On his official Facebook page, his family wrote: “It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has passed away. You were an amazing musician, humble like few, but most of all you were a great husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather. Kind, safe, caring and loving… and so much more that words cannot describe.”
The post, signed by his closest Lena, Ludvig and Andréas, ended with the words: “We love you and miss you so much”.
Wellander began his musical career as a child with a guitar in the early 1960s. He began recording with ABBA in October 1974 and became their lead guitarist when they won the Eurovision Song Contest. He gave concerts with her between 1975 and 1980.
In 2007, he assisted at the Atlantis studio in Stockholm during the recording of the soundtrack for the film Mamma Mia! starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Amanda Seyfried.
“Atlantis is the former Metronome Studio, where many of ABBA’s songs were recorded before Polar Studios was established in 1979, where they recorded afterwards. So it was a real déjà vu when I returned to the scene after twenty-five years to re-record the band’s songs,” he said at the time.
In 2021, Wellander also participated in the recording of ABBA’s last album to date called Voyage. He also released seven solo albums. His last three singles were released in 2022.
