Johnson, Andreas

One hot summer day in 1999, Andreas Johnson sat down at his parents place in a southern Stockholm suburb. Equipped with scissors, glue, and a scrapbook he was meticulously assembling the first and what he also feared would be the last batch of press cuttings concerning his then fresh, but unfortunately already failing single �Glorious�.

Given this reaction to the first single of the album �Liebling� it seemed like his third album, his most ambitious yet, would flop big time.

What he didn�t know at this moment as he sat in the very same house where he had written the song � positioned on the top of a washing-machine! - was that beyond the utter silence in his native Sweden, things were in fact working his way. A massive �Glorious� flood was just starting to sweep the world.

Originating in far flung places as South Korea and Russia �Glorious-mania� soon spread to Holland and Germany. The song was then discovered by other Asian countries, the rest of Europe � including a # 3 entry in the prestigious UK singles chart � and finally also by his reluctant home market.

The song has since been used in numerous advertising synchs ranging from Chevrolet to Nutella and the advertising for the US Hit TV series �Sopranos�. Spreading the music to audiences in the millions internationally and all further underlining the fact that this giant of a song is one of the pre millennium hits.

The first decade of Andreas Johnson solo career in music has a lot to offer both before and after the glorious �Glorious� saga.

Andreas, born to jazz musician parents in the southern Sweden university town of Lund but raised in Stockholm, released his first music as the lead singer of the band Planet Waves in 1994.

This music was also the first Johnson works that was presented to his parents. �They rather wanted me to be a banker, I hesitated that long to tell them that I aimed to be a musician� he had later explained. �Superficial� is an example of an important song taken from the first and only Planet Waves album, �Brutal Awakenings�.

This song gives an idea of the music that inspired Johnson as a teenager. The Bob Dylan connection is obvious with �Planet Waves� being the title of a legendary Dylan album. But also Beatles, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Neil Young and punk rock are key elements to the archetypical Johnson sound.

The Planet Waves story was partly written in the US. When Andreas were to record his first solo effort �Cottonfish Tales� he was actually back in Europe. But the album still has an �Americana� feel to it. �I see it as being Neil Young-ish and I�m extremely proud of it� Johnson says today. Especially the track �Crush� remains one of his favourite self penned songs.

But with all respect to these first albums. The trademark Andreas Johnson sound was fused while working with �Liebling� in 1998. Everything fell into place: infectious melodies, anthemic choruses, churning guitars, powerful and sweeping arrangements.

It�s music larger than the Scandinavian lakes and forests, flavoured with a Nordic melancholy that makes �Liebling� truly different. If Andreas Johnson is to pick one of his songs to describe his musical vision the choice would probably be �Unbreakable� from this album. He puts it in five words: �That song is really me.�

Following the whirlwind experience that was the �Liebling� album and what was jokingly called the �World Wide Domination� tour, it took until 2002 until Andreas felt ready to present a new set of songs. This was when the partly conceptual �Deadly Happy� was released. But the waiting was worthwhile with new masterpieces including the ballad �Waterfall� and �Pretty Ones� another song that gained additional exposure through several commercial advertising synchs.

It was During the �Deadly happy�-tour that five extremely hectic years was catching up on Andreas, feeling dried-out of material and also short on motivation. Andreas took a time out that would last for almost 2 years�

Then - �Glorious� entered the scene again!

In 2004 the song was used in yet another television ad campaign � this time in France. It surprisingly became a hit again in this market for the second time in five years � and the success was even greater than the first time around.

Andreas looks back at this remarkable experience with gratefulness: �It gave me that necessary energy and adrenalin. I again felt the urge to focus on new material. I guess I simply realized that people liked me and my music.�

This new inspiration first resulted in his fourth solo album �Mr Johnson, Your Room Is on Fire� � released in 2005. But the new wave of energy particularly brought the song �Sing for Me�. This Beatlesque extremely sing-a-long- gem of a track � co-written with long serving producer Peter Kvint - was given a �wild card� position in the Swedish finals for the Eurovision Song Contest of 2006.

Johnson, normally a musician acting far from these musical quarters, was an instant smash among the millions in from of the TV sets but also the jury. The song actually finished third in the finals but still ended up a #1 airplay success, being the most popular Swedish hit of 2006.

The irony of the massive domestic success for �Sing For me� was that it over-shadowed the strong initial first single from the �Mr Johnson� album. �Show Me Love� simply never got the attention that it deserves.

In 2007 Andreas released �The Collector�. A collection that includes all the key songs of a decade with Andreas Johnson. And the icing on the cake � three all new songs, including Johnson�s 2007 Eurovision contender �A Little Bit Of Love�. In 2008, Andreas Johnson took part in the semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2008, accompanied by Carola Ha"ggkvist who previously won Melodifestivalen in 1983, 1991 and 2006. The duo managed to get to the "Second chance" but lost there against Nordman.

andreas-johnson.net/about/

Facts about Johnson, AndreasRDF feed

Artist	Johnson, Andreas +
Artist Type	Artist +
Genre	Rock +
Member Of	Planet Waves +
Page Type	Main Info Page +
RID	471,774 +
Style	Swedish Pop-Rock +, and Alternative Pop-Rock +

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Johnson, Andreas

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