ABBA - B is for Benny Andersson
Benny Andersson was born on 16th December 1946 in Vallinby, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. Benny first learned to play the accordian at 6. Due to his natural talent he was then bought a piano when he was 10.
Benny left school at 15 with no exams. He performed from an early at at local youth clubs. Benny soon got engaged to Christina Gronwell, and on 20th August 1963 Peter was born. Benny worked as a Janitor during the day to support his family and played keyboards in a band called 'Elverts Spelmanslad'. Later when the band needed a lift and were helped out by 'The Hep Stars' lead singer, Benny impressed the band so much with his keyboard skills that when they needed a keyboard player they asked Benny in October 1964. Christina and Benny had a baby girl, Helene, on 25th June 1965. By this time 'The Hep Stars' had become famous in Sweden and Benny had become an integral part of their composing team, composing many of their hits himself (one of them 'Sunny Girl' reaching the top of the Swedish charts). This created a strain on his home life and this resulted in Benny and Christina seperating.
Due to some bad deals and financial ventures Benny lost a lot of money at this time and appeared in court over tax debts in 1968 and 1969. To pay off these debts Benny signed over all the royalties to his songs to the Inland Revenue.
Benny met Bjorn whilst touring and they began writing together immediately. The first song they wrote together being 'Isn't It Easy' in 1969. They also composed 'She's My Kind Of Girl' which was realised by them and became a big hit in Japan. During this time he also met Anni-Frid Lyngstad, a popular solo singler. Post ABBA Benny has worked with Bjorn on many ventures including Musicals (Chess and Mamma Mia) and has produced some artists (Gemini etc) and still writes and performs.
