Joey Tempest

Joey Tempest (born Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson on August 19, 1963 in Upplands Väsby, Sweden) is the vocalist and main songwriter in the Swedish hard rock band Europe. He has written hits like "The Final Countdown", "Rock the Night" and "Superstitious". Like many of the other Europe members, he grew up in Stockholm suburb Upplands Väsby. His biggest idols were Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin. During his teens, he played in a number of bands such as Made in Hong Kong and Roxanne. At that time he alternated between playing rhythm guitar and bass, in addition to lead vocals. In 1979 he formed the band Force, together with guitarist John Norum, drummer Tony Reno and bassist Peter Olsson. Three years later, Force had changed their name to Europe. Tempest played the keyboards on the first two Europe albums before the band decided to recruit keyboardist Mic Michaeli in April 1984. Interestingly enough, it was Michaeli who had lent Tempest the keyboard he used to compose the main keyboard riff in the song "The Final Countdown" years earlier. During a jam session in 1985, Michaeli and Tempest ended up co-writing the hit ballad "Carrie". Later that year, Tempest wrote the soundtrack for the Swedish youth movie On the Loose, as well as the song "Give A Helping Hand" for the benefit project Swedish Metal Aid. The song was produced by future bandmate Kee Marcello. One year later, Tempest wrote and produced the album One of a Kind for Tone Norum, John Norum's younger sister. Tempest also collaborated with John Norum on the single "We Will Be Strong" from Norum's album Face the Truth in 1992; This was the first time the two had worked together since Norum left Europe in November 1986. After Europe took a break in 1992, Tempest would release three solo albums. The first album, A Place to Call Home featured a guest appearance from John Norum on the song "Right to Respect". Several songs on the Joey Tempest album were co-written by Mic Michaeli. 2004 saw the release of Europe's comeback album, Start from the Dark, featuring their classic Final Countdown band line-up with John Norum on guitar. The follow-up, Secret Society, was released in 2006. Tempest is currently living in London with his wife Lisa Worthington and their son James Joakim.

Solo albums

• A Place to Call Home (1995)
• Azalea Place (1997)
• Joey Tempest (2002)

Trivia

• Tempest once claimed in a BBC interview that he took his artist name from William Shakespeare's poem [sic] The Tempest. (He didn't know it was a play. He was repeatedly pressured by the BBC reporter to reveal his real name and would not give in, saying only that his real name both sounded like and meant the same as 'Joey Tempest'; his real name, Joakim Larsson, is the Swedish equivalent of the rather mundane English name "John Smith".)

Links

• Joey Tempest's Official Site
• 2006 Interview with Joey Tempest