Frida Lyngstad - Career - 1985-present: Later Career

1985-present: Later Career

In 1986 Frida was in the choir for the recording of her former husband Benny Andersson's song "Klinga Mina Klockor". Also in 1987, Lyngstad recorded the single "Så Länge Vi Har Varann" ("As Long As We Have Each Other") with the Swedish pop group Ratata, one of Lyngstad's favourites. One day singer Mauro Scocco called and said he had a song suitable for a duet. After hearing it, Lyngstad accepted immediately. The song was and still is, a big success in Sweden. The song was also recorded in English under the title of "As long as I have you". An English language video of the song was produced and an Australian release of this song which was scheduled with Festival Records and notified to record shops in January 1998 was eventually shelved.

In 1990, Lyngstad became a member of the committee of the Swedish environmental organization Det Naturliga Steget (The Natural Step). The organization wanted a "famous face" to help them reach the public, and in 1991 she became chairwoman for the organization Artister För Miljön (Artists For The Environment). In 1992, Lyngstad performed live at the Stockholm Water Festival at the Kings Castle and released the environmental charity single with her cover of Julian Lennon's song "Saltwater". All the money from this single went to charity. In 1993, on Queen Silvia's 50th birthday, Frida was asked to perform "Dancing Queen" on stage, as performed by ABBA when the king and queen got married. Frida contacted The Real Group and together they performed the song (lip-synching, not live as previously stated) at the Stockholm Opera House in front of the king and queen. The Swedish prime minister at the time, Ingvar Carlsson, also present that night, said it was an ingenious step to do "Dancing Queen" a cappella. This performance was filmed by Swedish TV and can be seen in Frida - The DVD.

In 1996, Lyngstad recorded her Swedish language album Djupa andetag (Deep Breaths). It was a long-awaited album as 12 years had passed since Shine was released. The album attracted overall positive reviews and was a big success in Sweden where it became #1 on the album chart. Frida did many TV appearances in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland to promote the album. Djupa andetag was one of the very first Swedish albums to be released as a combined audio-video CD-ROM, including interviews with Lyngstad, footage from the making of the album, as well as promotional videos. Despite the fact that Djupa andetag was officially only released in Scandinavia and the songs were entirely sung in Swedish, a remix album of the single tracks "Även En Blomma", "Alla Mina Bästa År" (a duet with Roxette's Marie Fredriksson) and "Ögonen" was released in Germany in 1998, entitled Frida - The Mixes. A one-hour documentary about the making of this album, both in the studio and from Frida's home in Mallorca, Spain, can be seen in Frida - The DVD. A follow-up album with producer Anders Glenmark was reportedly in the works, but was shelved due to the death of Frida's daughter in 1998.

Several one-off recordings followed, including a 2002 duet with opera singer Filippa Giordano of the "Barcarolle" from Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffman as well as the song "The Sun Will Shine Again", written especially for Lyngstad by former Deep Purple member Jon Lord, and recorded in 2004. Neither of these were however released as singles: "Barcarolle" is only available on the Japanese edition of Giordano's album Rosso Amore, and "The Sun Will Shine Again" can be found on Jon Lord's album Beyond The Notes (although a limited-promotional single had been made available). Lord and Lyngstad made several TV appearances in Germany performing the song, on shows like The Sunday Night Classics and The Golden Henne Gala. Lyngstad also joined Lord on stage singing the song during his European autumn tour in 2004. During this tour, she also performed "In The Deep Midwinter". A performance of which can be found on YouTube, although it appears not to have been released as a finished track.

For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Lyngstad appeared in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled Our Last Video. Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did, amongst others, Cher and British comedian Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release on the Universal Music label. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group split in 1982 - a partial truth. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately. Also in 2004, Lyngstad appeared with former band mates Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus at London's fifth anniversary performance of Mamma Mia!, the musical based on ABBA songs. In 2005, she joined all three of her former ABBA colleagues at the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia! at the arena Cirkus in Stockholm.

On 15 November 2005, to celebrate Lyngstad's 60th birthday, Universal Records released the box set Frida, consisting of all the solo albums she recorded for Polar Music, all digitally remastered and including a set of bonus tracks. Also included is Frida - The DVD. On this 3½ hour DVD Lyngstad talks about her entire career in the music business. Filmed in the Swiss Alps, she talks about her singing technique and about her career both before and after Abba and explains how songs were performed and recorded. In collaboration with Swedish TV, SVT, the DVD includes many rare TV clips from her early performances, like her first TV performance with "En Ledig Dag", ("A Day Off"). Also included are TV-documentaries about the making and recordings of Something's Going On and Djupa andetag (Deep Breaths).

In September 2010, a new album by musician Georg Wadenius titled "Reconnection" was released. Frida and George had discussed working together for many years, as they had long been good friends. The album opens with her rendition of the traditional tune Morning Has Broken popularized by Cat Stevens. This song by Cat Stevens, is a favourite for Frida and the song was also on the playlist in the church for Frida and Prince Ruzzo's wedding on August 26, 1992.

On 16 February 2011 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a 45 minute play featuring Frida and the play's writer, long term fan and performer Christopher Green. The play, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, was billed as 'a story about love. The unconditional love of a devoted fan...about a real and an imagined intimacy.' It was a project several years in the making; what started as an upbeat reflection on fame and the notion of being a fan, developed into a meditation on the communication between two people and coping with the blows life deals. In an interview with Frida she and Green talked about her long recovery from the death of her husband in 1999. The play is deeply personal and reflective but with a firmly comic sensibility.