Frida

Norwegian-Swedish singer, and songwriter who is well known as one of the lead singers of Swedish pop group ABBA.
Born on November 15, 1945 in Ballangen, Norway.
For more Frida releases, see the Anni-Frid Lyngstad page.

Frida started her music career in 1958 as a jazz singer. In the 1960s, she married jazz musician Ragnar Fredriksson and had two children, Hans Fredriksson and Ann Lise-Lotte Fredriksson. The couple separated after a few years. During Dagen-H in 1967, she won EMI's talent competition, "New Faces" and first appeared on Swedish television, as she sang "En ledig dag", which was her first single released by His Master's Voice, a week after Dagen-H. Frida was a struggling singer prior to the formation of ABBA due to her fourth placement in Melodifestivalen 1969, with a song "Härlig är vår jord". Nonetheless, Frida recorded singles for EMI consistently, which led her to appear on Swedish television and cabarets, despite that neither of the other songs, charted or only a few songs were circulated in the Swedish radio or sales charts, until she met future bandmate and husband Benny Andersson the same year, who would later propelled her to sing other genres beyond her jazz songs, with her first No. 1 hit in the Swedish radio charts, "Min egen stad", released in 1971 as the B-side to "En gång är ingen gång".

A year later, in 1972, Frida was signed to Polar and recorded her first single for the label "Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan", which was her second No. 1 hit in Svensktoppen; ABBA would be formed that same year. During ABBA's recording session of "Waterloo" and their early success after winning the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974, the production of her first solo album for Polar, "Frida Ensam" commenced and took one and a quarter year to finish the recording of the album. "Frida Ensam" was released in November 1975 in Scandinavia. Her single, "Fernando" (later recorded in English by ABBA), and the album reached to the top 10 in Svensktoppen.

During ABBA's middle to final years, Frida married Andersson in 1978, and later divorced him in 1981, due to multiple disputes. This led her to collaborate with Genesis drummer and singer Phil Collins with her famous album, "Something's Going On", in 1982. With her single, "I Know There's Something Going On", the single reached to the top fives in most of Europe's weekly charts, while in some countries such as the United Kingdom, and the United States, it reached lower than the top fives, depending on the quantity of the record chart list, most notably No. 13 on Billboard's Hot 100. "Something's Going On", as an album, reached to one of the top 40 in Europe's country-varied weekly charts, while in the United States, it reached No. 41 in Billboard's 200. Other singles from "Something's Going On" followed, but did not match the success as her lead single did.

In 1984, Frida released her album "Shine", produced by Steve Lillywhite. Unlike her previous album, it was a moderate success in Europe, reaching the Top 10, and Top 20 on some countries such as Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands, but not in particular countries, especially the United Kingdom, which reached No. 67. The album, "Shine", also debuted her songwriting such as "Don't Do It", "I Don't Wanna Be Alone" (unreleased, exists only as a bootleg), and "That's Tough" (non-album track), and spawned singles, "Shine/That's Tough", "Come To Me (I Am Woman)/Slowly", "Heart of the Country/Slowly", and "Twist in the Dark/Come To Me (I Am Woman)". She withdrew from music business for a while, as a solo singer after "Shine" was released.

A few years later, starting in 1991, Frida became an environmentalist, appearing on fairs and galas, and formed a short lived supergroup, "Artister för Miljö", to raise awareness of the environment. Five years later, she marked her music comeback with her album "Djupa andetag". The album featured her singles, "Även en blomma", "Ögonen", and "Alla mina bästa år", as well as her self-composed album track, "Kvinnor som springer". Frida became a princess through her marriage to Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss (of Plauen) in 1992. The marriage lasted until Reuss died of lymphoma in 1999.

Since 1987, Frida has appeared as a guest singer, most notably with Swedish duo Ratata, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, Dan Daniell, and jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.
Frida was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of ABBA in 2010.

Firda, Frida ABBA, Fridda, Frieda