Jens Johansson

Jens Johansson (born November 2, 1963 in Stockholm) is a world-renowned Swedish keyboardist and pianist in the heavy metal-genre. He's noted as one of the first and most influential keyboardists, for his high-speed neoclassical and fu

Jens Johansson (born November 2, 1963 in Stockholm) is a world-renowned Swedish keyboardist and pianist in the heavy metal-genre. He's noted as one of the first and most influential keyboardists, for his high-speed neoclassical and fusion style.

Johansson is son of the well-known Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson and brother of the heavy metal drummer Anders Johansson. Classically trained, In 1982 he got drafted to the Swedish metal band Silver Mountain, which also included his brother Anders. In 1983 he left Sweden for California and joined guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen as a member of his band Rising Force. Numerous records and world tours ensued and he stayed with Yngwie until 1989. Jens also played with the band Dio between 1989 and 1990. Like Anders, he began an ongoing collaboration with Jonas Hellborg in 1989 which has resulted in several well-received progressive and avant-garde recordings, among many others Dissident, Silent Run (an acoustic piano trio record with Ginger Baker on drums) and the hard core progressive fusion record E.