E-Type was born on August 27, 1965, in Uppsala, Uppsala Iän, Sweden. His birth-name was Bo Martin Erik Eriksson. His father is Bo "Bosse" G. Eriksson who is famous in Sweden for his involvement in the scientific TV program Vetenskapens Värld or World of Science. His mother is Elisabeth and he has a sister, Erika. When he was a teenager E-Type moved to Bromma, but he is currently residing in Stockholm. There are mixed legends as to how he got his performance name, some say it was from the model of his father's Jaguar and others say it is from a reference that someone made to him when they couldn't remember his name.

He started out as drummer for a group called Hexen House, a hard-rock group in his home country. From there he moved on to play with the speed metal band Manninya Blade, but was fired when he suggested writing songs that contained a little less doom and gloom. He began to get ahead in the industry when he was introduced to Stakka Bo in 1991, a meeting that resulted in the creation of three singles "We Got the Atmosphere," "The Dream" and "Numania 1/Obey." This got him some work as a DJ at Z-TV, the most popular station in Sweden.

In 1994 he began a collaboration with producers Denniz PoP, Max Martin and Amadin, giving him his greatest breakthrough up to that point. In 1994 the album This Is the Way was released under the label ffrreedom. Then came Made in Sweden followed on April 30, 1996 with Ils International. Last Man Standing was released on May 8, 2001. Euro IV Ever, followed on May 6, 2002. Since then he has released Loud Pipes Save Lives ('04), Euroforever and Explorer ('06), 14 Hit ('07), and Eurotopia ('07).