Benny Andersson

Benny Andersson was born in 1946 outside of Stockholm, Sweden. His father and grandfather both being musicians, Benny was introduced to the accordion at an early age. With little patience for conventional music lessons, Benny is known to pick up just about any instrument and play it with ease.

After he left high school, he was invited to become a part of the popular Swedish beat group The Hepstars, with whom he played for several successful years until the band disbanded in the late 1960s. While touring with the band, he met another young songwriter named Björn Ulvaeus, and the two released their own LP after the breakup of The Hepstars. They were soon joined by their girlfriends, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog, in a touring act "Festfolket", which was not much of a success. This foursome would, however, find international stardom and astounding success under the moniker ABBA. During his years with ABBA, Benny co-wrote and co-produced the band's entire output as well as touring the world. After the band split he, along with Björn, wrote the music for Tim Rice's "Chess", which was a huge success. In recent years, Benny has divided his time between producing (for such successful Swedish performers as Josefin Nilsson) and his love for birds. More success followed with the premiere of he and Björn's latest musical, "Kristina från Duvemåla".

6th April 1974: As a member of ABBA, he won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, in 1974, with the song "Waterloo".

In 1998, he was awarded Sweden's Royal Order of the Seraphim by Konung 'King Carl XVI Gustaf'.

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Best New Musical for "Mamma Mia!", based on the music of ABBA.

In 2002 he was appointed Professor by the Swedish government.

He and his wife Mona were marriage witnesses when Tommy Körberg was secretly married to Ann-Charlotte Nilsson in a church in Trosa on 14 June 2007.