14 Facts About Jonas Hellborg

Jonas Hellborg was born on 7 June 1958 and is a Swedish bass guitarist.

Jonas Hellborg has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Anders Johansson, Ginger Baker, Michael Shrieve, V Selvaganesh, Jeff Sipe, Mattias IA Eklundh, Public Image Ltd, and Buckethead.

Jonas Hellborg was spotted by percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah in a small club in Stockholm 1979 and he moved to London for a year to work with Reebop on different projects.

Jonas Hellborg played the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland in 1981 and met Michael Brecker, who introduced him to John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham and other fusion stars.

Jonas Hellborg was asked to join McLaughlin's reformed Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1983.

Jonas Hellborg stayed with McLaughlin until 1988, touring and recording with Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Jonas Hellborg did several duet tours with McLaughlin during this time.

In 1988 Jonas Hellborg moved to New York and started his own band which first included keyboardist Aydin Esen and drummer Kenwood Dennard, and later the Johansson Brothers, Jens on keyboards and Anders on drums.

In 1998 Hellborg met percussionist V Selvaganesh at a Zakir Hussain concert in Paris.

Jonas Hellborg has started a new metal-fusion project with guitarist Mattias IA Eklundh called Art Metal.

Jonas Hellborg has been involved in instrument design from early in his career.

Jonas Hellborg's work includes a signature model for Aria, the first ever biamped bass amplifier, a double neck bass, fretted and fretless, for British company Wal in 1983, and, in 1984, an acoustic bass in collaboration with master luthier Abraham Wechter.

Jonas Hellborg published two books in the early '80s with Music Sales of London, one on slap bass called Thumb Bassics, and a chord book called Chord Bassics.

Jonas Hellborg appeared in the first three seasons, in 1971,1973 and 1976, as well as in one episode in season four, where his character has become a famous bass player.