ABBA pay tribute to long-term guitarist Lasse Wellander

The group said Wellander had played an 'integral role in the ABBA story'

The musician, 70, starred on several of ABBA’s biggest hits and was a key part of their success during the 1970s.

He 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.’

On Monday (April 10), Wellander's family announced he had passed away on Good Friday following a short battle with cancer.

The legendary pop group have since paid tribute to his "musical brilliance", saying that he played "an integral role in the ABBA story."

In a post on social media, ABBA said: "Lasse was a dear friend, a fun guy and a superb guitarist.

"The importance of his creative input in the recording studio as well as his rock solid guitar work on stage was immense.

"We mourn his tragic and premature death and remember the kind words, the sense of humour, the smiling face, the musical brilliance of the man who played such an integral role in the Abba story.

"He will be deeply missed and never forgotten."

Wellander played on all eight of ABBA's studio albums and toured with the group between 1975 and 1980.

Wellander also released several solo albums during his career, the first of which was in 1981, just a year before ABBA’s split. His last solo album, ‘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.

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