Bodies Without Organs - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

BWO is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

electro pop group, formed in 2004. Prior to early 2006 they used the name Bodies Without Organs. In Sweden they have enjoyed considerable commercial success throughout their career, so far notching up 15 Top 40 singles, including a Number 1 with Temple of Love
Temple of Love (BWO song)
Temple of Love is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as the first single from their second album, Halcyon Days in Sweden, on April 19, 2006....

, and five Top 10 albums including a Number 1 with Halcyon Days
Halcyon Days (BWO album)
Halcyon Days is BWO's second studio album and was released on 19 April 2006. It was the first BWO album to reach the number 1 spot in the Swedish album charts and was certifed as a gold-selling album by the Swedish Recording Industry Association.-CD:...

, and have won several major Swedish music awards.

Since the mid 2000s, BWO have had significant chart success in several Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an countries including Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and some moderate success in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. 2009 saw a major breakthrough for the band in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

with the compilation album Sunshine In The Rain, specially designed for the Asian market. This release was greatly supported by leading Asian star Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai was born on 15 September 1980. She is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning Mandopop singer, dancer and actor. She is managed by Mars Entertainment Ltd .-Career:...

, whose international #1 hit cover version of a BWO song opened Asia to the Swedish band.

Origins

Alexander Bard

Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard is a Swedish artist, music producer and writer.-Background and education:Bard was born Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard in Medevi, Motala Municipality, Sweden. After he had completed his upper secondary education, Bard studied in the United States and in Amsterdam, Netherlands...

, whose previous music projects had included Army of Lovers

Army Of Lovers

Army of Lovers are a Swedish dance music group formed in 1987.The name of the band alludes to a documentary Armee der Liebenden oder Revolte der Perversen about the German gay rights activist Rosa von Praunheim, the title of which in turn alludes to the Theban Band.-History:The founding members,...

, Vacuum

Vacuum (band)

Vacuum is the name of a Swedish pop band. The members are Mattias Lindblom and Anders Wollbeck. They also work as song writers and producers under the same name. As songwriters and producers Wollbeck/Lindblom have worked with artists such as Tarja Turunen, Garou, Monrose, Keisha Buchanan, f and The...

and Alcazar

Alcazar (band)

Alcazar is a Swedish eurodance group which has established themselves as one of Sweden's most successful music groups with a string of hits since their debut single in 1999. Worldwide, Alcazar sold over 12 million records between 2001 and 2004...

, started work on a new project during 2003, working with the record producer Anders Hansson

Anders Hansson

Anders Hansson, born in 1976, is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has been a member of the Riksdag since 2006.- External links :*...

who became the band's co-producer. They auditioned over 35 different vocalists before meeting former Popstars

Popstars

Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...

contestant Martin Rolinski

Martin Rolinski

Martin Andrzej Rolinski is a Swedish singer and the lead singer of the Swedish synthpop band Bodies Without Organs...

who was duly chosen as lead singer and Caroline McDowell backing vocals. Marina Schiptjenko

Marina Schiptjenko

Anna Marina Schiptjenko is the only female member of the Swedish electronic pop group Bodies Without Organs . Her mother is Swedish but her father was a Ukrainian refugee from the Soviet Union, thus her Ukrainian surname.She started her music career in the eighties, joining the synthpop band Page...

, an art-dealer and a one-time member of Vacuum, then came on board as the third member of what became Bodies Without Organs.

There was initially a suggestion that the band would be a four-piece including Jean-Pierre Barda

Jean-Pierre Barda

Jean-Pierre Barda is a Swedish singer, actor, make up artist and hair dresser of Algerian descent. He is most notable for being one of the founding members of the pop group Army of Lovers.- Early life :...

from Army of Lovers

Army Of Lovers

, but this did not come to fruition, and Barda's explicit involvement extended as co-writing the songs "Living In A Fantasy" (BWO's first single) and "European Psycho", both included on BWO's first album "Prototype" (It's odd that a picture of Barda turned up in the inner booklet of this album), and appearing on the videos "Conquering America", "Sixteen Tons of Hardware", "Open Door" and "The Bells of Freedom", in which Dominika Peczynski

Dominika Peczynski

Dominika Peczynski is a Swedish singer, model and television host.- Early life :Dominika Maria Peczynski was born September 20, 1970 in Warsaw, Poland, to Russian Jewish mother Tina and Polish father. She lived in Poland until she was seven years old and moved to Stockholm. Dominika has a...

, also from Army of Lovers did make a cameo

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

too.

The name of the band derives from the philosophical term body without organs

Body without organs

Gilles Deleuze introduced the notion of the "Body without Organs" in The Logic of Sense ; but it was not until his collaborative work with Félix Guattari that the BwO comes to prominence as one of Deleuze's major ideas.The term is borrowed from Antonin Artaud's radio play "To Have Done with...

, developed by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze

Gilles Deleuze

Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...

and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari

Félix Guattari

Pierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...

in their 1972 book Anti-Œdipus
Anti-Œdipus
Anti-Oedipus is a book by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. It is the first volume of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, the second being A Thousand Plateaus ....

. Bard, an author and lecturer of philosophy, has referred to the ideas of Deleuze in his books "The Netocrats", "The Global Empire", and "The Body Machines", all co-written with Jan Söderqvist

Jan Söderqvist

Jan Söderqvist, born 1961, is an author, lecturer, writer and consultant, and among other things also working as a literary and film critic for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet...

.

At no point has BWO been a full-time project for any of the band's members - Bard continues his other career, notable in its own right, as a philosopher, while Schiptjenko remains an art dealer in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

and Rolinski has a Master of Science in Engineering and works in that field.

Style

Musically, BWO have come to represent the more commercial side of the Swedish electro scene, also featuring artists like Robyn

Robyn

Robin Miriam Carlsson , better known by her stage name Robyn, is a Swedish recording artist, singer, and songwriter. Robyn became known in the late nineties for her worldwide dance-pop hit "Do You Know " from her debut album Robyn Is Here . She co-wrote the song "Du gör mig hel igen" for...

, The Knife

The Knife

The Knife are a Swedish electronic music duo from Gothenburg, formed in 1999. The group consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They first received international attention after their song "Heartbeats", covered by...

, Jenny Wilson

Jenny Wilson (singer/songwriter)

Jenny Wilson is a Swedish singer-songwriter, born on October 20, 1975 in Blekinge, Sweden. She founded the band First Floor Power in 1997 and released two albums, There Is Hope and Nerves, before leaving the band to go solo around 2004. She studied graphic design at Konstfack for one year...

and September

September (singer)

Petra Linnea Paula Marklund who is better known as September is a Swedish singer and songwriter.-Early life and career:...

. Alexander Bard has claimed that BWO's electronic pop music is the missing link between ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

and Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

.

Visually, BWO have been working with most of the high-brow Scandinavian music video directors, including Fredrik Boklund, Kalle Haglund and the award-winning Kamisol team. Like most of the other Swedish electro acts, BWO have been featured in hundreds of fashion articles, working closely on their visual style with their in-house Irish stylist Sally O'Sullivan. This visual style has however often been unusual, particularly on the part of Alexander Bard, attracting comparisons with Army of Lovers

Army Of Lovers

; BWO's performances at Melodifestivalen 2008 in full Elizabethan-style costume were a prominent example of this. Many of their music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s have also contained unusual and eccentric themes or elements, such as stigmata

Stigmata

Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...

, mild sado-masochism, animal costumes or the faces of band members being superimposed on live creatures; however these have generally steered clear of the controversy often attracted by Army of Lovers

Army Of Lovers

videos.

2004-2005: Prototype

BWO's debut single release was "Living in a Fantasy" in May 2004. This was only a moderate Number 44 hit in Sweden, and the style and production of the song differ somewhat from those of any BWO song released subsequently. Subsequent releases were more successful in Sweden, particularly third single "Sixteen Tons of Hardware" (Number 11) in February 2005. BWO's debut album Prototype, first released in Russia in December 2004, was released in Sweden in March 2005, reaching Number 2 in the album charts and attaining platinum status. Eventually no fewer than seven tracks from the album went on to be Swedish hit singles, with sixth single "Sunshine in the Rain" (Number 12) being another high point.

"Sixteen Tons of Hardware" and "Voodoo Magic" were both hit singles in Finland. Two singles off the album, "Living in a Fantasy" and "Sixteen Tons of Hardware" went Number 1 in the Europa Plus Airplay Chart in Russia, and the album soon crossed over to neighboring countries, generating no less than five Top 5 hit singles in Ukraine and two Top 5 hit singles in Hungary. The track "Gone" was a Number 1 hit in Lebanon.

2006: Halcyon Days

BWO's second album Halcyon Days
Halcyon Days (BWO album)
Halcyon Days is BWO's second studio album and was released on 19 April 2006. It was the first BWO album to reach the number 1 spot in the Swedish album charts and was certifed as a gold-selling album by the Swedish Recording Industry Association.-CD:...

, released in April 2006, entered the Swedish Album Chart at Number 1, shipping gold and generating four further hit singles, of which the first single "Temple of Love" was a Number 1 smash in Sweden and charted across Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Halcyon Days was followed by a remix collection called Halcyon Nights, released in December 2006.

2007-2008: Fabricator

A third studio album, Fabricator, was released in Sweden on September 19, 2007, entering the Swedish charts at Number 6. A pre-release single "Save My Pride", was released in May 2007, becoming BWO's fourth Top 20 single in Sweden. It also went Number 1 on major Turkish radio station Radio Mydonese's Top 40 Countdown in July 2007. The singles "Let it Rain" and "Rhythm Drives Me Crazy" were released simultaneously in August 2007. "Rhythm Drives Me Crazy" was chosen as the theme for the Swedish team in the Women's Football World Cup in China in September 2007, and was a fourth Top 20 hit for BWO in Finland. A fourth single "The Destiny Of Love" was released in October 2007. A fifth, "Give Me the Night", was released at the end of December 2007, but became the only BWO single (as of August 2008) to fail to reach the Swedish singles chart.

2008: Pandemonium - The Singles Collection

A "greatest hits" album called Pandemonium - The Singles Collection was released on April 9, 2008. It contained most of their previous singles plus 3 new songs. "Lay Your Love On Me", their entry for Melodifestivalen 2008, was the first single release, reaching Number 2 in the Swedish singles chart, plus their first Number 1 in the influential Sveriges Radio P3 Tracks chart. "Barcelona" was a less successful second single, but third single "The Bells of Freedom" became a sixth Top 20 single after a tie-in with Europride

Europride

Europride is a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, hosted by a different European city each year. The host city is usually one with an established gay pride event or a significant LGBT community....

2008 in Stockholm.

A DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

by the same name, containing all video clips, was released in the fall of 2008.

2009: Big Science

Big Science

Big Science (BWO album)

Big Science is BWO's fourth studio album and was released on April 1, 2009. It contains 12 new songs and 2 remixes. The first single of this album is "You're Not Alone", which was released as a ballad and as a disco version...

is the fourth studio album of BWO and was released on April 1, 2009. It features 12 brand new songs, but the album has a total of 14 tracks (two remixes are included). The first single is "You're Not Alone", which was released as a ballad and as a disco version (like they did with Open Door). The ballad version also served as BWO's entry in the 2009 Melodifestivalen. "Right Here Right Now" is the second single and was released on May 27, 2009. A third single will be released in Scandinavia in the fall. Big Science is also expected to be released as BWO's fourth studio album in the UK, sometime after the release of "Right Here Right Now" in the UK, with a slight edit to suit the UK market.

In the United Kingdom

BWO are mainly well known and popular in the gay community (but not only) in the UK, due to the attention they receive via the gay media. Signed to small independent record label Shell Records in the UK, BWO have achieved moderate success with a few single releases. Initially two of their Swedish hit singles, "Sixteen Tons of Hardware" and "Chariots of Fire", reached the Top 10 of the British club charts. With a more concerted UK release including physical CD singles, the remixed 2005 single "Sunshine in the Rain" hit number 1 in the UK indie chart and reached Number 69 in the main UK singles chart in March 2008. "Lay Your Love On Me" was released in the UK in late July 2008, charted also at Number 69 in the main singles chart, and Number 2 in the UK indie charts. BWO's third physical single release in the UK was to be "Will My Arms Be Strong Enough", the single was released on 22 September 2008, and failed to make the top 100.

All three single releases by BWO have been playlisted by BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

"The UK's most popular radio station" and a few music TV channels. They have attracted more attention in gay media, and have twice appeared in the prestigious Saturday night slot at the G-A-Y

G-A-Y

G-A-Y is a gay nightclub in London. It operated from the London Astoria music venue for 15 years until July 2008. The Boston Globe described it as "London's largest gay-themed club night", NME reported that it "attracts 6,000 clubbers each week", and The Independent described it as "the one London...

nightclub in London. Both "Sunshine in the Rain" and "Lay Your Love On Me" can still be heard being played in New Look and H&M

H&M

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....

, two of the UK's most popular high street clothing retailers, throughout 2008 and 2009.

With the rise in popularity in 2009 of Synth-pop, and Swedish music acts, such as Basshunter

Basshunter

Jonas Erik Altberg , better known by his stage name Basshunter, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. He is best known for his number one hits "Boten Anna", "Dota", "Now You're Gone" and "All I Ever Wanted". Basshunter has so far released a total of six albums, two of which have...

, Agnes Carlsson

Agnes Carlsson

Agnes Emilia Carlsson, also known mononymously as Agnes , is a Swedish recording artist. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Swedish Idol series...

, September

September (singer)

Petra Linnea Paula Marklund who is better known as September is a Swedish singer and songwriter.-Early life and career:...

, Robyn

Robyn

and Velvet

Velvet (singer)

Jenny Marielle Pettersson , professionally known as Velvet is a Swedish dance-pop singer. She has released two albums since her 2005 debut in the music industry and her first eight singles have all achieved a top twenty peak on the Swedish Singles Chart.-Early life:Velvet moved from Helsingborg to...

in the UK, BWO will once again try to break into the UK market, with perhaps an even bigger push than their last attempt. They plan to release their latest single "Right Here Right Now". The track has been edited to become more suited to the UK market, and now includes vocals from Velvet, another Swedish artist, who already has a big presence in the club scene in the UK, and also remixes of "Right Here Right Now" by Cahill

Cahill (band)

Cahill are a dance group, based in Liverpool, UK consisting of producers Anton Powers, Tim Condran and Scott Rosser. They are best known for their 2008 single, Trippin' On You, which features vocals from Nikki Belle.-Background:...

, whose current remixes of other artists' tracks i.e. Little Boots

Little Boots

Victoria Christina Hesketh, also known by her stage name/pseudonym Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet...

, Agnes Carlsson

Agnes Carlsson

Agnes Emilia Carlsson, also known mononymously as Agnes , is a Swedish recording artist. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Swedish Idol series...

and Alesha Dixon

Alesha Dixon

Alesha Anjanette Dixon is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records...

, have gone down extremely well with the UK Media. A new music video is rumoured to be in the works, and the song is already gaining airplay on Gaydar Radio. The single is due to be released on August 31, with BWO's fourth studio album Big Science to follow up the release.

As of 30 July, "Right Here Right Now", has so far peaked at #19 in the UK Commercial Pop Charts Top40. Some music channels, as of early August are now playlisting the music video for "Right Here, Right Now", the music video being the same as the original, with the addition to Velvet's vocals on the track.

In the United States

BWO made their way to the USA with their singles "Lay Your Love On Me," "Chariots of Fire", "Temple of Love" and "The Destiny of Love" being played in the popular clothing store Abercrombie and Fitch during summer 2008, the holiday season in 2008 and into early 2009. In February 2009, "Sunshine In The Rain" was also featured on the Abercrombie and Fitch playlist. They were also on the Abercrombie and Fitch spring preview playlist for 2009/2010 with "Burning Down the House".

Melodifestivalen participation

BWO competed in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2005

Melodifestivalen 2005

Melodifestivalen 2005 was the selection for the 45th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 44th time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five semifinals had taken place to select the ten songs for the final, in Gothenburg, Linköping, Skellefteå, Växjö and...

with the song "Gone", written by the band's co-producer Anders Hansson

Anders Hansson

Anders Hansson, born in 1976, is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has been a member of the Riksdag since 2006.- External links :*...

, but failed to qualify for the final, finishing fifth out of eight in one of the four semi-finals.

In 2006, they competed once again in Melodifestivalen

Melodifestivalen 2006

Melodifestivalen 2006 was the selection for the 46th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 45th time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five semifinals had taken place to select the ten songs for the final, in Leksand, Karlstad, Karlskrona, Gothenburg...

with the song Temple Of Love, this time qualifying for the final at the Stockholm Globe Arena

Stockholm Globe Arena

The Ericsson Globe is the national indoor arena of Sweden, located in the Johanneshov district of Stockholm . The Ericsson Globe is currently the largest hemispherical building in the world and took two and a half years to build...

, where they finished second behind Carola

Carola

Carola is a female given name, the Latinized form of the Germanic given names Caroline or Carol.Famous people named Carola include:* Carola Dunn, British-American writer...

. Temple Of Love went on to reach Number 1 in the Swedish singles chart, and has been assessed as the most internationally successful Melodifestivalen song from the 2006 competition.

During 2007 BWO stated in interviews that they had no intention of returning to Melodifestivalen, but might consider instead seeking to enter Eurovision for Martin Rolinski's homeland of Poland. However, there was a change of heart, and BWO entered Melodifestivalen for a third time in 2008 with a song called "Lay Your Love on Me". This was co-written by Bard and Hansson together with Bobby Ljunggren

Bobby Ljunggren

Bobby Ljunggren is a Swedish songwriter. He has entered the Eurovision Song Contest as a composer six times, five times for his native Sweden , and once for Lithuania, in 2005. He is a veteran of the Melodifestivalen competition, with 39 entries...

and Henrik Wikström, ironically the two composers who wrote Carola's winning song which beat BWO in 2006. Going into their semi-final as heavy bookmakers' favourites to qualify, the song duly progressed directly to the final, held at the Stockholm Globe Arena on 15 March 2008, where the song finished in third place behind winner Charlotte Perrelli

Charlotte Perrelli

Charlotte Perrelli is a Swedish singer and occasional television host, perhaps most famous for winning the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven."Since then she has released six singles and five albums...

and second-placed Sanna Nielsen

Sanna Nielsen

Sanna Viktoria Nielsen is a Swedish singer. She comes from Bromölla in Skåne, Southern Sweden.-Career:At the age of eleven she reached the number one spot on the Svensktoppen Charts with the song "Till en fågel". At that time, she sung with the dansband Mats Elmes. She participated in...

.

In 2008, it was also rumoured that BWO were approached by the BBC to appear in Eurovision: Your Decision, the UK's version of Melodifestivalen, however BWO turned them down in favour of participating once again at Melodifestivalen.

BWO entered Melodifestivalen

Melodifestivalen 2009

Melodifestivalen 2009 was a Swedish song contest held between February and March 2009. It was the selection for the 49th song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, and was the 48th edition of Melodifestivalen...

once again in 2009 with their fourth studio album's first single, You're Not Alone, which was co-written by Bard and Hansson with Fredrik Kempe

Fredrik Kempe

Fredrik Kempe, born in Vårgårda in 1972, is a Swedish songwriter and opera and pop singer. He has participated in Swedish versions of the musicals Les Misérables and Chess. In 2002, Kempe had a hit with Vincerò, where he mixed opera and disco....

. The song didn't qualify directly for Globen and was send to 'Andra Chansen'. They didn't go through in that round either.

Recognition

BWO won the prestigious Rockbjörnen

Rockbjörnen

Rockbjörnen is a Swedish popular music award established by the Stockholm evening newspaper Aftonbladet in 1979. The award, which is awarded annually, is divided into several categories and is mostly concentrated around the genres Pop and Rock. The first award was however given to the Swedish...

award in both 2005 and 2006, voted Sweden's most popular band, all categories. In 2006 they received a Grammis Award for Sweden's most popular band of the year. BWO were nominated for four Grammis Awards in 2005 for the Prototype album and five Grammis Awards in 2006 for the Halcyon Days album. BWO were also nominated for dance act of the year in 2006 at the NRJ Scandinavian Awards in Helsinki and won the category for the most popular band.

Future projects

In early 2010, BWO announced they were temporarily departing ways after an intensive career of five albums released in less than six years. Alexander Bard joined the Universal Music-signed Gravitonas

Gravitonas

Gravitonas is a Swedish electronic rock band formed in 2009 and signed to Sofo Records and Universal Music in 2010. The band is fronted by vocalist Andreas Öhrn and record producer and songwriter Alexander Bard . Other collaborators in the project include keyboardist and producer Henrik Wikström...

project led by former punk rock singer and producer Andreas Öhrn, Martin Rolinski signed a solo contract with Universal Music with a solo debut album planned for 2012, and Marina Schiptjenko went on a Scandinavian tour and made an album with her reunited 1980s synthpop project Page

Page (band)

Page is a Swedish synthpop band. Page is often credited with being the first band to bring synthpop music to Sweden. Their music and band members influenced many subsequent Swedish synthpop acts, including Elegant Machinery, S.P.O.C.K, Sista Mannen På Jorden and KieTheVez.Formed in 1980 by Eddie...

. All three BWO members were adamant the split was amicable and would not prevent them from rather very likely future musical collaborations under both the BWO and other umbrellas.

Albums

Release	Album	Sweden Albums Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	Japan Albums	Sales/Certification	Additional information
March 9, 2005	Prototype	2	-	GLF Swedish Recording Industry Association Grammofonleverantörernas förening , or the Swedish Recording Industry Association in English, is an organization representing the music recording industry of Sweden... : Platinum (January 2006)	First studio album
April 19, 2006	Halcyon Days Halcyon Days (BWO album) Halcyon Days is BWO's second studio album and was released on 19 April 2006. It was the first BWO album to reach the number 1 spot in the Swedish album charts and was certifed as a gold-selling album by the Swedish Recording Industry Association.-CD:...	1	-	GLF: Gold (April 2006)	Second studio album
December 27, 2006	Halcyon Nights	-	-	-	Remix album
September 19, 2007	Fabricator	6	-		Third studio album
April 9, 2008	Pandemonium – The Singles Collection	3	-	Gold (April 2008)	First compilation album
April 1, 2009	Big Science Big Science (BWO album) Big Science is BWO's fourth studio album and was released on April 1, 2009. It contains 12 new songs and 2 remixes. The first single of this album is "You're Not Alone", which was released as a ballad and as a disco version...	9	-		Fourth studio album
April 15, 2009	Sunshine in the Rain – The Album	-	45		First album in Japan

Singles

Year	Release	Sweden Singles Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	Sweden Tracks	Finland Singles	Ukraine Singles	Russia Singles	UK Singles	UK Indie	Europe 100	US Dance	Japan Singles	Album
2004	May 7	"Living in a Fantasy"	44	20	-	1	2	-	-	30	-	-	Prototype
2004	September 24	"Conquering America"	27	15	-	2	16	-	-	35	-	-
2005	February 3	"Sixteen Tons of Hardware"	11	14	8	1	10	-	-	28	-	-
	March 31	"Gone"	40	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	May 12	"Open Door"	28	4	-	2	-	-	-	41	-	-
	September 15	"Sunshine in the Rain"	12	6	-	-	-	69	1	-	-	26
	December 10	"Voodoo Magic"	38	14	12	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	March 15	"Temple of Love Temple of Love (BWO song) Temple of Love is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as the first single from their second album, Halcyon Days in Sweden, on April 19, 2006.... "	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Halcyon Days Halcyon Days (BWO album) Halcyon Days is BWO's second studio album and was released on 19 April 2006. It was the first BWO album to reach the number 1 spot in the Swedish album charts and was certifed as a gold-selling album by the Swedish Recording Industry Association.-CD:...
	May 24	"We Could Be Heroes"	18	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	September 13	"Will My Arms Be Strong Enough"	39	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	November 22	"Chariots of Fire"	45	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	40	-
2007	May 7	"Save My Pride"	14	18	6	-	-	-	-	62	-	-	Fabricator
	August 22	"Let It Rain Let It Rain (BWO song) Let It Rain is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a second single from their third album, Fabricator in Sweden, on August 22, 2007.... "	23	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	August 22	"Rhythm Drives Me Crazy Rhythm Drives Me Crazy (BWO song) Rhythm Drives Me Crazy is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a second single from their third album, Fabricator in Sweden, on August 22, 2007.-Tracklist:Digital Download; CD Single:... "	35	-	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	October 17	"The Destiny of Love"	56	-	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	December	"Give Me the Night Give Me the Night (BWO song) Give Me The Night is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a fourth single from their third album, Fabricator in Sweden, on December 8, 2007.-Tracklist:Digital Download; CD Single:# Give Me The Night 3:09... "	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	March 12	"Lay Your Love on Me Lay Your Love on Me (BWO song) Lay Your Love On Me is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a first single from their first greatest hits album, Pandemonium - The Singles Collection in Sweden, on March 12, 2008.-Tracklist in Sweden:... "	2	1	-	-	-	69	2	91	-	44	Pandemonium – The Singles Collection
	May 28	"Barcelona Barcelona (BWO song) Barcelona is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a second single from their first greatest hits album, Pandemonium - The Singles Collection in Sweden, on May 26, 2008.-Tracklist:Digital Download; CD Single:... "	56	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	July 21	"The Bells of Freedom"	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	October 8	"Gomenasai Gomenasai (BWO song) Gomenasai is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a sixth single from their third studio album, Fabricator in Sweden, on October 8, 2008.-Track list:Digital Download; CD Single:# Gomenasai 3:21... "	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2009	March 1	"You're Not Alone You're Not Alone (BWO song) You're Not Alone is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a first single from their fourth studio album, Big Science in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, on March 1, 2009.-Tracklist:Digital Download:... "	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	96	-	-	Big Science Big Science (BWO album) Big Science is BWO's fourth studio album and was released on April 1, 2009. It contains 12 new songs and 2 remixes. The first single of this album is "You're Not Alone", which was released as a ballad and as a disco version...
	May 27	"Right Here Right Now Right Here Right Now (BWO song) "Right Here Right Now" is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a second single from their fourth studio album, Big Science in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, on May 27, 2009.... "	28	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-
	August 31	"Right Here Right Now Right Here Right Now (BWO song) "Right Here Right Now" is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a second single from their fourth studio album, Big Science in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, on May 27, 2009.... " (UK Version) (feat. Velvet Velvet (singer) Jenny Marielle Pettersson , professionally known as Velvet is a Swedish dance-pop singer. She has released two albums since her 2005 debut in the music industry and her first eight singles have all achieved a top twenty peak on the Swedish Singles Chart.-Early life:Velvet moved from Helsingborg to... )	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	September 14	"Rise to the Occasion"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	November 30	"Kings of Tomorrow Kings of Tomorrow (song) Kings Of Tomorrow is a electronica song performed by Swedish band BWO. The song was released as a fourth single from their fourth studio album, Big Science in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, on November 30, 2009.... "	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The UK chart placing of "Sunshine in the Rain" was attained in March 2008, and that of "Lay Your Love on Me" in August 2008.
The US Billboard chart placing of "Chariots of Fire" was attained in December 2008 after promotional re-issue of the single in US clubs.

Music videos

!align="center" valign="top" width="40"|Year
!width="200"|Video
!width="200"|Director
|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|"Living in a Fantasy"
|Calle Stotz
|-
|"Conquering America"
|rowspan="7"|Fredrik Boklund
|-
|rowspan="3"|2005
|"Sixteen Tons of Hardware"
|-
|"Open Door"
|-
|"Sunshine in the Rain"
|-
|rowspan="4"|2006
|"Temple of Love"
|-
|"We Could Be Heroes"
|-
|"Will My Arms Be Strong Enough"
|-
|"Chariots of Fire"
|Kamisol
|-
|rowspan="4"|2007
|"Save My Pride"
|Kalle Haglund
|-
|"Let It Rain"
|Kamisol
|-
|"The Destiny of Love"
|Kalle Haglund
|-
|"Give Me the Night"
|Fredrik Boklund
|-
|rowspan="3"|2008
|"Lay Your Love On Me"
|Kamisol
|-
|"Barcelona"
|Mauricio Molnari
|-
|"The Bells of Freedom"
|rowspan="4"|Kamisol
|-
|rowspan="3"|2009
|"You're Not Alone"
|-
|"Right Here Right Now"
|-
|"Rise to the Occasion"
|-
|}

DVD

Year	Title	Details	Format
2008	Pandemonium - The Video Collection	Compilation of music videos from 2004–2008	DVD

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Origins

Style

2004-2005: Prototype

2006: Halcyon Days

2007-2008: Fabricator

2008: Pandemonium - The Singles Collection

2009: Big Science

In the United Kingdom

In the United States

Melodifestivalen participation

Recognition

Future projects

Albums

Singles

Music videos

DVD

See also

External links