Putte Wickman

[1] He was born Hans Olof Wickman in Falun,[1] and grew up in Borlänge, Sweden, where his parents hoped he would become a lawyer.

Since he did not have access to a piano in Stockholm, he was given a clarinet by his mother as a Christmas present – a life-changing event, as it turned out, as by then he had started to hang out with "the worst elements in the class – those with jazz records".

Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were the role models for the young Wickman, who, already in 1944, had turned to music full-time.

He was taken on as band leader at Stockholm's Nalen and in 1945 the newly founded Swedish newspaper Expressen described him as the country's foremost clarinet player.

In 1994, Wickman received the Illis Quorum gold medal, today the highest award that can be conferred upon a private Swedish citizen by the government of Sweden.