Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! He co-produced the films Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with fellow ABBA member and close friend Benny Andersson. He is the oldest member of the group.

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg on 25 April 1945. In 1951, he moved with his family to Västervik, Kalmar County. His parents were Aina Eliza Viktoria (née Bengtsson; 1909–2005) and Erik Gunnar Ulvaeus (1912–1999). Ulvaeus has one sister, Eva Margareta (born 1948). Ulvaeus studied business and law at Lund University after undertaking his military service, alongside comedian Magnus Holmström.

Before gaining international recognition with ABBA, Ulvaeus was a member of the Swedish folk-schlager band Hootenanny Singers, known earlier as the "West Bay Singers", who had an enormous following in Scandinavia. While on the road in southern Sweden in 1966, they encountered the Hep Stars, and Ulvaeus quickly became friends with the group's keyboard player, Benny Andersson. The two musicians shared a passion for songwriting, and each found a composing partner in the other. On meeting again that summer, they composed their first song together: "Isn't It Easy To Say", a song soon to be recorded by Andersson's group. The two continued teaming up for music, helping out each other's bands in the recording studio, and adding guitar or keyboards respectively to the recordings. In 1968, they composed two songs together: "A Flower in My Garden", recorded by Hep Stars, and their first real hit "Ljuva Sextiotal", for which Stig Anderson wrote lyrics. The latter, a cabarét-style ironic song about the 1960s, was submitted for the 1969 Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest, but was rejected; it was later recorded by diva Brita Borg. Another hit came in 1969 with "Speleman", also recorded by Hep Stars.

While filming a nostalgic schlager special for television in March 1969, Björn met eighteen-year-old future wife and singer-songwriter Agnetha Fältskog.

Björn Ulvaeus continued recording and touring with Hootenanny Singers to great acclaim while working as in-house producer at Polar Record Company (headed by future manager Stig Anderson), with Benny as his new partner. The twosome produced records by other artists and continued writing songs together. Polar artist Arne Lamberts Swedish version of "A Flower in My Garden" ("Fröken Blåklint") was one of Björn & Benny's first in-house productions. In December 1969, they recorded the new song "She's My Kind of Girl", which became their first single as a duo. It was released in March 1970, giving them a minor hit in Sweden and a top-ten hit in Japan two years later.

The Hootenanny Singers entered Svensktoppen, the Swedish radio charts, in 1970 with "Omkring Tiggarn Från Luossa", a cover of an old folk-schlager song. It remained on the charts for 52 consecutive weeks, a record which endured until 1990; the song was produced by Björn and Benny, and had Ulvaeus's solo vocal and Benny's piano. ...

Source: Article "Björn Ulvaeus" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus, parfois orthographié Ulvæus, né le 25 avril 1945 à Göteborg, est un guitariste, chanteur, compositeur de chansons, parolier et producteur suédois. Président de la CISAC depuis 2020, il est connu pour avoir été un membre des groupes suédois Hootenanny Singers et surtout ABBA.

Ses parents lui offrent une guitare quand il a 13 ans. Il commence à jouer dans des groupes de skiffle. Avant de faire partie d'ABBA, il commence sa carrière avec le groupe folk suédois Hootenanny Singers. Ils gagnent le radio-crochet Plats pa scen en 1963 sous le nom de West Bay Singers. Ils sont repérés par le producteur Stig Anderson. Björn écrit aussi ses propres chansons No Time et Baby those are the rules. En parallèle, l'artiste fait des études de droit et de commerce.

Pendant la tournée de 1966, les Hootenanny Singers rencontrent les Hep Stars sur la route et Björn devient rapidement ami avec le pianiste de la formation rock Benny Andersson, ils composent ensemble leur première chanson Isn't it easy to say qui sera enregistrée par les Hep Stars. En 1969, lors d'une émission télévisée, Björn rencontre Agnetha Fältskog, Benny, Anni-Frid Lyngstad. En 1970, Björn et Benny forment un duo et sortent un album Lycka, Agnetha et Frida font les chœurs. C'est la naissance d'ABBA.

Après ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus et Benny Andersson n'ont cessé de collaborer sur d'autres projets tels que les comédies musicales Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla ou Mamma Mia!. Les deux hommes ont également composé et produit les albums du duo Gemini Gemini (1985) et Geminism (1987) ainsi que l'album de Josefin Nilsson Shapes (1993).

En 2020, Björn Ulvaeus devient le président de la CISAC.

Il sort un nouvel album avec le groupe ABBA, Voyage, en novembre 2021 .

L'artiste a également écrit trois ouvrages: deux livres pour enfants et une autobiographie. Son premier livre pour enfants The Little White Piano paraît en 2010, les droits sont versés à une association qui s'occupe de musicothérapie. Quatre ans plus tard, il publie Pop Story (ISBN 978-91-87513-78-7) qui raconte l'histoire d'ABBA, il cède ses droits à une fondation qui aide les enfants atteints d'un cancer. Il écrit son autobiographie, illustrée par Patrick Vale, You are who you meet (ISBN 978-91-639-8118-0) en 2018.

Le guitariste épouse Agnetha Fältskog le 6 juillet 1971 puis divorce en 1979. Il se remarie avec Lena Källersjö le 5 janvier 1981. Ils annoncent leur séparation en février 2022.

Il est le père de Linda et Christian Ulvaeus qu'il a eus avec Agnetha, et de Emma et Anna Ulvaeus avec sa deuxième épouse Lena.

Source: Article "Björn Ulvaeus" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.