**Agneta Åse Fältskog**  (lahir 5 April 1950), dikenali sebagai Agnetha Fältskog (sebutan Sweden: [aŋˈnêːta ˈfɛ̂ltskuːɡ] ( dengar)) dan Anna Fältskog, ialah penyanyi Sweden, penulis lagu dan ahli kumpulan pop ABBA. Dia pertama kali mencapai kejayaan di Sweden dengan mengeluarkan album debut bertajuk sendiri pada tahun 1968. Dia menjadi terkenal antarabangsa pada tahun 1970-an sebagai ahli ABBA, yang merupakan salah satu aksi muzik terlaris dalam sejarah. Dia adalah ahli termuda ABBA, dan satu-satunya yang dilahirkan pada tahun 1950-an.

Selepas perpisahan tidak rasmi ABBA pada Disember 1982, dia memperbaharui kejayaan kemudian dalam dekad sebagai artis solo dengan tiga album dan peranan utama dalam filem. Dia menjadi tertutup pada tahun 1990-an, mengelakkan publisiti luar dan menetap di pulau Ekerö di Stockholm County.

Fältskog berhenti merakam muzik selama 16 tahun sehingga dia mengeluarkan album baharu, My Coloring Book, pada tahun 2004. Dia kembali pada tahun 2013 dengan A, album solo carta tertinggi UK setakat ini. ABBA telah berubah sejak itu, dan Fältskog telah menyambung semula peranannya sebelum ini dengan kumpulan itu.

Life and career
---------------

### Early life

Agneta Åse Fältskog was born in Jönköping on 5 April 1950. She was the first of two daughters of department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922–1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923–1994). Ingvar showed much interest in music and show business, and Birgit devoted herself to her children and household. Fältskog's younger sister, Mona, was born in 1955.

Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, entitled "Två små troll" ("Two Small Trolls"). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers, with her friends Lena Johansson and Elisabeth Strub. They performed locally in minor venues and soon dissolved due to a lack of engagements. At age 15, Fältskog decided to leave school and pursue a career.

Fältskog cites Connie Francis, Marianne Faithfull, Aretha Franklin and Lesley Gore as her strongest musical influences.

### Career development in Sweden (1966–1971)

Fältskog in 1972
Fältskog worked as a telephonist for a car firm while performing with a local dance band headed by Bernt Enghardt. The band soon became so popular that she had to make a choice between her job and her musical career. She continued singing with the Bernt Enghardt band for two years. During that time, Fältskog broke up with her boyfriend Björn Lilja; this event inspired her to write a song, "Jag var så kär" ("I Was So in Love"), that soon brought her to media prominence.

At that time, Karl Gerhard Lundkvist, a relative of one of the band's members, retired from his successful rock and roll career and began working as a record producer at Cupol Records. Enghardt sent him a demo recording of the band, but Lundkvist only showed interest in Fältskog and her song. She was worried because he was not interested in the band, and they were not to be included on the record. However, she decided to accept the offer and signed a recording contract with Cupol Records.

Her self-penned début single "Jag var så kär" was recorded on 16 October 1967 and released through Cupol Records the following month. It topped the Swedish Chart on 28 January 1968 and sold more than 80,000 copies. She also submitted the song "Försonade" ("Reconciled") to Melodifestivalen, the Swedish preliminary for the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was not selected for the final. Fältskog developed a career as one of Sweden's most popular pop music artists, participating in a television special about Swedish composer Jules Sylvain in 1969. The same year, she released the single "Zigenarvän" ("Gypsy Friend") about a young girl attending a Gypsy wedding and falling in love with the bride's brother. Its release coincided with a heated debate about Gypsies in the Swedish media, and Fältskog was accused of deliberately trying to make money out of the situation by writing the song.

Fältskog's success continued throughout the late 1960s. She met German songwriter/producer Dieter Zimmermann, to whom she became engaged. Her albums thus reached the German charts, and Zimmermann promised she would achieve great success in Germany. However, when she went there and met with record producers, the venture was not productive; Fältskog refused to meet the demands of the producers, describing their chosen material as "horrible". She soon ended her engagement to Zimmermann and returned to Sweden.

In 1970, she released "Om tårar vore guld" ("If Tears Were Gold"). The Danish composer Per Hviid claimed that she used 22 bars from his composition "Tema" ("Theme"), although it was written in the 1950s and had never been recorded. The case dragged on until 1977 when a settlement was reached and Fältskog paid the Danish musician SEK 5,000,000.

Fältskog with Peter Winsnes in Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972
In 1972, Fältskog portrayed Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the international hit musical *Jesus Christ Superstar*.

1. ↑  Magnus Palm, Carl (2009). *Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA*. London: Omnibus Press. m/s. 131. ISBN 9780857120571. Dicapai pada 7 March 2019. ...Agneta Åse Fältskog was born on April 5, 1950. The "h" in Agnetha was added later in life, but her name has never been officially registered in this fashion.
2. ↑  "Agneta Fältskog (Ekerö, 68 år)". *birthday.se*. Berlock Information AB. Dicapai pada 1 March 2019.
3. 1 2 3 4 5 6  Official Biography Diarkibkan 10 Februari 2010 di Wayback Machine of Agnetha Fältskog
4. ↑  Midgley, Dominic (13 June 2016) Will reclusive Abba star Agnetha Fältskog agree to a £20m comeback? *Daily Express*. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
5. ↑  Agnetha Fältskog's Biography Diarkibkan 3 Mei 2012 di Wayback Machine at EF News International
6. ↑  Agnetha Fältskog's Biography Diarkibkan 30 November 2009 di Wayback Machine at Agnetha Faltskog.net
7. ↑  Agnetha Fältskog – Wikipedia (SWE)
8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  Official Biography Diarkibkan 10 Februari 2010 di Wayback Machine of Agnetha Fältskog
9. 1 2 3 4  Agnetha Fältskog's Biography Diarkibkan 30 November 2009 di Wayback Machine at Agnetha Faltskog.net
10. ↑  "Räkna de lyckliga stunderna blott". oppetarkiv.se. 16 August 1969. Diarkibkan daripada yang asal pada 30 October 2018. Dicapai pada 29 October 2018.
11. ↑  Agnetha Fältskog – Wikipedia (SWE)