ABBA's longtime guitarist collaborator dies

Swedish guitarist Lasse Wellander, who collaborated with the iconic pop band ABBA for decades, died on Friday April 7 after a battle with cancer.

"It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep," a statement posted to his Facebook account on Sunday read. "You were an amazing musician and humble as few, but above all you were a wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather."

Lasse Wellander first worked with ABBA's four leading members — Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson — as a guitarist in 1974. He toured with the group and played on 24 of the band's songs, including hits such as "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "Take a Chance on Me," and "Voulez-Vous."

"Lasse was a dear friend, a fun guy and a superb guitarist,” ABBA said in a statement to CNN Monday. The band also cited the importance of his creative input in the recording studio and his "rock solid" guitar work on stage.

Wellander's long history with the band also included collaborating on the soundtrack for the 2008 movie adaptation of the long-running musical "Mamma Mia!" which features ABBA hits.

Most recently Wellander played on the band's comeback album, "Voyage" which was released in 2021 and nominated for a Grammy.

In 2018, Wellander was honored with a special award for his work as a session musician, given out by the Swedish Musician Union.