Bjorn Ulvaeus Biography

Full name: Bjorn Christian Ulvaeus

Date of birth/age: April 25th, 1945

Colour of hair: Dark Blonde

Height: 1.76 m.

Weight: 61 kg.

Education: University - studied Law for one year

Occupations : Songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer

Musician. Björn Ulvaeus was born on April 25, 1945, in Gothenburg, a city on the west coast of Sweden. His family moved to the small eastern town of Vastervik in 1951, and it was there that Ulvaeus spent the rest of childhood. His parents, Aina and Gunnar Ulvaeus, were both passionate music lovers, and they bought Ulvaeus his first guitar for his 11th birthday. Under the tutelage of an older cousin, Jon Ulfsater, a folk and jazz guitarist, Ulvaeus showed rare talent and promise. As a teenager, he became enamored with rock 'n' roll and skiffle music.

At the same time he began to play and sing in a skiffle group. A few years later he became a member of a Dixieland band and dance orchestra where he played the banjo and guitar. At the beginning of the sixties the group reached the height of its fame in the style of the Kingston Trio. Then in the autumn of 1963 it happened! Via an amateur competition organised by Sweden’s Radio-TV the Hootenanny Singers became popular virtually overnight. Hootenanny was, as most people know now, a big thing in the United States and it was natural the group should be called Hootenanny Singers. Since then Bjorn and his two friends have been something of an institution in Sweden.

By 1990, Björn and Benny had decided to write a new musical. This time they wanted to write exclusively in Swedish, and they chose the Emigrants novel series by author Vilhelm Moberg as basis for their work. The musical Kristina från Duvemåla (Kristina From Duvemåla) opened in October 1995. The show ran for three and a half years at various theatres in the Swedish cities of Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm.

Recently, Björn has involved himself heavily in the staging of Mamma Mia!, a musical based on ABBA songs. The show opened in London, England in April 1999 and has since then been staged virtually everywhere, even being turned into a movie which opens in July 2008.

Awards :

Special International Ivor Novello award from The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters

The Music Export Prize twice from the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Trade

Lifetime achievement award from the Swedish Music Publishers Association