ABBA guitarist Lasse Wellander has died at age 70 after a battle with cancer.
In a join statement, the four members of ABBA said, “Lasse was a dear friend, a fun guy, and a superb guitarist. The importance of his creative input in the recording studio, as well as his rock-solid guitar work on stage was immense.
“We mourn his tragic and premature death and remember the kind words, the sense of humor, the smiling face, (and) the musical brilliance of the man who played such an integral role in the ABBA story. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten.”
Lasse’s first session with ABBA was in October 1974 for ‘Intermezzo No. 1’ an ‘Crazy World’. He then became the main guitarist for the albums and toured with them in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1980.
Lasse also worked with Benny and Bjorn on the Chess musical, the two Mamma Mia soundtracks and Agnetha’s solo albums ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me’ (1983) and ‘My Colouring Book’ (2004). He was also the guitarist for the last ABBA album ‘Voyage’ in 2021.
Lasse also has seven solo albums to his name and had a solo hit in 1992 with an instrumental version of ‘Anthem’ from Chess.
In 2005, he received the Albin Hagström Memorial Award from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music and, in 2018, the Swedish Musicians Union’s prestigious special prize Studioräven Award for his work as a session musician.
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