Simon Kvamm (born 18 February 1975)[1] is a Danish actor and singer. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Danish rock band Nephew, where he sang lead vocals and played guitar and keyboards. He is also well known for his acts in the Danish comedy show Drengene fra Angora. He is also part of pop duo De Eneste To alongside Peter Sommer.
He is a currently the lead singer in the band Hugorm, which was formed in Klitmøller in 2017 in collaboration with fellow musicians Arní Bergmann and Morten Gorm. The band's first EP was released in 2020, entitled Folk skal bare holde deres kæft (People should just shut up), and later that year the album Kom vi flygter (Let's run away) was released. In October 2022, the band's second album Tro, Hug & Kærlighed (Faith, Hug & Love) was released,[2] and on 11 October 2024, their third album, Drømmehug, was released. [3] This precedes the band's major arena tour that year, which began on 14 November in Odense, continued on to Aarhus and Aalborg, and finally concluded at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on 22 November.[4] It is the band's biggest indoor tour to date.
Kvamm is one of the main creators behind the TV series Guru on DR2, in which he plays the lead role as life coach Anders Mertz. In 2021, the series was nominated for the TV Prisen award (The TV Awards), and Simon Kvamm was nominated for a Robert Award for "Best Male Lead Role" in the same year.[5]
Early life
Kvamm was born on 18 February 1975 in Silkeborg[6] as the son of Janus and Agnes Kvamm, who are a doctor and dentist, respectively. He has a younger brother, Stefan Kvamm, who is also a musician, as well as an anthropologist.
Kvamm graduated from Silkeborg Gymnasium in 1994;[7] it was during his time at Båring Højskole he started to see himself as a musician. He subsequently enrolled in musicology at Aarhus University, but his interest in television and radio journalism led him to train and study to become a journalist at the Danish School of Journalism in Aarhus, but he did not end up completing the training. Instead, he became employed at Danmarks Radio (now known as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation) after his internship at DR Ung, where in 2003 he participated in the fictional documentary series about the rocker club Svinene, where the character Baune was born. The character Baune carried on with Kvamm when he, along with actors Esben Pretzmann and Rune Tolsgaard, was part of Drengene fra Angora, which became a household name in 2004.
He was initially a football player, playing with the football club Silkeborg IF, who played a major role in Kvamm's childhood, until he was around 18 years old. He has been behind the club's entrance song on several occasions, which has been both a remix of Nephew's "Movie Klip" and the song "Vi Er Søhøjlandet", made in collaboration with the band More Blessings.[8] He also played for the football club Olympia Århus København.
Kvamm is best known as one of the founding members of the Danish rock band Nephew, where he is the lead vocalist, as well as providing guitar and keyboards. The band formed in Aarhus in 1996, and in 2000 they released their debut album, Swimming Time. Also in 2000, they played a concert at the Roskilde Festival camping stage, a concert that featured guest guitarist Hilmer Hassig.
The band had their breakthrough in 2004 with their second album USADSB, and had several hits in Denmark such as Superliga, En Wannabe Darth Vader and Movie Klip, which have won them several Danish national music awards, including 6 GAFFA awards, two of which were "Best Danish Singer" and "Best Danish Band".[9] In 2006, the band released their third album, Interkom kom ind, and in 2007, Nephew played at Roskilde Festival's Orange Scene stage. This resulted in the DVD and live album Roskilde 07.07.07, where the title references the band's performance at the festival on that date (7 July 2007).
Nephew released their fourth album, Danmark/Denmark, in 2009, and their fifth album, Hjertestarter, was released in 2012. The band took a temporary hiatus in 2014. Three years later, in 2017, the band introduced composer Marie Højlund as a new member, and between January to September 2018, the band released songs from their sixth album Ring—i—Ring. Their song "At dø er at rejse" ("To Die is to Travel") is included in the 19th edition of the Højskolesangbogen (Folk High School Songbook). The song was originally written for Ring—i—Ring, but has been reworked and transformed into a folk high school song, with Kvamm as the lyricist.[10]Ring—i—Ring was released on 27 October of that year.
In 2007, Kvamm hosted the travel program Antiglobetrotter on DR1. As the title suggests, Simon did not enjoy traveling, so to challenge his own comfort zone, he traveled to Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya to meet with young African comedians, actors, and musicians.[11] The program's theme song, Grant Lee Buffalo's “Fuzzy,” was produced by Kvamm and Carsten Heller.
Kvamm is also known from the Danish comedy series Drengene fra Angora, where he plays the demented Dutch cyclist Pim de Keysersgracht, the motorcycle gang member Baune, one of the three Russians from joke hours Gagarin, and the studio host, playing as himself. Simon credits his acting with helping to develop his stage persona and create songs. He considers himself a musician first and an actor on the side.[12] It was also in 2007 that Drengene fra Angora reappeared on screen, this time in the program Angora by Night.
In 2010, Simon formed the musical duo De Eneste To (literally The Sole Two in Danish) with his good friend, musician and colleague of many years, Peter Sommer, and their first single, “Morten,” was released on 16 August of that year. The duo's first album, self-titled De Eneste To, was released on 11 October, and had immediate success and was certified platinum in January 2011.[13] The follow-up to the first album, Dobbeltliv, was released in 2014. The band has also released the EPs D.E.T lyder radikalt and Friday I'm In Love.
In 2016, he launched his solo career with his solo show Vandmand, which premiered in Aalborg on 16 August. The show combines several of Simon's interests and talents and is based on reflections on his own childhood and youth, as well as "being seen as a shark but feeling like a jellyfish." His move from Frederiksberg to Klitmøller provided both the courage, desire, and content for the show—the first in his own name. The single "Revner" was released on 4 October 2016, and the full album, entitled the same name as the show, was released as an appendix to the show on 27 January 2017.
In 2017, the theater concert Lyden af de skuldre vi står på – sangskatten remixet af Simon Kvamm (The Sound of the Shoulders We Stand On – Songs Remixed by Simon Kvamm) premiered at Aarhus Theater and was attended by then-Queen of Denmark Margrethe II in connection with the opening of Aarhus Festuge. Kvamm, in collaboration with Marie Højlund, interpreted and set Danish songs and hymns to music as a tribute to community and the treasure of Danish songs. The performance played to sold-out houses, received rave reviews, and won two Reumert awards for "Musical/Music Concert of the Year" and "Stage Design of the Year".[14]
It was also in 2017 that Kvamm formed the band Hugorm in a garage in Klitmøller, with musicians Morten Gorm and Árni Bergmann. The band played a performance in October 2019 at the Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen before they were immediately known. On 8 January 2020, Kvamm officially announced that he had formed Hugorm, and their first EP, Folk skal bare holde deres kæft (People should just shut up), was released on 24 January 2020. The EP was followed by the album Kom vi flygter (Let's run away) on 24 October 2020, and garnered rave reviews, including 5 stars from the magazine Gaffa. In 2021, the group was nominated for two awards at the Danish Music Awards for Danish Group of the Year and New Live Act of the Year.[15] According to the band themselves, Hugorm is "a band that's all about going wild, cleaning house, and, not least, freaking out." Kvamm himself mentions how he uses humor and aggression in the band to get even closer to something real.[16]
On 14 October 2022, the band released their second album, titled Tro, hug og kærlighed (Faith, Love, and Affection). Notable musical collaborations include the songs "Der er sket noget" ("Something Has Happened") with Benjamin Hav and "Mig & Frank" ("Me & Frank") with Frank Hvam in connection with the DR program Make Badminton Great Again. Two years later, on 11 October 2024, Hugorm's third album Drømmehug (Dream come true) was released.[17]
Hugorm announced a year in advance that in November 2024 they would play their biggest concerts to date on an arena tour, which, in addition to arenas in Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense, includes the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. In connection with this, they went on tour with Frank Hvam in the fall of 2023, a show where Frank would act as coach for the band in the run-up to the big arena concerts. The show was incredibly well received by critics and played to sold-out houses across the country.
In the fall of 2025, Simon Kvamm played 38 church concerts throughout the country under the tour name "Alle sangene" ("All the Songs"). This tour was a collection of songs from Nephew, De Eneste To, Vandmand, and Hugorm, and all concerts, including extra concerts, sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. In February 2026, the tour will expand to two concerts at the Royal Arena under the name "Alle Sangene - Alle Vennerne" ("All the Songs - All the Friends"). In connection with the church concerts, Simon donated half a million of the ticket proceeds to Folkekirkens Nødhjælp (Danish Church Aid).[18]
Kvamm performing with Hugorm at Skodborg ParkRock Festival 2025.
Hugorm has also provided all the music for the DR series Guru. After several years in the making, Guru premiered on DRTV on 8 April 2021. Guru is a six-part series created by Kvamm in collaboration with Svend Brinkmann and Stine Ellerbæk, and was written by Rasmus Horskjær and directed by Christian Dyekjær. In the series, Kvamm himself plays the lead role as life coach Anders Mertz, who struggles with himself internally, but externally coaches others to "walk themselves" and to optimize and perform in their own lives through self-development platitudes such as "Success is buried on the other side of rejection" and "The best way to predict the future is to create it." All the music for the series, including the theme song, is provided by Hugorm. Other cast members include Frederik Cilius, Kirsten Lehfeldt and Brian Lykke.[19] Season 2 of Guru premiered on DR1 and DRTV on 25 November 2022.
In 2021, Kvamm appeared in season 11 of the TV 2 program Toppen af Poppen, where he participated alongside Alex Vargas, Katinka Bjerregaard, Hjalmer Larsen, Maria Bramsen, Malte Ebert and Mathilde Falch. Here, he performed songs by the other participating artists, both solo and together with Hugorm. In August 2022, he was presented as one of the three judges in the 16th season of X Factor on TV 2. He forms the judging trio together with Kwamie Liv and Thomas Blachman.[20] Kvamm went into the live shows with Kristoffer Lundholm, Theodor, and the group Rosél, with whom he ended up winning.[21] Simon Kvamm also won the following season with soloist Helene Frank, and as a judge was also behind the season's runner-up, the group Selmani. In the 2025 season of X Factor, Kvamm once again makes up a third of the judging panel.[22]
Kvamm was ambassador for Euro2020 at the European Football Championship on home turf, and since 2017 he has been an ambassador for Lær For Livet (Learn for Life). Together with Nephew, and in collaboration with Ungdomsringen, Roskilde Festival, and Bikubenfonden, he co-founded Musikstarter, which aims to encourage more young people to find joy and community in playing music together.[23]
On 27 October 2023, Kvamm received the N.F.S. Grundtvig Prize, which is awarded annually to "a person who, through words, actions, or artistic expression, has communicated knowledge about Grundtvig or has made Grundtvig's ideas applicable in an exceptional way." [24] The prize is awarded by Grundtvigsk Forum, and the motivation behind Kvamm as the prize winner included: "Simon Kvamm writes poetry about the inevitable when we interact with each other and ourselves in a clumsy, opportunistic, and hopeful way. He can count more than one. The one is placed opposite the other, as friends and in love, and also politically, ethically, and religiously. Witty and often outspoken, he writes poetry on all lines of connection."[25]
Personal life
Kvamm is married to journalist Stine Ellerbæk, and together they have two daughters, Elinor and Alice.[6] He is a Christian.[6]
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