Musician Mark Thomas was only 10 when Abba won the Eurovision song contest in 1974, catapulting the group on to the world stage.
Now more than 30 years later Thomas lives and breathes Abba, or at least he performs as one of the original Abba members Bjorn Ulvaeus, in the highly successful tribute concert to one of the world's most enduringly popular bands.
Thomas spent several years creating Abba Mania before launching it in 2000 and was hopeful it would tour for a couple of years.
Since the first concert the show has become one of the world's favourite tribute acts, among many, to the '70s super group comprising Uvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog.
"The tour never ends," Thomas told NZPA ahead of Abba Mania's first tour of New Zealand.
The success Thomas believes is due to attention to detail.
"I spent an awful long time writing this show. I started writing it in 1998 and played its first show in 2000.
"So we were two years behind closed doors before we played our first performance."
Thomas says the research was extensive, even freeze-framing original concert footage to ensure costumes were recreated authentically.
"We measured the distance between a cuff and a broach.
"We really did spend a lot of time getting the costumes close and any choreography there was the stage set is very much like they did, and an enormous amount of time dissecting the harmonies."
Despite living and breathing Abba he never gets sick of it.
In 2004 they played a live television show in Europe to celebrate 30 years of Abba winning the Eurovision song contest and some of the original musicians were on the show. "Bjorn was there and he closed the show off and was extremely complimentary."
The enduring popularity of Abba means there are always new audiences, a new generation, who want to hear the music.
"If you'd asked me this back in 2000 I thought I'd maybe get two years out of it ... it's still going and this year has been the busiest year so far."
Thomas believes the multi-faceted nature of the show appeals to all ages.
"As a young teenage boy when I first saw the band I can tell you what the appeal was - the girls were very attractive.
"The music is so incredibly well written, the melodies.
"It's a real difficult art form to be able to write the music that the window cleaner can whistle and a musician can find incredibly cleaver and get engaged on that level.
"Somehow, and I don't know how and I don't know if they intended to do it or not, they managed to bridge the gap where I'm still engaged every night despite playing the same songs."
Any ambitions Thomas had to forge his own music career under his own name and music have been quietly put aside.
At 16 Thomas was playing with a band which secured a recording contract, giving him his first taste of living and playing in London.
Moving to London broadened his musical experiences and he performed at prestigious venues, including the London Palladium and the Royal Festival Hall.
However, it was a lifestyle and industry Thomas soon tired of. He developed Abba Mania for people to be able to see the show most found inaccessible when the Swedish group were still performing.
"Abba toured for only two years, 1977 and 1979, only two world tours.
"Most people didn't get a ticket.
"Two million requests for just 5000 seats in the Royal Albert Hall - just off the wall. Australia was even better in the request for tickets.
"The idea is to try to reproduce the show live that they missed."
Thomas says it still astounds him that their show gets six-year-olds knowing all the words.
"It's got massive appeal."
Among the many Abba hits, Thomas says The Winner Takes it All is one of his favourites and Dancing Queen remains a highlight of the show regardless of what country they are performing in.
"Winner Takes It All is my favourite only because I understand the history of what was going on at the time.
"It was written when Bjorn and Agnetha were breaking up and this man went away and wrote these words only for his ex-wife to then sing them passionately.
"If you think of the dynamics of that and what it took, on vinyl, amazing."
Abba Mania plays: Wellington Oct 11, Christchurch Oct 12.
