page_title: Europe (band)
section_title: Europe and Wings of Tomorrow (1979–1984)
hierarchical_section_title: Europe (band) / History / Europe and Wings of Tomorrow (1979–1984)
caption_attribution_description: English: Joey Tempest of Europe, by Enrico Dal Boni.
context_page_description: Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby, Sweden in 1979, by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. They obtained a major breakthrough in Sweden in 1982 by winning the televised competition "Rock-SM": 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 rose to international fame in the 1980s with their third album, 1986's The Final Countdown, which has sold over 3 million copies in the United States and 15 million copies worldwide. Europe have sold over 25 million records worldwide. The band has had two top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart and three top 30 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
  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, Secret Society, Last Look at Eden, Bag of Bones, War of Kings and Walk the Earth.
context_section_description: 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. Just a couple of months later, Levén joined Yngwie Malmsteen's band Rising Force, and Malmsteen's former bassist, Marcel Jacob, joined Force. This only lasted for three months, though; Levén apparently had issues with Malmsteen, so he and Jacob traded places again.
  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. Just before the contest, Force changed their name to Europe. Tempest came up with the name.
  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.
  The second album Wings of Tomorrow was released one year later. The album got interest from CBS Records who offered them an international contract in 1985. "I think one of the most important albums for the band was Wings of Tomorrow," Tempest said, "We were learning how to write songs and John started playing some really cool stuff on the guitar. We became a better band and that was a good period for the band." Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after. At the same time, Tony Reno was fired because of his lack of motivation and alleged slacking off on rehearsals. Bassist Peter Olsson also claims that Reno was replaced on the albums by a drum machine. His replacement was Ian Haugland.
caption: Joey Tempest.
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