ABBA not planning to reunite

LONDON, July 7 (UPI) -- Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson said their Swedish pop group ABBA has no plans to perform together again.

The group disbanded in 1982 but never formally announced its members were going their separate ways.

"Mamma Mia," a stage musical inspired by ABBA's 1970s and 1980s-era songbook, has been wildly popular with fans around the world in recent years and a star-studded new film version of the show is set for release this summer.

The BBC quoted Ulveus and Andersson as saying there is "simply no motivation to regroup" and insisting the band doesn't intend to ever perform together again.

"We would like people to remember us as we were -- young, exuberant and full of ambition," Ulvaeus told The Sunday Telegraph. "I remember Robert Plant saying Led Zeppelin were a covers band now because they cover all their own stuff. I think that hit the nail on the head."

Andersson told the newspaper he is surprised the group's songs have remained popular for so long.

"You know what pop music is. It is there for the time it actually happens. We were absolutely dead sure it would be the same for us," he told The Sunday Telegraph.