Benny Andersson

Göran Bror Benny Andersson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈbɛnːʏ ²anːdɛˌʂɔn]; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer, member of the Swedish music group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!. For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia!, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.\n', ' Göran Bror Benny Andersson was born in the Vasastan district of Stockholm, to civil engineer Gösta Andersson (1912–1973) and his wife Laila (1920–1971). His sister Eva-Lis Andersson followed in 1948. Andersson\'s musical background comes from his father and grandfather; they both enjoyed playing the accordion, and at six, Benny got his own. Father Gösta and grandfather Efraim taught him Swedish folk music, traditional music, and the odd schlager. Benny recalls the first records he bought were "Du Bist Musik" by Italian schlager singer Caterina Valente and Elvis Presley\'s "Jailhouse Rock". He was especially impressed by the flip side "Treat Me Nice" as this featured a piano. This variety of different kinds of music was to influence and follow him through the years.\n', ' When Andersson was ten he got his own piano, and taught himself to play. He left school aged 15 and began to perform at youth clubs. This is when he met his first girlfriend Christina Grönvall, with whom he had two children: Peter (born 1963) and Heléne (born 1965). In early 1964, Benny and Christina joined "Elverkets Spelmanslag" ("The Electricity Board Folk Music Group"), the name was a punning reference to their electric instruments. The repertoire was mainly instrumentals, one of his numbers was "Baby Elephant Walk", and he wrote his first songs.\n', '