In 1981 when I was 14 years old, I received a very important telephone call. The call came from a lady that was organizing a concert in a little village outside Umeå (Sweden).

She needed a drummer, because there was this little 10-year-old kid named Mats, blind since birth, who sang and played the piano, but didn’t have anyone to play with! She told me that she knew about me, that I might be the right one for Mats, same musical taste maybe, AND same age!

Mats had problems to find people close to his age, with any interest whatsoever in playing the music that Mats liked, (strange, huh?) You see, Mats was listening to Miles Davis before he could even walk! As well as Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa etc. I know that Mats even forced his parents to buy him the latest Earth Wind & Fire record once, otherwise he would jump up and down the stairs at home… he was seven.

Anyhow, even if I hadn’t really developed that kind of behavior while growing up, my favorite music wasn’t what my friends were listening too either; I liked Buddy Rich Big Band, Louie Bellson Big Band, Wasa Express etc. So, the lady that called was right, we did have a lot in common, we even wound up being THE Musical partners for light years to come !

I told her I was interested in playing with Mats, and a few days later Me and Mats met at the place. Mats walked towards me with his dad, and looked like he was seven years old, or less. We shock hands and started to discuss what to play, this was only about two hours before our show, so we obviously had to play covers. Mats asked me 'Do you know Frank Zappa ?' I said, - ' I guess I can do "Bobby Brown" without any rehearsal, now we had one song !'

Mats continued 'Do you know Stevie Wonder ?' I said, 'I know this song "Master Blaster", do you know that one ?' (Stupid question)
Mats: 'Yes I do !' He just knew almost everything already then, at age 10…
Mats continued: 'Beatles ?' Me: ' I can do "Help".'
We were only suppose to play about 20 min, so we had enough with material. When we started to play, I watched Mats in complete disbelief, I mean, he was TEN years old! But he played unbelievable, and sang the lyrics with perfect pronunciation, sounding like "Jacksson Five" on crack !

After we finished, my dad was almost in tears. Mats daddy was also really amazed, and said something like, 'maybe you should… you could, I mean, meet and play together some more !? We have a Drum set in our basement..'
So we have spent time doing music all the way since then. I could tell stuff about Mats for another 500 pages, but I’d just say that he is one of the most amazing musicians ever lived. He really is.
I rate my meeting with Mats as one of the biggest gifts and most important of my life.

Morgan