Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 5 May 2015 | Page 68

We take a whistle stop tour of
Europe and chart five of the most
musically defining bands to have
hailed from the region, who have
shaped the industry in more ways
than one.
Norway
Formed in Oslo in 1982, A-HA initially
rose to fame during the mid-1980s.
They achieved their biggest success
with their debut album, Hunting High
and Low which peaked at number
1 in Norway, number 2 in the UK
(where it went onto become the bestselling albums of 1986) number 15
on the U.S. Billboard album chart; and
earned the band a Grammy Award
nomination as Best New Artist. The
band decided to call it a day in 1994
and went on a musical hiatus

I
TUNE
YOU
Sweden
Agnetha Fältskog,Björn Ulvaeus, Benny
Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
used the initials of their first names
to come up with the name ABBA
and launched their musical careers in
1972. The band became one of the
most commercially successful acts
in the history of popular music, and
the first group from a non-Englishspeaking country to enjoy consistent
success in English-speaking countries.
Achieving global and chart topping
success from 1975 to 1982, the
foursome has sold well over 380
million albums and singles worldwide
and were inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in March 2010.