He is highly influenced by classic rock keyboardists like Don Airey, Eddie Jobson and Jon Lord.

In 1983 he left Sweden for California and joined guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen as a member of his band, Rising Force.

In 1996, with a different line-up, they recorded another album, Sonic Winter, this time under the name "Johansson", with Yngwie Malmsteen guesting on guitar.

The last Johansson record, The Last Viking, a more "European metal" oriented album, was released in 1999 with special guests Michael Romeo and Göran Edman.

Johansson has released several instrumental solo records such as Fjäderlösa Tvåfotingar, Ten Seasons (a piano solo album improvised in the Mark Kostabi gallery, New York), Heavy Machinery (with Anders and Allan Holdsworth) and Fission (with Anders, Shawn Lane and Mike Stern) and many collaborations with other artists, metal compilations and Berends Brothers' band Mastermind.

Amongst his favourites are the Korg Polysix, Yamaha DX7 as a MIDI controller, (from the Rising Force times to present), the Oberheim Matrix Series and the Roland JV-1080 sound module.