BIOGRAPHY

 

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Magnus Rosén facts: 

Born: 1963

Height: 179 cm

Favorite movies: Pink Panther, Falty Towers

Favorite author: Ef Schumacher

Influences: None directly. But all music influenced Magnus in some way

Favorite drink: Coffee

Favorite food: Swedish and Japanese food, however, no raw sushi

 

Magnus was born in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 10th 1963. At the young age of 10; he started to play the flute. By the age of 15, the bass became his first love. He found himself mesmerized by the magic of Kiss’s music and Gene Simmon’s playing, which became his main inspiration for wanting to pursue a career in music. He started his first band called, "Lazy Babes" with some friends and got to play at his school.
In 1980 Magnus recorded his first album with the band, "Shame". They released one single. At the age of 18 he joined his first serious band. A 50’s rock band called Kung Sune. Their first single; "Sunes bar och grill" was released in 1982.
In 1983 Magnus played with the "Chris Mentzer" group; Later changing their name to Northern Light. Between 1985 and 1988 Magnus played with a pop rock band called Von Rosen. In 1987 they released their first single "Like a Dream" , followed by "Someone Like You" in 1988 . In 1990 Magnus did his first US tour as the bassist of a hard rock group called "The Stuart Smith’s Midnight.
In 1993 he played with the Swedish guitar legend Bo Winberg and the Spotnics on tour until June. In the same year he joined the Billionaires Boys Club with Marc Boals, Anders Johansson and the former Accept guitar player Jörg Fischer. They released an album called "Something Wicked Comes" The album was followed by a tour.
In 1995 he recorded with Keegan the "Mind No Mind" album. Magnus also did a tour in France. Included were television performances with Ten Times Worse (Greg Hanssen). In 1997 he joined HammerFall 3 months before the release of their debut album "Glory to the Brave". Legacy of Kings, the second album of HammerFall was released in 1998. Two more singles: "Heeding the Call"(98’) and " I Want Out"(99’). The Templars World Crusade in 1998-1999 was the first world tour of HammerFall.

Magnus is also a skilled jazz bassist, having recorded two albums of solo material. After the HammerFall tour, Magnus went to Brazil to perform his first solo tour playing jazz and fusion flavored solo bass. This tour won over not only HammFall fans, but critics also. Beside the solo tour, HammerFall release his first video called "The First Crusade".
In May of 2000 the band went to Nashville, Tennessee/USA to record their third album at Michael Wagener Studios. After some months "Renegade" was released which fueled their second world tour ‘till August 2001. The last show was in Wacken Open Air, the biggest metal festival in Germany.
"Imagine a Place", the first solo album of Magnus Rosén (featuring Biggi Vinkeloe) was released in February 2001. This critically acclaimed album housed almost 71 minutes of eclectic instrumental pieces varying from blues, Jazz and Fusion. The album received such high appraise from the press in Europe, Canada and Brazil. Magnus and Biggi traveled to San Francisco (USA) at two occasions for concerts.
The second solo album of Magnus is "Reminiscence". Once again with his partner Biggi Vinkeloe on the sax and flute and the drummer Don Robinson. Reminiscence was released in Europe and South America.
After a successful Japanese solo tour in July 02' Magnus hit the studios to record "CrimsonThunder", the 4th studio album with the band HammerFall. "Hearts on Fire" is the first single off the album.

Magnus creates music himself to all his solo albums.

Unprecedented act for metal group charitable action Magnus made in 2004. He visited to Peru, Brazil and Chile. Magnus’ charitable tour started October 10 in Lima, Peru and it was a one-man show with no background music — only Magnus on bass performing songs from his three solo CDs: "Imagine a Place", "Reminiscence" and "Empty Room".

"Last October I went to South America by myself on my third bass tour. I paid for my tickets and everything, all costs. All of the money I made down there I gave to the poor people. If you should go to my concert, you can bring either one or two kilos of food and you will get a ticket. The next day I went out with some organizations to the ghettos, right to the poorest people. I gave them food, furniture and these kinds of things. This trip was all paid for from my own pocket. Every sale I made went to the poor people. That is one way to show that it is nice to care and it is interesting to care. I have never been into the ghettos before, so it was really interesting for me to go into these places and look at the people's eyes and see their surroundings. It was amazing for me too. It was a pleasure: it may have cost my money and my time, but it was a pleasure for me. I, of course, love to talk about this because it is really nice and interesting to talk about this," – said Magnus.

And one more fact from Magnus’ life. He’s nearly killed...by cashew nuts. This incident happened from an allergy shock on a flight to Chile May 31 2005.

"I could barely breathe, nobody understood me, and I didn't get any help. The panic took over my body," Rosén told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Magnus Rosén's big misfortune was that the peanuts he received aboard the plane were mixed with cashew nuts, which he is allergic to. "My tongue and throat quickly swelled up and I got hives all over my body. I could barely speak," the Hammerfall bassist said on the phone from Chile, one of the stops on the band's current South American tour.

What made the situation worse was the fact that the flight attendants on the Brazilian airline Varig could barely speak English. "The situation got totally crazy because they thought I wanted more nuts! I just got worse and the panic started crwling through my body," Magnus said.

Finally at least one of them understood that he was in a state of emergency. The crew brought out a medical box full of supplies that they had no idea how to use. "They called an medical emergency number in the U.S. to help them," Magnus said. "Finally, two doctors who were passengers on the flight came forward to offer their assistance." The first cortizone shot only helped marginally. "Then I received another one so strong that I passed out," Magnus said. "They woke me up once every half hour to check on me." Since then he's been extremely tired but happy to be alive.

"I just about managed through the first show, but now it feels better," said Magnus Rosén.

In 2006 Magnus performed a set of shows in Sweden with the Swedish National Symphony Orchestra. Magnus participated in 13 concerts over a five-day period which were witnessed by 100,000 people (and 150 million TV viewers from all around Europe!), displaying his superb technical skills with an always-amazing bass solo. Parts of Magnus' solos were his original creations while other sections were written specifically for him by the Swedish National Symphonic Orchestra. The constantly busy Swedish bass player is now planning on putting together a special charity show in Brazil with the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil and some members of the Swedish National Symphony Orchestra.

Some time ago 2007.03.07 - Magnus left the band for own project. HAMMERFALL bassist Magnus Rosén has teamed up with KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy La Rocque and PAGAN'S MIND vocalist Nils K.Rue in a brand new project called X-WORLD/5  The band, whose mission is to "bring heavy metal into the future," features a sound that "comes to bring light above the darkness . . . made with heart and soul ... through positive thoughts."

X-WORLD/5 is:

Magnus Rosen (HAMMERFALL) - Bass
Nils K.Rue (PAGAN'S MIND) - Vocals
Big Swede - Drums
Reeves Gabrels (TIN MACHINE, DAVID BOWIE) – Insane Guitars
Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND) – Heavy Guitars

For more information, including audio samples, visit http://www.x-world5.com/