ABBA blog

In my book ABBA On Record, one of the sections I'm proudest of is the presentation of Rune Söderqvist, ABBA's designer from Greatest Hits in 1975 and up until 1986's ABBA Live. From the start, I knew that I really wanted to explain his background in advertising and how this coloured his work for the group. When I put this text together, I went through my own interviews with him, scoured the interviews made by fellow ABBA book authors such as Jean-Marie Potiez and Stany van Wymeersch, and read every article about Rune that I could find in the press archives. If you will excuse me for being conceited, I think all that work paid off.

If you haven't bought ABBA On Record yet, when you do I think you will find all this stuff about the design of the album and single sleeves quite fascinating. There are in-depth stories about every album sleeve: through writing and thinking about the work that not only Rune, but designer Ron Spaulding (Waterloo and ABBA) and photographers Ola Lager and Lars Larsson did – and let's not forget Peter Wiking's Ring Ring sleeve! – I have a completely different understanding of their contribution to ABBA's visual identity.

Learn more about ABBA On Record and order your copy at abbaonrecord.com.