The following is an
article that appeared in an Adelaide newspaper in November 1976.
Both Stig and Görel were in Sydney for the launch of "Arrival".
Grant Whittingham - Sydney - Australia
EX-TEACHER CALLS THE ABBA TUNE by Heather Chapman
He used
to teach chemistry and maths and now, at 45, he's the "fifth Abba"- the
man who made pop music a million-dollar industry in his homeland, Sweden.
Stig Anderson, manager of one of the world's most successful pop groups,
is going a little grey. But he has little reason to worry. He holds in
his hand the golden Swedes, with 30 million singles sales to their credit
world-wide and 15 million albums. And that's without the latest LP - "Arrival"
- which goes on sale in Australia this week.
Mr Anderson is in Sydney with his pretty Norwegian
assistant, Gorel Johnsen, to help launch the album which really didn't
need his help. It's already assured of success. RCA, one of the
few record companies still laughing all the way to the bank, introduced
Mr Anderson to reporters at a slap-up luncheon. Appropriately, the
group's latest hit "Money, Money, Money" - was playing
in the background as guests arrived. I talked to Mr Anderson and
he turned out to be charming, with interesting creases in a face lit by
deep blue Nordic eyes.
He says that, no, he's not a millionaire. How
could he be when the Swedish Government takes 85 per cent of everything
he earns? But he concedes that life is more pleasant these days
than when he was a schoolteacher. He made the break from teaching
in 1960 when his wife, Gurrun (sic) pointed out to him that he really
preferred music. "It was like jumping out of a plane without the
parachute," he says - but he landed on his feet.
Abba is only the tip of the iceberg .. He manages other
Swedish pop groups, owns a publishing company and a recording company,
produces records and is a songwriter and composer. And he recently
moved to a big luxurious apartment in Stockholm, not far from Abba group
members Benny and Frida and Bjorn and Agnetha who, this week, are moving
into big, new houses. Mr Anderson admits that he did rather put
Sweden on the pop-music map - but just how much money, money, money they
all have is still not clear, even to him. "In five years we might
know just how much we have earned from "Waterloo" - which came out two
years ago," he says.
As co-writer with Benny and Bjorn, of many of Abba's
biggest successes, he says they are not so much interested in the money
as the music. They have fun writing and performing the songs, he
says. He likes to read, as a relaxation, anything from cookery books
to histories. But there's not much time to relax. They won't have
time, he says, to go to all States during their Australian tour in March
- much as they'd like to. Queensland and Tasmania are going to miss
out. And they are booked until 1978 for tours and appearances and
recording.
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