Simon Lynge (born 22 January 1980) is a singer-songwriter who was raised in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

and Denmark. Lynge is the first solo musical artist from Greenland to have an album released across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, and the first Greenlander to play the UK's

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

. Lynge has performed extensively across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

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, and he accompanied

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, includin ...

as support act on the American singer's 2011 tour of Europe. Lynge's 2010 debut album, ''The Future'' reached the top of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

UK Rock Charts in the week of its release. Lynge's music has variously been compared by writers to that of

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-sell ...

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

. Since 2008, Lynge has lived in Jefferson County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Biography

Simon Overgaard Lynge was born in

Holstebro Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, but grew up in

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq, formerly Julianehåb, is a city in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town and the municipal capital in southern Greenland and the ...

, Greenland. His father was a theatrical performer and an accordionist who played with the Greenlandic musician Rasmus Lyberth. Lynge has said that he had no formal schooling as a child, but worked as a shepherd and hunter, living in a village of fewer than 40 residents that was an hour's boat ride from the nearest town. As a teenager, Lynge worked as a delivery boy for a supermarket in Qaqortoq. Shortly afterwards he moved back to Denmark, where he enrolled in the Holstebro Music School to study opera, piano, drums and music theory. While in Denmark, he became part of the young

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

music scene, performing his own compositions as a singer and guitarist at a range of venues. Around this time he also travelled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

to perform and write his own music.

''The Future''

In 2008, Lynge played a concert in the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

music venue Highland Grounds and impressed the producer Matt Forger (engineer on

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

's ''Thriller'' album), who suggested recording his songs. Shortly afterwards, Lynge began the intensive series of recording sessions at Bright Orange Studios in Los Angeles that resulted in his debut album, ''The Future''. The co-producers were Forger and Jon Mattox. Released on the independent London-based label Lo-Max Records in 2010, the album caused a wave of media interest, leading to appearances on BBC television and

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...

in the UK, an appearance on Swedish television, and press features in Europe. The album was nominated in the Independent Music Awards of 2010. It has been released in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, Denmark, Germany,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, in addition to the UK. Lynge usually performs live with the multi-instrumentalist Richard Lobb, with whom he wrote the song London Town on his debut album. As well as his band Simon Lynge & The Martial Hearts. Lynge's larger concerts have also seen him accompanied by a full string section.

International exposure

Lynge spent much of 2010 touring across Europe, in addition to accepting a request to perform at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. In July 2010 he headlined the music festival in

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

, Copenhagen, playing to an audience of more than 25,000. His song "The Future" was featured in a 2009 advertisement for the world's most northerly four-star hotel, Hotel Arctic in

Ilulissat Ilulissat, formerly Jakobshavn or Jacobshaven, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the thi ...

, Greenland. The advertisement won the Gold award at the 2010 Golden City Gate competition in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. Lynge's songs have also featured on US television shows including ''

Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series. It originally ran on the Fox network from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightma ...

'' and '' Brothers & Sisters'' and the film American Pie Presents: Beta House.

''Deep Snow''

In February 2018, Lynge and long-time musical collaborator Richard Lobb isolated themselves in a house in Trallong,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, to record the album ''Deep Snow'', later completed in Narcissus Studios in

. He later announced his signing to

Integrity Records Integrity Records is an English independent record label based in Bedford, England. The label was founded in the early 1990s and specialises in discovering new bands in the rock/indie/punk genres. History The first release on the label was 1 ...

and, following two singles ''Age of Distraction'' and ''Paper Thin'', the album ''Deep Snow'' was released on 23 November 2018.

Discography

Albums

*2010: ''The Future'' *2014: ''The Absence of Fear'' * 2016: ''The Map of Your Life'' * 2018: ''Deep Snow''

Singles

*2011: "London Town" *2011: "If You Go" *2011: "Infinitely You" *2013: "The Absence of Fear" *2016: "The Map of Your Life" *2016: "Hallelujah" *2016: "Drum Beat" *2018: "Age of Distraction" *2018: "Paper Thin"

References

External links

Official WebsiteLo-Max RecordsIntegrity Records
* * * *
Interview on BBC Breakfast News, 7 June 2010 Interview on Sky News, 11 June 2010Interview on More Radio, 26 July 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynge, Simon Greenlandic male singers Inuit musicians English-language singers from Greenland Living people 1980 births Danish emigrants to Greenland People from Holstebro People from Qaqortoq Danish male singer-songwriters Danish guitarists 21st-century Danish male singers 21st-century guitarists