Björn Again is a parody of the 1970s Swedish pop group

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

. Created in 1988 in Australia,The show currently involves performers based in several countries. The Björn Again name is based in part on ABBA's

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals '' Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

with the obvious revivalist association to "

born again Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and se ...

". Björn Again has performed approximately 5,500 shows in 72 countries in 34 years.

Character of the show

Björn Again is a light-hearted parody of ABBA, using pidgin Swedish (or '

Swenglish Swenglish is a colloquial term referring to the English language heavily influenced by Swedish in terms of vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. English heavily influenced by Swedish The name ''Swenglish'' is a portmanteau term of the name ...

') originally using stage names Agnetha Falstart, Benny Anderwear, Frida Longstokin and Björn Volvo-us referencing original ABBA members including bassist Rutger Sonofagunn and drummer Ola Drumkitt based on

Rutger Gunnarsson Johan Rutger Gunnarsson (12 February 1946 – 30 April 2015) was a Swedish musician, bass guitarist, guitarist, arranger and producer. He was closely associated with the pop group ABBA. Career Gunnarsson grew up in Ledberg parish. His career began ...

and

Ola Brunkert Ola Brunkert (15 September 1946 – 16 March 2008) was a Swedish drummer who was one of the main session drummers for the pop group ABBA. Brunkert and bassist Rutger Gunnarsson are the only two side musicians to appear on every ABBA album, not cou ...

). Björn Again is a slightly satirical, rocked up and choreographed act with costumes and song arrangements sometimes quite different from ABBA affording Björn Again the luxury of being considered as a unique show in its own right.

History

Björn Again was created in October 1988 in Melbourne, Australia by Rod Stephen. The name Björn Again was Rod's pseudonym he used when skiing in the Victorian alps throughout the 1980s. This name was perfect for his new ABBA show. After the first Björn Again show at a pub in the inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood called The Tote Hotel on 6 May 1989 the show's popularity increased quickly, which first took the group Australia-wide and then overseas to international acclaim. Original members included Rod Stephen, Peter Ryan, John Tyrrell, Dorina Morelli, Kathy Riseborough, Gavin Charles and later Janette Stuart. Björn Again has in total recorded and performed live a massive 133 songs including 55 ABBA songs, 7 originals and 62 covers by other artists. When

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

had a hit with ''

Abba-esque ''Abba-esque'' is an extended play (EP) by British synth-pop duo Erasure. Released on 1 June 1992, the EP was Erasure's first and only number one on the UK Singles Chart and also became a number-one hit in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, ...

'', Björn Again responded with an EP of covers of Erasure songs done in the style of ABBA, called ''Erasure-ish''. The EP included the songs " Stop!" and "

A Little Respect A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

" that achieved Number 25 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in September 1992. Later that year, a cover of ''

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was then ...

'' reached Number 55 in the UK charts. In August 2009, Björn Again performed

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's '

Enter Sandman "Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist an ...

' with an additional drummer to a receptive

Sonisphere Festival The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It ...

crowd at Knebworth as a nod to the headlining act. Björn Again has performed at many types of event from large rock festivals worldwide including Reading and Glastonbury, to private performances for celebrities, including playing at parties for top UK golfer

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, comedian

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–20 ...

, actor

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

's wedding, and for Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. On December 17, 2012, Björn Again performed at the Buckingham Palace Christmas party attended by the Queen and members of the royal family and their staff. On 23rd Nov 2007, Björn Again performed a show in honour of Agnetha Fältskog at Stockholm's TV3/TV6 tenth anniversary party. She was quoted saying “It was a great show. I loved the choreography" and "Good Luck for the tour” On 18th Jan 2005, Björn Again was asked to attend a celebrity gala in costume at the London Savoy to receive a belated award on behalf of ABBA from the radio times acknowledging 30 years since their Eurovision Song Contest triumph with Waterloo in Brighton on 6 April 1974. In 1999, the UK Bjorn Again took part in a documentary for Channel 5 entitled "ABBA: Bjorn Again!", this included Björn Again on tour. The documentary explored some of the history of the show. Throughout the programme the members spoke in "Swenglish" accents. Both

and

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, singer, composer and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and '' Mamma M ...

have lauded Björn Again a number of times over the years, and after ABBA's former members made their intentions known that they were not going to perform together any longer, Andersson was quoted as saying in 1999, "BJÖRN AGAIN are the closest you can get to seeing ABBA. ABBA will never reform!" In 1999, 2009 and 2019, Björn Again was the opening act on the Pyramid stage at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

Videos

* ''Live At The Royal Albert Hall'' (1998) * ''ABBA Karaoke featuring Björn Again'' (1998) * ''ABBA: Björn Again'' (2001) * ''Gimme Gimme Gimme A Really Great Workout!'' (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorn Again ABBA Musical groups established in 1988 Australian pop music groups Tribute bands Australian parodists Australian comedy musicians Parody musicians Victoria (Australia) musical groups