenner, and Kim Kardashian and her daughter North, who have posted videos of themselves lip-syncing to it. The ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog used the song for a clip on TikTok in which she said Ms. Francis had long been her favorite singer. And the Broadway actress Gracie Lawrence, who is currently playing Ms. Francis in 'Just in Time' — a play about Bobby Darin, Ms. Francis's onetime romantic partner — also posted a video of herself lip-syncing to it, in her 1960s costume and hair. The song's current popularity is an unexpected twist to Ms. Francis's long and illustrious career. In 1960, she became the first female singer to top the Billboard Hot 100 and, by the time she was 26 years old, she had sold 42 million records and had two more singles top the Billboard charts. But this particular song, which she recorded in seven different languages, remained so obscure that Ms. Francis, 87, told People magazine that she had forgotten ever recording it. Amid the frenzy of the unexpected attention, Ms. Francis is trying to figure out how to turn this sudden attention into opportunities for herself. She and her publicist, Ron Roberts, enlisted Mr. Roberts's son to help them set up a TikTok account for her and, in a phone interview on Thursday, she said she had been mulling the idea of emerging from retirement to do some kind of show in the next few months. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Western Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
ABBA tribute act Thank ABBA For The Music at Torch Theatre
Thank ABBA For The Music, an ABBA tribute show, will be performed at the Milford Haven theatre on June 13 and June 14. The show, which is a two-hour-long ABBA-fest, will feature all of the band's biggest hits, including Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, Super Trouper, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, SOS, Waterloo, Take a Chance on Me, and Voulez-Vous. The tribute act features a cast of singers, choreography, video projection, replica stage costumes, and audience participation. The show has been given five stars by the Times and Star who described it as a 'Fabbatastic night out' and another five stars by the Sands Centre, Carlisle as 'the biggest party with the UK's best ABBA tribute.' Tickets for Thank Abba For The Music on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, at 7.30pm are £25. Visit the Torch Theatre website for further details and tickets or phone the box office on 01646 695267. ABBA is a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The band is one of the most successful musical groups of all time and one of the best-selling music acts in the history of popular music. The group disbanded in 1982 but reunited in 2016 and released a new album in 2021.
