ABBA drummer dies in tragic accident

PALMA
THE former drummer with Swedish pop group ABBA, Ola Brunkert, was found dead in his home in Arta on Sunday night.
The 61-year-old, who lived alone, died after accidentally falling through a window, according to the Guardia Civil.
The police were called to the house after a neighbour raised the alarm.
They discovered Brunkert in a pool of blood in his garden with a wound to his throat.
An autopsy carried out yesterday confirmed the accidental nature of the death.
It is believed the Swedish musician accidentally crashed through a pane of glass.
He had wrapped his throat with a towel and had gone into the garden to summon help before collapsing.
Brunkert was born on 16 December, 1946, in Örebro, Sweden.
He started out as a jazz drummer but was also a member of a blues group for a while before joining Science Poption in the mid-1960s.
By the 1970s he was working as a session musician. He played on ABBA's first single, People Need Love, released in June 1972, and is believed to be the only session musician who appeared on all ABBA's albums between 1976 and the end of the 1980s.

ABBA, who have sold more than 300 million records worldwide, were best known by the two couples who founded the group, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstand. But Ola Brunkert, alongside bassist Rutger Gunnarsson, were key supporting musicians.

Brunkert toured with the group at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s during their heyday.
ABBA, despite not having played together since 1982, still sells about 3 million albums a year.
Brunkert moved to Majorca 20 years ago with his wife Inger.
Both Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus led tributes to Brunkert yesterday. Andersson described his death as “tragic”. Ulvaeus said the drummer had been “one of the best”. “He was a very creative musician who contribued a lot when we toured together and worked in the studio,” Ulvaeus told a Swedish newspaper.
He added that Brunkert was especially important to the group in their early years. “It's very sad,” he said, adding that Brunkert was a “good friend”.