The 72-year-old singer compares the band to her once controlling marriage to the late Sonny Bono.
Cher is getting candid about life in the '70s.
In a new interview with The New York Times, the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star compares her once controlling marriage to the late Sonny Bono to how the ladies of ABBA -- Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog -- were "used" to make music.
As many of her fans may recall, Cher was married to Sonny (who died in January 1998) from 1964 to 1975. Known as "Sonny & Cher," the two performed together as a folk rock duo throughout the '60s and '70s, with hits like "Baby Don't Go" and "I Got You Babe."
Speaking of their early start, Cher says she didn't realize she was "going to get bossed" around so much, "but that’s the way Sonny was. He was a Sicilian man of his generation."
It was around the same time when they got divorced that ABBA, a four-member pop group from Sweden, began popping up on the charts, after banding together in 1972.
"I wasn’t a big fan of ABBA in the '70s," admits Cher. "[Frontman] Benny [Andersson] took the girls and used them like instruments."
"Sonny used to do that to me," she continues. "He would carve out a place for them in the songs, and they would fit in that little place. But he didn’t give them space to sing the way they might have wanted to."
Regardless of her thoughts on the band back then, it appears Cher is a big fan of ABBA these days. In addition to starring in the sequel to Mamma Mia this summer, which features ABBA's greatest hits, the 72-year-old singer has created an entire ABBA tribute album.
Titled Dancing Queen, the album features 10 songs, including "Waterloo," "Mamma Mia" and "Fernando," and will be released on Sept. 28.
"I've always liked ABBA and saw the original Mamma Mia musical on Broadway three times,” Cher said in a press release at the time. “After filming Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, I was reminded again of what great and timeless songs they wrote and started thinking 'Why not do an album of their music?'”
Hear more on Cher's role in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again in the video below.
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