Ola Brunkert, one of the former drummers for the Swedish pop group ABBA, has been found dead at his home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.Police said that Brunkert was found dead in his garden by a neighbour Sunday night, with cuts to his neck. An autopsy Monday showed his death was an accident, likely caused by falling through plate glass.

A Civil Guard spokesman said Brunkert appeared to have hit his head and cut his neck on a glass door in the dining room. He had wrapped a towel around his neck and appeared to have been going for help when he collapsed in the garden.

Brunkert, 62, first played with members of ABBA on the group’s first single, People Need Love, created in 1972 before the group was known as ABBA — an acronym based on the first letters of the singers’ given names.

ABBA members Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson toured with Brunkert in 1977, 1979 and 1980, after achieving international recognition at the Eurovision song contest and with the hit song S.O.S.

Brunkert was drummer and Rutger Gunnarsson played bass on all of ABBA’s albums, which continue to sell close to three million records a year.

The band split in 1982, but their success continued with the hit musical Mamma Mia and U2’s rendition of their Dancing Queen. I have been a big Abba fan ever since seeing the movie Muriel’s Wedding, sorry to see him go, especially this way.

Veteran music star Barry Manilow has pulled out of an appearance on a US TV talk show because he disagrees with the host’s political views.  Manilow requested not to be interviewed by former reality show star Elisabeth Hasselbeck - known for her conservative views on abortion and the Iraq war.

The singer, a fundraiser for the Democrat party, said on his website: “I cannot compromise my beliefs.”  He was set to promote his new album, The Greatest Songs of the Seventies.  “I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled,” the star wrote.

“I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy [Behar], Barbara [Walters] or Whoopi [Goldberg] but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  “Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out,” he continued.

It has been reported that the 64-year-old singer has donated money to the presidential campaigns of Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and John Edwards, as well as Ron Paul, a maverick Texas Republican.  Manilow, who has appeared on The View twice in the past year with Hasselbeck present, said: “It’s really too bad, because I’ve always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs.  “The good news is I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album, so I hope you can catch me on those.”  I really love this guy I just wish he would use less make-up.