Björn Again
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Björn Again is an ABBA tribute band, taking their name from Björn Ulvaeus, a member of ABBA, and a pun on the phrase "born again".
It was 1988 when Rod created this remarkable ABBA tribute band concept, there have since been 3700 shows in 50 countries in 18 years. Manager and musician Rod had previously been working in metallurgical research but at the age of 29 decided on a career change to start a band which would revisit the music and fashion of the 1970's. Rod believed that ABBA globally encapsulated all that was good (and maybe some not so good) about the era so decided they were the perfect '70's icon to focus his efforts on. After countless auditions and months of rehearsals and studying music and videos all Rod needed to come up with was a great show format and a great band name...and BJÖRN AGAIN was it !!! So with Rod taking to the stage in his new persona as Björn Volvo-us together with fellow band members Benny Anderwear, Frida Longstokin and Agnetha Falstart and the backing band went on to achieve a cult status before setting their sights on Europe, North America and beyond.
Currently there are several BJÖRN AGAIN troupes (made up of mainly British people nowadays) which Rod oversees and manages and often plays Bass guitar and sings with in the backing band. The show has been hailed as the most popular and successful act of its type in the world and has been endorsed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA despite their commenting ..."Björn Again have lousy ‘Swenglish’ (half Swedish / half English) accents." ABBA recently celebrated 32 years since their monumental Eurovision song contest win with “Waterloo” at the Brighton Dome and have also celebrated 7 years of the very successful Mamma Mia Musical. In 2004, ABBA were offered a one billion dollar deal to reform for a one year tour but declined because....... they didn't really need the ‘money money money’. Similarly Björn Again were offered one dollar to perform one billion concerts which Rod carefully considered taking up........ but also declined for the same reason.
"Björn Again are the closest you can get to seeing ABBA. ABBA will never reform!" - Benny Andersson
"The best of luck. Anyone that looks like me ought to have a successful career" - Björn Ulvaeus
"They are good. ABBA will never reform. You must see Björn Again!" - ABBA's former Manager, Stikkan Anderson
"When ABBA broke up, I assumed our music would fall into oblivion so in the early 90’s with BJÖRN AGAIN becoming popular and when U2 invited Benny and I on stage to sing Dancing Queen, I just assumed we were being sent up. But now I see both bands were paying tribute to us" - Björn Ulvaeus
"An ABBA revival was inevitable, but BJÖRN AGAIN certainly initiated it" - Björn Ulvaeus
"I saw them in a TV program, it's very flattering!" - Agnetha Faltskog
