Without him, there would be no ABBA as we know it. Guitarist Lasse Wellander is dead

Wellander’s death was announced on his official Facebook page. The statement reads that the artist died on April 7 due to cancer.

It is with indescribable sadness that we must announce that our beloved Lasse has passed away. He recently fell ill with a mysterious disease that turned out to be metastatic cancer. He died prematurely surrounded by his loved ones. He was a great musician, modest as few people, a great husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather. Everyone felt safe around him, he was kind, caring and loving.

The members also published a statement in which they assured how close and regretted a friend and guitarist the musician was for them. Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Frida Lyngstad and Benny Andersson point out that Wellander’s contribution to the band’s sound both in the studio and on stage has been enormous.

Lasse Wellander is dead. The ABBA guitarist was 70 years old

Lasse Wellander was born in 1952. He grew up in a small village in Sweden, and his first experiences with the music business date back to the late 1960s. According to the website, the 16-year-old then joined the Peps & Blues Quality group. The band soon evolved into the band Nature.

The artist’s website reports that he joined ABBA while on tour with Ted Gärdestad in 1974. It was then that Wellander’s permanent cooperation with the band began, with which he recorded for the next decades. The guitarist’s latest contribution to ABBA’s material can be heard on the 2021 album “Voyage”, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. The musician is also mentioned among the authors of soundtracks for the films “Mamma Mia” from .

In recent years Wellander has also tried to create solo music. The artist recorded his first original recordings as early as the 1970s, the last release signed with his name was released in November 2022.