Ola, we hardly knew ya

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/17/wabba217.xml

The drummer of Swedish pop group Abba has been found dead with his throat cut in an apparent accident at his home on the island of Majorca.

	Abba shot to international fame after winning the Eurovision song contest with the song Waterloo in 1974

Police investigating the death of Ola Brunkert, 61, believe he may have fallen through a glass door in his kitchen wounding his neck on a shard of glass.

He then apparently tried to leave the house to seek help but collapsed in the garden and bled to death.

His body was discovered in the garden of his villa in Arta on the island's northeastern coast by a neighbour at around 8pm on Sunday.

A police spokesman said it seemed likely that his death was the result of a tragic accident but investigators have not ruled anything out.

"All the indications are that this was a tragic accident," said a spokesman for the Civil Guard.

"A glass door in the kitchen of the house was shattered and it appears that this man fell through the door. He then managed to get out into the garden where he died."

Mr Brunkert lived alone and there was no sign of a break in, police said.

"The investigation is still continuing and nothing has been ruled out. We are waiting for the results of the autopsy to confirm whether he died from the cut to his neck."

Mr Brunkert, who was originally from Stockholm, was a session musician with pop sensation Abba in the 1970s and early 1980s.

He worked on all the group's albums and performed on tour with them. He retired to the island of Majorca several years ago and was a member of a local jazz band.

Abba's four singers Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad leapt onto the international music scene after performing their song Waterloo in the 1974 Eurovision song contest.

They went on to have hits with Money, Money, Money, Fernando and Dancing Queen and have sold over 350 million records worldwide. Despite breaking up in the mid 1980s the band still sells between two and three million albums a year.