Simon Åkesson hails from the small city of Skellefteå in northern Sweden. Simon grew up singing in a family of singers. Led by his choir-director father, he was tackling difficult charts by The Hi-Lo’s and The Singers Unlimited when he was 10 years old. He is an expert on the music of Gene Puerling, the arranging genius behind those two vocal groups. Completely self-taught in harmony and theory, he has transcribed most of the Hi-Lo’s catalog and early TAKE 6 albums. In addition to his work with Accent, Simon has had great success with his symphonic progressive rock band Moon Safari, which includes his two brothers and has achieved great popularity in Europe and Japan.