Agnetha Fältskog was the youngest member of ABBA, born in Jönköping on April 5, 1950. In 1967, she knew that a dance band Bernt Enghardts Orkester in the twin city to Jönköping, Huskvarna was looking for a singer. The band was more and more popular and they played not only on weekends but even on weekdays. Agnetha who worked as a phone operator in Jönköping realized that it was impossible to combine it any more.
When she was 17, she wrote her first big hit “Jag var så kär” (“I was so in love”). “As far as I can remember I had a need of writing music and my own songs,” Agnetha recalled. “For the band I had already done “Jag var så kär” and we noticed that the song was very liked by our audience. As soon as it was decided that our band would send a demo to Little Gerhard it was natural that “Jag var så kär” was one of the songs on this band. Some weeks later a guy called me and said that he was Little Gerhard. He asked me if I wanted to record an album. I was almost sure that someone from my band was joking and I said that I did not believe him. I wanted to have an evidence. He said: ‘If I send back the demo and write best greetings to you, do you believe me then?’”
The demo came back and Agnetha had her evidence. But it was not so easy as she thought. The record company was namely interested only in Agnetha and not the rest of the band. “It was a very sensitive situation. It was not easy for me to explain for the boys that the record company did not want them to be on the record.”
Her father Ingvar followed to Stockholm to the very first recording session. During one day she recorded four songs. Two of them written by herself “Jag var så kär” and “Utan dig” (“Without you”). Even the latter became a big hit on the Swedish chart.
Below is the first professional photo session with Agnetha Fältskog took place in Jönköping, in May 1967.
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