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Jens Johansson | |
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![]() Johansson performing with Stratovarius in 2023 | |
Background information | |
Born | Stockholm, Sweden | 2 November 1963
Genres | Power metal, symphonic metal, neoclassical metal, heavy metal, jazz fusion |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Keyboards, synthesizers, piano |
Years active | 1982–present |
Website | panix |
Jens Ola Johansson [1] (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist. Jens got famous in the early 80's when he and his brother Anders (drums) joined Yngwie Malmsteen's "Rising Force". Jens is the son of the legendary Swedish Jazz pianist Jan Johansson. Jens has also worked with the legendary guitar player Allan Holdsworth.
He's currently working with the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed and technical skills in the style of neoclassical , fusion and rock.
Johansson is son of Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson and brother of Ex-HammerFall drummer Anders Johansson. He is highly influenced by classic rock keyboardists like Don Airey, Eddie Jobson and Jon Lord. [2] In 1982, the classically trained Johansson left the jazz fusion band Slem and joined the Swedish metal band Silver Mountain, which also included Anders. In 1983 he left Sweden for California and joined guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen as a member of his band, Rising Force. Numerous records and world tours ensued and he stayed with Yngwie until 1989. Johansson also played with the band Dio between 1989 and 1990. Like Anders, he began an ongoing collaboration with Jonas Hellborg in 1989 which has resulted in several progressive and avant-garde recordings, including Dissident, Unseen Rain (an acoustic piano trio record with Ginger Baker on drums) and the hard core progressive fusion record, E.
In 1993, Johansson co-founded a progressive blues metal project, The Johansson Brothers, and recorded a self-titled record. In 1996, with a different line-up, they recorded another album, Sonic Winter, this time under the name "Johansson", with Yngwie Malmsteen guesting on guitar. The last Johansson record, The Last Viking, a more "European metal" oriented album, was released in 1999 with special guests Michael Romeo and Göran Edman.
Johansson has released several instrumental solo records such as Fjäderlösa Tvåfotingar, Ten Seasons (a piano solo album improvised in the Mark Kostabi gallery, New York), Heavy Machinery (with Anders and Allan Holdsworth) and Fission (with Anders, Shawn Lane and Mike Stern) and many collaborations with other artists, metal compilations and Berends Brothers' band Mastermind.
He co-founded Heptagon Records to distribute his own recordings and that of other musicians, such as guitarist Benny Jansson and bassist Magnus Rosén. Johansson auditioned for Dream Theater after Kevin Moore left the band in 1994 [3] but due to many delays by the band in making a decision he instead joined Finnish power metal band Stratovarius. Since 1995 he has remained in Stratovarius, and still releasing solo albums and appearing as a guest or session musician in other projects.
Johansson is a self-confessed computer nerd, admitting to have started on an Atari ST (which he still owns), and having coded software in C, as well as his own website in Perl. [4] He rejects being considered one of the best keyboardists in the world, as he believes there are many people that are far better than him. [5]
Johansson has used many types of keyboards and synthesizers throughout his career. Amongst his favourites are the Korg Polysix, Yamaha DX7 as a MIDI controller, (from the Rising Force times to present), the Oberheim Matrix Series and the Roland JV-1080 sound module. He is also fond of the Hammond Organ. Johansson is a computer fan and long-time Steinberg programs user (like Cubase). An example of his interest in computers is his record Fission, which is replete with special effects and sound experimentation. His signature lead is emulation of Polysix on JV1080, going thru early Amp simulation / distortion pedal JD-10 by Morley.
Recently, he has been using PC-base system with Lenovo Laptop Computer both recording and live. And he uses JV1080 as backup on live.
Timeline
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ; born 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In August 2009, Time magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.
Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band. Formed in 1984, they have released sixteen studio albums, five DVDs and six live albums. The band's line-up has changed many times, and after guitarist Timo Tolkki's departure in 2008, no founding members remain. Currently, the longest standing member is singer Timo Kotipelto, who joined in 1994.
Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad is the first live album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, recorded over several dates in February 1989 in Saint Petersburg, and released on 12 October 1989 through Polydor Records. The album reached #31 on the Swedish albums chart and #128 on the Billboard 200. A VHS video of the concert was released on 11 July 1991 through PolyGram, and a DVD edition was reissued in Japan on 12 December 2006 through Universal Music.
Rising Force is the first studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in late 1984 through Polydor Records. This was originally planned as an instrumental side-project of his then-current band Alcatrazz, but due to singer Jeff Scott Soto's appearance on the album, Malmsteen opted to release it as a solo album. It reached No. 14 on the Swedish albums chart and No. 60 on the US Billboard 200, and received a nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1986 Grammy Awards. The album is regarded as a landmark release in the shred and neoclassical metal genres.
Allan Holdsworth was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and Bruford, in addition to solo work.
Jan Johansson was a Swedish jazz pianist. His album Jazz på svenska is the best selling jazz release ever in Sweden; it has sold over a quarter of a million copies and has been streamed more than 50 million times on Spotify. He was the father of former HammerFall drummer Anders Johansson and Stratovarius keyboardist Jens Johansson, who run Heptagon Records which keeps their father's recordings available.
Derek Sherinian is an American keyboardist of Armenian descent who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X and also one of the founding members of Black Country Communion, Sons of Apollo, and Whom Gods Destroy. He has released nine solo albums that have featured a variety of prominent guest musicians, including guitarists Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Michael Schenker, Steve Vai and Al Di Meola, and extensively drummer Simon Phillips.
Trilogy is the third studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in October 1986 through Polydor Records. The album reached No. 44 on the US Billboard 200 and charted within the top 60 in the Netherlands and Sweden. In the liner notes, Malmsteen dedicates the album to the memory of the late Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, who was assassinated on 28 February 1986.
Janne Viljami "Warman" Wirman is a Finnish musician; he is the former keyboardist for the Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom from 1997 to 2019 and currently keyboardist and founding member of Warmen.
Marching Out is the second studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released on 19 August 1985 through Polydor Records. The album reached No. 52 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for 28 weeks, as well as reaching the top 30 in two other countries.
Anders Johansson is a Swedish musician, best known as the former drummer of HammerFall and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. He currently plays in the power metal band Tungsten. He is the son of jazz pianist Jan Johansson, and brother of Stratovarius and Rainbow keyboardist Jens Johansson.
Jörg Fischer is a German guitar player, primarily known for his work with the German band Accept. He joined the band at the end of the recording sessions for their self-titled debut and plays on the albums I'm a Rebel and Breaker until leaving before recording began for the fourth album Restless and Wild. After the recording of Balls to the Wall was completed he was asked to rejoin the band. Fischer appears on the albums Metal Heart and Russian Roulette. By this time his role had diminished mainly to rhythm guitarist, although he is featured as lead guitarist on the songs "Living for Tonite", "Wrong Is Right', "Aiming High", "Another Second to Be" and "Lay Down the Law". Fischer left the band again around 1988.
Art Metal is a progressive metal band based in Sweden and led by Jonas Hellborg. Some of their line-ups have included guitarist Mattias Eklundh of Freak Kitchen fame, the Johansson brothers who have both contributed to the solo career of Yngwie Malmsteen, and Jonas Hellborg, an influential musician and solo artist in the jazz music scene. The band's music also has plenty of Indian music influence.
Perpetual Flame is the sixteenth studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and his group Rising Force, released on 13 October 2008 in Europe and on 14 October 2008 in the US and Canada. It was his first album since 2005's Unleash the Fury and the first with ex-Judas Priest and Iced Earth singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. The album also features famed keyboardist Derek Sherinian on keyboards.
Heavy Machinery is a collaborative studio album by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, keyboardist Jens Johansson and drummer Anders Johansson, released in 1996 through Heptagon Records (Sweden), and on 12 August 1997 through Shrapnel Records and Pony Canyon (Japan).
Fission is a studio album by keyboardist Jens Johansson, released in 1997 through Heptagon Records (Europe); February 18, 1998 through Pony Canyon (Japan); and on March 24, 1998, through Shrapnel Records. According to Johansson, the album went through an extremely troubled recording process due to several mishaps with Andy West's bass parts, which ultimately never made the album. On his website, Johansson also revealed that the indistinct image on the cover art is actually a heavily zoomed-in section of ice on a car window.
Circus Black is the fourth full-length album by Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn.
Art Metal is an album by bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg, released in 2007 through Bardo Records. It is the debut recording by Hellborg's project of the same name, Art Metal, borrowing the aesthetic of contemporary metal expanded with Indian and jazz improvisational disciplines.
Stormcrow is the second studio album by Finnish power metal supergroup Cain's Offering, released on 19 May 2015. It is their first album with keyboardist Jens Johansson and bassist Jonas Kuhlberg. The first song to be made available was the title-track, streamed from 22 April on. Eight days later, the band streamed "The Best of Times".
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