Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979,[5] by lead vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno.

Europe's current lineup comprises Tempest, Norum, bassist John Levén, keyboardist Mic Michaeli, and drummer Ian Haugland.

[8] Europe went on hiatus in 1992, reunited temporarily for a one-off performance in Stockholm on New Year's Eve 1999 and announced an official reunion in 2003.

Since then the band has released six albums, Start from the Dark (2004), Secret Society (2006), Last Look at Eden (2009), Bag of Bones (2012), War of Kings (2015) and Walk the Earth (2017).

The album charted at number 8 in the band's home country and the single "Seven Doors Hotel" became a Top 10 hit in Japan.

[9] "I think one of the most important albums for the band was Wings of Tomorrow," Tempest said, "We were learning how to write songs and John started playing some really cool stuff on the guitar.

"[13] Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after.

[9] Several months later Joey Tempest was asked to write a song for the charity project Swedish Metal Aid.

[16] The income from the sales of the single, which was produced by Easy Action guitarist Kee Marcello, was donated to the starving people of Ethiopia.

Released on 26 May 1986, the album gave the band its international breakthrough, was certified Triple Platinum in the USA[17] and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart.

[7] The title track, which was based on a keyboard riff composed by Tempest as early as 1981–82,[9] was released as the first single and became a worldwide success, peaking at number 1 in 25 countries,[6] such as the UK,[18] France,[19] Spain, and Germany.

Not satisfied with the album's keyboard-dominated production nor the band's commercialized image, John Norum decided to leave Europe in October 1986 to pursue a solo career.

[9] In September 1989, Europe did a gig at the Whisky a Go Go club in West Hollywood, California, under the pseudonym Le Baron Boys.

Two years later, the album Prisoners in Paradise was released, but received limited media attention due to the "boom" of the grunge movement, started by Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam.

Although the sales were low compared to previous albums, the single "I'll Cry for You" managed to hit number 28 on the UK charts.

[18] On New Year's Eve 1991, Europe kicked off a new tour with a show at the Tokyo Dome, in which Tesla, Thunder and Metallica also performed.

"[24] In that time, Tempest, Norum and Marcello released solo albums whilst the other members participated in several different projects and bands.

[24] "Mic and Ian came over to see me in Ireland," Tempest said, "Then whilst we were there, John Norum called from LA, and we were like 'Yes, maybe now is the right time to get things started again'.

That would be Europe's first and, to date, only concert with both of their lead guitarists, since both John Norum and Kee Marcello had accepted the offer to play that evening with the rest of the group.

[24][25] Over the years, there were several reunion rumors, and on 2 October 2003 it was made official: Europe announced plans for a new album and world tour.

[24] "We could either go with a younger producer, or we could go with someone that we knew, someone experienced who is on the same wavelength as the band," Tempest said, "So in the end we decided that Kevin would be the perfect choice.

Start from the Dark was very raw and made a statement, which is cool but for us it felt like a debut album in a way, so we wanted to branch out a bit on this one and take it to new levels.

During Whitesnake's performance of their encore "Still of the Night", Joey Tempest joined David Coverdale on stage for the last chorus.

[46] The band played at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2013, with their performance recorded for a 30th anniversary double CD, DVD and Blu-ray Disc, which was released in October 2013.

They also filmed the concert performed in Roundhouse, London on 12 November 2016 and released it on 21 July 2017 via Blu-ray, DVD & iTunes Digital Download.

[citation needed] The band is mainly influenced by Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Michael Schenker Group.