Benny Andersson, working as producer, songwriter, and keyboardist, partnered with ABBA colleague Björn Ulvaeus to shape the Swedish quartet’s major 1970s successes. ABBA’s recordings display clear echoes of Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and the Beach Boys in their stacked vocal harmonies, a resemblance traceable to Andersson’s stated preference for the American ensemble.
Born December 16, 1946, in Stockholm, Andersson grew up surrounded by accordion players, an influence that prompted him to take up the instrument during childhood. After encountering Elvis Presley he joined rock groups, then left a custodial post—rather than enter his father’s construction trade—to serve as pianist for the Hep Stars. The band’s first release, 1965’s We and Are Cadillac, preceded fifteen Swedish chart entries, one of which was Andersson’s own composition “Sunny Girl.” Time spent in recording studios soon deepened his interest in production.
He subsequently met songwriter, guitarist, and producer Björn Ulvaeus; together they issued the 1970 album Lycka. The pair recruited their respective partners, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog, for the single “People Need Love,” which became a hit and led to the 1974 formation of Bjorn & Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frida, later renamed ABBA. The group’s Eurovision Song Contest performance of “Waterloo” captured first prize, and the Atlantic Records single, aided by the broadcast, reached number six on Billboard’s pop chart in summer 1974.
Further ABBA singles that charted included “S.O.S.,” “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do,” “Mamma Mia,” “Fernando” (number one adult contemporary), the shimmering million-selling “Dancing Queen” (number one pop), “Knowing Me Knowing You,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Name of the Game,” the gold-certified “Take a Chance on Me” (number three pop), and “Does Your Mother Know.” Their final major success came with “The Winner Takes It All” (number eight pop, number one adult contemporary). Leading albums comprised the gold Arrival (early 1977), the platinum The Album (“Take a Chance on Me”) from 1978, the gold Voulez-Vous (summer 1979), the gold Super Trouper (late 1980), and The Visitors (early 1982).
After ABBA disbanded in 1982, Andersson maintained his songwriting partnership with Ulvaeus. They joined lyricist Tim Rice on the acclaimed Broadway musical Chess, whose Cold War chess-match narrative and American-Russian love triangle generated both commercial and critical success, a cast album, and several Tony Award nominations. Murray Head’s recording of “One Night in Bangkok” from the show hit number one in the U.K. and number three in the U.S.
Andersson subsequently produced sessions for the duo Gemini, the pop ensemble Ainbusk, and the folk outfit Orsa Spelman. His debut solo album, Klinga Mina Klockor, arrived in 1987 and mixed folk, classical, and pop textures. A second solo folk collection, November 1989, followed two years later. He again collaborated with Ulvaeus, supplying many songs for Josefin Nilsson’s 1993 album Shapes. In 1995 he premiered the long-gestating Swedish-language musical Kristina Fran Duvemala Moberg, an epic drawn from Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emigrants novels.
During the 1990s Andersson and Ulvaeus helped shape the musical Mamma Mia!. Written by British playwright Catherine Johnson and built around ABBA’s catalog, the show opened in 1999 on London’s West End and enjoyed immediate popularity, running more than a decade in both London and on Broadway while reviving public interest in the group. Meryl Streep starred in a popular 2008 film adaptation.
As a solo artist Andersson performs regularly with Benny Andersson's Orkester (BAO), which has produced several hits and albums including the self-titled 2001 release, 2004’s BAO!, 2007’s BAO 3, and 2011’s O Klang Och Jubeltid. He also composed the score for the 2012 Swedish documentary Palme. In 2013 he rejoined Ulvaeus, this time working with writer Kristina Lugn on the theatrical production Hjalp Sokes. 2016 brought Mitt Hjarta Klappar for Dig with BAO.
The instrumental album Piano appeared on Deutsche Grammophon in 2017. Recorded with engineer Linn Fijal at RMV Studios on Stockholm’s Skeppsholmen island, it offered solo-piano versions of selections drawn from throughout Andersson’s career.
