Michael Learns to Rock
Michael Learns to Rock ( MLTR ) is a Danish soft rock band that sings in English songs. It was founded in 1988 and has sold more than 9 million albums, especially in Asia. So far, six studio albums, as well as additional live and best-of albums were produced.
History
Jascha Richter (vocals, keyboards) and Kåre Wanscher (drums) attended high school in Aarhus, when they saw guitarist Mikkel Lentz 1987 with his group Rocking Studs and asked him to form a band. A year later Søren Madsen came to, he played bass.
The group had their first gig in May 1988 in Aarhus, soon followed there the first place, with an annual talent show, although they initially had no name. In an interview Richter admitted that they named after Michael Jackson:
" Yes, it was like Johnny Hates Jazz and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Sure, I 've regretted it many times, but we were successful so quickly we had to decide, and over time I got used to the name. "
A member of the jury of the competition, JP Anderson, the band's manager was. MLTR played live but their eponymous debut album, Michael Learns to Rock came only in September 1991 on the market. A single from the album, The Actor, was topped the Danish charts and was also good in Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
In 1993, the album Colours which sold over 1 million copies appeared. It contained the singles Sleeping Child, 25 Minutes and Out of the Blue. In addition, the group toured for the first time in Asia. Two years later came MLTRs third album, Played On Pepper, of which 1.2 million units were sold, and the group played 25 shows in 10 countries. Hits from this album were That's Why ( You Go Away ) and Someday.
The album Paint My Love appeared in 1996, and 3.4 million copies were sold. The band was selected as the headliner for the Celebrate Hong Kong concert on July 6, 1997 for the transfer of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Her fourth studio album, Nothing to lose, in September 1997.
Soon thereafter, the MLTR members took a break to spend time with their families and to make development of projects on their own or in collaboration with other artists. Even judges wrote some new songs, and the band anthem Strange Foreign Beauty was added in 1998 to a greatest-hits album.
In 2000, Søren Madsen, the group for a solo career, decided to leave, the other three members produced the album Blue Night, which achieved platinum in Denmark and sold well in Asia. The band performed their success in Asia back to a clean, vibrant image and singing in English as a second language and the fact that their lyrics are relatively easy to learn and sing.
After the release of Blue Night, the band took an extended break, the Jascha Richter used to work on his solo album Planet Blue. The band later admitted that they even considered the resolution during this time, but ultimately they decided against it, after their success with their Greatest Hits album. By the year 2004, the band came back together for another album.
Take Me To Your Heart (2004 ) focused on the Asian market. The single Take Me To Your Heart was a remake of Jacky Cheung's Goodbye Kiss (吻别) and popular in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan. MLTR sang an English and Chinese duet of Take Me To Your Heart with Chinese singer Hu Yanbin ( Anson Hu ) on a New Year Party in 2005 in Guangzhou, China. Also, a duet version of the song with South Korean star Shin Hye-sung by the boy band Shinhwa was taken.