Mats Skimmelå

Mats was born in 1965 and grew up in Butorp, Deje, Sweden. He started playing the piano at the age of 10 but switched to guitar after 4 years. There, Mats made a groundbreaking discovery, that you could play chords instead of playing as it was written on the score, this was a milestone in Mats' musical life. He switched back to piano and at the age of 18 he discovered jazz music. However, it was impossible to find someone who could teach Mats to play jazz piano in the area where he grew up and the internet did not exist at that time. In 1987, Mats began studying music at Liljeholmen Folk High School and there he began to learn how to play jazz on the piano, the first song Mats learned was Misty. In 1991, Mats began studying music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. In 1994 he graduated there and moved back to Sweden. In 1995, Mats moved to Stockholm and worked there as a freelance musician in many different constellations. In 2017 Mats moved to Mariestad where he now lives.

On September 26, 2025 Mats started releasing his music to the world and it has been an overwhelming journey. 30-35 Radio stations all over the world play his music and the music is available on Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp and TikTok.