Thomas Helmig (born 15 October 1964 in Egå suburb of Aarhus, Denmark) is a Danish rock singer and musician, and has been one of the most popular singers in Denmark since the middle of the 1980s.[1]
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Thomas Helmig grew up in the home of a medical doctor in Egå, a suburb of Aarhus. His parents divorced, when he was quite young, and the boy feeling uncomfortable with this took refuge to the piano, learning to play by himself. At about 10 years old, he formed his first band called Heavy Oil, inspired by the popular band of the 1970s, Gasolin'. The following years he also learned to play the guitar and drums.
He entered the gymnasium, but left during the first year to pursue his musical interests. This was approved by his parents. He left the country to be an exchange student in high school in the USA, and here he discovered the Motown sound, which he played with some local soul musicians in Detroit.
Returning after a year, he entered a local Aarhus-band called Kaksi Kuggas Band in 1981, and they played in different places in the area. Helmig joined the musical scene of Aarhus, which was rather narrow, and in 1983 he became the singer in a band called Elevatordrengene. This became a minor success and he toured the country for the next two years.
In 1985 Helmig was invited to contribute to the Danish Africa Aid song called Afrika. This meant, that he was discovered by the record company Genlyd, and they produced his first solo album, simply called Thomas. The album became a huge Danish success, and the singer, aged 19, was praised for his empathic expression. The same year, he married another popular Danish singer, Søs Fenger.
The following year, the album 2 was released in 1986, and now Helmig had formed his band, Thomas Helmig Band, which included some of the musicians from Elevatordrengene. The third album, Kære maskine, was more rocking than the two first, while the next album, Vejen væk, from 1988 was much more gloomy, reflecting his emotions after his divorce from Fenger. The album became his greatest success at the time, selling 160.000 copies, and it features hits like Nu hvor du har brændt mig af and Det er mig der står herude og banker på. Although divorced, he recorded some duets with Søs Fenger, and the song Den jeg elsker, elsker jeg released in support of the Danish AIDS-foundation also became a big hit.
On his next album, Helmig returned to his soul roots as inspired by Marvin Gaye and on the follow-up, he chose to sing in English. This opened for promoting Helmig abroad, and for a couple of years he stuck to this language. It did not diminish his popularity in his home country, and he had another huge hit with the song Stupid Man from the 1994-album of the same name, which also included another hit, Gotta Get Away From You, and the album sold 250.000 copies.
During the 1990s, he tried to make his name abroad without much success, but he has managed to maintain he position at the absolute top in Denmark for more than 20 years. He writes almost all his songs and he has made songs for other artists like Søs Fenger, Hanne Boel, Sanne Salomonsen, TV-2, Malurt and many others. Besides that, he has produced many recordings for different artists.
He is the Danish artist with the largest collection of Danish Music Awards, including several "Singer of the Year", "Hit of the Year" and "Album of the Year".
Thomas Helmig has been married three times: