Thomas Helmig

Danish rock singer and musician Thomas Helmig has been among the country's most popular vocalists since the middle of the 1980s, and his path there began in Egå, a suburb of Aarhus. Largely self-taught at the piano, he formed his first group, Heavy Oil, at the age of ten, drawn to the Danish band Gasolin. A stint as a high school exchange student in the United States brought him into contact with Motown, and he played with local soul musicians in Detroit, an influence that would later reshape his music.

His 1985 contribution to the Danish Africa Aid song Afrika led to a signing with Genlyd and a self-titled debut, Thomas, which became a major hit at home. Vejen væk, released in 1988 after his turbulent split from Søs Fenger, was gloomier in mood and became his biggest seller, shifting more than 160,000 copies and carrying Nu hvor du har brændt mig af. Stupid Man, from 1994, sold 250,000 copies, though his efforts to break abroad during the 1990s met with little success. He has also written for Hanne Boel and TV-2, and in 2012 received the Danish Music Awards Prize of Honor.