Europe (Band)

A five-piece hard rock band from Sweden . This is a representative Swedish band that continues the popularity of ABBA . Representative songs include The Final Countdown, which has a grand and familiar intro and is often used at sports games and events, and Carrie, a sad ballad.



As of 2026, the band is still active with the same line-up from its heyday, and is a long-running band going on a 40th anniversary tour. A documentary film is being released and a new album is being released.

European history began in 1978 with bassist Jan-Erik Backström.[4] , starting from the band WC, which included vocalist and guitarist John Norum , guitarist Mike Kling, and drummer Tony Reno.

1979, John Norum and Roxanne[5] Joey Tempest , who was the bass vocalist in a band called, was greatly impressed by each other's performances, and they developed into close friends. One day, John Norum asked Joey Tempest to join WC, and Joey Tempest took on the vocals of WC. After Joey Tempest's recruitment, WC changed their team name to Force, named after UFO's album Force It.[6]

In 1981, Peter Olsson left the band after fighting with Joey Tempest over his girlfriend. To fill the vacant bassist position, John Norum visited his best friend John Leven, who was a guitarist at the time, on a rainy evening and asked him to join the band as a bassist, and John Leven readily agreed.[7] In April 1981, John Leven exchanged members with Marcel Jakob, the bassist of Yngwie Malmsteen 's band Rising Force, but after three months, the two were back in their original positions.[8]

In 1982, Thomas Ertmann, who later became a European manager, held a contest called Rock-SM to promote his record label, Hot Records, and offered a record contract as the first prize. Europe had no intention of participating in the competition, but Anita, Joey's girlfriend at the time, secretly sent the band's demo tape to the organizers, and they passed the preliminary round and were among 485 bands out of 4,000 that participated. They ended up winning and also won the Best Guitarist and Best Vocalist awards.[9]
They also changed the band's name once more here, and from now on they have the European name we know.

The reason is that the name overlapped with Yngwie's band, Rising Force. This name was also created by Joey Tempest, and is said to have been taken from Deep Purple 's live album Made In Europe, which they liked at the time.[10] As a result of winning Rock-SM, Europe recorded their first self-titled album, Europe.

In March 1983, the first album ranked 8th on the album chart immediately after its release and sold 30,000 copies in two weeks. Because it was a low-budget album recorded with a budget of 100,000 kronor, the sound quality is disappointing when compared to the debut albums of other bands of similar size, but it was a very good performance for a small Swedish band to start with, and the record so far is known to have sold a total of about 1 million copies. This album was also introduced in Japan by famous journalist Masanora Ito, and the single Seven Doors Hotel became a Top 10 hit on the Japanese charts. With the success of their first album, Europe immediately began production on their new album, Wings of Tomorrow, and recorded it at ABBA 's Polar Studio with a budget of 400,000 kronor.[11]

In 1984, Wings of Tomorrow was released and showed much improved sound quality compared to the first album. Unlike the first album, no music video was filmed, but it sold 38,000 copies immediately after release. The Open Your Heart single reached number 2 on the Swedish radio charts, and from then on the song attracted the attention of American record labels.

While touring the album, they felt the need for a keyboardist and temporarily recruited Mick Michaeli, the only keyboardist in a band called Universe, to become a full-time member.[12] Existing drummer Tony Reno was fired due to his disloyal attitude, and new drummer Ian Haugland was recruited, completing the current Classic Europe line-up.[13]

In 1985, Europe began working on the singles Rock the Night and Seven Doors Hotel.[14] Meanwhile, manager Thomas Ertman secured a contract with Epic Records and brought over 100 contracts for the members to sign.[15]

Afterwards, the Swedish Trade Union Federation planned a film called On the Loose and entrusted Europe with soundtrack work and appearances, and the two singles Rock the Night and On the Loose were released together, selling 90,000 copies in two months.[16]

Europe is now starting to plan their third album , The Final Countdown , which was both a blessing and a curse for Europe. Having built up both the recognition and budget necessary to enter the global market through their previous activities, they began looking for a world-class producer and recruited Kevin Elson, producer of Journey . With a total budget of 1 million kronor, they went to Switzerland as suggested by Kevin Elson. Work began at Powerplay Studios in Zurich . However, the work process was not so smooth, as Joey Tempest had a major problem with his vocal cords and had to return to Stockholm for treatment due to an unidentified virus and allergies. This resulted in higher recording costs, but when Epic Records officials heard The Final Countdown, they happily doubled the budget. After resting at a nursing home and completing vocal training, Joey Tempest finished recording his third album with his voice in top condition.

Despite going through such a difficult recording process, the release and tour of the third album did not go smoothly. The album cover art was completed too late, so the release date was postponed.[17] This is because the European tour had to begin in Sweden without an album. Each performance cost a considerable amount of money, and there was no way that many audiences who had never even heard the album would attend the tour, and everyone criticized Europe, saying that it would end in debt. However, after the release of the third album, it all changed to tremendous acclaim.

Thus, The Final Countdown received a gold record in Sweden with 50,000 pre-orders and 100,000 copies sold within two months. The music video also became a hit on MTV, and it seemed like it would be a huge success in Europe, but during the Japanese tour, John Norum suddenly announced his withdrawal.

The reasons were the European keyboard-centric pop sound, numerous interviews and photo shoots, and conflict with manager Thomas Ertmann. The atmosphere of the band after the announcement of withdrawal was icy, and Joey Tempest and John Norum did not even talk to each other, but only communicated through their managers. In the end, John Norum agreed with the band to proceed with the contracted tour, and Europe immediately contacted him to recruit Key Marcelo, who was active in Easy Action, as his new successor. Chi Marcelo, who was first contacted, refused, but Thomas Ertmann, who did not give up, persuaded Chi Marcelo's friend, and on October 14, right after Europe and John Norum's final live, Chi Marcelo called Thomas Ertmann and announced his intention to join.

In 1987, their first tour with Key Marcelo began, and they topped the charts in 25 countries and toured 23 states in the United States on a private plane. Ironically, the hit song in America was Carrie, not The Final Countdown. (No. 8 and No. 3, respectively) It stayed on the charts for more than 60 weeks and set a record of 1 million albums and 8 million singles, and Europe received a platinum record in the United States.

On May 17th, the much-talked-about tour ended in Philadelphia. On the advice of a tax accountant, the members all moved to the Bahamas to avoid Sweden's enormous taxes, and eventually moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies.

Europe, who gained enormous popularity with the hit The Final Countdown, was given top priority after Michael Jackson at CBS Records. Naturally, it would have been natural for Joey Tempest , who was the composer of most of the songs , to be under severe pressure due to the hit of the previous work .

In March 1988, Europe went to London and began work on their fourth album, Out of This World . Ron Nevison, who had produced albums by famous bands such as Kiss and Led Zeppelin, was recruited as a producer, but the band was not satisfied with the results Ron Nevison produced. Because of too much interference with the sound and his production methods, the rough sound on the demo tape became softer and more pop-like.

The album's first single, Superstitious, was released in July 1988 and went straight to number one on the domestic singles chart. The album Out of This World was also released on August 9, reaching #1 on the Swedish charts, and over the summer Europe was toured with Def Leppard on their second US tour as a support van. When they signed, the reason was that sales of Def Leppard's Hysteria album were starting to drop and they needed support to help sell tickets, but as soon as Europe signed the contract, a week later, Pour Some Sugar on Me became a huge hit. Def Leppard directly offered Europe to join them on a fall tour, but Europe had already scheduled an Asian tour, so they had to break the contract.

Before leaving the United States, Europe filmed the music video for Superstitious at an old castle on Long Island, New York, with director Nick Morris. Out of This World ranked 19th on the Billboard 200 album chart, and Superstitious ranked 31st on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The band then moved to Europe for a promotional tour. They were scheduled to return to the United States, and a South American tour was also planned, but it was canceled due to lower-than-expected album sales.

In October, the newly recorded Open Your Heart was released as the second single, and in November, the band embarked on an Asian tour, performing a benefit concert in front of 60,000 people at a football stadium in Mumbai. The tour included two days at Tokyo's legendary venue Budokan, where the band filmed the music video for their third single, Let the Good Times Rock, released in March 1989 and, as before, directed by Nick Morris.

Out of This World's European tour began on January 10, 1989 in Malmö, Sweden and ended on April 5 in Brussels, Belgium. Although the tour was a huge success, selling out in almost every country, Out of This World sold only 2 million copies at the time, of which only about 300,000 were sold in the United States. Compared to The Final Countdown, it was a result close to a crushing defeat.

In the summer of 1989, the band Europe began work on their fifth album. At the time, both the management company and the record label were located in the United States, so the members packed their bags and headed to LA . They rented an apartment in Hollywood and held rehearsals and jam sessions at SIR Studios for several months. The composition method is also noticeably different from previous albums. Unlike before, where Joy took most of the composition credit for a nearly completed song, and the rest of the members added little by little ideas to the completed song,[18] This time, Joy suggested a rough melody on the guitar, and the rest of the members improvised along with it to complete the song.

Afterwards, on August 19, 1989, while Europe was writing a song in the studio,[19] , participated in the festival held in Milton Keynes, England, along with Bon Jovi , Skid Row , and Vixen . On this stage, they performed new songs they were working on, including 'Yesterday's News', 'Seventh Sign', 'Little Bit of Lovin', and 'Wild Child', to the audience for the first time.[20][21]

After completing 24 songs, Europe began looking for the right person to produce the album. In Vancouver, he met legendary producer Bob Rock and signed a satisfactory oral contract, but later, when he joined Metallica 's 'Black Album', he had to find another producer. The newly hired producer was Bo Hill from Texas.[22]

After about four weeks of pre-production, Europe entered Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California for full-scale recording. The entire recording session took approximately 10 weeks, and the album was completed in November 1990. The band toured Southeast Asia for a month in December of that year.

However, during the recording process, CBS management was reorganized, employees who supported Europe were fired, and new personnel were brought in. The new management was not satisfied with the album's results and eventually canceled its release. In an instant, they went from being a key artist who was ranked right after Michael Jackson to a band that no one paid any attention to. It was natural that the members' motivation was diminished due to this.

The album Prisoners in Paradise is[23] It was released on September 23, 1991 and ranked 9th on the Swedish album charts. Although it entered the Top 20 in Norway and Switzerland, it only ranked 61st in the UK charts, and global sales remained at around 1 million copies. The expected miracle did not happen. On January 7, 1992, Europe began their tour in Helsinki, Finland . During the tour, the last single, 'Halfway to Heaven', was released, and from this point on, discussions within the band began about whether to suspend activities. Joey Tempest, who had been touring away from his hometown since 1986, wanted to settle down and insisted on taking a break as he was planning a solo album. Key Marcelo also agreed, saying that in a situation where the melodic rock market has collapsed due to the emergence of grunge rock, he does not want to continue making music that the public ignores and does not understand.

In fact, the band was disillusioned with the music industry as a whole due to a contract dispute with their initial manager, Thomas Ertmann, and due to unresolved tax issues and harsh criticism from the media, disbandment was already expected. In addition to these external factors, internal discord was also serious, especially the conflict between vocalist Joy and guitarist Key Marcelo. When Key Marcelo was hired as John Norum's successor, he was guaranteed the right to choose musical direction and compose music, but these were not actually implemented.[24] In addition, there were many frictions, and Key, who was greatly heartbroken, even disappeared during the recording of the album.[25]

In the end, they finished their final performance of the 20th century with a performance in Portsmouth, England on March 15, 1992.

Except for Joey Tempest, who decided to remain in England, the remaining members returned to their home country, Sweden . Upon their return, the members faced serious tax problems, as their move to the West Indies to avoid taxes during their heyday was not approved by the Swedish Tax Agency. Joey Tempest, who had composition credits for most of the album, had to pay taxes of about 10 million kronor, and the other four members each had to pay about 2 million kronor, but the members did not have enough cash to pay the large amount of taxes due to the problem of money embezzlement by former manager Thomas Ertman.[26] Europe waged a legal battle against the National Tax Service for several years, but ultimately lost the case in the Supreme Court in 1997, leaving it with a huge amount of debt.

Talk about a band reunion began in earnest within the band in 1998.