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ABBA's longtime guitarist collaborator dies

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Deutsche Welle

Swedish guitarist Lasse Wellander, who collaborated with the iconic pop band ABBA for decades, died on Friday April 7 after a battle with cancer.&quot;It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep,&quot; a statement posted to his Facebook account on Sunday read. &quot;You were an amazing musician and humble as few, but above all you were a wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather.&quot;Lasse Wellander first worked with ABBA&#x27;s four leading members — Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson — as a guitarist in 1974. He toured with the group and played on 24 of the band&#x27;s songs, including hits such as &quot;Knowing Me, Knowing You,&quot; &quot;Take a Chance on Me,&quot; and &quot;Voulez-Vous.&quot;&quot;Lasse was a dear friend, a fun guy and a superb guitarist,” ABBA said in a statement to CNN Monday. The band also cited the importance of his creative input in the recording studio and his &quot;rock solid&quot; guitar work on stage.Wellander&#x27;s long history with the band also included collaborating on the soundtrack for the 2008 movie adaptation of the long-running musical &quot;Mamma Mia!&quot; which features ABBA hits.Most recently Wellander played on the band&#x27;s comeback album, &quot;Voyage&quot; which was released in 2021 and nominated for a Grammy.In 2018, Wellander was honored with a special award for his work as a session musician, given out by the Swedish Musician Union.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/09/03/21/abba-announces-first-new-album-in-40-years">Here they go again: ABBA announces first new album in 40 years</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/11/05/21/abba-returns-with-new-album-after-40-year-hiatus">ABBA returns with new album since 1982 split</a></li></ul>

Lasse Wellander played with the Swedish pop band on some of their most significant tracks. He died aged 70.	