Europe is a Swedish hard rock band, founded in the outskirts of Stockholm in 1979. Together with guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno, Joey Tempest started a band called Force. Unbeknown to anyone, Joey’s then girlfriend entered the band in a song contest, with a record deal being the first prize. Force won! During the contest the band changed their name to Europe. And so the legend of what was to become one of the best rock bands on Earth was born… Bassist John Leven joined the band in 1981 and the line up was complete in 1984 when Tony Reno was replaced by Ian Haugland, and Mic Michaeli joined as the band’s keyboard player. It was their third album, The Final Countdown, released in 1986, that was to give the band international success, selling over 20 million albums worldwide. Shortly after the release of The Final Countdown, John Norum left Europe and Kee Marcello stepped in the complete the band. In 1992 the band decided to split to pursue other interests, however they reformed in 1999 for a one off performance. In 2003, much to the delight of fans around the world, Joey Tempest, John Norum, John Leven, Ian Haugland and Mic Michaeli announced Europe were back together and released their sixth album, Start from the Dark, and have since released further albums and have been performing in various parts of the world.