Anni-Frid Lyngstad: from ABBA Pop Star to Princess

  February 16, 2009 at 4:58 am by

“I am in fact very up and down. I am very different from day to day. I am a serious person. But I have a fright in me which is very difficult to forget. I thought that it would be better when I would be older, but it seems to be worse and worse…”
Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Princess Reuss von Plauen

Click the image to see the IBL photo gallery

Frida Lyngstad became successful worldwide as a member of the Swedish pop group ABBA.
Songs like “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia!”, “Fernando”and “Super Trouper” made them unforgettable. Frida became known as ‘the brunette’ or ‘the redhead’ of the girls, always surrounded by an air of style, elegance and beauty.
How does it happen that the 70s popstar is titled “Her Serene Highness, Princess Reuss of Plauen” nowadays?
Well let’s have a look at her life!

Early Life

Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born on November 15th 1945 in Bjørkåsen (Norway). She was the result of a liaison between 19-year-old Synni Lyngstad and a German officer, Alfred Haase, just before the end of the Second World War. Alfred Haase returned to Germany without knowing about Synni’s pregnancy.
Frida, aged 2, and her mother soon left Norway and moved to Sweden where Synni died in 1949. Frida was raised by her grandmother alone. Already as a child, she showed huge interest in music and used every possibility to start a career in the music business.

When she was 17 years old Frida became a mother for the first time – her son Hans was born. She married the father, Ragnar Frederiksson, a few months later in April 1963. Their second child, daughter Lise-Lotte, was born in 1969. The couple got divorced in 1970.

In 1968 she participated in the ” Melodifestivalen ” – the Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest – with the song “Härlig är vår jord” (“Our Earth is Wonderful”), and finished fourth. Backstage she met her future spouse and ABBA pianist Benny Andersson.

ABBA Career

Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Click the image to see the gallery at raffem.com

A short time later the relationship between Benny Anderson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and a friendly couple, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog , led to the formation of ABBA. In 1974 the band made the breakthrough after winning the “Grand Prix d’Eurovision de la Chanson ” (nowaydays the Eurovision Song Contest) in Brighton with their song “Waterloo”. Between 1974 and 1982 the band became successful and famous worldwide.

Frida contributed lead vocals to some of ABBA’s biggest hits like “Fernando”, “Money, Money, Money”, “Super Trouper”, “I Have a Dream”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and shared lead vocals with Agnetha Fältskog on “Mamma Mia”, “Waterloo”, “Dancing Queen”, “The Name of the Game”, Voulez-Vous”, “Summer Night City” and others.
In 1981 Frida and Benny, who married in 1978, divorced. In 1982 the band ABBA broke up and Frida moved to London.

Prince Ruzzo

In 1986 Frida moved to Switzerland, where she met her third husband, Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen. On 26 August 1992 Frida and Ruzzo married and Frida became “Her Serene Highness, Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss, Princess von Plauen.” She has two stepdaughters, Princess Henriette and Princess Pauline. Frida and Ruzzo became close friends of the Swedish Royal Couple, King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia.

Years of bitter fate

“Though this time may feel it’s never ending- Time will help and heal- These moments will pass-So raise your head, and take up your heart-Hold it closely to you And the tears and pain will fall away-Like blossom snow-You will know -That you can be your own best friend – The sun will shine again!”
Anni-Frid Lyngstad- lyrics of “The sun will shine again”

In 1998 Frida’s daughter Lise-Lotte died in a car accident in the United States, where she lived with her son and husband. She was 30 years old. A year later, in 1999, Prince Ruzzo died of lymphoma. Frida completely withdrew from public life for a few years.

In 2004 Frida recorded a new song with former Deep-Purple member Jon Lord, called “The sun will shine again”, working up her fate. During the last few years Frida was often seen during the premiers of the musical and movie “Mamma Mia!” , the annual “Polar Music Prize” and charity events she took part in with Queen Silvia of Sweden.

Today, she still engages in charity work – environmental issues in particular. She currently lives in Zermatt, Switzerland.

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