WHEN YOU LOOK FOR INDEPENDENCE AND YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT, HOW COME YOU LOOK BACK THINKING WHAT HAVE I DONE?
Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson is JOEY TEMPEST from the
Swedish band Europe; born on August 19, 1963, the singer discovered his talent
for music, since his teenage years. From 1979, he has started his carrer with
John Norum and achieved a nationwide success in Sweden in 1982 by recording the
eponymous first album "Europe".
"Jocke"
was born in Stockholm and raised in Upplands Väsby..
His biggest idols were Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin. During his
teens, he played in a number of bands such as Jet, Blazer, Made in Hong Kong
and Roxanne. At that time he alternated between playing rhythm
guitar and bass, in addition to lead vocal.
In his early
years, when he was just a kid, he played football, ice hockey and competed in
go-cart racing. He even won the fourth place in the Junior Cart Race,
a Swedish championship.
At his teens,
Joey Tempest dreamed about becoming a soccer player or a gym instructor. Sports
was his biggest interest but music would
soon take over completely.
He is the author of the world-famous anthem of the 80's
– « The Final Countdow »n - reached the top of the Charts in thirty countries of the world.
He was only
17 years old. This song would go on to
change his life dramatically, transforming the relatively unknown Swedish
rockers into one of the hottest bands in the world.
"We
actually called it The Final Breakdown at one point!"
song, Joey said for " The Final Countdown"
The first
instrument he learnt to play was the piano. He found his first idol, Elton
John, and "Crocodile Rock" became his favorite song. Another big idol
was Elvis Presley, and Joey became more
and more interested in Elvis' instrument - the guitar.
So he
borrowed Lotta's guitar and learnt to play, and a friend of his father taught
him three of the most common rock chords. One day he heard the Nazareth song
"Love Hurts" on the radio, and he liked the song so much that it
became the first record he ever bought.
In fifth
grade at the Odenslunda school, Joakim (Joey Tempest) and a couple of class
mates formed the band Made in Hong Kong. At that time, he alternated between
playing rhythm guitar and bass, in addition to lead vocals. They
played concerts for the rest of the school, but the only had one song,
"Keep A-Knockin' (but You Can't Come In)," made famous by Little
Richard.
In 1978
Joakim went to see a concert with another local band, WC. He was particularly
impressed by their guitarist. "When I was 15 years old, I discovered a
guitar player, one year younger than myself, who played his instrument with
heart and soul, and with a blues feeling that I'd never heard from a Swedish
musician – that was John Norum and after
that day nothing would ever be the same again."
They have
become soon good friends thanks to their shared interest
for music. In 1979, Joakim was asked to join John's band, WC - he accepted, and suggested that the band
could change their name to FORCE, after the UFO album.
In 1982 FORCE was entered into the national
talent contest "Rock-SM", and once again Joakim suggested a name
change, this time to EUROPE, inspired by the Deep Purple
live album Made in Europe. EUROPE won "Rock-SM", and the
first prize was a recording contract with Hot Records. It was during
"Rock-SM" that he decided to take the artist name Joey Tempest. Joey was inspired by a
nick name he got when he was on vacation in the USA some years earlier.
"It was difficult
for Americans to pronounce Joakim, so they called me Joe." Tempest was
taken from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
He spent
many school lessons writing song lyrics and practicing on signing autographs.
Needless to say, the teachers weren't too happy about that.
In 1985 producer Dieter Dierks asked
Joey to write a song for the German rock band Scorpions. He wrote the song
"One of a Kind" and sent it to them, but he never heard from them
again. In the same year he also wrote the song "Give a Helpin' Hand"
for the project "Swedish Metal Aid".
The song
"One of a Kind" was eventually included on Tone Norum's debut
album One of a Kind. Joey produced the album in 1986, as well as writing
the songs and playing most of the instruments. John Norum, Mic Michaeli and Ian
Haugland also played on the album, which was the first album that Joey produced
all by himself.
Thanks to
the album "Out of this World", Joey and Europe became increasingly
popular in the United States with the
tour of Def Leppard which attracted an
audience of over 500 000 people.
In 1991 Joey
got together with John Norum to collaborate on John's second solo album, Face
the Truth, which was released the following year. The two of them recorded the
duet "We Will Be Strong" and Joey co-wrote the song "Counting on
Your Love".
In 1992, Joey
met Lisa Worthington in London. Shortly after,
she became his girlfriend.
Joey released his first solo album, A Place to Call Home, on April 20, 1995. John Norum made a guest appearance on the song "Right to Respect". The album was influenced by singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne and Van Morrison, marking quite a change in style compared to EUROPE.
"I needed a change from the EUROPE
sound. I guess you could say that I had a reaction against the whole thing. I
wanted to prove myself as a singer-songwriter for sure, but for me it was more
of a journey to learn about making music. I went to see a lot of new young
artists, got into stuff like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan, so I went completely
the other way. I wanted to know where everything came from and how things
started, and so that’s what I did."
The album
was a success in Sweden, peaking at number 7 on the Swedish album chart.
Joey's
second solo album, Azalea Place, was released on April
25, 1997, and it also peaked at number 7 on the Swedish album chart. It was
recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
"After
my first solo album I went out to the States to work with Richard Dodd - who's
this English guy living out in Nashville - on the second one, which kept me
away from home for a long time. But it was something that I needed to do, I had
to get it out of my system."
The style of
"Azalea Place" was more experimental than the first one, using
influences from Irish and Spanish folk music. Joey played most of the
instruments himself on the album. In the same year he recorded the duet
"Running With a Dream" with Canadian opera singer Anna Maria Kaufmann.
It was
written by Mike Batt and was the official anthem for Germany's national team in
the Soccer World Cup in France 1998. Joey also sang on four other songs on Anna
Maria's album Blame It on the Moon, and "Running With a Dream"
was included as a bonus track on the German edition of Azalea Place.
In 1998 Joey
recorded a cover version of the Bruce Springsteen song "Born to Run",
which was included on the album Philharmania, a collection of classic rock
songs performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under conduction by Mike
Batt.
On September
29, 2000, Joey and Lisa got married in Richmond, London. All the EUROPE members
were invited, except John Levén . "It
was a beautiful wedding," John Norum said, "They had an orchestra
there, playing Joey's songs. Joey laughed and was impressively calm the whole
time. He made a cool speech."
In 2001 Joey, Patrick Isaksson and Anders
Glenmark recorded a cover of the Pugh Rogefeldt song "Här Kommer
Natten" (Here comes the night). It was the first time Joey officially
recorded a song in Swedish, and the song was included on the compilation Osannolikt
Svenskt.
In
2002, Joey Tempest released the third solo album which was named Joey
Tempest. The first session took place in Konk Studios, The Kinks old
London studio, where Tempest jammed with English musicians who had formerly
played with Massive Attack. This session produced "Magnificent",
"Kill For A Girl Like You" (B-side of the first single
"Forgiven") and "Sometimes". He continued his
work in Stockholm, but this time with Swedish musicians, including his
mate Mic Michaeli. "Superhuman" originated from this session. After
that, Tempest kept on working with Adam Lamprell in a temporary studio in
London.
According
to Tempest's statement "Dreamless" and "Magnificent"
have a lot of London in them. Losers is influenced by both London and Dublin.
Living there can be very intense, almost chaotic. Joey said: "They’re
tough cities and I'd never have written the lyrics I did without living
there". Some lyrics can also be related to his homeland,
reflections on living abroad, and learning to live with new people.
He co-wrote the song
"Change" for the British duo Bowes & Morley, both former members
of the band Thunder. The song was included on their album Moving Swiftly
Along.
The song "Hero"
was written as a special tribute to Joey's childhood hero, Phil Lynott from
Thin Lizzy.
In October
2003, the band Europe has reunited. A new album, world tour and a new
DVD has been released in second half of 2004. On October
27th, 2006, Europe's CD, called "Secret Society", has
been be released . The night before, Europe have begun a tour through
Scandinavia.
On April
2006, Europe recorded a new CD in Stockholm and that it was produced by
themselves!
He has been
working on songs for the next Europe album and the band concluded the "Start
From The Dark" tour in Brasov, Romania on September 2005. He was
performing with Europe January 26th in Nalen, Stockholm, Sweden in 2008.
Europe's new
CD called "Start From The Dark" was released in September
2004. Joey was very busy back then and was doing promotions and
interviews for the CD and putting together the "Start From The Dark" live
show. In the same year, Joey with his band Europe, has been beginning a world
tour on October 14th in Helsinki, Finland.
On 18th
November 2005, Joey Tempest worked on the new CD continues. The new DVD "Live
From The Dark" has been released in Europe in 2005.
nominations
On October
31, 2002 "Joey Tempest" album was taken 12 place in the Swedish album hit
list. Joey's new single "Forgiven" has been out on October 14th, 2002
and the new album has been released on october 21st (for Scandinavian market). Joey's
live show in "Bingolotto", Sweden, on September, 12th, 2002 ;Soon
the video for "Forgiven" has been out in TV, press and media,
on September, 17th, 2002