Mecki Mark Men were founded by Swedish keyboardist Claes Bodemark. Bodemark's career began after he acquired his first Hammond L-100 organ at age 17 and then landed a job as studio organist for a Stockholm television station in the early 1960s. By the middle of the decade he was known as "Mecki," a name the long-haired musician shared with the Mecki the Hedgehog, an impudent, bristle-haired, vest-wearing character who was often given to smoking opium in children's comic books and had appeared in stop motion puppet films shown to troops during World War II.