Biography

Lars Demian debuted in the early '90s to big success. For a few years, he was one of the main names on the Swedish singer/songwriter scene, and also managed to get a big number of crossover fans. But refusing to release the records expected, and focusing more on the theater, his appearances during the late '90s were sporadic. Demian was born in Halmstad, Sweden, in 1957 and initiated his music career in the early '80s, releasing an unsuccessful synth pop single. For the rest of the decade, he worked with performance theater and wrote the music and script for a television show for children. For a while, he also played with Di Leva, but it was while acting in a cabaret when he was discovered by Alpha Records, and in 1990 he released his debut album, Pank. The lyrics focused much on alcohol and Bohemian life, and though the themes where not very original, the music was. Demian was recognized for his skilled songwriting and for borrowing from Jacques Brel and pre-war popular music. On the following two albums, the already few electric instruments were abandoned and Favoriter i Dur Och Moll, containing acoustic covers of Ulf Lundell, Jules Sylvain, and Joakim Thåström, earned Demian a Swedish Grammy award. In 1993, he went on a national tour with Stefan Sundström and Johan Johansson, but never a friend of the record industry, he went back to the theater after releasing Elvis & Jesus & Jag. The result was the one-man show Lars Demians Sista Frestelse, a mix of standup comedy, theater, and music. The show received a lot of attention, partly because a major newspaper threatened to sue Demian over making fun of them, but was only released as a limited-edition album. No more albums were recorded during the '90s, but a concert from 1998 is available as a bootleg. ~ Lars Lovén, Rovi