Jean-Marie Potiez - ABBA: The Scrapbook

Since writing ABBA: The Book, I have wanted to create the most beautiful book published on ABBA, to pay homage to Anni-Frid, Bjrn, Benny and Agnetha and to thank them in my own way for all the pleasure they have given me since 6 April 1974. It is true to say that they actually changed my life! Even though they separated in 1982, the magic of ABBA lives on and their songs have the same emotional impact on me.

If since the 70s they have made the whole planet sing and dance, it is not by chance but because their music and good humour have put colour into our often grey and aggressive world. The cinema has paid them homage, their songs are sung by numerous artists and a new generation has fallen under the spell of ABBA. So allow me, through this book, to thank them in the best way I can and to share with you my passion and enthusiasm for the ABBA years!

I have put together ABBA: The Scrapbook with all my heart and energies and I wanted this new book to be a visual celebration that would take us back to the mid-70s when ABBA were performing and travelling the world with their magical music. I hope that ABBA: The Scrapbook will make you live (or relive) those wonderful times!

Thank you ABBA and thank you readers!

Jean-Marie Potiez
Paris, October 2008.

At the age of sixteen, Agnetha made her dbut as a vocalist with a local dance band from Huskvarna called Bernt Enghardts Orchestra. It was during this time that she broke up with her boyfriend Bjrn Lilja, which inspired her to write Jag Var S Kr (I Was So In Love), a song that would soon catapult her to fame. A demo version was recorded and sent to the CBS-Cupol record producer Karl-Gerhard Lundkvist, who was very impressed by Agnethas voice. A contract was signed and Agnetha recorded four songs at the Philips Studio in Stockholm on 16 October 1967. One month later, the single Flm Med Mig/Jag Var S Kr was released. It stormed into the Swedish Svensktoppen chart at No. 3 on 28 January 1968. A star was born.

Agnetha and her boyfriend Bjrn Lilja, who inspired the song Jag Var S Kr.

Agnetha was engaged for a year to the young producer Dieter Zimmerman. She recorded eight singles in German between 1968 and 1972 but never made a breakthrough in Germany.

I had a green dress with polka dots and boots when we went to Cupol. Sven-Olof Walldoff was the arranger and we recorded four songs in one day. They took pictures for the covers the same day too. I was posing; it felt really strange.

As long as I can remember, Ive had a need to write my own songs. I still think the melodies are OK, but many of the rhymes are terrible. I try to excuse myself by saying I was so young.

AGNETHA AND BJRN THE POP ROMANCE OF THE YEAR!

Bjrn with his mother Aina.