15 Famous Artists You Didn't Know Competed In Eurovision
13. ABBA - Waterloo (Sweden)
What Are They Know For? An iconic 70s Swedish pop group consisting of two couples: Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Chances are, Mamma Mia or Dancing Queen is stuck in your head right now.
At Eurovision (Winner): ABBA represented Sweden at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England. With their Swedish conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff appropriately dressed up as Napoleon (much to the amusement of commentators), ABBA performed eighth out of seventeen countries with the song Waterloo. When ABBA won Eurovision, they not only started the path toward music super-stardom, they gave Sweden its first-ever Eurovision win and secured Sweden's future as a Eurovision powerhouse.
After Eurovision: It goes without saying that ABBA is probably the most successful music act that Eurovision churned out. Their chart-topping singles in many countries' music charts, hundreds of millions of records sold, and popular music videos splashing across television screens made ABBA an icon of 1970s music. They are still popular and memorable three decades after their 1982 breakup. Agnetha and Anni-Frid went on to solo careers, while their ex-husbands Björn and Benny remained a songwriting team and they branched out into musical theater with Chess and Mamma Mia! Speaking of musical theater...