ABBA blog

Researching and writing a book like ABBA On Record (abbaonrecord.com), it makes things a lot easier when the people you interview are enthusiastic and helpful. And with all due respect to everybody else I interviewed for the book, no one was more enthusiastic and helpful than Jerry Greenberg, the President of Atlantic Records who gave ABBA a record contract in the United States.

I had already interviewed Jerry on the phone in 2000, but then met up with him again in California in 2018 for a further chat. Jerry also put me in touch with other Atlantic people I interviewed in Los Angeles. If it had stopped there, I would have been very happy indeed. But as I kept working on the book and questions popped up, I would send Jerry an email with my queries. If he didn't know the answer, it would have been easy to just say, "sorry, I don't know", but, instead, he provided contact info for all kinds of Atlantic employees and associates, who offered so many interesting insights.

Spontaneously, without me asking for it, Jerry also hooked me up with people I never thought I would be able to put questions to: in many cases I didn't even know they'd played a part in the ABBA story before he gave me their names. It was much more than I had ever expected. For example, it's thanks to Jerry that I was able to connect all the dots in the twists and turns that led to ABBA finally getting a record contract with a major label in the United States. This story is one of my favourite sections in ABBA On Record.

Jerry Greenberg has published his own book, in which there is a section about ABBA. There is also a documentary in the works. In the meantime, you can read about Jerry, Atlantic Records and ABBA in ABBA On Record. Order your copy at abbaonrecord.com.