ABBA guitarist Lasse Wellander dies aged 70

By Charlie Herbert

He featured on some of the group’s biggest songs and played on all eight of their albums.

ABBA’s long-term guitarist Lasse Wellander has died following a short battle with cancer. The musician, 70, starred on several of ABBA’s biggest hits and was a key part of their success during the 1970s. In an emotional statement on Facebook, Lasse’s family announced he had passed away on Good Friday. They wrote:

“It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep. “Lasse recently fell ill with what turned out to be cancer that had spread, and early on Good Friday he passed away surrounded by his loved ones. “We love and miss you so much.”

The ABBA Museum also paid tribute to the guitarist, who first started recording with the legendary pop group in October 1974. Wellander played lead electric guitar on 24 of their songs, including timeless hits such as ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, ‘Take a Chance on Me’, ‘The Name of the Game’ and ‘Voulez-Vous.’ He went on to perform on all eight of ABBA's studio albums and also toured with the group, made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. Wellander also released several solo albums during his career. The first came in 1981, just a year before ABBA broke up. His last solo LP, Simple Ticket, was released in 2006. He then went on to work on the soundtrack for the hit Mamma Mia film, released in 2007. More recently, he reunited with the group to play on their Grammy-nominated comeback album Voyage, which was released in 2021.