| Alexander Bard | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard |
| Born | 17 March 1961 Motala, Sweden |
| Genres | Pop , Electronica |
| Occupations | Musician, Philosopher, Writer, Lecturer |
| Associated acts | Baard, Barbie, Army of Lovers, Alcazar (band), Vacuum, Bodies Without Organs, Gravitonas |
| Notable instruments | |
| Synthesizers | |
Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard (born 17 March 1961) is a Swedish artist, music producer and writer.
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Bard was born Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard in Medevi, Motala Municipality, Sweden.[1] After he had completed his upper secondary education, Bard studied in the United States and in Amsterdam, Netherlands. While living in Amsterdam, he earned part of his living as a sex worker.[2] Bard returned to Sweden to study at the Stockholm School of Economics from 1984 to 1988. In addition to his studies in Economics, he took a strong interest in Philosophy and Social Theory with the explicit aim of becoming a writer and lecturer.
Bard has given public lectures since 1996, specializing on the social implications of the interactive revolution, and is one of the leading speakers on the international Management science lecturing circuit.[3] He has written three books with media theorist Jan Söderqvist, the first called Nätokraterna (first published in English in 2003 as Netocracy: The New Power Elite & Life After Capitalism, later re-published simply as The Netocrats, as well as in 15 further languages) a second book titled Det globala imperiet[4] (currently in translation to English as The Global Empire) and a third book titled Kroppsmaskinerna (originally published in 2009, currently in translation to English as The Body Machines), in which he presents his philosophical vision for a global society following the interactive revolution.
Bard began his musical career in 1982 with the single Life in a Goldfish Bowl released under the name Baard, a synth-punk fusion project he had formed together with two female striptease dancers. He later had some minor success as Barbie, which saw Bard in drag singing dance-oriented pop.
After abandoning work on a second Barbie album, Bard formed Army of Lovers with two of Barbie's entourage, Jean-Pierre Barda and La Camilla. Army Of Lovers had over 20 pan-European hits, the biggest being Crucified, Obsession, and Sexual Revolution, while their presence in the US and the UK was limited to repeated club chart successes. They released five studio albums, made over 20 music videos, and became phenomenally successful across Eastern Europe, before Bard disbanded the group in 1996. Army Of Lovers have later earned a widespread iconic status in the gay culture, often referred to as a perfect example of the postmodern take on the ideals of camp.
Following the demise of Army Of Lovers, Bard founded Vacuum, a symphonic synthpop project featuring Bard, Marina Schiptjenko (formerly of synthpop group Page), and newcomer Mattias Lindblom. Their debut single I Breathe was one of the fastest selling singles in Sweden in 1997 and also topped the singles chart in Italy. Further releases did not do as well, except in Russia and Ukraine, and Bard left after only two albums. He reformed Army Of Lovers briefly in 2000 for a handful of new tracks and a greatest hits collection, and later co-wrote and co-produced the first two Alcazar albums.
In 2005, Bard launched a new music project called BWO (short for Bodies Without Organs), together with Marina Schiptjenko and new vocalist Martin Rolinski. Their debut album Prototype generated seven top 20 hit singles in Scandinavia and across Eastern Europe and reached platinum status. A second album Halcyon Days, was released in April, 2006, which shipped gold and generated four additional hit singles. 2007 saw the release of a third album, Fabricator, followed by a 2008 compilation album and the 2009 release of a fourth studio album, Big Science.
In April 2010, Bard announced that he was working with co-producer Henrik Wikström on a new project called Gravitonas, signed to Universal Music worldwide. The project, described as electro-rock, and fronted by Bard himself and vocalist Andreas Öhrn, released a first digital EP in May 2010 and had its first charts hits in Sweden and Russia in the autumn of 2010. Since they refuse to release physical records tied to traditional promotional media campaigns and instead strictly release their music through streaming and downloads and in EP rather than album format, Gravitonas have repeatedly been dubbed "The World's First Spotify Band" by bloggers and the music press. Bard's public friendship with Spotify founder Daniel Ek may play some part in this narrative. Gravitonas entered the American Billboard charts for the first time in early 2011 with their second release Religious.
Besides the groups mentioned above, Alexander Bard has also worked as a songwriter and producer for several Swedish artists, in the 1980s mainly with Ola Håkansson and Tim Norell, in the early 1990s with Anders Wollbeck and Per Adebratt—especially on the early 1990s Columbia Records—signed African cult act Midi Maxi & Efti—and more recently mainly with Anders Hansson and Henrik Wikström. In 2011 Bard and Hansson worked with British group The Face.[5] He was a co-founder of Stockholm Records and runs several internet and music-related businesses. In August 2011, Bard joined the jury of the Swedish version of the Idol TV show, sharing the stage with Celine Dion's record producer Anders Bagge, quickly being referred to as The Scandinavian Simon Cowell due to his famously and characteristically harsh and straight-forward commenting of the contestants.
Bard began to study Zoroastrianism in 1983, and was inducted to the faith in Gothenburg in 1997 where he had his navjote performed by a priest (mobed) named Kamran Jamshidi.[6] His close friend Trita Parsi, who afterwards went on to become the founder and President of the National Iranian American Council, was inducted in the same ceremony.
On several occasions, Bard has caused much controversy by appearing on Swedish national TV and radio, and writing articles, promoting the use of narcotic substances and a liberalisation of the stringent Swedish drug laws. He has also been a political activist for the rights of prostitutes and sexual minorities. A self-proclaimed bisexual libertine, Bard lived in a much-publicized relationship in the 1990s with Swedish anthropologist and writer Petra Östergren. Bard has also been a member of both the Swedish Liberal People's Party and its youth wing, the Liberal Youth of Sweden.[7] He returned to politics in June, 2008 as one of the founders of the cyberliberal network Liberati, initially organised as a support group for Swedish Member of Parliament Camilla Lindberg, a close friend of Bard's. Liberati disbanded after the 2010 election, as they saw it as a defeat for liberalism. At the same time Bard left the People's Party only to join the competing Center Party in September 2011 where he co-founded the party's online branch, Cybercentern[8], with Swedish parliamentarian Fredrick Federley.
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