Swedish band ABBA’s longtime manager Görel Hanser has died at 76. “It is with deepest sorrow we announce the passing of Görel Hanser. We have lost our most loved friend and closest colleague,” the band wrote in a statement posted on their Instagram on Saturday, alongside a black-and-white image of Hanser. “The loss is immeasurable. We ask that you respect our privacy in this time of grief.” Band members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Frida Lyngstad signed the joint statement. They did not share a cause of death. Hanser worked with the band as part of their record label before their big break in 1974, when they won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden. She later became their personal manager during the height of their popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. The band even wrote a song to celebrate her 30th birthday in 1970, titled “Sång Till Görel.” Often called the “fifth member” of the band, she received a Swedish Grammy in 2018 for her role in catapulting ABBA to icon status. The band was one of the biggest of the 20th Century, selling 400 million records, and contributing music to the box-office hit film and musical, Mamma Mia.
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