Benny Andersson: Last News

Scots singer Susan Boyle has reunited with Peter Kay, 12 years after their collaboration for Comic Relief. The 62-year-old met up with her old pal after the comedian's performance at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Saturday night.

Thania Garcia Lasse Wellander, ABBA’s go-to guitarist across decades of hits, died at age 70 on April 7 due to cancer. He was 70. The news was confirmed in a statement on Wellander’s official Facebook page over the weekend. “It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep. Lasse recently fell ill in what turned out to be spread cancer and early on Good Friday he passed away, surrounded by his loved ones,” the message read. “You were an amazing musician and humble as few, but above all you were a wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather. Kind, safe, caring and loving … and so much more, that cannot be described in words. A hub in our lives, and it’s unbelievable that we now have to live on without you.”

Swedish pop group ABBA have paid tribute to the “musical brilliance” of their long-standing guitarist, Lasse Wellander, following his death at the age of 70.The musician, who played on the band’s biggest albums and toured with them between 1975 and 1980, died early on Good Friday following a cancer diagnosis, a statement from his family said. Raised in the small village of Skrekarhyttan in Sweden, Lasse had his first recording session with Abba in October 1974 and continued to play on their respective solo albums following their split.

Abba have paid loving tribute to their longtime guitarist Lasse Wellander, crediting his “musical brilliance” and saying he played “an integral part in the Abba story.”

Swedish pop group ABBA is mourning the death of one of their own. The group announced to their social media that longtime guitarist Lasse Wellander had passed away. He was 70 years old.

ABBA‘s Voyage virtual concert experience could be making its way around the world.Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge revealed in a company earnings call per Variety on Thursday (March 2): “Plans are now in development to take ‘ABBA Voyage’ around the world”. No other information – including targetted cities, venues and dates – has been announced.ABBA’s Voyage experience debuted at the ABBA Arena in London in May 2022.

ABBA’s heading across the world!

Rina Sawayama has revealed that Elton John has offered her some “great advice” regarding some as-yet-unreleased music.The British-Japanese artist, who released her second album ‘Hold The Girl’ today (September 16), collaborated with the legendary musician on a reworking of her song ‘Chosen Family’ last year.It came after the pair struck up a friendship, with John having praised Sawayama’s debut studio record on his Rocket Hour radio show in 2020. He’s since been avid fan and supporter of her work.Speaking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover feature, Sawayama spoke further about John assisting her with clearing a guitar riff on her single ‘This Hell’, which bears similarities to the ABBA‘s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’.“I was stressed as fuck because I was like: ‘this is our first single, this is our lead single, and I can’t use the guitar riff that I want’,” she recalled, adding that John ended up putting her in contact with the Swedish pop icons.ABBA’s Benny Andersson subsequently gave Sawayama his blessing to keep the original part in the finished track.“Elton is always willing to help.

Rina Sawayama has claimed that her single ‘This Hell’ received “the blessing of ABBA“, following concerns it too closely mirrored one of the latter band’s biggest hits.In a new interview with the BBC, Sawayama revealed that while she was recording the song, she noticed a distinct similarity between it and the guitar riff to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’. She claimed to have “freaked out” when she discovers the parallels, given ABBA’s notoriety for turning down samples of their work – a sentiment shared by her publishers when she informed them.“They were like, ‘ABBA are absolutely going to say no to this, and you have to change it’,” she said. Sawayama did so, but still found herself drawn to the first version she had recorded.

It's a timeless collection that last year broke records to become the first record to reach 1000 weeks on the Official Albums Chart, and now ABBA's ABBA GOLD is set to be reissued to commemorate its 30th anniversary.

ABBA‘s Benny Andersson has shared a piano cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Learn To Fly’ to acknowledge Dave Grohl‘s decision to wear an ABBA top on stage at Glastonbury over the weekend.Grohl joined Paul McCartney during the latter’s headline set on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday (June 25), where he sported a black top that had the gold ABBA logo printed on it.The Foo Fighters frontman has been vocal about his love for ABBA over the years, saying back in September that he was open to the idea of playing drums for the band.In a video that was posted on the ABBA Voyage Instagram account yesterday (June 28), Andersson is seen performing a short piano cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Learn To Fly’.A post shared by ABBA Voyage (@abbavoyage)At the end of the rendition, Andersson reveals that he is wearing a Foo Fighters t-shirt – you can watch the full clip in the above post.During that Glastonbury performance, Grohl joined McCartney’s other special guest, Bruce Springsteen, for a special set-closing performance of The Beatles song ‘The End’.Grohl also performed The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and Wings’ ‘Band On The Run’ with McCartney, who praised the Foo Fighters frontman for making the journey to Worthy Farm.

EXCLUSIVE: Baillie Walsh (Being James Bond:The Daniel Craig Story) is the man who helped put pop stars ABBA back in the concert arena for the first time in 42 years.

ABBA Voyage live experience have spoken to NME about how it was made, as well as what could be next for both the show and the band. Watch our video interview above.Premiering earlier this week at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in Stratford, East London, to a delighted response from fans, the ambitious production sees a “digital” version of ABBA (or ‘ABBAtars’) performing alongside a 10-piece live band (put together with the help of Klaxons’ James Righton).Working on the show with ABBA were Svana Gisla (who produced Jay-Z and Beyoncé‘s On the Run Tour), choreographer Wayne McGregor, Johan Renck (who directed David Bowie‘s videos for ‘Blackstar’ and ‘Lazarus’), Baillie Walsh (who has directed for Massive Attack and Bruce Springsteen) and producer Ludvig Andersson (son of ABBA’s Benny Andersson and producer of And Then We Danced, Yung Lean‘s ‘In My Head’ and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again).“We did an awful lot of research and development on this, as you can imagine,” Gisla told NME from the red carpet.

Swedish supergroup ABBA has returned to the stage as digital avatars for a new London concert residency. On Thursday, all four members of the band publicly reunited to attend the opening night of "ABBA Voyage." Benny Andersson, 75; Agnetha Fältskog, 72;  Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 76; and Björn Ulvaeus, 77, were all smiles on the red carpet as they posed for photographers before entering the new ABBA Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where they watched their digital avatars hit the stage.

Mark Sutherland “To be or not to be, that is no longer the question,” declared ABBA co-founder and musical mastermind Benny Andersson at the start of “ABBA Voyage,” the Swedish quartet’s first “concert” in over 40 years. And if that sounds like a curiously existential way to begin a pop concert, well, this is no ordinary live show.For a start, despite Andersson’s insistence that “This is really me, I just look very good for my age,” it’s actually his de-aged, computer-generated avatar — or “ABBA-tar,” if you must — that is speaking his pre-recorded words.

Zara Larsson has covered ABBA‘s ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, as well as telling NME what the band mean to her and revealing that work is progressing well on a “dark” and “vulnerable” new album. Watch our interview with Larsson above.Today sees Larsson release her cover of the Swedish pop giants’ 1981 track for the Spotify Singles series, just after the premiere of the band’s ambitious new ABBA Voyage show in London.Speaking to NME on the red carpet of the event, Larsson admitted being a little starstruck to have pop royalty nearby.“They were like, ‘Oh, can you believe the Swedish Royal Family is here?’ and I was like, ‘I know, ABBA are right there’,” she said.

James Righton, formerly of the Klaxons, has released a new single from his forthcoming album ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’, and teased an accompanying short film. Listen below.Titled ‘Never Give Up On The City’, the song follows previous singles ‘Pause’ and ‘Empty Rooms’, the latter of which was released in April and features ABBA member Benny Andersson.‘Never Give Up On The City’ is the latest track to be lifted from Righton’s upcoming album ‘Jim, I’m Still Here,’ and will mark Righton’s second solo project to be released under his own name since his 2020 debut, ‘The Performer’.The single continues Righton’s exploration of Jim, an alter ego he conceived during lockdown who will narrate the album.

Pirates of the Caribbean star Kiera Knightley was all smiles as she attended the opening night of ABBA’s new Voyage live show alongside her husband James Righton. The pair have been married since 2013 and share two daughters together – Edie, seven, and Delilah, two. For the star-studded event, Kiera, 37, looked chic in a black chiffon dress paired with a cropped blazer jacket and heels.To finish the look, the mum-of-two had a velvet burgundy bag in tow, and wore her hair in a straight bob.

ABBA stepped out for their first public appearance together in six years ahead of the first Abba Voyage concert. The iconic Swedish group, made up of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, were pictured attending the ABBA Arena to mark the band’s first virtual show. Fans of the group were doubtlessly thrilled by the public appearance - which marks the first time the foursome have been seen together since a rare 2016 appearance in Stockholm.

ABBA premiered their highly-anticipated digital concert tour, ‘Voyage’ today (May 26). View official photos from the event below.The concert, which took place today (May 26) at ABBA Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, marked the first time in 36 years Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Björn Ulvaeus were seen as a group together in public.Speaking to NME on the red carpet during the opening night of their ‘Voyage’ residency, Lyngstad told NME “It feels fantastic” to be at the premiere. “Really looking forward to seeing the show again.

Penny Lancaster put on a leggy display as hit the red carpet ahead of ABBA’s first performance of their 2021 album, Voyage. Penny, 51, who’s married to Rod Stewart, donned a short leopard print dress for the occasion, paired with a black skinny scarf, belt, and thigh-high heeled boots.The mum-of-two wore her stunning blonde tresses in a curly blow dry, and donned a pair of gold hoop earring to complete the look. Penny joined the likes of Kiera Kinghtly, Great British Bake Off's Matt Lucas, Kylie Minogue and ABBA themselves in hitting the red carpet for the star-studded affair.