Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson (born 19 August 1963), known professionally as Joey Tempest, is a Swedish musician.

[1] He has written most of the band's biggest hit songs, including "The Final Countdown", "Rock the Night", "Cherokee" and "Carrie".

When he was eight years old, he would sit in front of the television or radio with a tape recorder and try to capture songs from the UK or US that he liked and listen to them over and over again.

[citation needed] During his teens, Larsson played in a number of bands such as Jet, Blazer, Made in Hong Kong and Roxanne.

At that time, Larsson alternated between playing rhythm guitar and bass, in addition to lead vocals.

He formed the band Force with guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson and drummer Tony Reno.

"The Final Countdown" was the biggest; it topped the sales chart in 26 countries, sold 15 million copies, was played at the closing ceremony of the 1987 EuroBasket and 1988 Summer Olympics, became the musical theme of the millennium celebrations and a ringtone in hundreds of thousands of mobile phones across the world.

Also collaborating on the album were Chris Difford, former Europe member Mic Michaeli and guitarist Adam Lamprell.

The seventh, Secret Society, followed in 2006, then Last Look at Eden in 2009, Bag of Bones in 2012, War of Kings in 2015 and Walk the Earth in 2017.

Tempest played the keyboards on the first two Europe albums before the band decided to recruit keyboardist Mic Michaeli in April 1984.

[5] The first album, A Place to Call Home featured a guest appearance from John Norum on the song "Right to Respect".

In 2024, Tempest appeared on Swedish progressive rock and metal band Opeth's on album The Last Will and Testament by providing guest backing vocals on the track "§2".

[8] Tempest talked to Bruce Dickinson about his decision to live in London on the latter's BBC 6 Music radio show in 2009.

[10] Asked in 2009, by BBC's Liam Allen, "Are you ever embarrassed by some of the hairstyles and clothes you wore back in the day?