Interesting comments from Stig Anderson about Abba members

I’d be careful about believing what the press said, from whatever country. Also it’s possible the translation makes if sound more harsh than actually intended.

Also, when did he say that? Björn, Benny and Agnetha took him to court in the very early 1990s. If he really did say the first one, was it around that time or just after? Also, he didn’t like the fact that for the first few years of ABBA, she was signed to another record company and only appeared on ABBA recordings by courtesy of them. Once under his wing (from 1976) she did remain there for 10 years. The business relationship couldn’t have been that acrimonious.

Frida was always quite close to him and as she was the only one not to take him to court, it’s understandable he would say nice things about her.

The third one is no real revelation. That’s pretty much the story we’ve always been given.

I don't know about anybody else but I find that first quote hysterically funny- "that lazy Agnetha" 😆 whether true or not, it's very funny and all water under the bridge now.

Frida sold her rights to the ABBA recordings in the early 80s, so she had no interest in the matter whatsoever. The other three members of ABBA still received the royalties from the sales of ABBA's back catalogue and they felt they were deceived by Stig, who promised to raise their royalties but didn't do it. It is indeed very well explained in Bright Lights, Dark Shadows but it's actually not clear who was right in the lawsuit and it was finally settled out of court under unknown terms. The truth is that Stig probably never forgave them and the their relationships remained reserved. Agnetha later commented that the whole process was "a pity end to a successful collaboration", so she probably regretted what they were forced to go through.

Yes, we've all said things we don't really mean out of hurt or anger.

I've read BLDS but for the life of me I can't remember much about it. I can't recall if they all made up and buried the hatchet before Stig died? I hope so.

Yes it was. Frida sold her shares in Polar in 1982 before they dived. It’s stated in that book that she made a killing on them (or words to that effect). Agnetha sold up a year later but this was after the company’s financial difficulties had become apparent, so although her shares were equal in number to Frida’s, she didn’t make anywhere near as much from them. Frida, by chance, sold at the best time. Her closeness to Stig and the fact that she did extremely well out of it meant there was no real need for her to join her former colleagues.

I’ve found the exact paragraph in the book:

“By a stroke of luck, when Frida emigrated [to England at first] and divested herself of all her business interests in Sweden, she managed to sell her shares in the ill-fated Kuben [company Polar invested in] at exactly the right time. The value of the shares had fluctuated dramatically ever since they were purchased at 35 kronor per share. When Frida sold her shares the price was 255 kronor and she made a killing on the deal.

“The rest of the group wasn’t so lucky. When Stig and the remaining three ABBA members finally sold their shares in October 1983, the price had fallen to 25 kronor per share, lower than the 35 kronor purchase price. Together they received 5.2 million kronor but the highest total of their combined shares had been 62 million kronor.”

I confused Kuben with Polar shares in my earlier post, but I’m assuming Polar’s share price was also higher when Frida sold up than it was when the others did.

The book also states:
“Although Frida had technically sold her royalties to an outside company, it was, in all likelihood, a company controlled by herself, so she was as much a part of the lawsuit as the other ABBA members.”

This appears to be true. Though widely reported as being just the three of them versus Stig, it was apparently all four but each was through their own companies. Frida’s was Chaperon (UK) Ltd, a British-registered company owned by Swiss investors. Agnetha’s was more obvious - Agnetha Fältskog Produktion AB. Björn’s was Batrax Rotterdam BV (Dutch company) and Benny’s was MM Mono Music AB.

^It's not revealing at all. No one knows why Agnetha didn't go to Stig's funeral and that's her business. She might have been ill at the time for all we know. Besides, there are no rules that say someone HAS to go to a funeral, it's purely a personal choice. Everybody's different.

Ted not only wrote some songs for her solo albums (actually, I don't think he's ever written anything for her, it was his brother Kenneth, who contributed lyrics to her songs now and then)… he was very close to the ABBA members at the beginning of his career. Björn and Benny produced his first albums, Agnetha and Frida sang backing vocals on them, Ted was a close friend  of Michael Tretow, so they all met regularly…

No... but as I read my post now it might have given that impression indeed :-) But I remember it so well because in 1996 was a year when I became a member of the Czech ABBA Fan Club. They had some problems at the time unfortunately and there was a very long break between the issues of the magazines they published. And the first magazine after the pause (and actually only the second issue I received) was full of tragic news - the fatal car accident of Frida's daughter and Stig's passing. There was a very detailed account of Stig's funeral and it somehow got stuck in my memory probably because that particular issue of the magazine was kind of important for me. I don't really recall what was in the next one at all… :-)

The BBC’s The Money Programme reported on ABBA’s financial difficulties (and particularly Kuben) in September 1983. This was how I learnt about it. The seeds of the later legal action were sown here I think.

Inexplicably in three parts, even though the entire report is under 16 minutes long.