Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979, by lead vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. Named after the continent itself, they obtained a major breakthrough in Sweden in 1982 by winning the televised competition Rock-SM (Swedish Rock Championships); it was the first time this competition was held, and Europe became a larger success than the competition itself.

Since their formation, Europe has released eleven studio albums, three live albums, three compilations and twenty-four music videos. Europe's current lineup comprises Tempest, Norum, bassist John Levén, keyboardist Mic Michaeli, and drummer Ian Haugland.

Europe rose to international fame in the 1980s with their third album, 1986's The Final Countdown. , Europe had sold 10 million albums worldwide. The band has had two top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (The Final Countdown and Out of This World) and three top 30 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart ("The Final Countdown", "Rock the Night" and "Carrie", which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100).

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 the band has released six albums, Start from the Dark (2004), Secret Society (2006), Last Look at Eden (2009), Bag of Bones (2012), War of Kings (2015) and Walk the Earth (2017).

History

Europe and Wings of Tomorrow (1979–1984)

The first incarnation of the band was named Force and came together in 1979, in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm, and was integrated by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bass guitarist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. "I remember when we started the band Force we were playing covers in the rehearsal room, because we just wanted to learn our instruments, like all bands," Tempest said, "Then one day I said maybe we should do our own stuff. Nobody had any ideas, so I brought mine into the rehearsal room, and that is when we started writing our own stuff."

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.

right|thumbnail|Singer [[Joey Tempest performing in 2010.]]

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.

The self-titled debut album was released the following year, and sold well both in Sweden and Japan. The album charted at number 8 in the band's home country and the single "Seven Doors Hotel" became a Top 10 hit in Japan. Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after. His replacement was Ian Haugland. He wrote "Give a Helping Hand", which would feature the biggest stars of Swedish rock and metal. The income from the sales of the single, which was produced by Easy Action guitarist Kee Marcello, was donated to the starving people of Ethiopia. and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. France, Spain, and Germany. The hit "Rock the Night" was in the top 10 charts in European countries. The power ballad "Carrie" peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Kee Marcello was asked to replace him, and after some consideration, he 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 to 1990. 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, Alice In Chains 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, Norum and Marcello released solo albums whilst the other members participated in several different projects and bands. In return, Europe was dropped from Epic Records.

Reunion and Start from the Dark (2003–2005)

The band members started to discuss the possibility of a Europe reunion in 1998. The band then switched back to The Final Countdown line-up, with John Norum as the only lead guitarist.

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 17 September 2008 and on DVD on 19 August 2009.

On 23 July 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 8 August and Ystad on 9 August. John Norum joined Deep Purple on stage in Ystad for a performance of "Smoke on the Water".

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

thumb|right|Europe performing in Festivalna hall, Sofia in 2012.

Europe's eighth studio album, Last Look at Eden, was released on 9 September 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' 1970s 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 3 September 2009.

Bag of Bones and War of Kings (2011–2016)

On 6 August 2011, Europe headlined the closing ceremonies of the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden before an audience of 40,061 Scouts and Guides which included King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Silvia of Sweden.

On 12 July 2011, Europe confirmed that Kevin Shirley would produce their ninth studio album. The recording sessions started on 3 October 2011. On 24 January 2012 the band announced the album title, Bag of Bones. The album was released on 18 April 2012 in Japan by Victor Entertainment and on 25 April in Sweden by Gain Music Entertainment. "Bag of Bones" debuted at number 2 on the Swedish album chart on 4 May 2012 and was certified Gold in Sweden on 12 July 2012.

The band played at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2013, with their performance recorded for a 30th anniversary double CD, DVD and Blu-ray Disc, which was released in October 2013.

In 2014, Europe celebrated the 30th anniversary of their second studio album Wings of Tomorrow. They performed the entire Wings of Tomorrow album on several shows, including in Sweden.

Europe's tenth studio album, War of Kings was released on 2 March 2015 by UDR Records. It was produced by Dave Cobb, producer for bands such as Rival Sons.

Europe participated in a major cable television GEICO advertising campaign which started airing September 2015 in the US; in a television commercial, they are featured singing "The Final Countdown" to the background of an office break room, as a microwave oven cooks a burrito.

Europe released the War of Kings Special Edition together with Live Performance from Wacken Open Air Festival which was performed on 29 July 2015. The digital version was released on 27 November 2015 by UDR Records and the Blu-ray & DVD version released in early 2016.

In November 2016, Europe announced the 30th Final Countdown Anniversary Tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their top selling album "The Final Countdown". In this tour, they performed the entire "The Final Countdown" album and the entire "War Of Kings" album in every concert. They also filmed the concert performed in Roundhouse, London on 12 November 2016 and released it on 21 July 2017 via Blu-ray, DVD & iTunes Digital Download.

Walk the Earth and Come This Madness (2017–present)

In mid-2017, Europe announced their eleventh studio album, titled Walk the Earth. The album was released on 20 October via CD with bonus DVD and digital download.

In 2023 they announced their 40th anniversary tour titled Time Capsule, with dates in Europe across eight countries. The tour started on 30 September 2023 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and ended on 26 October 2023 in London, England.

On 28 April 2026, the band announced their twelfth studio album, Come This Madness, which will be released on 25 September. They also released the lead single from the album, "One on One".

Musical style and influences

Europe's music has been described as arena rock, hard rock, glam metal, blues rock The band is mainly influenced by Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Michael Schenker Group.

Band members

Current

  • Joey Tempest – lead vocals, rhythm guitar <small>(1979–1992, 1999, since 2003)</small>, keyboards, piano <small>(1979–1984, occasionally since 1984)</small>
  • John Norum – lead guitar, backing vocals <small>(1979–1986, 1999, since 2003)</small>
  • John Levén – bass, backing vocals <small>(1981–1992, 1999, since 2003)</small>
  • Mic Michaeli – keyboards, piano, keytar, backing vocals, occasional guitars <small>(1984–1992, 1999, since 2003)</small>
  • Ian Haugland – drums, percussion, snare drum, backing vocals <small>(1984–1992, 1999, since 2003)</small>

Former

  • Tony Reno – drums, percussion <small>(1979–1984)</small>
  • Peter Olsson – bass, backing vocals <small>(1979–1981)</small>
  • Marcel Jacob – bass, backing vocals <small>(1981, died 2009)</small>
  • Kee Marcello – lead guitar, backing vocals <small>(1986–1992, 1999)</small>

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

  • Europe (1983)
  • Wings of Tomorrow (1984)
  • The Final Countdown (1986)
  • Out of This World (1988)
  • Prisoners in Paradise (1991)
  • Start from the Dark (2004)
  • Secret Society (2006)
  • Last Look at Eden (2009)
  • Bag of Bones (2012)
  • War of Kings (2015)
  • Walk the Earth (2017)
  • Come This Madness (2026)

Accolades

Awards and nominations

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Nominee / work

! scope="col" colspan="2"| Award associations

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Result

! scope="col" rowspan="2"|

|-

! scope="col"|

! scope="col"|

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1986

| rowspan="8"| Themselves

| Rockbjörnen

| Best Swedish Group

|

|

|-

| Gold Bravo Otto

| Hard 'n Heavy

|

|

|-

! scope="row"| 1987

| Gold Bravo Otto

| Hard 'n Heavy

|

|

|-

! scope="row"| 1988

| Gold Bravo Otto

| Hard 'n Heavy

|

|

|-

! scope="row"| 1989

| Silver Bravo Otto

| Bands Hard 'n Heavy

|

|

|-

! scope="row"| 1990

| Bronze Bravo Otto

| Bands Hard 'n Heavy

|

|

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 2015

| Rockbjörnen

| Best Hard Rock/Metal

|

|

|-

! scope="row"| 2018

| Walk the Earth

| Grammis

| Best Hard Rock/Metal

|

|

|}

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"| Year

! scope="col"| Award

! scope="col"| Result

! scope="col"|

|-

! scope="row"| 1987

| Pan European Awards 1986 (Music & Media)

|

|

|}

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"| Year

! scope="col"| Award

! scope="col"| Nominee / work

! scope="col"| Result

! scope="col"|

|-

! scope="row"| 2022

| YouTube Billion Views Award

| "The Final Countdown"

|

|

|}

Other honors

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"| Year

! scope="col"| Award

! scope="col"| Result

! scope="col"|

|-

! scope="row"| 2018

| Swedish Music Hall of Fame

|

|

|}

See also

  • List of glam metal bands and artists
  • Culture of Europe

References

  • Europe's official YouTube page