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In this article, the "Europe" group will be affected. Undoubtedly, many have heard of it. Europe's most famous single is The final countdown, released in 1986 and included in the album of the same name. But if someone is not familiar with the work of this group, this article will tell you all about it.

general information

Europe was founded in 1979 in Upplands-Väsby, Sweden. The album The final countdown brought worldwide fame. The leader of the group is Joey Tempest. It would be nice to go over his biography, right?

Biography of the founder

Joey's real name is Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson. A talented musician was born on August 19, 1963 near Stockholm. Before becoming famous all over the world, he mastered playing the guitar and piano, was a member of various groups, until in 1979 he met with

Together they organized the Force group, whose name changed in 1982 to the well-known Europe. In the same year, they became the winners of the Rock-SM competition, the main prize of which was the recording of the album.

This is where their path to glory began. They quickly became popular. Many dreamed of getting to the Europe concert. Joey was not only an unsurpassed vocalist, but also a talented composer. He became the author of such world hits as Rock the night, Superstitious and The final countdown.

Europe disbanded in 1992, but Joey continued his career as a solo artist. Even working alone, he achieved incredible success. Fortunately, in 2004 the band was resurrected, bringing their fans into indescribable delight. She delights the world with her creativity to this day.

Discography

Let's move on to the discography. Below are the albums of the band Europe.

• Europe - 1983. The debut album of Europe. It included 16 songs. Immediately upon entering, it won the hearts of many and reached number 8 on the Swedish charts. With this album, they went on a tour of Scandinavia. The most popular single from this album was the single Seven Doors Hotel. It was she who took 10th place in the music top in Japan.

  

• Wings of Tomorrow - 1984. 17 songs. From this album, such singles as Scream of anger, Open your heart and Stormwind became instant hits, and the second one even attracted the attention of the famous CBS Records, with which they later signed an international contract in 1985.

  

• The Final Countdown - 1986. 17 songs. This album brought Europe fame not only within their country, it became famous all over the world. Triple platinum in the United States, number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, dominating the charts in 25 countries. It was an incredible breakthrough for the band. But they were not going to stop there.

  

• Out of This World - 1988. 17 songs. Not so successful, but no less pleased with the fans, the album included the single Superstitious, which at that time occupied the first lines of the world charts, which became platinum in their homeland in 24 hours.

  

• Prisoners in Paradise - 1991. 16 songs. The success of this album was eclipsed by such bands as the world famous Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam due to the growing popularity of the grunge genre.

  

• Start from the Dark- 2004. 17 songs. This album helped the band to return to the world scenes again. The title was described as "dark but promising". However, after a silence of 13 years, it was a real breakthrough. The songs became heavier, which could not but surprise the fans.

  

• Secret Society - 2006. 17 songs. After long performances, the next album was released. The severity of the singles subsided a little, but still did not disappear. The guys chose a course and they had no plans to stray from it.

  

• Last Look at Eden - 2009. 17 songs. The album did not let the fans hang their heads and grieve about the long absence of new singles after subsequent, no less long performances.

  

• Bag of Bones - 2012. 16 songs. The cover of the album caused a lot of emotions among the fans. And it is not surprising, because they have been waiting for its release for almost 3 years.

  

• War of Kings - 2015. 16 songs. This album was not pure hard rock. Whatever one may say, the fans cannot be held by one "heavy weight". The songs were diluted in their own way with other notes, which added novelty to their work.

  

Walk the Earth - 2017. 16 songs. In the latest album, references to Joey's older colleagues can be very clearly seen. He borrowed their playing style and used it in episodes of his creations.

Group status today

The musicians are still working to this day, in the process of creating new singles and new albums. The current members of the band are Ian Hoagland, Mic Michaeli, John Lavan, John Norum and, of course, the unrivaled Joey Tempest. With this line-up in 2018 they won the Grammis award - the Swedish analogue of the Grammy, there were 5 participants in the nomination.

Time goes by, everything changes. Unfortunately, the Europe group is no longer as popular as it was many years ago. New generations are born, tastes and preferences change, favorites become history, new stars take their place.

Despite their waning popularity, all the world fame and fame of the Europe group was honestly deserved by unsurpassed talent and hard work. And the single, which has already been mentioned earlier, will certainly leave a bright mark in history.

In 1979 in Stockholm, young guitarist John Norum and vocalist Joey Tempest formed the rock band Force. They made their first recording at Upplands Vesby with drummer Tony Renaud and bassist Peter Olsson. After recording and sending demo versions of their performance to various record companies, they got one answer from everywhere: cut your long hair first and start singing in Swedish.

Group "Europe"

In 1982, the band recorded a demo disc at their own expense, and the girl from the backing vocals, Joakim Larsson, secretly provided the recording to the organizing committee of the Swedish rock talent contest Rock-SM. They are invited to this competition, where the band performs two songs "The King Will Return" and "In the Future to Come", the band takes first place, Joey Tempest was awarded as the best vocalist, and John Norum received the prize for "Best guitarist". The group changes its name to "Europe".

Group "Europe", Sweden

The band released their debut album the following year, it was very well received by critics and the public. It included the song "Seven Doors Hotel" of a mystical nature, which was liked by a Japanese journalist. Soon it will be released as a single in Japan, hitting the "Top 10". And the entire album peaked at number eight on the Swedish charts. Then Europe makes the first tour of Scandinavia and Japan.

They released their second album "Wings of Tomorrow" in 1984. Some songs from it immediately became hits. And the company "CBS Records" offered the group an international prestigious contract in 1985. In 1985, the group participates in the "Swedish Metal Aid" project, where records the song "Give a helping hand" In the same year, in September, "Europe" begins to record a new album.

It all started in 1978 when bassist Peter Olsson, guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno decided to form Force. Some time later, they were joined by 14-year-old Joey Tempest, who had just left the Roxanne team. The guys recorded demos and sent them to record companies, but from everywhere they received an answer that in order to get a contract they needed to cut their hair short and sing in Swedish. In 1981, Olsson left the group, and the vacant seat was taken by John Levene, who also worked with Yngwie Malmsteen for some time. The following year, Sweden hosted the "Rock SM" competition for young rock talents, and the organizer of this event and the future manager of "Europe" Thomas Erdtman received more than 4,000 demo tapes. Luckily, Tempest's girlfriend convinced the guys to record a sample too. They sketched five songs, four of which were later included in the first album "Europe". The guys recorded them, but forgot about them and abandoned them, but the wise girl nevertheless found and sent the tape to the right place. As a result, "Force" won the competition, since Erdtman had long been looking for a team that played in this style. Joey was recognized as the best vocalist, John - one of the best guitarists, and the most important award was the allocation of a budget, even a small one, for recording a debut album.

Changing their name to "Europe", the group released an album of the same name in 1983. The disc was warmly received by the public, sold well, and the musicians went on their first tour of their native Sweden. The visiting Japanese also liked the disc, and the result was the release of this album in the Land of the Rising Sun. The most popular in the East was the song "Seven Doors Hotel", which hit the Japanese top ten. The following year, Europe released their second album, Wings Of Tomorrow, which also sold well and received positive reviews.

At the time, keyboards were played by Joey Tempest, but it was somewhat inconvenient for him to juggle the two duties, especially on stage. As a result, it was decided to take a "pure" keyboardist, which was Mick Michaeli from "Avalon". Shortly thereafter, another change took place: truant Tony Renault was fired, and Ian Hoagland took over on drums. The composition formed in this way subsequently gained worldwide fame. In parallel with the new tour, "Europe" took part in the youth film "On The Loose", for which Tempest wrote the soundtrack. The most popular songs from this soundtrack were "Rock The Night" and "Broken Dreams". The third album, "The Final Countdown", released in May 1986, brought the group worldwide fame. Critical acclaim, crowds of fans, and as a result - over 7 million records sold. In September of the same year, the first world tour of "Europe" started. However, not everything was good: the burden of fame burdened Norum, and besides, his musical tastes ("Scorpions" and "Dokken") diverged from the tastes of the rest of the group, who preferred the style of "Toto" and "Journey". As a result, John left to pursue a solo career, and Key Marcello, who had previously played in the glam rock band "Easy Action", became the new guitarist.

Meanwhile, "The Final Countdown" topped many European charts and even peaked at number eight on the Billboard. After a global world tour that ended at the festival "Rock in Rio", "Europe" started recording a new album. Due to promotional errors, "Out Of This World" was unable to replicate the success of its predecessor, although it sold two million copies. The team continued to collect thousands of venues, but disagreements with the producer and the musical climate that soon changed did their job.

The disc "Prisoners In Paradise" had a weak sale, and after the tour in support of it, the "Europeans" decided to take a break. The holidays lasted more than ten years, and only at the end of 2003 was it announced the resumption of activities. The classic "The Final Countdown" line-up went on a world tour and in 2004 released a new album, "Start From The Dark". The work had a raw, heavy and detuned sound, but, nevertheless, the compacts sold well, and over time their circulation exceeded half a million. The next studio album was released in 2006, and although "Secret Society" also sounded heavy, it was more melodic than "Start From The Dark". Having made a small experiment with the semi-acoustic concert "Almost Unplugged", the "Europeans" finally returned to the old sound in the program "Last Look At Eden". The band's musicians described the style of this album as "modern retro-rock", and the title track and the ballad "New Love In Town" poured balm on the souls of longtime fans of "Europe". But if "Last Look At Eden" sounded eighties, then on "Bag Of Bones" the band dug even deeper and started playing classic, blues-infused hard rock a la the 70s. Both LPs placed high (1st and 2nd respectively) on the Swedish charts and both went gold.

In 2013, the band played at the "Sweden Rock Festival", and their performance was recorded and released on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray formats. Two years later, the team presented the program "War Of Kings", made in a classic sound, taking into account the influences of the seventies and, like the last time, climbed to the second chart step. At subsequent concerts, the album was performed in its entirety, however, since the 30th anniversary of "The Final Countdown" had arrived by that time, the team also played the legendary album in its entirety in the second part. One of these sets was sold out at the London Roundhouse, and in 2017, following the results of this event, a corresponding hall was released.

Last update 22.07.17

35 rebounds, 1 of them this month

Biography

The history of the band begins in 1980 with a meeting of two school friends: vocalist Joakim Larsson and guitarist John Norum. The guys who played before in different teams are planning to create a new group. They take John's good buddy drummer Tony Niemisto and bass player John Levene, with whom Joakim was in Yngwie Malmsteen's band. The new group was called Force. They did not have much success, but from time to time they played in various local clubs.
Meanwhile, in 1982, the guys decide to try their hand at the Young Talents Competition, held in Stockholm, especially since the winner gets the right to record an album as a prize. But in order to avoid misunderstandings with bands similar in name, Force is renamed Europe. At the same time, Joakim considered that his first and last name did not meet common standards, that is, it was difficult to pronounce and remember, and changed them to Joey Tempest, and drummer Tony simply changed his last name to Reno.
They made a demo disc with their own money, but the band members, dissatisfied with their work, refuse to send the record, but Joakim's girlfriend decided in her own way and secretly sent their record to the organizing committee.
Of all the participants, the judges chose Europe and invited them to perform in front of the public with their songs. The concert was broadcast all over Sweden, the success was grandiose, and the record company immediately provided Europe with the promised prize.
The guys worked diligently, and in February 1983 an album of the same name with the group was released. He did not represent anything special: hard rock music, rather simple melodies and uncomplicated lyrics. But there was one mystical thing called "Seven doors hotel", inspired by the horror movie "Beyond". This song immediately attracted the attention of a Japanese journalist, and soon it was released in Japan as a single. "Seven doors hotel" became a hit in Europe at the time, and they went on their first tour in Scandinavia and then Japan.
Further, Europe begins work on the next album, and in 1984 "Wings of tomorrow" is released. The group grew noticeably on it. More precise rhythm, melodic music. Songs such as "Scream of anger", "Open your heart", "Stormwind" immediately became hits. Everything was going well, but then there was a small problem with the line-up: Tony Reno decides to leave the band, because, according to other musicians, he is less technical and does not correspond to their level. He was replaced by Jan Haugland, who also took part with his group in the competition won by Europe. Jan roughly knew the band's repertoire, and therefore quickly adapted.
The band also took fifth member Mick Michel on keyboards, as it was very hard for Joey to sing and play at the same time. The guys were already going to record a new album, but then TV people appeared on their way, asking them to write music for the film "On the loose". In addition to the song of the same name with the film, the first version of "Rock the night" was also included in the soundtrack.
In the same 1985, Europe takes part in the Swedish Metal Aid project, where, together with other less well-known Swedish bands, the song "Give a helping hand" is recorded.
Joey also produces the debut album of Tone Norum "One Of A Kind" (Jon's younger sister) in which he himself performed a duet with her on the song "Can" t You Stay ", and her brother John, Mick and Ian performed all the parts on the record. But let's get back to the group. And now the third album "The final countdown" was released in 1986. It was a real breakthrough, a sensation in the world of music. The composition of the same name with the album became a worldwide hit, took first place in the charts of many countries. Thanks to this song Europe achieved worldwide popularity and fame.They were considered the number 1 group at that time.The guys were shocked, because not one Swedish band, with the exception of the legendary ABBA, had ever managed to reach such heights!
And Europe decides to go on a world tour. Through the countries of Europe and Asia, and most importantly to America, the country of dreams of all musicians.
But here another serious problem arises on their way: John Norum leaves the group! He had several reasons for this. Firstly, John really disliked the softening and poppy sound that the keyboards had brought with Mick. Secondly, he was not happy with the fact that the group is popular, but does not have a penny from it, since the manager and producer take almost all the money for themselves. And yet, John wanted to write music on an equal footing with everyone, but the producer simply pushed all the ideas, except for Joey (when selecting material for the Final countdown, the emphasis was on his songs). Norum tried to explain all this to the others, but they simply ignored him. Nevertheless, the guys persuaded John to stay in the group until a worthy replacement was found. And a replacement was found as quickly as possible, and it was Kii Marcello, who previously played in another very well-known group in Scandinavia, Easy Action, with whom Joey became friends a long time ago. He immediately received a call, and soon Kii became a new member of the team. John, meanwhile, is venturing into his solo career.
And then, finally, in 1987, Europe goes on a long-awaited tour, having played first in his native Sweden. Having traveled all over Europe, playing sold-out shows in Japan and touring the United States, the band enters the studio.
In 1988 the next album "Out of this world" was released. Of course, it was not as successful as the previous one, but it was received very well by the fans, and in Sweden it reached platinum status in 24 hours. It featured hits like "Superstitious", "Let the good times rock" and an improved version of "Open your heart".
This was followed by more tours with Def Leppard, and in 1989 with Bon Jovi and Skid Row.
Also, Europe repeatedly performs in various clubs, where hits from the last album and some new songs are performed: "Sweet love child", "Yesterday" s news", "Long time comin" "," Little bit of lovin "" - written for the next Of course, there was no question of performing in clubs under your own name, otherwise the fans would simply smash everything, and Europe, especially for such performances, changed its name to Le baron boys. New compositions met "with a bang", and the guys, inspired by such a mood of the fans, were already going to record the fifth album, but the fans are one thing, but the record company is completely different. She was very unhappy with such a sharp weighting and insisted on recording a couple more I had to add a few ballads, and the fifth album "Prisoners in paradise" was released in 1991. After that, more tours followed with Metallica, Thunder, Tesla.
Much to the disappointment of the fans, many compositions were not included on the fifth album. Then in 1993, to the delight of the fans, they released a "new" album: "1982-1992". Actually, there was nothing new there, but only the best songs from all albums were collected and some compositions of "Le baron boys" were included.
It would seem that everything was going perfectly, the fans are delighted, they are waiting for new creations, and Europe was already heading to the studio to record the next album, when suddenly Joey announced that the group was temporarily interrupting its existence! He explained this by the fact that, firstly, they had conflicts with the record company, secondly, everyone was spoiled by the rash and mediocre steps of the manager, and finally, all the musicians of the group did not have time to take up their personal lives at all. But on the other hand, Joey strongly denied the rumors about the breakup of the group, assured that as soon as the opportunity presented itself, they would work together again. Joey is recording three solo albums, while also singing on Norum's second album on one of the songs. Leven, Mick and Jan are involved in projects by Glenn Hughes (who also worked with Norum on recordings and concerts) and participating in Kotsev's Brazen Abbot project. Kii has released two solo albums under the name K2. In general, the guys did not lose sight of each other, but they were destined to meet on stage only in 1999. They were offered to play a few songs right on New Year's Eve. After some hesitation, the guys agreed. Especially for this occasion they recorded a new version of their worldwide hit "The final countdown 2000".
The delight of the fans knew no bounds when at 23.45, in the last minutes of the outgoing millennium, Europe took to the floating stage opposite the royal palace, and, to the delight of the fans, there were two guitarists in the group at once: John Norum and Kiy Marcello. The first chords of The final countdown sounded, and then the musicians played Rock the night. The concert was broadcast to the whole world and gave hope for the reunification of Europe. And they justified themselves. Four years later, the group gathers in the studio, where, acting as both a producer and musicians, they begin recording a new album. Meanwhile, performing for the first time since 1986 with the classic line-up of Tempest, Norum, Leuven, Mikaelli, Haugland at the Sweden Rock festival in Sweden and releasing a compilation of clips on DVD and a collection of best things + several rare and live songs on CD called Rock The Night. In autumn 2004 the band released their first album after 13 years of silence, which is gloomy but promisingly called Start From The Dark. This time the band presents 12 powerful, real rock songs composed mainly by the Tempest-Norum tandem and some of them strike with unusual heaviness. Filmed two promotional videos for the songs Got To Have Faith and Hero. The group is actively starting to return to concert venues around the world and finally even gets to Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they perform a retrospective of songs from old albums, but also interspersing a good half of the promoted new album. The whole of 2005 and part of 2006 the band spends in performances, but by the spring of 2006 they start recording and in September they release a new album, Secret Society. It sounds less harsh than the previous one and is already more seriously produced, but the band is clearly following the course chosen on the previous disc. This is real hard rock. The group, as before, immediately plunges into a busy tour schedule and, inspiring hope, including Russian fans, once again includes performances in Moscow and at the St. Petersburg Rock Festival as headliners. Also visiting countries such as Romania and Albania, where they had never been before. A video series for the unconditional hit Always The Pretender is filmed and a single is released.
At the beginning of 2008, the band gave an acoustic concert in Nallen, Sweden, which everyone could see online on the club's page. In addition to classics from old and new repertoire, Europe performed standards from Led Zeppelin, UFO, Pink Floyd and their favorite Thin Lizzy.
On May 21, 2008, John Norum's wife Michelle Meldraum, known for her participation in the hard rock formation Phantom Blue and her own Meldraum project, dies of cancer, and in memory of her this concert is released under the name Almost Unplugged. The group actively writes songs. In August 2009, an EP was first released, which included two new songs, three live tracks and a new video for the song of the same name Last Look At Eden, which struck with unexpected symphony of arrangement and power, and on September 24 the full album was released called Last Look At Eden in three versions at once, regular, limited with two live bonus tracks and extra-limited with 7-inch vinyl, which also featured two live tracks recorded one in Paris and the other in Tokyo during the 2005 tour . Also, the disc was personally signed by all the musicians. A month later, the album reached number one on the charts in their native Sweden, number 31 in Germany and number 37 in Italy. In the spirit, over time, an Internet single for the song New Love In Town is being released and a video sequence for it will be shot. The band goes on tour, and meanwhile John Norum once again decides to please his fans with a solo album, the first since 2005, which should be released on December 31, 2009 under the name Playyard Blues.