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1983   1984   1985   1986   1987   1988   1989   1990   1991   1992   1993   1994   1995   1996   1997-1999

1983

Stockholm - spring 1983

Already at the beginning of 1983 Frida started thinking about next album. It was thought that Phil Collins would produce it as well. She wrote some songs by herself and recorded demos in Polar Studios but the real recording sessions started one more later in February 1984 in Paris.

1984

Paris - spring 1984

In the spring 1984 Frida recorded her new album in Paris with a new producer Steve Lillywhite. Lillywhite was mostly associated to modern rock acts as Ultravox, Peter Gabriel, U2, Simple Minds and Big Country - the groups and artists who were popular at the beginning of the 1980s.

From the press release from March 1984:
" The song titles recorded so far are: "Twist In The Dark", "Come To Me", "One Little Lie", "The Face", "Heart of the Country", "I'm One of God's Children" (unreleased), "Can't Be Serious" (unreleased), "Don't Do It", "Slowly", "That's Tough", "When Love Turns to Lies" (unreleased) and "Comfort Me". Frida is back in the studio right now laying down two "rockier" tracks (there are six ballads in the above list) and a selection will then be made for the album. /.../"

Måndagsbörsen

Frida gave a longer interview for SVT in April. She was talking about the forthcoming album and a possible future for ABBA. She was ready to record one more album with the group, as she said in the interview.

Frida in Paris

On April 7th, 1984 Frida, Björn and Benny arrived in Paris. They appeared on French TV and promoted their solo projects - Frida the musical ABBAcadabra, Björn & Benny the musical Chess.

The United Nations Gala

Frida performed "I Have A Dream" and "I Know There's Something Going On" on the United Nations Gala at the end of May. She sang live together with a children choir.

Shine - the single

The first single from the forthcoming new album was the title song: "Shine" and it was released in the early autumn of 1984. It contained Frida's composition "That's Tough" on the B-side, a song which would not be included on the album.

In Sweden "Shine" entered the chart on August 31st, 1984 and stayed there for 10 weeks reaching #6.

In the UK "Shine" reached #82 in September 84. In West Germany the single peaked at #51. In Belgium "Shine" became #7 and in Holland #23. In Poland "Shine" entered the chart on October 13th, 1984 where it stayed for 6 weeks reaching #17.

The maxi version of "Shine" was extended to 6.27 and it was available in Sweden, The Netherlands. The UK and West Germany. Polar released a limited edition in white vinyl.

Shine - the album

The album "Shine" was released in Sweden in September 1984. It contained 10 songs including two real rarities: the song "Slowly" written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as well as Frida's own composition "Don't Do It".  The French singer and composer Daniel Balavoine (who performed together with Frida the ABBAcadabra duet "Belle" in 1983) contributed to the album with one song "The Face". The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite and even his musicians played almost all instruments. The only musician from the ABBA family was Ruger Gunnarsson who played bass on the title song and "Chemistry Tonight". The album contained both modern up-tempo songs as "Shine" , "One Little Lie" and "Chemistry Tonight" and some beautiful ballads: "Come To Me", "Slowly", "Don't Do It" or "Comfort Me" which can be maybe called for "Shine's" "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" - a very different song with a very special sound and interpretation which suits Frida very good. Two songs which are quite difficult to understand musically are "Twist in the Dark" and "Heart of the Country" - two interesting compositions but definitely wrong choice for single releases.

Frida made a big promotional work for the album but it was not shining on the charts anyway. It appeared shortly on the British album chart (1 week) where it reached number 67. Very bad promotion work done by Frida's record company in Great Britain was probably the main reason to the flop.
 

The official photo sessions

Lots of wonderful photos were taken during the photo sessions for "Shine". Frida wore various outfits with two dominating colours: green and purple.

Musikladen

The international promotion of "Shine" started in Europe. Frida appeared on TV was West Germany in the show "Musikladen" where she performed "Shine".

Denmark

Frida went to Copenhagen in September 1984 and made a TV promotion for the new album featuring an interview in Danish/Swedish.

Glädjehuset SVT Special

Frida appeared on the TV special "Glädjehuset" in September 1984. She was talking about the new album and her plans for a new LP one year later. She was absolutely self-confident and happy about the new album.

Come To Me - the second single

The second single release followed in Sweden, West Germany, Holland and some other countries in late autumn 1984. On the B-side there was Benny and Björn's composition "Slowly".  After the flop of "Shine" even "Come to Me" did not become successful. The Swedish release of the single contained the full length version of the song (5.04) as the German release featured  shorter mix (4.24).

Heart of the Country - the second single in UK

"Heart of the Country" was chosen exclusively for the UK release as the second single from "Shine" b/w "Slowly". It was a wrong choice as the single did not even enter the UK hit list. The single version of "Heart of the Country" was shortened from 4.38 (the LP version) to 4.00.

Twist in the Dark in France

The French record company "Vogue" decided to release "Twist in the Dark" as the second single from "Shine" with "Come To Me" on the flipside in November 1984.

 Frida promoted the new single on French TV in the show Cadence 3.

Belgium - Autumn 1984

Frida made an appearance in the Belgian talk-show "Mike" in the autumn. She performed "Come To Me" and "Shine" and talked with the show host about song festivals and ABBA's (no)future.

Holland

After Belgium Frida went to Holland. The first pictures were taken at the Shiphol airport in Amsterdam.

In Holland she performed at the Avro Platen gala and was extremely warmly welcome by the fans. It was one of the best performances promoting the album "Shine". She sang "Shine" and "Come to me" in the second part of the show.

Finland

For the first time since 1974 Frida came to Finland in the Autumn of 1984. She appeared on the Weekend TV singing "Shine" and "Come To Me". She was also interviewed about the new album. Of course it was difficult to avoid questions about ABBA and the group's future. Frida said: "ABBA had its time and now it's another time. It was wonderful to be one in the group and I do not regret anything. But I love to work on my own as well. Sure, it would be nice to get together again and maybe make one more record in the future."

West Germany - November 1984

On November 29, 1984 Frida, Björn & Benny participated in the TV show "Na sowas - Extra" aired by German TV. Frida promoted her latest single "Come To Me" and together with Björn and Benny sang choir in "One Night in Bangkok". Both performances were though playback and there is no recording of "One Night in Bangkok" with the three members of ABBA singing background vocals.

Razzel

The participation in the Swedish TV special "Razzel" in December 1984 was one of the last promotional performances for "Shine". Frida sang three songs from her latest album: "Heart of the Country", "Come To Me" and "Twist in the Dark". The two first songs were performed live.

Lördags Cirkusen, Norway

Frida made one more TV appearance in front of Norwegian TV cameras shortly before Christmas. She performed "Shine" and "Come To Me" as well as she gave a short interview for the show hosts.

1985

The year 1985 was relatively quiet for Frida. After the intensive "Shine" period Frida decided to withdrawn from the music business. The album "Shine" did not become that success that Frida had been waiting for. She enjoyed life and travelled a lot. She was caught by cameras at several places in the spring and summer 1985.

Oslo

At the end of April she she visited Oslo - the capital of Norway.

Gothenburg

On June 8th, 1985 she was seen together with her friend Charlotte Klingspoor in Gothenburg in Sweden on the Nya Ullevi stadium where the US star Bruce Springsteen had his concert.

London

On October 5th, 1985 Frida, Stig and Görel were in London to see the musical "Les Miserables".

40th birthday

On November 15th, 1985 Frida celebrated her 40th birthday in Paris. The celebration lasted for two days - Friday November 15th and Saturday November 16th. All guests arrived on Friday morning and a special buss picked them up at the airport and drove to a hotel in Montmartre in Paris. Among the guests from Sweden there were: Marie and Tomas Ledin, Görel Hanser and Claes af Geijerstam. Frida's daughter Lotta came from London where she studied by that time. The first evening Frida was celebrated at the night club "Chez Castel" and the second night at "Maxim".

1986

London

On May 14, 1986 Frida attended the UK premiere of the musical "Chess" in London.

1987

Så länge vi har varann (As Long As I Have You)

The Swedish pop group Ratata invited Anni-Frid to participate on one of the tracks for their new album "Mellan dröm och verklighet" (Between dream and reality). Anni-Frid accepted the invitation and  Swedish and English versions of the song "Så länge vi har varann" were recorded. The song became a big hit in Sweden and can be still heard on the radio. The English version of the song was released as a B-side of the SP "Vem är han". The gold remix of the song "Vem är han" was released as a maxi single and parts of "Så länge vi har varann" featuring Frida can be heard there as well.

Klinga mina klockor

In the autumn 1987 Frida participated in the recording session for the title song for Benny Andersson's new LP. Benny invited 21 female Swedish singers  for this session in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

1988

Chess on Broadway

On April 28, 1988 Frida and Ruzzo attended the premiere of "Chess" on Broadway.

(see even The story of Björn & Benny)

Lotta's wedding

Ann Liselott Fredriksson, 21 years old, got married in August 1988 in the Fors church in Eskilstuna. Anni-Frid was of course there. The other guests were: Benny Andersson, Peter Grönvall and Nanne Nordqvist. Liselotte married Charles Geritt Casper, her American boyfriend. They had met each other at the college in USA where both studied. The wedding dinner and party were held in Sudbyholm castle outside Eskilstuna - Liselotte's hometown. Liselotte and Charles moved to USA where they would live together until Liselotte's tragic death 10 years later...

1989

In London

In May 1989 Frida was caught on the photo outside the Mayfair hotel in London by a fan. One of the rare photos from the period. Even the other photo seems to be from about the same period of time.

1990

On Swedish TV

The Swedish TV journalist Stina Dabrowski invited Frida to her TV special at the beginning of December 1990. It was one of the rare appearances of Frida on Swedish TV at that time. She was talking about her environmental engagement and she even answered some private questions. She did not want to speak about her singing career and nobody thought at that point that she would ever make a musical comeback 1,5 year later on stage in Stockholm and 5,5 years later with a new CD.

Frida & Ruzzo 1990-93

1992

Frida in Stockholm, May 14, 1992

On May 14, 1992 Frida attended the fair "Kvinnor Kan" (Women can) in Älvsjö (Stockholm). She was talking about environment. The presence of Frida on the fair was announced in newspapers (Dagens Nyheter & Svenska Dagbladet) some days before and that's why a lot of ABBA fans were there. I managed to take pictures and ask one ABBA related question after the press conference at 1.40 pm. Frida gave some short interviews for local radio stations and answered some of our questions.

Frida on Älvsjö fair in Stockholm, May 14, 1992

time: 13.40-13.50

Private picture gallery

More Frida pictures from Swedish press - May - August 1992

On TV       

A couple of days before the gala "Artister för miljö" Frida appeared on Swedish TV where she was interviewed by Sissy Elfwing. Frida performed "Saltwater". The programme was recorded on the island Helgeandsholmen outside Museum of Medieval Stockholm. More private pictures - thanks Michael.

The Artists for Environment project and the gala on August 14, 1992

After 5 years of silence as a singer Frida was back on stage in 1992. She was one of the organizers of the gala "Artister för Miljö". The most famous artist were invited and the gala was held on August 14, 1992 on the castle in Stockholm. 

The King and the Queen were special guests that evening. Lots of ABBA fans arrived from all over the world to see Frida performing live again. Frida sang "Saltwater" (written by Julian Lennon), "What a Wonderful World" together with Marie Fredriksson of Roxette and "Änglamark" an old Swedish classic song together with all artists performing this evening.

Änglamark - the single

A SP and CD-SP was released. It contained "Änglamark" performed by Frida, Marie, Tomas Ledin and Håkan Hagegård and "Saltwater" sang by Frida.  

Frida in August 1992

In August 1992 Frida made an exclusive appearance on Swedish TV in the matine show "Solsta Café". Frida was talking about her life and her interest in environment. She even remembered the years before ABBA.

1993

Frida and Ruzzo skiing with the Queen and the King of Sweden 1993

Woman now

"Kvinna Nu" (Woman Now) in the summer of 1993 published a reportage about Frida and her engagement in environmental issues. The former ABBA star was very active in her organization "Artister för miljö" (Artists for environment).

Dancing Queen on the Royal Gala at the Opera

December 1993

Everybody hoped that ABBA would do a comeback that day. The Queen Silvia of Sweden turned 50 and she was celebrated by almost all biggest Swedish artists on the gala held at the Opera house in Stockholm. But ABBA did not appear on stage this evening. Instead the Queen and the public enjoyed the ABBA old hit "Dancing Queen" performed by Frida and The Real Group a capella. 

The song performed by Frida and The Real Group was released on the group's new album. 

1994

In 1994 Frida gave several interviews to Swedish press. Happily married with Ruzzo Reuss she enjoyed her new hobby - golf together with sister to the Swedish King Carl Gustaf - the princess Birgitta.

1996

Djupa andetag

go.to/Frida 1996

1997-1999

One more album was planned for release at the end of 1998 but it was never completed because of private reasons.