Hasse Fröberg

Biography

Hasse entered the world of music early on with guitar and drum lessons as a child. He tells the story of his first official band as follows: "I formed my first group at the age of 10. It was a trio in true ELP style, at least when it comes to the line-up. HPP3: Patric Pettersson – drums, Patric Cohen – keyboards, Hasse Fröberg – vocals and guitar. With songs like “Do you know the monster” we really made an impact on schoolmates and neighbours. (By the way, what do you think of the hook “Do you know the monster from the black sea, he doesn’t want to eat you. He just wants to drink tea”?)". He began playing in local pop and rock bands at the age of 15.

In 1983 Hasse started the heavy rock band Spellbound. Later on he wrote much of the material together with Guitar player JJ Marsh. They recorded 2 albums "Breaking The Spell" in December 1984 and "Rocking Reckless" in December 1985. The band also recorded material that wasn't released until later as the album "Hidden Treasures" for the Japanese market.

Spellbound disbanded in 1988, and Hasse toured with 1970s comic rockers "Highway Stars" before starting his own group Solid Blue, that toured heavily in Sweden between 1993 and 1995. Foxtrot Records released their CD with the somewhat cryptic title Volume 3 in October 1994 on which Hasse did most of the writing and sang lead. Hasse is also involved as lead singer and composer in Barrelhouse, a group that follows the hard road of the Zeppelin tradition.

Hasse's involvement in The Flower Kings started in 1994 when he was invited by Roine Stolt to sing a couple of tracks on the album The Flower King that was actually released as a Roine Stolt solo project. After that he guested on the first Flower Kings 'proper' album Back in the World of Adventures in 1995. In the same year during the recording of the double CD Stardust We Are Hasse was invited to be a permanent member of the band. His higher range and softer emotional palette complimented Stolt's, while both voices blended marvelously in harmonies. He joined the band on stage for the first time in May 1997, providing back vocals, occasional lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and some percussion. He gradually took a more prominent role in the band and the 1999 album Flower Power included one of his songs, "Magic Pie."

In October 2008, with The Flower Kings taking a break, Hasse decided it was time to form a new band. In his words,"Old fashioned as I am, I don't want it to be like a project, I want a band with a certain sound. The key to that I believe, is to find enthusiastic musicians who love to play my music and are willing to rehearse and to create a unit that really works well together." Thus, Hasse Fröberg and the Musical Companion came to be. Members include Kjell Haraldsson – keyboards, Ola Strandberg – drums, Anton Lindsjö – leadguitar, Thomsson – bass, Hasse Fröberg – vocals, rhythm guitar. Their first album, Future Past, was released in spring 2010, with the follow-up album, Powerplay being released in 2012.

With Spellbound

With Solid Blue

With The Flower Kings

With Hasse Fröberg and the Musical Companion