Olsson, now a presenter on Sweden's Viaplay TV channel, toured Broad Street, visited the Brasshouse pub and interviewed Jim Simpson, Black Sabbath’s original manager, at his Big Bear Music offices in Quayside Tower.
Frida Nordstrand, the Swedish football commentator and journalist who led the TV crew accompanying Olsson, explained how they then ended up joining Simpson at Henry’s Blueshouse on Broad Street.
Nordstrand said: “Our new documentary is about the people and stories behind the players in British football. The title’s not decided yet, but it will be something like ‘This is England’ and will show the real country from mine and Jonas’s point of view, as we both lived here.
“We’re starting the documentary in Birmingham, as that’s where I first met Jonas, and we wanted to show our viewers what the city’s really like – the food, culture and music as well as sport.
“Jonas loves music and we spent one-and-a-half days in Birmingham talking about all the artists who came from the city. One musician we met recommended we interview Jim Simpson, and we’re so glad we did. He’s such a great storyteller but so humble – it’s always about the music and people.
“We were due to leave, but Jim persuaded us to attend Henry’s Blueshouse and so we postponed our departure to hang out with him and the audience. This was great for the documentary as we don’t just talk about music but hear some too.”
In their visit on Tuesday 13 October, Olssen and Nordstrand interviewed Simpson about the history of music in the UK’s second city. They heard how Henry’s first ran from 1968 to 1970 at The Crown in Station Street, featuring many bands that became famous, like Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Jethro Tull, Supertramp and Judas Priest.
Simpson also discovered the original Earth band at Henry’s, becoming their manager and looking after Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward as they developed into heavy metal, renaming themselves Black Sabbath. He helped launch the band’s first two albums in 1970, called Black Sabbath and Paranoid, before Ozzy and co moved on with new management.
Simpson said: “It was great to meet Frida and Jonas, and to spend a great evening of music and conversation with them. I also introduced them to Chris Mason, the manager of the Brasshouse, who’s a huge Baggies fan and loved getting his picture taken with Jonas.
“Hopefully this Swedish TV documentary will now tell part of the wider story of Birmingham’s music history, and show some of the detail and quality of blues here on Broad Street.”
Olsson, now aged 43, played a total of 244 games as a defender for WBA, scoring 12 times. He went on to be capped 25 times for the Swedish national team.
The Swedish TV documentary is due to be aired this December on Viaplay, which can be watched in the UK via Amazon Prime.
