Vicky in ARRIVAL: This article appeared in the magazine Amelia: Thanks to ABBAMAILer Linda Granqvist, Stockholm Sweden In the 70s every little girl was miming to ABBA. Most of them stopped after a while. But not Vicky Zetterberg, 38 years old. She had a dream - and with her band ARRIVAL she has made it come true. Their ABBA-show has made success in many places outside Sweden. But the way to success was long. The year was 1968 and a six years old Vicky Zetterberg was staring enchanted at the stage where Agnetha Fältskog was performing. - The voice, the charisma, the 3 miles long hair: she became my idol at once. I got her first record and listened to it again and again. And when ABBA hitted the whole group became role models for me. I knew every line of lyrics by heart and I learned to imitate both Agnetha's and Frida's voices. I was singing their songs all the time at home tells Vicky. And not only at home. Vicky staged her first ABBA show in 1976 in the main hall of her school Järnbrottsskolan in Västra Frölunda outside Göteborg. -I knew directly that this was what I wanted to do. During the coming years Vicky was heading with determination towards her goal: a career in music. Thousands of kronor were invested in lessons in singing, music and theatre. At the same time she was singing in several bands around the Göteborg area. One of my teachers said that I was definitely a ballad singer. And that was a little bit hard to hear for a rock girl like me who was listening to Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Nina Hagen. Vicky heard but decided not to listen to her teacher. -During these days my mother was one of my biggest supporters. She was encouraging me all the time and telling me to take singing serious. She was an opera singer who had been forced to abort her career because of knots on her vocal cords. Then she became ill with severe cancer. Just before she died I promised to make her and mine dream come true: to really put my mind and my heart in music. But this proved to be everything but easy. Vicky managed to get married, become a mother, divorce and study to become a market economist. Then she got struma. Fist she had to put her singing to the side because lack of time, and would her illness now force her to have surgery on her vocal cords and risking her voice? Vicky was lucky: she got rid of her struma and could go on singing. And she did nightclub performances and some shows for companies. - And many many hours in the rehearsal rooms. The hard work paid off. It started with an add where Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus was looking for a singer to their new musical "Kristina från Duvemåla". - I didn't get any of the roles but that became my luck. It was after an audition for Björn and Benny that I decided to make my dream come true and to stage my own ABBA show. Some phone calls to friends that were musicians was all that was needed. - They were in from the start! We started to rehearse songs, had dresses made, got the permissions we needed and studied every ABBA video until we knew every gesture, every step. Me and Caroline, who is Agnetha in the Show, sang for hours until we sounded just like Agnetha and Frida. The show was named ARRIVAL and was staged at the theatre Göteborgs Stadsteater. It soon became a success and critics and audience agreed: the ARRIVAL gang really sounded like ABBA. And Vicky saw her chance to make another dream come true: to make a record. - We made a demo tape which we mailed to Björn and Benny and to the bass player of ABBA: Rutger Gunnarsson. Rutger called us the same day and said that if we wanted to make a record he would like to produce it. That was a step in the right direction, so I called Björn and Benny to ask for permission to record the previously unreleased ABBA song "Just a notion", tells Vicky. They got the permission and soon the band found themselves inside a studio with Rutger Gunnarsson in the driver's seat. During the recordings Torgny Söderberg, the man behind acts like Carola, Lena Philipsson and Arvingarna happened to step through the door. He liked what he heard and suddenly the group had a record contract. - It was absolutely incredible! We were permitted to record a complete CD with ABBA-songs and now we are waiting to release the record. Probably in the whole world. That the album is being released internationally has to do with the fact that ARRIVAL has had big success around the world. Last autumn the band performed in China together with Robert Wells and this autumn they are going back for a tour. And when they performed in Vietnam they were celebrated as the new ABBA. - They treated us like we were ABBA, we got to ride in a parade in a limousine through Saigon and they had hang up hand painted banners with pictures of us all over the city. We got luxury suites at the hotel and a TV-team was following us all the time, just like in China. ABBA has incredible fans! In the middle of a tour the police called and told me that they had found my second oldest brother dead. Without the support from my other two brothers I would never have made it through the mourning. I got a throat disease and problems with my voice, tells Vicky. Yet another time her dream was endangered. -During a log time I sorted love out of my life. I thought it was too late to experience it for real again and choose to put the priority on my career. A boyfriend demanded that I had to chose between him and the music. Well that was a simple choice, I told him and choose music. But then last autumn it happened all the same. Suddenly he was there in front of me, the man I had waited for so many years. The man I didn't believe existed. He is a dream come true. He too. And what music taught me. is that this was a dream coming true because I was putting everything at stake. And I'm gonna do that this time too. The success factors of Vicky: 1. Dare to grab the opportunities. Dreams seldom come true by themselves. You have to work for them to happen and don't be afraid to grab the opportunities. 2. Take your dream under serious considerations. My mum used to say "Do it for real or don't do it at all". If you don't believe in your own dream - who is gonna do it? 3. You can't be liked by everyone. But you can be met with respect. Dare to be hard and stand up for yourself, and you'll win both respect and real friends. 4. Success cost time, money and engagement. (do I hear the dance teacher in Fame here / Linda's note) There are no free lunches. Be active. Search connections, show interest - you are the one who are sawing the seeds of success. 5. Time is something you take. Not something that hopefully will be left over one day. Put the priority where your dreams are and make large plans. 6. You are never to old. I was 34 when we staged ARRIVAL. I'm putting together songs for m first solo album now at 38 years old. Too late does not exist. Facts: Name: Vicky Zetterberg Age: 38 Family: her son Victor, her boyfriend Hans who she doesn't live together with and his 3 sons and her cat Elvis Lives: In Västra Frölunda outside Göteborg Right now: She is Frida in the ABBA cover group ARRIVAL, which tours all over the world. They are going to China this autumn and they have a record in the can with ABBA covers and some more unreleased ABBA stuff The ABBA song that is most fun to sing: I wonder (departure) What she listen to at home: Hard rock like Deep Purple and Nina Hagen (Nina Hagen hard rock??? Linda's note) About being so much of a Frida lookalike: That is not a bad compliment. Frida was both sexy and good locking in a very mature way. And she sang like a goddess. These days I feel "at home" in my role as Frida, so much that my normal singing voice has been affected. About success: It's not about becoming famous, but about becoming acknowledged. That's what I'm fighting for. ARRIVAL is not a cover band, when we go on stage we are casting ABBA. By Camilla Forsman / Amelia (May 2000) .