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Sven-Olof Walldoff, ABBA conductor, passed away

10 June 2011 at 19:55 CEST

In one of the classic moments of the Eurovision Song Contest, an orchestra conductor made his way to the podium of the orchestra dressed as Napoleon. The song he was about to conduct was named Waterloo and talked about a girl who surrenders to love as the French Emperor surrendered at the battle of Waterloo.

The song was of course performed by ABBA and the name of the conductor in disguise was Sven-Olof Walldoff. We just received the news that the musician, composer and conductor died when he was 82 years-old.

Sven-Olof was born in 1929 in Lerbäck, a small village in Sweden, and had been active with music since the 50s. At the time of his death he lived in the Masthugget suburb in Gothenburg

He is mostly remembered for being the conductor of the first Swedish victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. He made more collaborations with ABBA, especially during their work on the Ring Ring album.