In his childhood Christofer enjoyed listening to classical music, and gradually became more interested in his father's '50s and '60s rock music. Popular music played on the radio in this era generally had a lot of strings in it, and even though much of it didn't fall in his taste, it still managed to influence him. As a 7-year-old he heard his first progressive rock as a theme in a Norwegian children TV-program. As 9-year old, he started to listen to The Beatles, who also used brass and strings in songs like "Penny Lane". At an age of 11, his taste for music took a turn as he started to listen to hard rock and heavy metal bands like Accept, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep. Some of these bands had symphonic elements in some of their songs. When he was 14, he started to listen to more raw heavy metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Bathory, and especially Celtic Frost. One of his friends played the B-side of a Scorpions album for him, and Christofer instantly fell in love with Scorpions' older albums. Uli Roth, who played guitar on these albums, had broken up with Scorpions and formed the bandElectric Sun. Christofer managed to find a copy of one of their albums after a long search, and ended up becoming obsessed with the music. He mentions Uli Roth as one of his greatest influences in the early symphonic Therion albums.
Personal life
Johnsson used to reside in a villa he drew by him self south of Stockholm with his girlfriend, Mina Karadzic. In 2019 they sold the villa and moved down to the island of Gozo, Malta. He is a vegetarian since 1997 and has a child.
Fire incident
On 26 July 1992 Johnsson's parents' house was set on fire. Christofer was on tour and not home at the time of the incident. Only one inch of a backdoor was damaged before the fire was put out, but the event was blown up in media and caused many rumours in the metal scene.
Health problems
On 26 January 2017, Johnsson revealed he had been suffering from intense pain in the neck and shoulders, and he was diagnosed with two spinal disc herniations, and he was in risk of losing the ability to perform live. As a result, the rock opera project was delayed and the band downplayed their sets of songs in concerts to allow Johnsson to perform. By 8 April, Johnsson announced he had been able to avoid surgery as his condition had improved through physiotherapy and he would resume to perform at festivals by August.
