Editing Bo Hansson (section)

== Early life and musical career ==

Hansson 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 Hansson 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 and roll]] scene and taught himself to play the guitar, before joining the band [[Rock-Olga]].

After the rock and roll craze gave way to [[jazz]] and [[blues]] in the late fifties, he joined 'Slim Notini's Blues Gang' as a guitarist. Hansson was able to move on and form his own blues group The Merrymen, who supported [[The Rolling Stones]] on an early Scandinavian tour.

In 1966, Hansson saw American jazz organist [[Jack McDuff]] perform at Stockholm's Gyllene Cirkeln 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 Öhrström, he eventually acquired his own [[Hammond organ]]. Öhrström became an [[A&R]] man and producer at [[Polydor Records|Polydor]] Sweden, and introduced Hansson to other musicians, one of whom was drummer Janne Carlsson. Hansson and Carlsson immediately hit it off and were signed by Polydor under the band name [[Hansson & Karlsson]], playing up-tempo Hammond organ based music and releasing three albums between 1967 and 1969. They became immensely popular in their home country and some parts of 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 [[Georg Wadenius]] on guitar, at the Klub Filips in Stockholm in late 1967. Hendrix went on to record a Hansson song, "Tax Free".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3312 |title=Hansson and Karlsson discography  |publisher=Progarchives.com |access-date=18 April 2015}}</ref> "Tax Free" appears on ''War Heroes'', ''South Saturn Delta'', and various live bootleg recordings.