Books about ABBA and related subjects

THE BASIC FACTS

From ABBA To Mamma Mia!, first published in Swedish in 1999, is a book based on photographer Anders Hanser's enormous archive of ABBA pictures. Anders was married to former Polar Music Vice President Görel Hanser and is a personal friend of the former ABBA members. He started photographing ABBA in 1978 and continued taking pictures of the individual members and documenting Björn and Benny's projects until the London opening of the musical Mamma Mia! in April 1999.

Anders and I did not want to do an ordinary photo book with just a few lines of commentary text here and there. We agreed that the photographs should serve as a basis for writing a fairly in-depth text. I conducted massive research, and also interviewed many of the collaborators who had been involved in the events covered in the book. An English-language version was published in 2000., followed by a Japanese edition, published in 2002.

In February 2010, an updated English-language version of the book was published, featuring an additional chapter covering the ten years that had elapsed since the original publication.

To purchase a copy, please use the convenient links in the "Order from" menu. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links.

MORE DETAILS

HOW THE PROJECT BEGAN
Off and on since 1993, photographer Anders Hanser and I had been talking about doing a book based on his enormous archive of ABBA pictures, and in the spring of 1999 we finally set to work on the book. Anders and I did not want to do an ordinary photo book with just a few lines of commentary text here and there. We agreed that the photographs should serve as a basis for writing a fairly in-depth text. Early on in the project, Benny came over to have a quick look at the pictures. He told Anders, "You've got a lot of great pictures here, but you will need a good text to go with it." For my part, I also felt an obligation to come up with something new and fresh for the fans, and not just repeat the same old stories again - or, indeed, write some bland copy text about ABBA's fabulousness.

CREATING THE BOOK
I sat down with Anders and a tape recorder to get his story, as well as his memories of working with ABBA. I also interviewed people like Anders Eljas (played keyboards on the ABBA tours; arranger/orchestrator for Chess, Klinga mina klockor, Kristina från Duvemåla), Rune Söderqvist (art director), Owe Sandström (costume designer), Michael Tretow (sound engineer) and Lasse Hallström (video director).

In collaboration with the Swedish music book publisher Premium Publishing, the project gradually came together. After a while my English-language manuscript had been completed - it was always our intention to aim primarily for the English-language market - but since it took a while to get all the deals finalised, it was decided that we should issue a Swedish-language version first.

Thus, the book Från ABBA till Mamma Mia! was published in Sweden on November 17, 1999. A while later, a deal was made with Virgin Publishing in the UK for an English language edition. The autumn of 2000 saw the publication of this version, entitled From ABBA To Mamma Mia!

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION - 2000
For technical reasons, the English language version of From ABBA To Mamma Mia! contains 48 pages less than the Swedish version. The original 304 pages were cut down to 256, although the heart and soul of the book remains intact. The cuts have mainly been made in the sections that are focused on projects that didn't reach far outside Swedish borders. Click on the link in the More Info menu to find out what material is available only in the Swedish version of the book.

THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE VERSION - 2002
Following on from the Swedish and English language versions of From ABBA To Mamma Mia!, the 2002 Tokyo premiere of the Mamma Mia! musical provided the perfect opportunity to publish a Japanese version of the book. With a slightly different format, and 16 pages less than the English version (which in itself had been edited down from the Swedish edition), the Japanese version of the book was published by Hinode Publishing in November 2002.

THE UPDATED ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION - 2010
An updated version of From ABBA To Mamma Mia! was published by Premium Publishing in February 2010. This version contains an additional chapter covering the events since the first publication.

SLIDE SHOW
In 2005, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Anders again. I wrote the manuscript for a 12-part slide show, entitled Vad hände då? ("What Happened Then?"), which tells the Björn & Benny/ABBA story. The slide show was published on the Swedish site for the Mamma Mia! musical, but is no longer available there.