Abba's Agnetha 'plans comeback'

Supergroup Abba: Benny, Anni-Frid, Agnetha and Bjorn

Reclusive former Abba star Agnetha Faltskog is reported to be planning to make a solo comeback at the age of 49.

The singer is working on an album to be released later this year, according to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

The paper quotes a friend, musician Staffan Linde, as saying Faltskog is considering a return to the studios to make a single, which will be her first recording since her solo album I Stand Alone in 1987.

Abba partners: Bjorn and Agnetha

"She is listening to various songs and we'll see if she thinks the material seems right. If it doesn't measure up then perhaps it won't happen," he says.

Faltskog has become known as the Greta Garbo of Swedish pop music over the past decade - devoting her energies to astrology, horse-riding, walking and yoga at her isolated country house near Stockholm.

Divorced from another ex-member of Abba, Bjorn Ulvaeus, the couple have two grown-up children - Linda, aged 27, and Christian, aged 22.

Falstkog has been a star in Sweden since she first topped the charts with I Was So In Love.

She also played Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of Jesus Christ Superstar, scoring a hit with I Don't Know How To Love Him.

Revival

Agentha, Bjorn, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lynstad last appeared together as supergroup Abba in 1982, but their catchy songs have been imitated by several bands since and Mamma Mia! - a London musical based on their hits - has been a big success.

Abba rocketed to fame in 1974 when Anni-Frid, Bjorn, Benny and Agnetha won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo.

The group quickly became Sweden's most famous, and most lucrative, cultural export with a string of hits including Money Money Money, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All.

Since the band split, Benny and Bjorn have remained a team, writing musicals including Chess and producing records, while Anni-Frid has also carved out a solo career.