BJÖRN; ULVAEUS

Björn; Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg in April 1945. Like Tim Rice, he pursued a legal career without success, before devoting his full attention to music with much more positive results, leading eventually to the ABBA phenomenon. In 1984 Björn; and his family made the major decision to move to England.

Benny Andersson and Björn; Ulvaeus were the writers and producers of the internationally famous rock group ABBA whose recording achievements from 1973 until 1982 earned them a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's biggest-selling group of their time. Many of their greatest songs have become standards, including most of their 9 British number one singles, of which "Fernando," "Dancing Queen" and "Winner Takes It All" are perhaps the most famous. Their total record sales exceed 225 million. The other two members of the group were the lead singers, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Even during the ABBA years, the idea of writing a stage musical appealed to Björn; and Benny, which became a more definite ambition after their meeting with Tim Rice in 1981. Soon after this they began working on Chess.

(Note: All biographies from the original Chess programme.)