(Per-Inge) Anders Töpel (16 January 1947 – 10 April 2014) was a Swedish guitarist, best known for being the lead guitarist of the Swedish rock group Tages.

Early life

Töpel was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He befriended Tommy Blom as a child. Töpel received his first acoustic guitar while in his early teens. He graduated from school in June 1965, while his career in Tages was in full action.

Tages

Töpel formed Tages together with his friend Tommy Blom during the summer of 1963 when they performed with acoustic guitars during a regatta in Hovås, south of

. Because of popular reception, the duo quickly recruited guitarist

Danne Larsson Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér (né Larsson; born 11 January 1948) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 1963 and 1969. A ...

and Göran Lagerberg on washboard (later bass guitar) while starting to play skiffle together. After recruiting drummer Freddie Skantze to the line-up, the band quickly turned electrical and started performing in the style of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

The name Tages comes from the middle name of the groups guitarist,

. The band chose Larsson’s because they thought it was “the cheesiest name”. Töpel was present during the Västkustens Beatles (West Coast Beatles) contest in August 1964, which propelled the band into stardom. Their first single, which became " Sleep Little Girl" (1964), was written by Blom. Töpel's playing is present on all tracks Tages recorded between 1964 and 1968, primarily on lead guitar. Most of his compositions for the group were co-written with other group members, which included; "Tell Me You're Mine", "Hey Mama" and the hit " Don't Turn Your Back". "Don't Turn Your Back" was the only hit record by the band that Töpel sang a lead vocal on. Töpel left Tages (now going under the name Blond) in 1969.

Personal life and death

After exiting Tages, Töpel went through his mandatory military service within the Swedish Air Defence Regiment until he was discharged in 1970. Following his discharge from the military, he joined another band called Fyran, with Freddie Skantze. After Fyran split, he retired from the music industry and worked as a harbourmaster in the Port of Gothenburg. Töpel was diagnosed with blood cancer during the early 2000s. He recovered, however, the cancer returned a few years later and Töpel eventually died on 10 April 2014, aged 67. At the time he was living in Kullavik, south of Gothenburg.

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Early life

Tages

Personal life and death

References

Sources

See also