Thank you for their mipounds pounds ions

Sunday Mirror, Apr 4, 2004 by KAREN ROCKETT

IT might seem like only yesterday to their legions of fans, but it's 30 years this week since Swedish supertroupers Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974. It catapulted them to worldwide stardom and they have since sold 365 million records - more than the Beatles. They had nine UK Number Ones between 1974 and 1980, making an estimated pounds 250million, and then came up with Mamma Mia!, the most successful musical of all time. Nine productions worldwide have grossed pounds 300million at the box office. And it doesn't stop there. They've earned another pounds 7.3million from their songs being played on the radio. Three years ago the two ex- married couples who made up Abba were offered pounds 1BILLION to re- form...but turned it down. They are notoriously private about their finances and in the 1980s the Abba empire had interests in everything from oil and property to the bicycle company Monark. In 1990 Abba sued Polar Music because they said they had received too little in royalties - instead of nine per cent, they claimed they got three per cent. The case was settled out of court and all four got an unknown amount of millions. So what has happened to the fab four since the band's break-up in 1982?

Here KAREN ROCKETT looks at their lives, loves, and the Money, Money, Money...

THE NO 1 HITS:1974-1980

1 WATERLOO - two weeks April 74.

2 MAMMA MIA - two weeks in Dec 75.

3 FERNANDO - four weeks in Mar 76.

4 DANCING QUEEN - six weeks in Aug 76.

5 KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU - five weeks in Feb 77.

6 THE NAME OF THE GAME - four weeks in Oct 77.

7 TAKE A CHANCE ON ME - three weeks in Feb 78.

8 THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL - two weeks in Aug 80.

9 SUPER TROUPER - three weeks Nov 80.

ANNI-FRID, AGE 58

LIVES: "Frida" has lived in Switzerland for 20 years at her late husband's pounds 10million castle in Fribourg. She also has a chalet in Zermatt, Switzerland, and still maintains a home in Sweden.

LOVES: Anni-Frid split with Benny in 1981. They were engaged for eight years and married for three. In 1984 she married Prince Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen, a German aristocrat, who died of cancer five years ago aged 49, leaving her grief-stricken. Her daughter Lise-Lotte, from a relationship before Benny, died in a car crash in 1998. Two years ago she began seeing Swiss artist Heinz Julen.

WORKS: She last recorded an album in 1996, but nowadays is concerned with environmental issues and spends her time growing vegetables.

WEALTH: Like Agnetha, she made far less from Abba than her ex- husband, but she re-married well, and could call herself a princess. She transferred money to England to avoid Sweden's punitive 60 per cent taxes and showed business savvy by selling Polar Music shares before they fell. She's thought to be worth pounds 45million.

AGNETHA, AGE 54

LIVES: The "blonde one" in Abba lives a reclusive life in a mansion on the remote island of Ekero, just off the coast of Stockholm.

LOVES: She divorced Abba guitarist Bjorn in 1978. They had two children. There was a string of lovers and in 1990 she married surgeon Tomas Sonnenfeld, but they divorced in 1993. In 1997 Agnetha had a brief affair with a Dutch fan, Gert van de Graaf, but when she ended it he stalked her. She took out a restraining order and he was banned from Sweden for two years.

WORKS: After Abba she made three solo albums and took on acting roles. She retired in 1988, but is making a comeback with a new album out this week. She agreed to promote it, but backtracked and refuses to talk to the media.

WEALTH: She made pounds 4million from Abba. Like Bjorn, she got in trouble in 1987 for unpaid taxes and in 1994 she and Benny were stung when a company they had stocks in lost pounds 43million. Faring the least well of the four, in 2002 she made about pounds 30,000. However, she will have received millions from a settlement with Abba's record company in 1990.

BENNY, AGE 57

LIVES: As co-writers of all Abba's hits, plus the musicals Chess and Mamma Mia!, Benny and Bjorn made much more cash than the two singers. Today he has a 1836 mansion on an island in Stockholm, a mansion and stables near the Swedish town of Trosa where he breeds racehorses - he once bought a single horse for pounds 2.5million. He owns a record label with studios in Stockholm Harbour and property throughout Sweden.

LOVES: Soon after his split from Frida, who he divorced in 1981 after three years, Benny wed TV personality Mona Norklit. They have a son Ludwig. Benny also had two children, Peter and Helen, from his girlfriend before Frida.

WORKS: As well as writing successful musicals, Benny has produced albums for other artists and released folk albums of his own. He and Bjorn earn royalties from top Swedish band, A*Teens. He also owns a movie and TV production firm.

WEALTH: He says: "I'm fine paying my taxes. It's natural those who have too much money should give away a little to society." Swedish finance experts reckon he is worth pounds 220million.

BJORN, AGE 58

LIVES: Bjorn moved his family to the UK in 1984 but returned to Sweden eight years later to work with Benny again. As well as a mansion in High Wycombe, Bucks, he owns a house in Djursholm, Stockholm.