Part 4

After ABBA

Agnetha Solo
n January 20th 1983, Agnetha was busy making her first English solo album, Wrap Your Arms Around Me. She wanted a sound that was different from ABBA. Mike Chapman who was a famous producer, Blondie being one of his acts was called upon to work with Agnetha on this album. He had heard of her and was most happy to oblige. Since he wanted Agnetha to be comfortable with this effort he enlisted help from many of the musicians and backing vocal artists that were with ABBA. He went to Stockholm to produce this album and work at Polar Studios. Together Agnetha and Mike picked all of the songs. By April, the album was completed and Agnetha started on a promotional tour. In May the album was released worldwide with the single The Heat Is On. Agnetha's promotions took her all over Europe and a visit was also made to America. She arrived in New York on August 22nd and stayed 7 days for promotional advertising on radio. Can't Shake Loose climbed to #5 in the Billboard charts. The album was very successful in Europe. It sold over 2 million copies. Agnetha also promoted her album with many TV appearances.

On September 30th, 1983 Agnetha traveled to London to promote her new single Can't Shake Loose. This trip brought a lot of trauma for Agnetha. She fell down some steps and cut her elbow while making an appearance on Noel Edmonds Late, Late Breakfast Show. She was in pain but still went on to sing. This was the first of two events that may have left Agnetha wishing she had stayed at home. For many years it was a known fact that Agnetha feared flying. She loved to travel as much as possible by bus or by boat. On her way back home in Sweden, the bus she was riding in turned over after the driver lost control and Agnetha was thrown from the back into a ditch. Luckily no one was injured badly, but Agnetha was hospitalized overnight after receiving treatment for shock, cuts and bruises. This experience reinforced Agnetha's distrust of the press.

At the end of 1983, Agnetha released the single It's So Nice To Be Rich/P&B. This single was released exclusively in Sweden and was part of a movie sound track. It topped the Swedish charts.

The year 1984 for the most part was out of the public eye. Agnetha spent all of the time she could caring for and being with her children. In May, she did do a Swedish Television special, Jönköpingsyra, commemorating the 700th anniversary of her home town. Agnetha hosted this special as one of Jönköping's most famous citizens. A children's choir surprised her with a medley of her pre-ABBA solo songs. Near the end of this year Agnetha was ready to work on a new album. This time the collaboration was with Eric Stewart of the group 10cc.

The beginning of 1985, found Agnetha back in Polar Studios laying down the first tracks to her new English solo album, Eyes Of A Woman During the last of March, Agnetha released one of her own compositions as a new single I Won't Let You Go. The following week, the new album was released. It met with great success throughout Europe. Sales for this LP were very good. This album was never released in America, but a 12" extended version of One Way Love did make it to America where it was very popular in dance clubs. To help promote the album in Europe, Agnetha appeared at the Montreux Pop Festival and did a half hour television special filmed in Stockholm. The special was named, A is for Agnetha, and on it she performed five songs from her album. In addition, Agnetha spoke about her life past and present. In June, Agnetha gave her last interview in the newspaper Expressen. She again decided to spend time with her children. She took the following year off as well with the exception of a new single release on November 10, 1986. This was the first release from her own recording company, Agnetha Fältskog Productions AB. The single The Way You Are/Fly Like An Eagle was a duet sung with a long time friend Ola Håkansson. It was for the film It's Time For Sweden. The single became a top ten hit in Sweden. A few television appearances were made throughout Sweden, but little or no promotion was made for the rest of Europe. As the year was closing, Agnetha signed a contract with WEA to do her third English solo album.

In 1986, Cupol released another compilation of Agnetha's solo Swedish songs. The title of the LP was Sjung Denna Sång.

The beginning of 1987 also brought another album from her. She recorded a Christmas album with daughter Linda in 1980 and was now recording a new album with her son, Christian. The title is Kom Folj Med I Vår Karusell. The album was recorded at Sonet Studios in Stockholm. This album contains 16 children's songs and was produced by Agnetha and Michael B. Tretow. One song from the album was released as a single, På sondag. It was a success with Swedes of all ages.

The album, I Stand Alone was produced by American artist Peter Cetera. Agnetha and Peter met during a telethon in Stockholm. During their first meeting Peter suggested to Agnetha that soon they should work together. Agnetha did not really take this offer seriously because in the music business many people have good intentions that never make it to reality. ``However, to my surprise Peter and I started trans Atlantic communications about the project soon after we had met and we never let the idea die.'' Peter returned to Stockholm to help choose songs for this new album with Agnetha. For the first time Agnetha would not be surrounded by studio musicians whom she knew. She went off to America to work at Chartmaker Studios, in Malibu, California. Although she hated to fly and to leave her children, Agnetha agreed to spend five weeks in America to do this album because it's producers, Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsch, wanted to use musicians and a studio that they were used to. I Stand Alone debuted in Sweden on November 9th, 1987. It soon topped the charts selling over 170,000 copies. Agnetha did promotional work for this album by doing an interview and performing four songs from the album on a Swedish television show hosted by Jacob Dahlin. The date of worldwide release was January 15th, 1988. The single released was The Last Time and Agnetha went into a studio and made a video for this song. The album was well received by its audience and praised by critics. Sales approached two million copies. Agnetha went to England to be on the BBC talk show Wogan, where she was given a wildly enthusiastic welcome from the audience. She also did many newspaper interviews. The following is a quoted text from one interview.

``I am now doing what I always wanted to do, writing songs, singing, and recording, and being a little star. I like being a little star, being a big star is too much pressure and I don't like pressure at all. I don't really miss all the fame and success of ABBA. We worked so hard for such a long time. We traveled the world. In almost every place we visited it was work, work, work and we didn't have the chance to see anything. I've been too many places but I've no idea what they were because we were working all of the time, always in a rush. But we are all very proud of what we achieved. I don't blame ABBA for the breakup of my and Björn's marriage. I have no guilty feelings and that goes for all of us. Björn and I would have split anyway, we just grew away from each other, but we are still good friends. I wouldn't mind marrying again. The press in Sweden write a lot of bad things about me. Some newspapers have been writing that I am more or less hiding in my house all of the time, like Greta Garbo, but that's not the case at all. I go out everyday with my dog for long walks, it's just that people don't recognize me. I look very normal. The Swedish press think I am too normal. Maybe I want to be a little mysterious, like Garbo. I don't want to be an open book, so people know everything about me. Who wants this? But I don't have anything to hide either. I'm very happy at the moment. I have a lot of friends, new friends, female and male, I feel good. You certainly shouldn't think of me as a lonely blonde, living in Sweden, that would be totally wrong.''

This was the end of her career for a while. She remained devoted to raising her children. On Saturday, December 15, 1990 Agnetha married a Swedish surgeon, Tomas Sonnenfield. The Swedish press knew nothing about the marriage until a small announcement appeared in the paper the following day. This marriage did not last. In 1993, divorce proceedings were started by both parties.

Since 1988, Agnetha seemed to shy away from the music business. It was not until 1996 that fans were given any hope that Agnetha might continue on with her career. Early in 1996, Sony Music announced that Agnetha was doing a double CD album, My Love, My Life. Although no new material was to be made for this album, Agnetha was busy picking music that she loved. It took a while for this CD to finally all come together. On September 24th, 1996 My Love, My Life was finally released. This was not the only good news. Agnetha decided she wanted to finish a book that she had started back in the 1980's with Brita Åhman. The name of this book is Som Jag Är. Its release coincided with the release of her new album.

I have been a fan of Agnetha for over 24 years. I am so glad that she is back. I look forward to the future with renewed optimism. Agnetha, you have been away too long. All I want to say is welcome back from all of us who for years have admired your talent. You were never forgotten, but held in our hearts forever. And if I may use the title of one of your songs, Agnetha stay the way you are.

Watch this space for continuation of Agnetha's Bio!