Agnetha Makes A Universal Return

Siren songstress from ABBA has new album due on May 13

Brand new single "When You Really Loved Someone" out now!

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Mar 11, 2013, 05:00 ET

STOCKHOLM, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- "Never thought that I'd ever sing again. But hearing the first three songs, I just couldn't say no!"

With these words, one of popular music's most recognisable, celebrated names of the past 40 years – Agnetha Fältskog – signals her return to the spotlight. The siren songstress from ABBA is coming back with a new album, due for release in May, preceded by a curtain-raising track, "When You Really Loved Someone," which premieres on VEVO today at 12 noon and is now available internationally as a single to buy. Agnetha's brand new official website (www.agnetha.co.uk), Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Agnetha-Official) and Twitter (@AgnethaOfficial) will also go live at 12 noon today.

Agnetha has been working with renowned, Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Jorgen Elofsson – who has been responsible for hits by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion and Westlife, among others – and acclaimed producer/arranger Peter Nordahl on her brand new album.

"She wanted to make music again," says Elofsson, "We could feel that. She had been thinking about it. Basically, she's a musician, a songwriter/singer who hasn't done that for a while. We saw her open up, become much happier, with music again in her life."

The album features one of Agnetha first co-writes in many years: "I hadn't written any music for a long, long time," she says. "But I sat at the piano, and suddenly it was there."

Anticipated by millions of ABBA fans worldwide, Agnetha's brand new material will be released this spring in the US by The Verve Music Group and Internationally by Universal Music Group, the global music leader.

Max Hole, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Universal Music Group International, added: "You can imagine the excitement that all of us felt at the prospect of Agnetha making new music. So we were determined that she would choose Universal to bring that music to the world, and we are gratified that she did. This is a dream project for so many people inside our company, and for Agnetha's fans around the globe."

The most anticipated new album of 2013 was recorded and produced by Jörgen Elofsson and Peter Nordahl: "We wanted to make this as if Agnetha hadn't entered ABBA," says Elofsson. "We were interested in what she sounded like if she hadn't been in the group. And yet it's important that she comes across as we remember her to be."

For more information please visit:

Website: www.agnetha.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Agnetha-Official
Twitter: @AgnethaOfficial

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the global music leader, with wholly owned operations in 60 territories. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's premier music publishing operations worldwide.

Universal Music Group's record labels include A&M/Octone, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol Records, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Interscope Records, I.R.S., Island Records, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group and Virgin Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalogue is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes Global Digital Business, its new media and technologies division, and Bravado, its merchandising company.

Universal Music Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Vivendi.

SOURCE Universal Music Group