Biography

Style are a Swedish synth pop band that peaked in popularity during the mid-'80s with a string of Top Five hits, most notably the chart-topping smash "Dover-Calais." The band was founded in 1983 by Christer Sandelin, Tommy Ekman, and Gigi Hamilton, who previously had been members of Freestyle, an internationally popular synth pop band with a similar style. During 1981 and 1982, Freestyle hit the upper reaches of the charts in Sweden and Norway with the albums Fantasi (1981) and Modiga Agenter (1982) and the singles "Vill Ha Dej" (1981) and "Ögon Som Glittrar" (1982). Following Freestyle's breakup, Ekman, Sandelin, and Hamilton founded Style -- essentially a continuation of Freestyle with fewer bandmembers -- and made their album debut in 1983 with So Chic. The album wasn't especially popular, nor was its follow-up effort, Visioner (1985). Style at last broke through to mainstream success in 1986 with a third-place finish in that year's Swedish Melodifestivalen with their song "Dover-Calais." Released as a commercial single, "Dover-Calais" was a smash hit, topping the Swedish singles chart and reaching the Top Ten in Norway. The accompanying full-length album, Heaven No. 7 (1986), the band's third full-length effort to date, was also a big hit, reaching the Top Five in Sweden and the Top 20 in Norway. The follow-up albums Daylight Robbery (1987) and Question of Time (1988) were also popular, reaching the Top Ten in Sweden and spawning the Top Five hits "Run for Your Life," "Empty Bed," and "It's a Secret." In addition, the band competed in Melodifestivalen a second time, finishing in sixth place in 1987 with "Hand i Hand." In the midst of this success, Style broke up in 1989, and the bandmembers embarked on separate solo careers. Sandelin was most successful, hitting the Top Five in 1989 with the hit single "Det Hon Vill Ha." He made his solo album debut in 1989 with Luften Darrar, a Top Ten hit, while Ekman made his in 1990 with Tommy Ekman and Hamilton made hers in 1991 with Gigi Hamilton. Ten years after the breakup of Style, Ekman and Sandelin reunited the band sans Hamilton for the Top Ten comeback album Vill Ha Dej Igen (2009), the title track of which was a Top Five hit. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi