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| Bjorn Erik Englen was born in Vaxjo, Sweden. He started playing the bass at the age of 13. After moving to Los Angeles in 1993, Bjorn quickly began to find work. Aside from touring all over North America and playing on many albums, Bjorn has been featured in movies, TV Shows and music videos as well as teaching bass privately, at M.I. in Hollywood and at The School Of Rock. Bjorn has worked with Robin McAuley, Yngwie Malmsteen, Quiet Riot, Ricki Hendrix, Bleed, Soul Sign,Takara, Heaven & Earth, White Diamond, and Tamplin... - as well as members of Foreigner, David Lee Roth, Dio, Ozzy, Elton John, Journey, Dream Theater, Night Ranger, Heart, Judas Priest, Leather Wolf, Rough Cutt, John Norum, Sweet, Jeff Scott Soto, Beautiful Creatures, The Beach Boys, Blue Murder, Steve Vai, George Lynch, Vixen, Berlin, Buddy Guy, Chaka Kahn, Tony McAlpine, Paul Rodgers, Saga, and many, more... Here’s the true story : 1976 - Although sports, mainly soccer, is what kept Bjorn occupied most of his free time as a kid, Bjorn started listening to music early. Kiss were his favorites. At 6 years of age he and his buddies would dress up (with the make up and everything) just like the band with Bjorn most of the time acting as Gene Simmons (and sometimes Paul Stanley) - not just spitting red food coloring all over his friend’s parents’ newspaper covered living room floor - but also pretending to play the bass... 1982 - In 5th and 6th grade his friends turned him on to bands like Judas Priest, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Motley Crue, Yngwie Malmsteen etc. All of his friends played either guitar or drums, but Bjorn thought bass was “the coolest” instrument. Around this time he and a buddy started recording demo tapes under the name of $1.25 for A Yoghurt. With a home made 1-string guitar, and playing the drums on a pillow, they recorded numerous tunes, and after getting good reviews in Punk Fanzines they ended up selling hundreds of copies through the mail. They then got a real drummer and Bjorn got to play bass. 1984 - "I remember the very first time I played a bass. I was in 7th grade, and the school I went to had a music room with a talented guy named "Rutan" guiding the kids. He showed me the blues in the key of "A" with me just playing the root-notes, and I was stoked !", Bjorn laughs. VISION CLEAR 1986 - Bjorn grew quickly like most kids, and so did his hair, as well as his Mom’s frustration about his unwillingness of keeping it short (laughs). Bjorn was only 15, and would take 3-6 hour trips to see major concerts with bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Scorpions and MSG (featuring current band mate Robin McAuley). After watching his favorite bass players like Steve Harris, Billy Sheehan, Marcel Jacob and Bob Daisley, his vision was clear – he was going to become a rock’n’roll star ! Bjorn soon played his first live show at a School Party. 1987 - He kept jammin’ with lots of different people and bands, most of them older than him. Many rehearsals required 30-60 minute bus trips. Nothing if you live in L.A., but FAR if you live in Sweden. 1989 - During the last year of high school Bjorn spent 5 weeks in Duluth, Minnesota, where he got to finally speak some English and play with "The Big Band". 1990 - Right after graduating from High School he was called into the army to become an officer. He hated it, and despite everybody telling him how he’d never get out, 4 months later on his 19th birthday he was celebrating with one beer in each hand ! 1991 - After quite a bit of writing with V.W.O.A. guitarist Vincent Persson and playing shows/recording with S.T.B., he (and 3 more guys) formed the hard rock group Spirit. They performed all over southern Sweden. Bjorn took a longer vacation in the U.S. He went all over the place, but really dug Los Angeles. OFF TO L.A. 1992 - Spirit split up after landing tracks on a couple of different compilation albums. Bjorn formed Guys & Gal with some of the best players in town, but had at this time already realized that it was time to move to a bigger city in order to reach his goals of becoming a major recording artist and a professional bass player. L.A. became the target and his decision to attend the Bass Institute of Technology (B.I.T.) at the Musician’s Institute (M.I.) in Hollywood was firm. 1993 - He only knew one person in Los Angeles at the time, but still made the move and took his studies at B.I.T. seriously. Bjorn studied hard with favorite teachers like Tim Bogert, Putter Smith, Steve Bailey and Alexis Skljarevski. After only a couple of months at the school the group Ashen (made up of all M.I. instructors) were looking for a bassist. Bjorn joined the band and many live performances at major clubs in town followed. 1994 - As Ashen's song writing started leaning more and more towards mellow pop, and R&B, Bjorn decided to leave the band, but prior to departure agreed to lay down bass tracks to the album “Purple”. The 1 year of studies at M.I. was over and Bjorn decided he was going to visit Sweden quickly and then come back. QUIET RIOT After returning to The U.S. he began writing songs and looked to form his own group, until one night (while working the night shift at a local gym) a friend showed him an article in The L.A. Weekly saying that Quiet Riot was looking for a bass player. He immediately sent them a promo package, and soon there after got a phone call from lead singer Kevin DuBrow saying that he was very impressed and wanted to get him in for an audition. Bjorn did pre-production work with the band (which included 3 of the "original" members from "Metal Health") for the upcoming album "Down To The Bone" in the fall of 1994. U.S. TOUR 1995 - Bjorn went on to play the first 22 shows, in 11 states, of Quiet Riot's "Down To The Bone" U.S. Tour in before leaving the job. Shortly after getting off the bus he started writing with guitarist Magnus Andersson, with whom he formed the band Soul Sign. TEACHING AT M.I. and U.S. TOUR #2 1996 - Bjorn studied to become a recording engineer and went on to produce Soul Sign's EP “Control”. The group has since then played numerous shows around California. At the end of 1996 Bjorn toured the U.S. with R&B/Rock Group Wrestless Natives, and started teaching Live Playing Workshops at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, as well as doing extensive live performing all over California. 1997 - Bjorn also worked hard as a studio musician, and went on to record with artists like Joshua Souder, Secret Beauty Cream, Crash Poetry, Passion and Akasha, to name a few. 1999 - Bjorn joined the group Heaven & Earth, featuring members of a.o. Foreigner, MSG, Dio and Sweet. They recorded bonus tracks for the world wide release of their debut album and toured in the U.S. and Canada with a.o. Def Leppard and Sammy Hagar. STUDIO WORK and ACTING 2000 - He has since then done numerous recordings and shows wiith Soul Sign, session work, live shows with a.o. Kenny Hale Band, Joshua Path, Ricki Hendrix, Tamplin, HAir Guitar and 777, private teaching as well as acting as one of the main characters in the documentary film about the Hard Rock Group White Diamond. 2002 - Bjorn joined (former Journey voc. JSS's former band) Takara. The band is looking to record their 5th studio album soon. The band's most recent line up can be heard on the Deep Purple/Rainbow Tribute album "Blackmore's Castle Vol. 2". OVERWHELMING RESPONSE WITH BLEED & PERFORMING WITH YNGWIE 2004 - Bjorn joined Bleed (feat. Robin McAuley on vocals). The band has received overwhelming response world wide with their debut EP. A full length album should be ready for release by the summer of 2007. 2006 - Bjorn has since 1986 played nearly 1500 live shows. He currently peforms throughout the U.S. with MSG/Survivor vocalist Robin McAuley, Bleed and Joshua Path. Bjorn is also part of the teaching staff at The School of Rock Music in Los Angeles. 2007 - Bjorn stays extremely busy with session work, live shows and teaching. 2008 - Bjorn joins forces with Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force, who he will be touring Europe with in June and July. Bjorn would like to thank: Doug Margetts, Micke Ringdahl, Billy Sheehan, Don Lemmon, Patrik Johansson, John Paul Jones, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Harris and anyone else who's been of guidance, support and/or inspiration. |
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