AUCTION-SOTHEBYS/ABBA ABBA piano looking to raise money, money, money at auction

Record ID: 140628

  • Title: AUCTION-SOTHEBYS/ABBA ABBA piano looking to raise money, money, money at auction
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BAND POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS / CAMERAS BAND BOWING PIANO EXTERIOR OF SOTHEBY'S PAN DOWN OF SOTHEBY'S EXTERIOR
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADMQVPCJSG6RXZ14MTQEYGS19Q
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The piano used to play the glissando that kicks off ABBA's eternal hit "Dancing Queen" will be one of the star attractions at a rock and pop auction at Sotheby's on September 29 where it is expected to sell for between 600,000-800,000 pounds.
    The instrument was designed by Swedish instrument-maker Georg Bolin and comes from the collection of Atlantis Grammofon, formerly known as Metronome Studios, in Stockholm where ABBA recorded the disco hit that was released in 1976, and other songs.
    "It was used by ABBA on their first five studio recordings, so there are some significant ABBA number one hits, those songs which we all know, which were recorded on this very instrument. So, 'Mamma Mia', 'Dancing Queen', 'S.O.S.', 'Waterloo', it was this instrument that you hear when you hear those recordings," explained Sotheby's specialist in books and manuscripts, Philip Errington, at the piano's unveiling on Thursday (August 27).
    The ABBA tribute act Bjorn Again showcased the piano, performing the band's best known hits.
    "This is the piano that was in the recording studio which ABBA used. It's come from Stockholm. It's been there ever since. It's being sold by the recording studio and it is known, and has been known for many years as the 'ABBA Piano'," Errington said.
    The instrument comes with a certificate of authentication by ABBA's co-founder Benny Andersson, who in a statement declared: "The Bolin Grand, one of a kind and a great source of inspiration while working in the recording studio during the ABBA sessions".
    Bolin's piano was built for the American jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans, who died in 1980. It was described in the New York Times in 1964 as a "Space-Age piano" that "gives the pianist the sensation of playing 'directly on the strings' as a guitarist would", Sotheby's said.
    Sotheby's said that John Lennon's Steinway upright piano, on which he composed "Imagine" sold for 1.67 million pounds in 2000 while the upright piano used for the scenes set in in Rick's Cafe in the movie "Casablanca" sold in 2014 for $3.4 million.
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