Europe (band)

Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno. Although widely associated with glam metal, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and hard rock elements. Since its formation, Europe has released eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilations and seventeen videos.

Europe rose to international fame in the 1980s with its third album The Final Countdown (1986), which became a substantial commercial success and sold over three million copies in the United States. Europe was one of the most successful rock acts of the 80s and sold over 20 million albums worldwide. The band has achieved two top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (The Final Countdown and Out of This World) and two top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart ("The Final Countdown" and "Carrie").

Europe went on hiatus in 1992, reunited temporarily for a one-off performance in Stockholm on New Year's Eve 1999 and announced an official reunion in 2003. Since then Europe has released three albums, Start from the Dark (2004), Secret Society (2006) and Last Look at Eden, which was released on 9 September, 2009.

Biography

Early days (1979–1985)

The band sent several demos to record companies, but were told that in order to be published they had to cut their hair and sing in Swedish. Two years later, Olsson left the band and was replaced by John Levén.

In 1982, Tempest's girlfriend entered Force in the Swedish rock talent contest Rock-SM. Competing against 4000 bands, they won the contest thanks to two songs, "In the Future to Come" and "The King Will Return". The reward was a record deal with Hot Records. Tempest won the individual award for Best Lead Singer, and Norum won the award for Best Guitarist. Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after. and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. France and Germany. The power ballad "Carrie", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,

Kee Marcello was asked to replace him, and after some consideration decided to join the band. That name would later be used as a title for a much-circulated Europe bootleg, which contained demo recordings from 1989-90. Two years later, the album Prisoners in Paradise was released, but received limited media attention due to the "boom" of the grunge movement, started by Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Although the sales were low compared to previous albums, the single "I'll Cry for You" managed to hit number 28 on the UK charts.

After ten years of living, recording, and touring together, Europe decided to take a break at the end of the 1992 tour. In that time, Tempest and Marcello released solo albums whilst the other members participated in several different projects and bands.

Reunion (1998–present)

The songwriting for a new album, Start from the Dark, began early in 2003. Eventually, the album sold in excess of 600,000 copies worldwide. It was released on CD on September 17, 2008 and on DVD on August 19, 2009.

On July 23, 2008 Europe did a co-headlining concert with Whitesnake in Padua, Italy. During Whitesnake's performance of their encore "Still of the Night", Joey Tempest joined David Coverdale on stage for the last chorus. In August 2008 Europe was the opening act for Deep Purple for two concerts in Sweden, in Linköping on August 8 and Ystad on August 9. John Norum joined Deep Purple on stage in Ystad for a performance of "Smoke on the Water".

On July 21, 2009, bassist and former member of Force, Marcel Jacob, committed suicide. He was 45 years old.

Europe's eighth studio album, Last Look at Eden, was released on September 9, 2009. The title track was released as a single in June. The band has described it as a modern retro rock album. "This time, we're taking some new directions with our songs, and we're exploring different styles," they stated, "There is a definite classic rock vibe on some of the tracks... a tip of the hat to groovin', funkin' 70s rock songs - but ones we have bought into the here and now." The second single, "New Love in Town", was released as a digital download on September 3, 2009.

In an interview with Abhijeet Ahluwalia for EspyRock on November 30, 2009, Joey Tempest outlined the future of Europe, announcing the follow up to Last Look at Eden will come in 2011: "We're gonna keep working at this rate we’re working at, which is pretty good. We’ll probably come out with an album in 2011 and tour in 2012 again. We’re looking 2-3 years ahead all the time, and in the next 5 years I see Europe with 2 more albums, 2 more world tours and hopefully having established ourselves even better in a lot of territories around the world."

Band members

Current members

¹Live

²Until 1984

³Live during the Prisoners in Paradise Tour 1991-92

Former members

Discography

References

External links

Category:1970s music groups Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups Category:Glam metal musical groups Category:Hard rock musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1979 Category:Musical quintets Category:Swedish musical groups Category:Swedish heavy metal musical groups Category:Swedish hard rock musical groups