ABBA biographies, musical examinations and pictorial surveys
published June 06, 2024
Updated 28 October, 2024.
A revised and updated edition of my biography Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Definitive Biography Of ABBA was published on 17 October 2024 (for this new edition, the publisher, Omnibus Press, decided to change the book's subtitle). Incredibly, since the book was first published in 2001, commissioned and edited by Chris Charlesworth, it has never been out of print. After a number of updates had been added to the book as it was reprinted, it was thoroughly revised in 2014 by myself and Chris.
The forthcoming edition brings the story bang up to date with the events over the past decade, including the Voyage album and digital avatar show, ending with the Royal Order of Vasa ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on 31 May 2024. I have also gone through the book from start to finish, correcting errors and misconceptions and adding new information that has come to light since 2014. It's safe to say that if you have only read the original 2001 edition, there are plenty of new stories, anecdotes and details for you to discover in the book.
The size of the book has been reduced a bit, from 234 x 158 mm to 198x 129 mm, presumably to make a better fit in the Omnibus Press catalogue. Also, because of its reduction in size, the page number has increased, so Omnibus Press decided to remove the index from the book.
The 2024 edition of Bright Lights Dark Shadows is scheduled for publication on 17 October. Outside Europe - in the United States and Australia, for instance - the book will not be made available until March 2025.
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.
PLEASE NOTE: You may see a publication date of 18 March 2025 for the Kindle edition on Amazon sites in Europe. This is not accurate. The Kindle edition should be published around the same time as the print edition; the 2025 date applies to Amazon.com in the United States. According to my publisher, Omnibus Press, "sometimes there’s a bit of metadata confusion between the US dates and Amazon EU. Amazon EU often automatically takes the US pub date as opposed to the UK pub date, which is October." As of 24 October 2024, however, the Kindle edition is not available on European Amazon sites because of this metadata error. I know that Omnibus Press are working on resolving the issue.
More info about the history of the book on the page for the 2014 edition.
Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Definitive Biography Of ABBA. Revised and updated edition published by Omnibus Press, October 17, 2024. English language. 696 pp. Paperback. 198 x 129 mm. ISBN: 9781915841476.
The book's history and what's new in the 2024 edition
The 2014 edition
Facebook page for the book
Journalist Richard Williams blogs about the book
TV interview about the book
The Guardian's Valentine's Day reading Top Ten
Review extracts (print media and radio)
Reviews and interviews in full (print media and radio)
German version of the book
Russian version of the book
Audio book version
© 2003–2024 Carl Magnus Palm. All rights reserved. Produced by Disco Works