Books about ABBA and related subjects

My book Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Definitive Biography Of ABBA was published in a revised and updated edition on 17 October 2024. The book has never been out of print since it was first published in September 2001, so if you already have any of the previous editions, why should you invest in this latest version? Bear with me as I take you through the history of Bright Lights Dark Shadows and its evolution over the past 23 years: at the end of it, I think you will know exactly why it's worth purchasing the new edition of the book.

THE ORIGINAL HARDBACK EDITION
I had toyed with the idea of writing a major ABBA biography for several years when I heard that Chris Charlesworth, the editor at Omnibus Press, was looking for someone who could write such a book. Indeed, he had been trying to get the project off the ground for a couple of years, and after a meeting in early 2000 he offered me the chance to write the book we both wanted.

Published in September 2001, Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Real Story Of ABBA (the book's original title) was the first true, full-scale biography ever written about the group. Certainly, it was my first attempt to achieve anything along those lines – capturing all facets of the ABBA story: the biographical details of the main characters (from childhood to the present day) their careers in music, their interpersonal relationships and the business aspects. It was also my aim to put the story into cultural and historical context.

THE SECOND HARDBACK EDITION
Just a few months after the first edition, the book was reprinted. At that time a large number of corrections and updates were entered into the main text.

THE FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION
About a year after the hardcover edition, in 2002 a paperback edition of Bright Lights Dark Shadows was published. For this edition I corrected more errors and also revised further passages with new information that had come to light since the book was first published.

THE SECOND PAPERBACK EDITION
Yet another edition of the book was published on 9 June 2008. This time around, further extensive revisions were made to the main text, and there was also a 9-page Afterword, bringing the story up to 2008.

THE AUDIO BOOK
In August 2011, an audio book edition, based on the 2008 edition, was published. For this I had written an addendum, so that the book would be up-to-date for 2011.

THE THIRD PAPERBACK EDITION
This edition, published 30 January 2014, saw the first major revision of Bright Lights Dark Shadows, at which time it also acquired a brand new cover. I had long wanted to go through the entire book from start to finish, enhance its structure, remove superfluous passages, move some passages around, correct errors, add new information that had come to light about the ABBA years, improve the prose, and just generally make the book as good as it should be. My faithful proofreaders and fellow ABBA fans, Ian Cole and Paul Carter, helped me a great deal, as indeed did my editor Chris Charlesworth. This thorough revision took about four months to put together, but it was worth the effort: Bright Lights Dark Shadows was now much closer to the book I wanted it to be. There's a detailed page about this edition on this website.

THE FOURTH PAPERBACK EDITION
Which brings us to the most recent edition, published 17 October 2024, for which Omnibus Press offered me the opportunity to revise the book from start to finish. Fortunately, so much work had been done in conjunction with the 2014 edition, that I didn't have to do any major restructuring or work too much on the prose, which is why work went a little quicker this time: I believe it took a couple of months. Again, Ian and Paul made a significant contribution. For this edition, the book's title changed to Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Definitive Biography Of ABBA.

SO, WHAT'S NEW IN THE 2024 EDITION?
I can't detail every little item added, updated or corrected in the book, but I can tell you that the moment the 2014 edition had been published, I opened a document on my computer where I started adding anything interesting I came across, whether through my own archive research or in interviews the ABBA members have given in recent years – or wherever I happened to find the information – with the intention of adding it to the next edition of Bright Lights Dark Shadows. By the spring of 2024 that document was quite extensive.

Obviously, the 10 years of events 2014–2024 have been included in the book – taking up about 50 pages – and the volume is littered with updates throughout: new quotes from the four members, plenty of new and/or corrected info about the ABBA years as well as the members' early days, their romantic relationships, stories that have come to light in the past decade, insights gained when I conducted the mammoth research and writing of the books ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions (revised and expanded edition) and ABBA On Record – and much more.

AND IS THE 2024 EDITION WORTH BUYING?
Yes! Especially if you only have one of the editions from the 2001–2008 period – as you can tell from the history above, there have been many, many updates to the book over the past 23 years – but even if you have the 2014 version, there have been so many updates, additions and improvements to the current edition that, if you care about ABBA and their story, this is the version you need on your bookshelf.

WHERE CAN THE BOOK BE PURCHASED?
It should be widely available, but there are a number of convenient ordering links in the "Order from" menu on this page. Thanks for reading this history and for your interest in Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Definitive Biography Of ABBA.