Former Bjorn Again singer, Susie Webb knows everything there is to know about ABBA. After co-fronting the legendary Bjorn Again Susie left and started her own ABBA tribute group, FABBA Girls, enjoying a successful career singing ABBA's songs all over the world.
She's also a renowned backing singer, who's toured and sung with everyone from Queen, The Who, Sting and Lionel Richie. She's about to release her first album, Bossa Loves Abba, a collection of ABBA's biggest songs all sung in a Bossa Nova style - Brazil's signature sound, recorded to coincide with the Olympics in Rio, the home of Bossa Nova and to celebrate ABBA's 50th Anniversary this year.
To celebrate, Susie has picked a few of her favourite tracks from the album and tells us why they're perfect for the Olympic Games.
"I'd like to think the whole album will help get you into the Brazilian spirit, but there are some tracks in particular that have a real relevance. First up, the most obvious choice is 'The Winner Takes it All'. Believed to be Agnetha's favourite Abba song! The song spent 26 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, more than any other ABBA single. This song is about love and break ups, but in a way, there's some similarity to Olympic athletes…they win, they lose… but no matter what the sport, winning means everything and drives these amazing athletes to achieve the unbelievable.
This song is iconic and it was a big hit in Brazil too it was included on the soundtrack of "Coração Alado" ("Winged Heart"), a popular soap opera in 1980, as the main theme.
The other song that I chose because it's always been my favourite ABBA song for one, and secondly its perfect for the RIO Games is 'Name Of The Game' - A hit in 1977 from ABBA The Album. It became UK no.1 for 4 weeks.
I think this song is so cleverly put together, one of their most complete compositions. And I love the bass line, it's so strong, apparently inspired by Steve Wonder's "I Wish" from the 1976 album 'Songs in the Key of Life'. It's all about trust and some of the team games in the Olympics are all about trusting and relying on each other to come together and get through the game, whichever one they are playing.
So many of these songs can relate to the Olympics in some way or other, 'I Have A Dream' is another good example. It's such an amazing song, and athletes competing at the Olympics are achieving their dreams. It's the pinnacle of any athlete's career, and you hear many of them talk about how they've always dreamed of being at an Olympics.
It also conjures up a fantasy world where you can dream to help you through reality, there's a line - "pushing through the darkness, still another mile" - which is a great line for the long distance cyclists and runners!
But no matter what song you pick ABBA are timeless as there's always something for everyone, and I wanted to do them in Bossa way to give them a different quality, and to help transport you to Brazil! If you can't get to Brazil to watch the games in person, then you can watch them at home on the tele like me, with Bossa Loves ABBA on in the background!