Iconic Swedish pop group ABBA is reuniting for ‘new digital experience’, teaming with ‘American Idol’ creator

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Abba members (from left) Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, in Tokyo in 1980. The Swedish group would disband in 1982 - but is set now to reunite for a new digital project. Photo: AP

Published: 9:25am, 27 Oct 2016Updated: 9:25am, 27 Oct 2016

Swedish pop group ABBA is set to reunite for a “new digital experience” in 2018, more than 30 years after their last public performance together, it was announced on Wednesday.

Band members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad will team up with American Idol creator Simon Fuller and Universal Music Group for the collaboration.

“We are exploring a new technological world, with Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence at the forefront, that will allow us to create new forms of entertainment and content we couldn’t have previously imagined,” Fuller said in a statement.

Over a 30-year-career, Fuller has managed singers Annie Lennox, The Spice Girls and Amy Winehouse, English soccer player David Beckham, tennis player Andy Murray, racing driver Lewis Hamilton and a trio of American Idol champions: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and David Cook.

ABBA, known for a string of 1970s and early 1980s hits such as Waterloo, Dancing Queen and Take A Chance On Me, split up in 1982.

“Our fans around the world are always asking us to reform and so I hope this new ABBA creation will excite them as much as it excites me!” Lyngstad said in a statement.

Further details of the collaboration will be announced next year.