Mats Nilsson (10)

Bassist, songwriter and producer, born 1966. Originally from Sveg (Härjedalen), now based in Stockholm. Works with artists in both Sweden and abroad, in particular Finnish artists. Live bass player for Patrik Isaksson. Also worked as a theater musician and made music for TV3 and Kanal 5. Most recently, he was currently the bassist behind several of the country's biggest dance band singers in Svensktoppskalaset. His career began with a head start in Pippis, 1982. At the age of 15, his music career began in earnest for Mats Nilsson. He was asked if he wanted to be a bassist in the popular Härjedal band Pippis. He had only played bass for three months at the time. Mats Nilsson grew up with music. He started playing the piano at a very young age and he followed his father and played the accordion at the accordion club in the same vein as he started school. He had not considered becoming a bassist. The reason he started playing bass at all was that he was in a band at school. Music teacher was Johnny Wetterstrand and in addition to Mats, the school band included more musicians, including Kingen Karlsson, Staffan Westfält and Perra Ericsson. He did so well that there were gigs with Pippis for just over five years, but in 1988 he got enough. It was time to try something else. A number of other professions were tested. Mats worked, among other things, on the turf and at the nursing home in Sveg. It was far from certain that he would become a professional musician, but it was again more of a coincidence when it happened. Mats was lured back into the music business when a temporary position arose as a bassist in Freeze. In 1992 he moved to Stockholm and he is still there. Pretty soon, he and Staffan Westfält got jobs at Club 33 in Rhodes. They played at hotel shows for six months. Since then, there is a lot of music work in Stockholm. In addition to freelancing with various assignments, he produces a lot, in his own studio on Ingarö where he lives. In the studio, he worked with Janne Bark and Py Bäckman. In the studio he does a bit of everything possible, audio books, music productions and he has also made music for the TV shows Copycat singers and True Talent. Among the live gigs, the musical Grease took a large place, but almost 250 gigs at Göta Lejon and during a tour. The Swedish top gala with, among others, Torleif Torstensson and Christina Lindberg was the latest major tour production Mats participated in in 2019. In 2018 he was able to combine benefit with fun during gigs at Vemdalsskalet during Easter with the band Gibson. He has a band called Hoffmans Cirkus. He is also in another band called Di Grappa, but they only play once every two years. In 2017 his bass notes can be heard in Anton Hagman's song "Kiss you goodbye" in Melodifestivalen's second chance. He does some studio jobs in Härjeåsjön with just his bass, a sound card and a computer. Before he turned 15, he received an offer to start playing full time in the dance band Pippis. Before that, he did not even have a thought of becoming a bassist, it just happened. He started playing along with Svensktoppen on the piano when he was three years old. His dad played the accordion so Mats went with him and played with the accordion club when he was about six or seven years old. Mats only became a bassist at the age of fourteen. Music teacher Johnny Wetterstrand then put together a house band at the school with, among others, Kingen Karlsson, Staffan Bond Westfält, Perra Ericsson and Stefan Hallgren. They made a musical called “Sång och dansspel år 2030”. There were existing songs with self-written lyrics. Since it was not so popular to play bass, it fell partly on Mats' duty. He later got to audition for Pippis. After about five years out on the roads in the dance floor, he got enough and started driving a peat tractor instead, but then Patrik Zackrisson called and needed a bassist for his then band and after a number of persuasion attempts, Mats finally agreed to substitute. Around 1991, the moving load went to Stockholm, where he quickly got a contract to play for six months at a tourist hotel in Rhodes and then the ball was rolling. Ted Gärdestad, Robert Broberg, Boppers and Carola are just a few heavy big stars that Mats Nilsson has played with and he has just a lot to say about them all. One sequence he highlights is when he was about to stay in Beverly Hills after producing a Danish artist. He was offered a permanent job as a studio musician in a huge studio, but it did not fit right then. Mats was just about to have children. For a couple of years he was part of the house band on the musical Grease, which was played on Göta Lejon. Including the tour, it was a total of 230 gigs. The spring and summer of 2017 he had 15-20 gigs booked with Patrik Isaksson.