10th John Norum Solo Album Due Ahead of Europe’s The Final Countdown 40th Anniversary Tour.

Europe guitarist John Norum will soon be entering the studio to record his tenth solo album, having just signed a record deal with Frontiers Music Srl.

Norum’s first solo album was 1987’s Total Control and his most recent 2022’s Gone To Stay. Aside from playing with Europe, he has worked with Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, Dokken and other top-notch musicians over the past years so international guest appearances are expected on the forthcoming album. 

In 2026, he will play live both as a solo artist and with Europe in 2026. Europe are currently recording their twelfth studio album and planning a The Final Countdown 40th anniversary tour.

“I’m thrilled to start my new solo project with the great people at Frontiers Music, a label I’ve known and appreciated for many years, and with whom I’ll be working on the release of my 10th solo album,” said Norum. “I’m super excited about the new songs, and I can’t wait to get into the studio and start recording!” 

Aldo Lonobile, Head Of A&R Europe at Frontiers Label Group, commented: “We’re excited to welcome John Norum to the Frontiers Records family! An iconic guitarist and a true rock pioneer, John has crafted timeless anthems, and we can’t wait to join forces for the next chapter of his career!”

Norwegian born and adopted by Sweden, John Norum grew up in a strong musical family. At the age of 10, he started learning guitar and, at 12, he founded his first band Dragonfly. At the age of 14, he was inducted into the professional music world, and he started recording and playing live with Swedish rocker Eddie Meduza.

At 16, he was the guitarist and singer in the band WC with drummer Tony Niemistö (aka Tony Reno). Their following project Force was born when his friend Joakim Larsson (aka Joey Tempest) joined the band as a singer. 

Norum helped the band shape their sound and with bass player John Léven joining the band, Force became Europe at Lucia Rock in 1982, a competition for emergent rock bands held by Aftonbladet and Thomas Erdtman. The band won the contest and a contract with Hot Records for the recording of their first album Europe, that started their worldwide success.

Norum has recorded nine studio and five live albums with Europe, toured the world and received several awards, notably for Comeback of the Year in 2015 by Classic Rock Roll of Honour and for Best hard rock/metal album Walk The Earth by Swedish Grammies in 2018, when Europe was also inducted into Swedish Music Hall of Fame.

Parallel with those activities, Norum’s solo projects started in 1987, after taking a break from Europe and moving to the USA, where he lived until Europe‘s reunion in 2003. In the US, he collaborated with the likes of Glenn Hughes, Don Dokken, Michael Schenker, Mikkey Dee and others.

As a solo artist, Norum has recorded nine studio albums to date, a live album, a studio album with Don Dokken and one with Dokken. His distinctive singing and his guitar playing style that blends classic hard rock, blues and neo-classical influences and combines powerful riffs and melodic solos, are widely and consistently appreciated.