#1: Fernando by ABBA
City: Peterborough, ON
Radio Station: CKPT
Peak Month: October 1976
Peak Position in Peterborough ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Austrian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Portuguese Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Rhodesian Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Swedish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Italian Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Danish Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Spanish Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Finnish Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on Brazilian Singles chart ~ #9
YouTube: “Fernando”
Lyrics: “Fernando”
ABBA is a pop band from Sweden. Agneta Fältskog was born in 1950 in the lakeside city of Jönköping in southern Sweden. Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, which she named “Två små troll” (“Two Small Trolls”). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers. At age 15 she left school to pursue a career in music. She considers Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Aretha Franklin and Marianne Faithfull as her prime influences on her musical style. Fältskog worked on reception for a car firm while performing with the Bernt Enghardt band. In 1967 she wrote “Jag var så kär” (“I Was So in Love”), after a dating relationship ended. The single topped the Swedish pop charts in early 1968. That year she met Björn Ulvaeus, a member of the Hootenanny Singers. Ulvaeus was born in the western coast city of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1945. In the early Sixties, Ulvaeus joined the Hootenanny Singers. They had a #5 hit in Sweden in 1964 with “Gabrielle”, based on the Russian folksong “May Here Always Be Sunshine”. The folk group had many Top Ten hits in Sweden into the early 70s, including a cover of “Green, Green Grass of Home” (“En sång en gång för längese’n”).
