Andersson,
Benny Bror Goran (18th December 1946-Present)
He
was born in Stockholm, Sweden.When he was six he was given an
accordion and played Swedish folksongs with his father and
grandfather.He took
piano lessons when he was ten but said he found them boring.He left school at 15 and worked at
his father's factory, performing in youth clubs in the evening.He and his girlfriend, who never
married, had two children, Peter and Helen.In 1964 he joined the group Hep Stars and wrote
their no. 1 hit "Sunny Girl".He was a member of ABBA as well as the
joint composer of the group with Bjorn
Ulvaeus who he had already been working with previously.He met Anna-Frid
Lyngstad, who was also an ABBA member, in
1969 and after a 9-year engagement they married in 1978, divorcing in
1981.One week
after their divorce in November 1981 he married Mona Norklit who was
a Swedish TV presenter and would later write songs with his new
brother-in-law Mats
Norklit
.Their son Ludvig
was born in January 1982. He has created the musicals Chess, Kristina fran
Duvemala and Mamma Mia with Bjorn
Ulvaeus .He was nominated
for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music, for Chess, and a Tony for Best Orchestration for Mamma Mia.He has been nominated for six Grammy awards, winning
four. Together with Bjorn
Ulvaeus he was awarded the Ivor Novello Prize.He has also been given an honorary
professorship by the Swedish government.He is an advocate of the Swedish traditional folk
music and still plays the accordion.Now he mostly plays with his band Benny Andersson's Orkester.
