Age, Biography and Wiki
Agnetha Fältskog was born on April 5, 1950, in Jönköping, Sweden. She began her music career at a young age and released her debut single "Jag Var Så Kär" in 1967, which became a huge success in Sweden. Before joining ABBA, she released several solo albums and participated in the Swedish version of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Her time with ABBA catapulted her to international fame, and after the group's hiatus, she continued her solo career, releasing albums like "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" and "My Colouring Book." She has also written an autobiography and has been involved in various music projects over the years.
| Occupation | Autobiographer |
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| Date of Birth | 5 April 1950 |
| Age | 75 Years |
| Birth Place | Jönköping, Sweden |
| Horoscope | Aries |
| Country | Sweden |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about Agnetha's height and weight are not widely documented, she is often noted for her striking presence and voice.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Agnetha Fältskog has been married twice: first to Björn Ulvaeus, another member of ABBA, from 1971 to 1980, and then to Tomas Sonnenfeld. Her personal life has been somewhat private after her marriage to Ulvaeus, especially during her period of semi-retirement from 1988 to 2004.
She was the first of two daughters of department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922–1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923–1994). Ingvar showed much interest in music and show business, and Birgit devoted herself to her children and household.
For two years Fältskog continued singing with the Bernt Enghardt band, and as its popularity grew, decided to give up her other job when combining both careers proved physically too demanding. During that time, Fältskog broke up with her boyfriend Björn Lilja; this event inspired her to write a song, "Jag var så kär" ("I Was So in Love"), that soon brought her to media prominence.
Fältskog met Björn Ulvaeus, a member of the Hootenanny Singers, for the first time in 1968 and then again in 1969. Her relationship with Ulvaeus, as well as her friendship with Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, with whom Ulvaeus had already written songs, eventually led to the formation of ABBA. Fältskog and Ulvaeus married on 6 July 1971 in the village of Verum, with Andersson playing the organ at their wedding. After seven years of marriage, the couple decided to separate in late 1978 and filed for divorce in January 1979. The divorce was finalised in July 1980. Both Fältskog and Ulvaeus agreed not to let their failed marriage interfere with their responsibilities with ABBA. The failure of their marriage inspired Ulvaeus to write the lyrics of "The Winner Takes It All".
Fältskog participated in Melodifestivalen again, albeit only as a composer. In 1981, she wrote the ballad "Men natten är vår" ("But the Night Is Ours") with lyrics by Ingela Forsman, but instead of performing the song in the contest herself, she chose new talent Kicki Moberg. The song placed 9th out of 10. The single, which Fältskog produced in the Polar Studios with the same musicians as on contemporary ABBA recordings, was backed with the Swedish version of "I'm Still Alive", entitled "Här är mitt liv" ("Here Is My Life"), a song which she herself had performed in its English version (lyrics by ex-husband Björn Ulvaeus) during ABBA's 1979 world tour.
In 1994, Fältskog's mother died by suicide by jumping from her Jönköping apartment balcony. Fältskog's resulting depression worsened a year later when her father died.
In 1997, Fältskog started a relationship with a Dutch forklift driver, Gert van der Graaf. After Fältskog decided to terminate the relationship in 1999, he stalked her further at her mansion, resulting in a court issuing Van der Graaf with a restraining order and deporting him to the Netherlands in 2000. Returning close to her home in 2003, he was arrested and then banned from entering Sweden. In 2005, the ban order from Sweden ran out, and within months Van der Graaf was again sighted near Fältskog's estate in Ekerö.
In 2005, Fältskog appeared with her former bandmates at the opening of the Mamma Mia! musical in Stockholm, and together with ex-husband Björn, also attended the final show in January 2007.
Fältskog's split from Ulvaeus in 1979 greatly affected her, and she needed therapy afterwards. Her mother's suicide in 1994 and her father's death the following year were kept private.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Björn Ulvaeus (m. 1971-1980) Tomas Sonnenfeld (m. 1990-1993) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Agnetha Fältskog's net worth is estimated at $200 million as of 2025. Her wealth comes from her successful music career with ABBA and her solo ventures, as well as from various other business and investment opportunities.
In 2004, Fältskog was nominated for Best Nordic Artist at the Nordic Music Awards, and at Christmas of that year, she gave an extensive interview (her first in many years) filmed by Swedish TV. Around the same time, Sony Music released a lavishly produced 6-CD boxed set comprising Fältskog's Swedish solo career (mostly before ABBA), with five original solo albums: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, and her 1975 album recorded and released during her time with ABBA – plus an additional compilation disc with bonus tracks.
Career, Business and Investments
Agnetha Fältskog began her career as a solo artist before joining ABBA. With ABBA, she achieved immense success with hits like "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia." After ABBA disbanded, she continued her solo career, releasing albums like "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" and "My Colouring Book." She has also contributed to various musical endeavors and published her autobiography. Her return to music in 2004 with "My Colouring Book" and again in 2013 with "A" highlighted her enduring talent and appeal.
At that time, Karl Gerhard Lundkvist, a relative of one of the band's members, retired from his successful rock and roll career and began working as a record producer at Cupol Records. Enghardt sent him a demo recording of the band, but Lundkvist only showed interest in Fältskog and her song. She was worried because he was not interested in the band, and they were not to be included on the record. However, she decided to accept the offer and signed a recording contract with Cupol Records.
Her self-penned début single "Jag var så kär" was recorded on 16 October 1967 and released through Cupol Records the following month. It topped the Swedish Chart on 28 January 1968 and sold more than 80,000 copies. The second single, her self-penned "Utan dig" (Without you) was also a big hit and so was her third single from 1968 "Allting har förändrat sig" (Everything has changed). She also submitted the song "Försonade" ("Reconciled") to Melodifestivalen, the Swedish preliminary for the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was not selected for the final. Fältskog developed a career as one of Sweden's most popular pop music artists, participating in a television special about Swedish composer Jules Sylvain in 1969. The same year, she released the single "Zigenarvän" ("Gypsy Friend") about a young girl attending a Gypsy wedding and falling in love with the bride's brother. Its release coincided with a heated debate about Gypsies in the Swedish media, and Fältskog was accused of deliberately trying to make money out of the situation by writing the song.
In 1975, during the same period as her bandmate Anni-Frid Lyngstad recorded her Swedish number one album Frida ensam, Fältskog recorded and produced her solo album Elva kvinnor i ett hus. These albums were both recorded between sessions and promotion for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA. Fältskog's album spent 53 weeks on the Swedish album chart (longer than any of ABBA's albums), but failed to reach the Top 10, peaking at No.11. It contained three further Svensktoppen entries for Fältskog: her Swedish-language version of ABBA's "SOS" (also No. 4 on the single sales chart); "Tack För En Underbar Vanlig Dag"; and "Doktorn!". Except for "SOS", all the songs had lyrics by Bosse Carlgren and music by Fältskog herself. The creation of the album had been underway since 1972 when Fältskog started writing the songs, but it was delayed because of the work with ABBA and her pregnancy.
Between the years 1968 and 1980, Fältskog had a total of 18 entries on the Svensktoppen radio chart, starting with the debut single "Jag var så kär" in January 1968 (peak position No. 1) and ending with "När du tar mig i din famn" ("When You Take Me in Your Arms") from the compilation Tio år med Agnetha in January 1980 (peak position No. 1). These 18 entries, most of which were composed or co-written by Fältskog herself, spent a total of 139 weeks on the chart during this time, with the biggest hit being 1970's "Om tårar vore guld" (No. 1, 15 weeks).
Following the release of I Stand Alone, Fältskog had a 17-year hiatus from the music industry, during which she made few public appearances and devoted much of her time to astrology, yoga and horse back riding at her isolated country house in Ekerö.
The title track, "My Colouring Book", is a cover of the song originally recorded by Barbra Streisand. The Observer suggested that "time hasn't diminished her perfect voice." Reviewing the release in The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan wrote: "Agnetha Fältskog has a vulnerability that gets under the skin of a song. She may be cheating a trifle by including no original material on this collection of 1960s covers, but if anyone can do justice to the likes of "Sealed with a Kiss", it's her. The soaring sentimentality evokes Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw in their mini-skirted pomp, and I don't say that lightly." The release attracted media attention across Europe, but Fältskog staunchly refused to be involved in any extensive promotion of the album.
In October 2008, a new compilation album, My Very Best, was released in Sweden. The double CD contains Swedish (CD 1) and English-language hits (CD 2) from her solo career from 1967 to 2004. It reached No. 4 on the Swedish album chart and was certified gold within its first week of release.
In June 2013, officials from Universal Records in the Netherlands said 600,000 copies of A were sold in the first two months after its release. The album managed Top 5 placings in many territories, including Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, New Zealand and Australia. It charted at No. 6 in the United Kingdom (her highest ever placing in that territory). A few weeks after its release, a TV special made by the BBC helped the album reach the No. 6 position in the UK album chart for a second time. The first single from the album to be released in the US, "Dance Your Pain Away", was released on 28 May 2013. The digital single included two new mixes by Smash Mode. "Dance Your Pain Away" was released internationally as a single on 15 July 2013.
Fältskog had a fear of flying, which worsened during ABBA's 1979 American tour, when the band's plane, heading to Boston, Massachusetts, was short of fuel, hit a tornado and performed an emergency landing. Fältskog said in 2013 that she needed therapy to deal with the fear. During her solo career years, Fältskog would always travel by bus and was in a bus accident on a Swedish motorway in 1983.
Social Network
Agnetha Fältskog is not particularly active on social media platforms, preferring a more private lifestyle. However, she remains a celebrated figure in the music industry, and her legacy continues to inspire new generations of fans.
Fältskog sang solo parts in the following ABBA songs: "Disillusion" (the only ABBA song to have been written by her, lyrics by Björn), "I Am Just A Girl", "Hasta Mañana", "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)", "SOS", "I've Been Waiting For You", "When I Kissed the Teacher", "My Love, My Life", "Take A Chance On Me", "The Name of the Game", "Move On", "Thank You for the Music", "Get on the Carousel", "Chiquitita", "Lovelight", "As Good As New", "If It Wasn't for the Nights", "Kisses Of Fire", "Dream World", "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", "The Way Old Friends Do", "The Winner Takes It All", "Happy New Year", "Lay All Your Love On Me", "Head Over Heels", "One of Us", "Soldiers", "Slipping Through My Fingers", "Just Like That" (never officially released in its entirety by the group), "I Am The City", "Under Attack", "The Day Before You Came", "Don't Shut Me Down", "I Can Be That Woman" and "Keep an Eye on Dan".
In May 1983, Fältskog released her first post-ABBA solo album, Wrap Your Arms Around Me, produced by Mike Chapman. The album became a moderate hit in North America and Australia but reached the higher regions of the charts across Europe, including No. 1 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, and Denmark (where it became the biggest-selling album of the year), top 5 in Germany, The Netherlands and No. 18 in the UK. The album achieved sales of 1.5 million copies in the first year. Two singles from the album became hits in continental Europe: "The Heat Is On" became a No. 1 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Belgium and No. 2 in The Netherlands and Germany. The song peaked at No. 35 in the UK (and was Fältskog's highest charting and only UK Top 40 hit until 2004). The album's title track reached No. 1 in Belgium and peaked at No. 4 in the Netherlands. In North America, the album track "Can't Shake Loose" was released as the lead-off single, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 23 on the RPM Top 50 singles chart in Canada.
In the summer of 1987, Fältskog travelled to Malibu, California, to record her fourth post-ABBA solo album, I Stand Alone, produced by Peter Cetera (formerly of the band Chicago) and Bruce Gaitsch, who had collaborated on Madonna's La Isla Bonita. Released in November of that year, I Stand Alone was a minor hit in Europe, except in Sweden, where it spent eight weeks at No. 1 and became the best-selling album of 1988. More than 300,000 copies were sold throughout Scandinavia. According to Hans Englund, the Swedish head of WEA, more than 800,000 copies were sold globally. However, chart-wise outside Scandinavia, the results were less impressive.
On 2 September 2021, via YouTube Livestream, ABBA announced their upcoming virtual concert residency "ABBA Voyage", as well as the imminent release of an eponymous album, recorded between 2017 and 2021. The new record, their first studio album in 40 years, features ten tracks, including "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", which were first shown in the aforementioned Livestream event and released as a double A-side single. On 5 November 2021, the Voyage album was released worldwide. On 27 May 2022, ABBA Voyage opened in a purpose-built venue named the ABBA Arena at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Fältskog's official social media sources were updated on 23 August 2023 hinting at a new album/single called "Where Do We Go From Here?". The new song was released on 31 August 2023, and had its radio premiere on Zoe Ball's Breakfast show on BBC Radio 2. Her album called A+, released on 13 October 2023, was also announced.
Education
Details about Agnetha Fältskog's formal education are not widely discussed, but her early start in music and her natural talent have been pivotal in shaping her career.
Agnetha Fältskog's enduring success as a singer and songwriter, both with ABBA and as a solo artist, has cemented her place as one of the most beloved and respected figures in the music industry. Her net worth reflects her hard work and the enduring popularity of her music.
Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, titled "Två små troll" ("Two Small Trolls"). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers, with her friends Lena Johansson and Elisabeth Strub. They performed locally in minor venues but soon dissolved due to lack of work. Fältskog's first professional engagement came after she was taken on by a local dance band at the age of 15, following which she left school and worked as a telephonist whilst also performing with the band.
On 21 March 2024, all four members of ABBA were appointed Commander, First Class, of the Royal Order of Vasa by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. This was the first time in almost 50 years that the Swedish Royal Orders of Knighthood was bestowed on Swedes, also the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision Song Contest. ABBA shared the honour with nine other persons.
