BIOGRAPHY

I was born in Söderhamn, Sweden 28/4 1956...
Can't say that my childhood was very happy. My father died when I was 4. We (my mother and I) moved around a lot as I remember.
My first passion in life was wild animals and I was fascinated by Africa. Sport never attracted me that much and I tried to avoid it as much as possible. My ball control is zero more or less. In contrary, I loved athletics and weightlifting. I wanted to be a sprinter but my coach talked me into triple jump instead.

My favorite subjects in school were biology, drawing and psychology.
As soon as I got home from school I grabbed my binocular and went to a lake not so far away, popular amongst the local ornithologists. That´s where I grew up, I suppose.

After compulsory school, I spent 1 year studying at an art school quite a long way from home. I was 17 years old and on my own for the first time. I discovered new aspects of myself during that year, both good and bad and my eyes for abstraction were opened. Salvador Dali` soon became my favorite.

Back in Söderhamn, I went three years in upper secondary school studying natural science and I guess that´s when my interest for music started to grow. I discovered Genesis and Yes and some of my friends introduced me to Frank Zappa.
It was the progressive aspect of music that hooked me and I was fascinated in the way Peter Gabriel experimented with his voice and the way Frank arranged his complex music. There seemed to be no limits.
I also loved to listen to coloured singers and soul music. I loved the timber in their voices.

My taste for music has constantly been changing and still does. Today I appreciate Beck, Portishead, Radiohead, The Blue Nile etc…
Funny thing is that Rock and roll has not been included much in my collection. It was more Beatles than Rolling Stones from the beginning. I started to listen to Heavy Metal because of the gig with Madison.

My choice to start singing was the result of a proposal from a friend who heard me sing "opera" taking a leak at the toilet. He had a garage band but the singer was about to quit so we had a little audition, I studied some Status Quo songs and… if it wasn´t for Karl-Algot Svenheden, who knows...

I have met some people on the road though, that from the beginning had a very clear and fixed vision of what they wanted to do, almost obsessed about their idea. You might think Yngwie but one of the very first I accidentally bumped into was another guitar player named Dan Stomberg.

I remember the day and event: 25/10- 81 in Hudiksvall. We were competing against each other in a pop band competition. (Those were the days.)
He played in the winning band called Ail Regal and after the show he immediately looked me up to ask me if I wanted to be part of a new act, together with him and some friends playing in a band called Destiny.
Loyal as I was, and hopefully still am, despite all bad experiences of the ugly music business, I turned the offer down but kept his telephone number just in case. A few years later when nothing had happened with my band (B.B Brain), I called Dan one day and asked if the offer was still on...

This is the initial story about Madison and "Diamond Mistress", the first album I ever recorded. It did not take us long to write the material and get a deal with a Swedish record label called Marianne. The album was released in -84. I was desperately trying to grow my hair longer to fit into the image of Heavy Metal.

After the release the whole band decided to move to the second largest city in Sweden, Gothenburg. We were so full of expectations and ambitions, already writing on a second album.
Anyhow, not much happened to the band. The climax was a short tour in Japan -86 just after the release of our second album "Best in show".
We had changed record company (Sonet) and the line-up was a little different. Michael Myllinen had replaced Dan who quit Madison because of internal problems. Dan had a major influence to the musical direction of the band and when he decided to leave it was practically the end of Madison as I am concerned. This was one of the main reasons why I also quit the band in -87.

Another reason was an audition I made for Vinnie Vincent during the same time. Unfortunately his record company did not agree and picked an American singer instead but one of the songs I recorded for this audition, "Back on the streets", opened other doors in my career.

John Norum heard the song and liked it that much so he decided to make a cover of it on his first solo album "Total control".
When Yngwie Malmsteen needed a singer, he happened to hear the same song and asked John for my number. As you can see, coincidence has been my manager.

Playing with Yngwie was a great experience. I was travelling a lot, unfortunately without being able to see much of the countries I was visiting when the schedule was too tight during the tours.

My major concern was how to make my throat last, playing 5 days in a row for months sometimes, with mainly one day off. To catch a cold would have been a catastrophe so I was eating garlic constantly I remember.
A lot of the lyrics was written on North Miami Beach so I should not complain about the gig. The recording sessions in Criteria Studios in Miami went on for almost half a year each album and I had plenty of spare time.
I was mainly working out and taking scuba diving lessons beside preparing lyrics. Can´t say I was struggling.

That was the 80´s and then came Nirvana...

After Yngwie Malmsteen there has been an endless row of bands and projects:
Glory, Brazen Abbot, Nik Kotzev's Nostradamus, Street Talk, Snake Charmer, Kharma, Karmakanic, Reingold, Johansson Brothers, Benny Jansson and some projects that never were completed unfortunately.

Right now I´m working with four projects that are still not signed to any record label and since I have dedicated my life to music, having no children or family that would be standard for my age, I hope I will have the health to continue for many years from now.
About that solo album I guess I´m still waiting for that coincidence but I´m convinced it will come.