record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

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 ar ...

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 , establishe ...

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 wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks-Thomas (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debu ...

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the Fame Academy (series 1), first series of British talent show ''Fame Academy'', he was ...

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!), an initialism for Tong Vfang Xien Qi (), is a South Korean male Pop music, pop duo consisting of Yunho, U-Know Yunho and Changmin, Max Changmin. They are known as in Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as ...

Pixie Lott Victoria Louise Lott (born 12 January 1991), better known by her stage name Pixie Lott, is an English singer and songwriter. Her debut album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'', released in September 2009, reached number six on th ...

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career s ...

SHINee Shinee ( ; ko, 샤이니, Syaini; ja, シャイニー, Shainī; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment in 2008. The group's musical impact in their native country has earned them numerous accolades and the ...

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Hillerød Hillerød () is a Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Farum, a small city north of

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 ar ...

,

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 , establishe ...

. At the age of 18, he was drafted by the military and spent the next two years in the

Danish army The Royal Danish Army ( da, Hæren, fo, Herurin, kl, Sakkutuut) is the land-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structure ...

as a sergeant.

Introduction to the music business (1995–97)

In 1995, he attended a school for music in Denmark called "Den Rytmiske Hoejskole". On the first night he met the person who was later to become his writing and business partner, Martin Michael Larsson. Lars and Martin started writing songs and producing tracks together and making their first complete demos with the help of Norwegian singer,

Christina Undhjem Christina may refer to: People * Christina (given name), shared by several people * Christina (surname), shared by several people Places * Christina, Montana, unincorporated community, United States * Christina, British Columbia, Canada * Chri ...

. When school ended, Lars, Martin, and Christina kept working on the demos and eventually landed a record deal with

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

/

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, the first act signed to the newly opened label branch in Denmark. Under the band name YouKnowWho, they released their eponymous named first album in 1997, an album which sold in excess of 48,000 copies in Denmark and spawned several top 10 hits.

From artist to songwriter and producer (1998–2002)

Having spent much time on the road promoting the debut album, Lars and Martin now decided to focus on songwriting and production and their first project was Christina Undhjem's solo album, on which they produced and co-wrote half of the songs. The album, ''Watching You'' was successful in Denmark as it was certified gold and went on to sell 25,000 copies in 1998. Lars and Martin continued writing songs and in 1999 they landed a major publishing deal with Rondor Music UK, one of the world's largest and most renowned independent publishers at the time. They started getting releases in the United Kingdom with artists like

Samantha Mumba Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (born 18 January 1983) is an Irish singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, fashion model and TV presenter. In 2000, at the age of 17, she shot to fame with the release of her debut single " Gotta Tell You", which ...

,

Mis-teeq Mis-Teeq were a British girl group, consisting of Alesha Dixon, Su-Elise Nash and Sabrina Washington. They had two top-ten albums and seven consecutive top-ten singles, with chart-topping success on the UK Singles Chart as well as across Eu ...

in the early 2000s, earning them several UK platinum and gold records.

International success (2003–present)

In 2003, Lars and the

DEEKAY Deekay is a Danish production and songwriting team founded by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson with other members Tim "Data" McEwan, Daniel "Obi" Klein and Johannes "Josh" Jørgensen. The name Deekay comes from the acronym dk, which ...

team had a session with

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

, a session which produced two international hit singles for the band, "

Breathe Easy "Breathe Easy" is a song written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson and Lee Ryan and released by the British boy band Blue. The song was included on their third studio album, '' Guilty'' (2003). It was released as a single on 22 M ...

" and " Bubblin'". After this, Lars went on to co-write and produce hit singles for other major UK artists such as

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

,

Lemar Lemar Obika (born 4 April 1978), known as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially rising to fame after finishing third on the Fame Academy (series 1), first series of British talent show ''Fame Academy'', he was ...

and JLS. In the autumn of 2009, Lars moved to

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 wor ...

,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

in order to focus more on the American music scene and work with American writers and artists. In 2011, he wrote many songs on

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth ...

's second album

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a ...

after they represented Ireland in Eurovision 2011.

Entries in the Eurovision Song Contest

*"

Believe Again "Believe Again" is a New Age and electronica-influenced pop song written by Delta Goodrem, Brian McFadden, Stuart Crichton and Tommy Lee James produced by Stuart Crichton and Marius de Vries for Goodrem's third studio album ''Delta'' (2007). Th ...

" by Niels Brinck, Denmark, (

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Euro ...

), 13th *"

Lipstick Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates bac ...

" by

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth ...

, Ireland, (

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), Satellite" by Lena Meyer-La ...

), 8th Place

Entries in national Eurovision pre-selections

*"My Dream" by Christina Undhjem ( Norway 2006), eliminated (Semi-Final) *"

Big Bro Thang "Big Bro Thang" is a single released in 2007 by the UK hip hop/ R&B group Big Brovaz. It was taken as the third single from their second album, '' Re-Entry'' and their first not to be released as a CD single. The single was originally due for ...

" by Big Brovaz ( United Kingdom 2007), 3rd Place *"I'm Not Alone" by Kate Hall ( Denmark 2013), eliminated (Final) *"Stay Awake" by

Simone Simone may refer to: * Simone (given name), a feminine (or Italian masculine) given name of Hebrew origin * Simone (surname), an Italian surname Simone may also refer to: * ''Simone'' (1918 film), a French silent drama film * ''Simone'' (1926 fi ...

( Denmark 2013), 3rd Place *"I Choose U" by

Bryan Rice Brian Risberg Clausen, better known as Bryan Rice (born 29 May 1978 in Dåstrup, near Viby, Roskilde, Denmark), is a Danish pop singer and songwriter. He is best known for his debut single "No Promises" and for competing in the Dansk Melodi Gra ...

( Denmark 2014), eliminated (Final) *"Wanna Be Loved" by Michael Rune feat. Natascha Bessez ( Denmark 2014), 2nd Place

References