Christofer Johnsson

Christofer Johnsson
Johnsson live with Therion in 2008.
Background information
Born (1972-08-10) 10 August 1972
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Genres Symphonic metal, progressive metal, death metal, progressive death metal, thrash metal
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, producer
Instruments Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, mandolin, percussion, piano, drums
Years active 1987–present
Associated acts Therion
Carbonized
Liers in Wait
Messiah
Demonoid
Luciferian Light Orchestra[1]

Christofer Johnsson (born 10 August 1972 in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm County) is a Swedish composer. He is a founding member and the guitar player for Therion and used to be in Carbonized, Liers in Wait, Messiah, and Demonoid.[2] He was previously a member of the order Dragon Rouge for over 25 years. On 21 March 2006, he announced he will no longer sing for Therion, though he will continue playing guitar for the group.

Inspiration and influences

In his childhood Christofer enjoyed listening to classical music, and gradually became more interested in his father's '50s and '60s rock music. Popular music played on the radio in this era generally had a lot of strings in it, and even though much of it didn't fall in his taste, it still managed to influence him. As a 7-year-old he heard his first progressive rock as a theme in a Norwegian children TV-program. As 9-year old, he started to listen to The Beatles, who also used brass and strings in songs like "Penny Lane". At an age of 11, his taste for music took a turn as he started to listen to hard rock and heavy metal bands like Accept, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Venom, Manowar, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep. Many of these bands had orchestral elements in some of their songs. When he was 14, he started to listen to more raw heavy metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and especially Celtic Frost. One of his friends played the B-side of a Scorpions album for him, and Christofer instantly fell in love with Scorpion's older albums. Uli Roth, who played guitar on these albums, had broken up with Scorpions and formed the band Electric Sun. Christofer managed to find a copy of one of their albums after a long search, and was disappointed at first. After a period of time, he gave it more of a chance, and ended up becoming insanely obsessed with the music. He mentions Uli Roth as one of his greatest influences in the symphonic Therion albums.

Personal life

Johnsson resides in a villa ('Villa Adulruna') south of Stockholm with his girlfriend, Mina Karadzic and has a child. He is a vegetarian for seventeen years.[3]

Fire incident

On 26 July 1992 Johnsson's parents' house was set on fire. Christofer was on tour and not home at the time of the incident. Only one inch of a backdoor was damaged before the fire was put out, but the event was blown up in media and caused many rumours in the metal scene.[4]

Health problems

On 26 January 2017, Johnsson revealed he had been suffering from intense pain in the neck and shoulders, and he was diagnosed with two spinal disc herniations (allegedly produced because of years of headbanging), and he was in risk of losing the ability to perform live.[5] As a result, the rock opera project was delayed and the band downplayed their sets of songs in concerts to allow Johnsson to perform. By 8 April, Johnsson announced he had been able to avoid surgery as his condition had improved through physiotherapy,[6] and he would resume to perform at festivals by August.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Luciferian Light Orchestra". Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  2. ↑ "Therion Biography". www.therion.se. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Daniel (May 3, 2014). "Interview with Christofer Johnsson (Therion)". Wikimetal. R7. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Therion biography". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  5. ↑ "Christofer Johnsson". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Christofer Johnsson". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Christofer Johnsson". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
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