2024-06-01 18:58:31
The extraordinary royal order, not often awarded to Swedish residents for service to the state and society, was obtained this Friday by 4 members of the pop band ABBA. The musicians who gained the Eurovision Music Contest 50 years in the past with the track Waterloo had been personally honored by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden.
ABBA has bought over 400 million data worldwide and is among the most commercially profitable artists of all time. This Friday, its members obtained the Royal Order of Vasus for the primary time in half a century, the AP company writes. The final time the King of Sweden awarded this award was in 1974.
Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad grew to become 1st Class Commanders. They adopted the gilt badge of the order within the form of a Maltese cross, worn on a ribbon across the neck, and the star of the order worn on the left aspect of the chest. That is the second highest award, solely the Commander of the Grand Cross is above it. The King thanked the laureates for his or her “extraordinary contribution to Swedish and worldwide musical life”.
Sweden has a number of official awards together with the Order of the Seraphim, awarded to heads of state or highest dignitaries, and the Order of the North Star. It’s given to members of the royal household, politicians or overseas guests. Now the Order of Vasus has joined them once more. Candidates may very well be proposed by the general public from 2022, when a change within the legislation made it potential. The nomination was authorized by the Swedish authorities after which instantly by the royal couple, in line with the AP company.
The ceremony befell within the Stockholm Palace, which is the consultant residence of the Swedish royal household. The quartet of musicians had been awarded by King Charles XVI Gustav, and Queen Silvia of Sweden offered them with a diploma. Every part was broadcast on tv.
“You obtain this order as Sweden’s thanks in your distinctive efforts,” the monarch reasoned. After the ceremony, Ulvaeus advised tv that he felt a number of upset as a result of the choice to award the order originated within the public.
On the left are King Charles XVI Gustav. and Queen Silvia of Sweden, proper Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog and Benny Andersson. | Photograph: Reuters
Along with the 4 artists, the king honored 9 different personalities, such because the Frenchwoman working in Sweden Anne L’Huillier and the evolutionary genetics knowledgeable Svante Pääbo. Each gained the Nobel Prize within the final two years, she and two colleagues for physics, he for physiology and medication.
The historical past of the Swedish group ABBA dates again to 1966, when Björn Ulvaeus met Benny Andersson. They began writing songs collectively, and within the spring of 1969 they met two fateful girls who later grew to become their wives and the opposite half of ABBA: blonde Agnetha Fältskog and brunette Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
Within the spring of 1972, this composition recorded the primary track known as Folks Want Love, a 12 months later they launched their debut studio album Ring Ring. They broke by means of on the worldwide stage by profitable the Eurovision contest, which befell 50 years in the past, in April 1974, in Brighton, England. They succeeded with the track Waterloo. Quickly after, it grew to become primary within the charts throughout Europe, and even made it to the highest ten within the USA, the place Eurovision had nearly no affect. That very same 12 months, ABBA went on their first pan-European tour.
Nonetheless, the “stigma” of the winners of the competitors, mocked by many, made it tough for them to keep up themselves within the musical additional class. It wasn’t till a 12 months and a half later that one other worldwide success adopted with the track SOS from the third album merely known as ABBA. The track Mamma Mia from the identical recording returned the group to the highest of the British charts, which it occupied 9 occasions between 1974 and 1980.
Craftily good songs from the workshop of Ulvaeus and Andersson constructed on good polyphony, catchy melodies, a charming dance rhythm and a novel association. At discotheques everywhere in the world, together with Czechoslovakia on the time, they brought on enthusiasm.
In early 1980, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog introduced their divorce. It did not imply the tip of the group, however it shattered the picture of two joyful, music-making {couples}. This “fairy story” undoubtedly resulted in February 1981 after the announcement of the divorce of Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
In 1981, ABBA launched the eighth and for a very long time the final album Guests, whose greatest hit was the only One Of Us. It disbanded a 12 months later and remained non-functional till 2021.
That is when she introduced a comeback with a brand new studio album, Voyage. In its first week of launch, it bought one million copies worldwide, and recorded round 190 million performs on streaming platforms. “Whereas within the late Nineteen Seventies it was nearly compulsory to not like Abba, who was coated by the media to the purpose of unbearableness, as we speak the world is way more in favor of getting old superstars,” wrote music critic Pavel Klusák about her in 2021, in line with whom the album doesn’t offend, however on the identical time it doesn’t encourage .
A 12 months later, a sequence of live shows adopted, however the band members didn’t take part in individual, they solely carried out just about as holograms.
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