| Bo Hansson |
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He spent his early life in a remote village in the pine forests of northern Sweden, but a change in his parents' fortunes forced a move to Stockholm and they were forced to leave the young Bo behind, in the care of family friends. As a teenager he joined his parents in Stockholm, where he soon became interested in the burgeoning rock 'n' roll scene and taught himself to play the guitar, before joining one of Sweden's earliest rock 'n' roll bands Rock-Olga. After the rock 'n' roll craze gave way to jazz and blues in the late fifties he joined 'Slim' Notini's Blues Gang as a guitarist. Notini had a reputation of nurturing young talent, in the same way that John Mayall was doing in Britain, and from there Bo was able to move on and form his own blues group The Merrymen, who supported The Rolling Stones on an early Scandanavian tour. In 1966, Bo saw American jazz organist 'Brother' Jack Mc Duff perform at Stockholm's Gyllene Girklen Club, and was so captivated by the performance that he decided to leave The Merrymen to expand his musical horizons. Encouraged by fellow Merryman Bill Ohrstrom, he eventually acquired his own Hammond Organ. Ohrstrom became an A & R man and producer at Polydor Sweden, and introduced Bo to other musicians, one of whom was drummer Janne Karlsson. Hansson and Karlsson immediately hit it off and were signed by Polydor, playing up-tempo Hammond organ based music where they released three albums between 1967 and 1969. They became immensly popular in their home country and Europe, and even reached the ear of Jimi Hendrix , who took time out from his tour to jam with the duo, along with George Clemons on drums and George Wadenius on guitar, at the Klub Filipis in Stockholm in late 1967. Hendrix went on to record a Hansson song "Tax Free". By 1969 Janne Karlsson had become a successful comedian and TV host, and Hansson decide to break up the successful partnership. Entrananced by a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's ' Lord of the Rings ' which he had purloined from his girlfriend, he moved into a friend's vacant apartment and started composing. When the unfortunate friend returned, he found that he had been evicted from his aparment after numerous complaints about the noise Bo was creating. Hansson retreated to a remote cottage on an island off Stockholm where he, drummer Rune Carlsson and engineer Anders Lind, who had worked previously with Hansson/Karlsson, spent winter 1969 recording what was to become Bo's debut solo album on a borrowed 4 track recorder. The resourseful Lind was even able to gain use of the country's only 8 track recorder at the Swedish National Radio station on the pretext that he was interested in buying one himself, and wanted to test it. Once there he persuaded session musicians Gunnar Bergstrom and Sten Bergman to flesh out the recordings. ' Sagan Om Ringen ' was released on Silence Records ( Sweden's first independent record label which was set up by Anders Lind ) in autumn 1970 and became a huge hit. Copies of the album began to filter across to Britain where it came to the attention of Tony Stratton-Smith, who was so impressed that he released the record as ' Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings ' on his own Famous Charisma Label in October 1972, where it became Bo's only UK top twenty LP. Encouraged by the success of his first album, Hansson was booked into Stockholm's Studio Decibel where he began work on the follow up. Using the same team, along with guitarist Kenny Hakansson, the new recordings benefitted from the superior equipment and " Ur Trollkarlens Hatt " was released on Silence Records in late 1972, and on Charisma in the UK as " Magician's Hat " in October 1973. Although critically acclaimed, it failed to reach the popularity of the earlier work, and did not chart in the UK. Popularity in Sweden, however, put pressure on Hansson to tour, and a hastily put-together touring band was asembled before the tour was cancelled by the reclusive keybord player, citing a lack of motivation. Instead he returned to Studio Decibel and started work on his third album. Using the tried and trusted backing musicians the recordings continued the progression of the previous album, and " Mellanvasen " was issued on Silence Records in October 1975, and as "Attic Thoughts " on Charisma in the UK in February 1976. Despite being the most accomplished record of Hansson's career it did not find the popularity it deserved, though it did feature a song called " Rabbit Music " which would point the way to Bo's next album. In 1976 Hansson and Silence Records parted company, and he was able to negotiate a worldwide deal with The Famous Charisma Label. He returned once again to Studio Decibel and began work on recordings that were inspired by another book; Richard Adams' " Watership Down ". Using the same session musicians but with a new producer, Pontus Olssen, the recordings were issued in September 1977 as " El 'Ahrairah " ( after the novel's rabbit hero ) and " Music Inspired by Watership Down " on Charisma in the UK, and on Sire Records in America. Another disappointing performance lead to Bo's retirement, and though he worked on a number of projects with friends, little was heard from him until 1985 when he released the Swedish issue only album " Mitt I Livit " ( The Middle of Life ). Since then he has again dropped off the radar. Despite rumours of ill health and homelessness, Bo has found a new following amongst Swedish DJs in recent years, who sample his music - something which apparently pleases him enormously. Though the " Lord of the Rings " album made it onto CD, the other albums remained unavailable for many years until in 2005 EMI re-issued them on CD, digitally re-mastered and with unreleased material. DISCOGRAPHY
EXTERNAL LINKS ''See also: List Of Swedes In Music '' |
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