ANNI-FRID LYNGSTAD: BIOGRAPHY - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Anni-Frid Lyngstad (1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and ecologist who was part of the famous pop group ABBA, created in 1972 in Stockholm. She is also known as Frida and, due to her marriage to Prince Heinrich Ruzo Reuss von Plauen in 1992, she was called Princess Anni-Frid Reuss von Plauen.

Although she released several singles and her album Frida, it wasn't until ABBA was created that she gained recognition. The success of the group was such that they managed to sell more than 380 million between albums and singles. After the breakup of the group, Anni-Frid recorded a couple more albums with relative success; and in 1996 she retired from music.

Frida in 1982. Source: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo

Anni-Frid was born in Ballangen, Norway, in 1945. Her father was Alfred Haase, a German sergeant, and her mother Synni Lyngstad. Her father participated in World War II and died when Anni-Frid was just two years old, a question for which she was raised by her grandmother in Sweden.

Her family had moved there for fear that the girl would be admitted to a mental hospital, as happened with other children in Norway, children of German parents.

Family

Anni-Frid married Ragnar Fredriksson at age 18. From this union were born Hans, in 1963, and Ann Lise-Lote in 1967, who died in a traffic accident at the age of 31. In 1970 they divorced and she was married to Benny Andersson for three years.

Later, Frida became part of royalty when she married Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen in 1992. They were together for seven years, until the death of the prince in 1999, who died of lymphatic cancer.

Early years

While in Sweden, her mother Synni continued to work in Norway. When she was able to travel to join her daughter and mother, they went to live in Malmköping, near Stockholm. The mother died shortly after, at age 21, a victim of kidney failure.

Anni-Frid Four

At age 13 he got his first job with the Evald Ek orchestra. Director Ek said of Lyngstad that she was a very talented girl, it was hard to believe how she could sing this well considering her young age.

He usually performed on weekends in shows that could last up to five hours. She began to take singing classes and to sing jazz; her idols at the time were Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. In 1963 she formed her band, Anni-Frid Four.

Record with EMI

In 1967, Frida won the New Faces talent contest, organized by EMI, and whose prize was to record an album with this important record company. Having been on a television show was key for Frida, as several record companies contacted her after this moment.

The same year he recorded what was his first single for EMI Sweden. She had no doubts when recording; and from this work, her album Frida 1967-1972 came out.

In 1968 he continued recording, and met who was later one of the members of ABBA, Agnetha Fältskog. She then went to Stockholm to work full time as a singer, finally leaving her parental home.

Before ABBA

The first Frida album was produced by Benny Anderson, Anni-Frid's boyfriend. The album was released by EMI Columbia and garnered several positive reviews from the media. She then released "My Own Town," a cover of Anderson's song called "It's Good to Be Back." The song featured the participation of four of the future members of ABBA.

Creation of ABBA

Anni-Frid had many doubts before forming the ABBA group, as she was not sure about working with her boyfriend Andersson, as well as her best friend and his wife. In the early 1970s they did an act for a cabaret that was unsuccessful.

However, after a tour with Lasse Berghagen, the other members began to sing together. Andersson and Ulvaeus soon realized that they could work very well if they combined the voices of Frida and Fältskog. Then they decided to put the initials of their names together and start playing as ABBA.

Frida did several mezzo-soprano solos on a large number of the group's songs. She was the one who most enjoyed the attention that the media put on each song, and she liked to get close to the public. She was also aware of the design of all the costumes that the group used on tours, as she liked the way the costumes would be created.

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ABBA, after a successful ten-year career, was dissolved in 1982, the year in which Anni-Frid recorded her first single in English, Something is Passing, an album produced by the famous Phil Collins, from which came the song “Sé que algo It's Happening ”, which later became Anni-Frid's most famous song. After the Shine Album in 1984 Frida decides to retire from public life.

Frida box: 4 CDs and 1 DVD

In 2005 Universal Records released, on Anni-Frid's 60th birthday, a special box, Frida, which contained 4 CDs and a DVD, which includes all the albums that the singer recorded alone and a bonus track.

The DVD included in the box is a documentary where Frida talks about her entire musical career, how she got started in music, how the ABBA group started and her later life, apart from talking about certain vocal techniques used by the artist.

In the documentary there are also small special clips with his first performances, one for example of "A day off". There is also an explanation from Frida on how the songs were recorded and performed.

Other data of interest

Frida was a supporter of the Moderate Party of Sweden and ran into some trouble in the 1980s when she wanted to appear in an advertisement for the Swedish Employers' Association.

In 2013 Lyngstad helped with the creation of ABBA: The Museum, which opened in Stockholm.

In 2014, many fans of the group believed that they would meet again because it was 40 years since the band was born, but this never happened.

In 2014, Anni-Frid published her autobiography. In 2017 she went to Torshälla to claim an award that was awarded to her, the Esk<tok1>una Music Prize.

She is currently a vegetarian and lives with her boyfriend Henry Smith, in Switzerland. She dedicates her life to drug prevention and environmental issues.

References

1. ABBA. The Official Site (sf). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Recovered from abbasite.com
2. AllMusic (nd). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Recovered from allmusic.com
3. Biography.com Editors (2014). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Recovered from biography.com
4. The Magic of ABBA (nd). Biography: Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Recovered from lamagiadeabba.com
5. Wikipedia contributors (2019). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org