Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad was born on February 18, 1956 at 2.40 pm at Danderyd's hospital.

He grew up with his mother (Margit), father (Arne) and brothers (Kenneth and Kjell) in Sollentuna, Sweden.

Ted was singing at the age of three and by the time he was six he had already composed his first song "Sollentunavalsen". As a child he composed several songs and one, "Marknadshambo", was a soundtrack in a movie. Ted’s main influences came from the Beatles!

Ted was a good tennis player and competed at the age of 13. Only Björn Borg managed to beat him! At this point, Ted had to choose between tennis and music. He chose MUSIC. Ted often collaborated with his brother – Kenneth wrote all the lyrics and Ted composed all music. At the age of 12, Ted and his brother Kenneth sent a demo to Stickan Andersson (ABBA’s manager). However, Stickan told them to contact him again when the songs were in Swedish! That is just what they did and the rest is history.

Ted’s debut album, “Undringar” was released when he was 16. It was followed by a song called "Jag vill ha en egen måne", which became a big hit in Sweden. However, Ted struggled with mental illness for more than 11 years. In the end, he took his own life by jumping in front of a train on June 22, 1997.