Håkan Hellström

All Music Guide:

Seemingly out of nowhere, Håkan Hellström arrived with the smash hit debut single "Känn Ingen Sorg För Mig Göteborg," in the spring of 2000. Although this was his debut as a solo artist, Hellström had been a musician for years. As a member of indie pop/rock cult heroes Broder Daniel and Honey Is Cool, he had already recorded several albums as a bass player and drummer respectively.

In 1999, Hellström asked some of his musician friends to be the backing band on a demo tape he was about to record. Though never a songwriter with his previous bands, Hellström had quite a few songs that he had written, in Swedish, as opposed to the bands he had been a member of. After completing the demo recording, he sent it to various record companies. He was practically drowned in offers of a record deal, and finally decided to sign with Virgin, his sole demand being that the album was recorded straight away. On the album, and concerts that followed, he was backed by a seven-piece band containing members of Soundtrack of Our Lives, Weeping Willows, and the Broder Daniel founding member, bass player Daniel Gilbert. All acquaintances from the music scene in Göteborg, Sweden. The debut album and subsequent tour were huge successes, selling loads of records, being praised by every music journalist around, and selling out all the concert venues.

Wikipedia:

Håkan Hellström (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈhoːkan ˈhɛlˈstrœm]; born 2 April 1974) is a Swedish musician. He got his Swedish breakthrough in the year 2000 with the song "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" ("Don't feel sorry for me, Gothenburg"). In 2005, Hellström released his fourth album, Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått (literally: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue), which is a collection of old material that never made it onto any of his albums, a few new songs and covers. In 2006, following the birth of his son, he announced that he would take a break from touring and recording. Despite this, he still performed occasional gigs. Since then he has released his fifth album För sent för Edelweiss (Too Late for Edelweiss).

Hellström played drums in the Swedish indie pop band Broder Daniel between 1988 and 1994, then briefly for Swedish alternative rock band Honey Is Cool. In 1997 he rejoined Broder Daniel to play the bass, until 2003 when he left the band again to focus completely on his solo career.

Controversies [edit]

Throughout his career, Hellström's influences have shown clearly in his music, which often includes lines or melodies picked up from other people's songs. The sources range from Evert Taube, via Hellström's own band Broder Daniel, to American indie rock band Pavement. Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg was particularly lush with references to Morrissey and The Smiths. While some critics have celebrated Hellström's personal take on music history (and pointed out that Morrissey himself was not a stranger to incorporating lines written by others), it has also led to accusations of plagiarism.

In 2002, Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet ran an article bringing attention to the similarities between his song "När jag ser framåt" and the piece Pie Jesu from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. "När jag ser framåt" was the second track of the single "Kom igen Lena!". Following the accusations, the single was withdrawn from the market, and re-released with a different b-side.