2. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Andersson's musical background comes basically from his father and grandfather. Both father and grandfather taught him Swedish folk music, traditional music, and the odd schlager. When Andersson was 10, he got his own piano and taught himself to play. He left school at age 15 and began to perform at youth clubs. In early 1964, Andersson joined a group with the odd name, Elverkets Spelmanslag ("The Electricity Board Folk Music Group"). He also wrote his first pieces of songwriting around this time for this band. When Andersson stepped in as the Hep Stars' keyboardist in October 1964, he knew this was what he wanted to do.
3.Andersson met Björn Ulvaeus in June 1966, and the two started writing songs together, their first being Isn't It Easy To Say, eventually recorded by the Hep Stars. He also had a fruitful songwriting collaboration with Lasse Berghagen, with whom he wrote several songs and submitted Hej, Clown for the 1969 Melodifestivalen - the Swedish Eurovision Song Festival finals. The song finished in second place. During this contest, Andersson met vocalistAnni-Frid Lyngstad, and they soon got engaged. Around the same time, his songwriting companion, Ulvaeus, met vocalist Agnetha Fältskog.
4. The personal relationships and Andersson and Ulvaeus' songwriting collaboration has led quite naturally to the very close co-operation which the four friends had during the following years. As the two couples began supporting each other during recording sessions, the sound of the girls' voices convinced the songwriters to model their 'group' on the like of MOR acts Blue Mink, Middle of the Road and The Sweet. Thus, ABBA came to life. The foursome's breakthrough came with winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with Waterloo on April 6, 1974. During the next eight years, Andersson (together with Ulvaeus) wrote music to and produced eight studio albums with ABBA. The group achieved great success globally and scored a chain of #1 hits. After ABBA broke up in 1982, Andersson continued writing music with Ulvaeus.
5.Andersson currently performs with his own band of 16 musicians, Benny Anderssons Orkester (BAO), utilising the vocal talents of fellow Swedes Helen Sjöholm (from Kristina from Duvemåla) and Tommy Körberg (of Chess fame), with lyrics to new material sometimes written by Ulvaeus. BAO has released three albums to huge success in Sweden, all containing hit singles. The band usually performs only during the summer months. more... at Chronology
