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Benny Andersson Net Worth
Benny Andersson in 2022 has estimated net worth of up to $230 Million.
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Full Biography of Benny Andersson
ABBA member Benny Andersson became famous not only as a keyboard player, but also as a talented composer and author of popular musicals. After the collapse of the team, he did not go into oblivion but built a successful career.
Childhood and youth
Göran Brur Benny Andersson was born on December 16, 1946 on the eastern shores of Lake Mälaren in Stockholm. After 4 years, Yosta and Laila gave their son a sister, who was named Eva-Fox.
Benny Andersson grew up in a musical family: his father and grandfather played the accordion and occasionally performed. When the boy was 6 years old, he got his own instrument. Thanks to his innate talent, he independently mastered playing the hand harmonica and two years later he first went on stage with his father and grandfather.
As a child, Benny Andersson attended a music school in piano. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and began performing in clubs.
Andersson was brought up on Swedish folk music and popular hits. Albums by Italian singer Caterina Valente Du bist Musik and Elvis Presley‘s Jailhouse Rock became the first records in Benny’s music collection.
Music
In 1964, Benny Andersson’s musical career began. Together with his girlfriend Christina Grönwall, he began to perform in the group “People’s Ensemble of the Electric Shield”. The ironic name of the group was not chosen by chance: the participants wanted to focus on incongruous, at first glance, things – folklore and electronic instruments. The group’s repertoire mainly included instrumental music.
In 1964, Hep Stars founder Lennart Hägland invited Andersson to join the band, which already included vocalist Sven Hedlund, guitarist Janne Frisk and drummer Christer Pettersson. The team mainly performed cover versions of hits by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and other legends of rock and rock and roll.
However, the following year, the pop group released their own song Cadillac. The record quickly broke into the music charts, and Hep Stars became the favorite boy band of the Swedish youth. The keyboardist wrote the songs Sunny Girl, No Response, Wedding, Consolation for the band – they all became hits in their homeland.
Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus met in June 1966 and began writing songs together. Isn’t It Easy To Say was their debut track.
No less fruitful was Benny’s collaboration with Lasse Berghagen. The creators wrote the song Hej, Clown, which took 2nd place in the annual Swedish song contest Melodifestivalen.
During the musical competition, Andersson’s fateful acquaintance with Anni-Frid Lingstad took place , which resulted in a stormy romance. And Bjorn Ulvaeus fell in love with the singer Agneta Fältskog. True, at that time there was no talk of any group.
Ulvaeus and Andersson were still in the author’s duet and tried new voices and arrangements. Once they asked Anni-Frid and Agneta to sing the song People Need Love. The result exceeded expectations, and in 1972 the quartet Björn & Benny Andersson, Agnetha & Frida released it as a single.
The composition hit the music charts not only at home, but also in the United States. So the musicians realized that they were moving in the right direction, and founded a pop group called ABBA.
In 1974, the Swedish band Waterloo won the Eurovision Song Contest and thus paved the way for world fame. Over the 10 years of its existence, ABBA has released 8 studio albums, which have sold over 350 million copies worldwide.
After the collapse of the group, Benny Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote the music for the musical “Chess” about the duel between Russian and American chess players. The lyrics were written by Tim Rice. To feel the Soviet atmosphere, the creators of the project came to Moscow and met Alla Pugacheva.
The authors offered Prima Donna to play a minor role as the wife of a Russian chess player, but she refused. Against all odds, the London version of the musical played to a full house and received positive reviews. A couple of years later, the American version of Chess was staged on Broadway, but the production failed miserably.
In the late eighties, Benny Andersson focused on a solo biography and released the first album, Klinga Mina Klockor. The Swedish composer wrote the music and performed it himself on the accordion. The folk group Orsa Spelmän also joined the recording of the album, playing violin parts.
In the early nineties, Benny Andersson created several hits for the cabaret group Ainbusk. In 1992, he wrote the soundtrack for the European Football Championship, which took place in Sweden.
Since the late 1980s, Benny Andersson has been working on the idea of a music in Swedish based on his love of traditional folk music. In October 1995, Christina of Duvemola premiered in Sweden.
Based on the songs of ABBA, the musical Mamma Mia! successfully went around the world – from New York to Osaka. In 2008, a melodrama of the same name was released starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.
The film adaptation became the most successful musical film of all time and the best-selling DVD in the UK. In 2017, the composer released the album Piano, which included compositions written by him throughout his life.
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Personal life
Benny Andersson’s first attempt to arrange a personal life happened in his youth. With Christina Grönwall, he played together in the group “Folk Ensemble of the Electric Shield”. In 1962, the friend gave the musician their first child, who was named Peter.
Three years later, the couple welcomed a daughter, Helen. The children took their mother’s surname. The birth of a second child did not save the relationship, and in 1966 the couple broke up.
For 12 years, the name of Benny Andersson was associated with the lead singer of the ABBA group, Anni-Frid Lingstad. The lovers were in no hurry to go down the aisle and just enjoyed each other.
However, after 9 years, they nevertheless decided to formalize the relationship. The wedding took place on October 6, 1978, but after only two years the couple separated and finally divorced in 1981.
The attractive musician, 177cm tall, did not grieve alone for long and in the same year married Mona Norklit, who was expecting a child from him. The lovers signed in November 1981, and already at the beginning of 1982 their son Ludwig was born.
Andersson’s sons inherited their father’s musical talent. Peter Grönwall formed Sound of Music (later One More Time). Ludwig also followed the path taken by relatives and founded the Ella Rouge team.
From his youth, Benny Andersson suffered from alcohol addiction, but hid the disease from the public. Only in 2011, the artist admitted that at that time he had not consumed alcohol for 10 years and now continues to adhere to a sober lifestyle.
Benny Andersson now
In 2021, ABBA returned to the stage after a hiatus of 39 years. On September 2, the musicians presented the ABBA Voyage music program.
The announcement of the project and photos appeared on the team’s Instagram account. In addition, the group started a TikTok account.
Benny Andersson Discography
With Hep Stars:
- 1965 – We and our Cadillac
- 1965 – Hep Stars on stage
- 1966 – The Hepstars
With the ABBA group:
- 1973 – Ring Ring
- 1974 Waterloo
- 1975 – ABBA
- 1976 – Arrival
- 1977 – The Album
- 1979 – Voulez-Vous
- 1980 Super Trouper
- 1981 – The Visitors
With Bjorn Ulvaeus:
- 1970 – Lycka
- 1984 Chess
- 1996 – Kristina från Duvemåla
- 1998 – Från Waterloo till Duvemåla
- 1999 – Mamma Mia!
- 2013 – Hjalp Sokes
With the Gemini group:
- 1985 – Gemini
- 1987 – Geminism
Solo albums:
- 1987 – Klinga mina klockor
- 1989 – November 1989
- 2017 – Piano
With the Benny Anderssons Orchestra:
- 2001 – Benny Anderssons Orchestra
- 2004 – BAO!
- 2007 – BAO 3
- 2011 – O Klang Och Jubeltid
- 2012 – Tomten har åkt hem
- 2016 – Mitt Hjärta Klappar For Dig
Interesting Facts about Benny Andersson
- Suzy-Hang-Around is the only ABBA song to feature Benny Andersson singing. He also became a lyricist.
- The working title of the Waterloo song is Honey Pie. The Beatles had a composition with the same name at that time.
- Andersson’s song “Happy Svante Day” is very popular in Denmark.
- Few people know how the member of the ABBA group looked without a beard, because it has long become his signature style.
