Nikolo Kotzev () (born 6 June 1961) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n guitarist, violinist, songwriter and producer. He composed the 2001 rock opera ''

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...

'' and founded the band

Brazen Abbot Brazen Abbot is a Finnish rock band. Originally a studio project of Bulgarian guitarist, producer and song writer Nikolo Kotzev, who is a Finnish resident, the band has since made several live performances. One of the defining aspects of Braz ...

Biography

Kotzev was born in

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

and started taking violin lessons at the age of five. While in his teens he took an interest to rock music, and started playing the guitar. Nikolo worked as a session musician and played the guitar in a Bulgarian rock group

Impulse Impulse or Impulsive may refer to: Science * Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time * Impulse noise (disambiguation) * Specific impulse, the change in momentum per unit ...

. While touring with the band in Europe in the late 80s, Nikolo met

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

singer

Björn Lodin Björn Lodin (born 1965) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and producer, primarily famous for his work with his band Baltimoore.Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 1989, he joined Lodin's band

Baltimoore Baltimoore is a Swedish rock band, led by Swedish singer Björn Lodin. Lodin was originally approached by Elektra Records in 1987 to record a solo album, but Lodin opted to use the moniker ''Baltimoore'' rather than his own name. In 1992, Lod ...

, with whom he recorded two albums: ''Double Density'' (1992) and ''Thought For Food'' (1994). Creative differences led to Kotzev's departure in 1994, at which point Nikolo started working on a solo project under the Brazen Abbot moniker. The result was ''Live and Learn'' (1995), which featured singers

Göran Edman Göran Edman (born 28 April 1956) is a Swedish rock singer. He is notable for his session work with many artists through the years but mainly for his early work with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. He has also recorded with bands and artists such a ...

(ex-

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish-American guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal, neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music, heavy metal, and has ...

), Glenn Hughes (ex-

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

, ex-

Trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

) and

Thomas Vikström Sven Erik Herman Thomas Vikström (born 21 January 1969) is a Swedish singer best known for working with hard rock and heavy metal bands including doom metal band Candlemass (during their initial final years, from 1991 to 1994) and power meta ...

, keyboard player

Mic Michaeli Gunnar Mathias "Mic" Michaeli (born 11 November 1962) is a Swedish musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Europe. Like many of the other Europe members he grew up in Stockholm suburb Upplands Väsby. He joined the band for thei ...

(

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

), bassist

Svante Henryson Svante Henryson (born 22 October 1963) is a Swedish composer, cellist, bass guitarist and double bassist, active within jazz, classical music, and hard rock. Biography Childhood and studies Svante Henryson was born in Stockholm and grew up in U ...

and drummer

Ian Haugland Jan-Håkan "Ian" Haugland (born 13 August 1964) is a Norwegian-Swedish drummer in the Swedish rock band Europe. When he was eight months old, he and his family moved to the Stockholm suburb of Märsta, Sweden. He joined Europe in the summer of ...

(Europe). Kotzev played the guitar, produced, mixed and wrote all the songs for the album.
The follow-up album, ''Eye of the Storm'' (1996), featured mostly the same people, with

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...

(formerly of

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and Deep Purple) replacing Hughes and

John Levén John Gunnar Levén (born 25 October 1963) is a Swedish bassist in the rock band Europe. Levén and vocalist Joey Tempest are the only band members who have performed on all of Europe's studio albums. Career Levén was born in Stockholm. When ...

(Europe) replacing Henryson. The same line-up also released ''Bad Religion'' (1997). Brazen Abbot was put on hiatus when Kotzev started working on a rock opera about

. Due to a string of setbacks, including scheduling conflicts and Kotzev's record company, USG Records, going bankrupt, the album wasn't completed until 2000 and was finally released as '' Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus'' in 2001 on

SPV Records SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors ...

. The album featured most Brazen Abbot members, in addition to singers

Jørn Lande Jørn Marumsrud Lande (born 31 May 1968) is a Norwegian hard rock and heavy metal singer. He is known for his work with the bands Ark, Beyond Twilight, Millenium, Vagabond, The Snakes, and most notably with power metal band Masterplan. He ...

( Masterplan),

Alannah Myles Alannah Myles (née Byles; born December 25, 1958) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has won both a Grammy and a Juno Award for the song " Black Velvet". The song was a top-ten hit in Canada and a number one hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot ...

and

Sass Jordan Sarah "Sass" Jordan (born 23 December 1962) is an English-born Canadian rock singer from Montreal, Quebec. Her first single, "Tell Somebody," from her debut album of the same title won the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1989. S ...

. Fifteen years later, it premiered at the State Opera of city of Ruse, Bulgaria, for the 450th anniversary of

's death. Kotzev resumed work with Brazen Abbot in 2002, releasing ''Guilty as Sin'' in 2003. The line-up was mostly the same as for ''Bad Religion'', with Lande replacing Vikström. Michaeli, Levén and Haugland departed Brazen Abbot to rejoin Europe. Temporary replacements filled in during a short tour in Bulgaria, recordings of which were released on the live album ''A Decade of Brazen Abbot'' (2004). ''My Resurrection'' followed in 2005, and featured four singers: Edman, Turner and new members

Tony Harnell Tony Harnell (born September 18, 1962) is an American singer, best known for his work with Norwegian hard rock band TNT. He is known for his wide vocal range, with his modal voice spanning over four octaves. Harnell has also been the frontman of ...

(

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

) and Erik Mårtensson and a new backing band consisting of bassist Wayne Banks (ex-

Sabbat The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are based to varying ...

, Blaze), organist Nelko Kolarov and drummer Mattias Knutas. In addition to being a recording artist, Kotzev has also produced and mixed albums by other bands, such as

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida in 1971. They experienced popularity and commercial success during the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s amongst southern rock and hard rock commun ...

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' R ...

and Messiah's Kiss. In 2011 Kotzev started a band in Sofia, Bulgaria, named Kikimora (), which plays hard rock with Bulgarian lyrics. He received criticism from his former colleague Joe Lynn Turner in 2015 when he released a twentieth-anniversary compilation CD/DVD of ''Live And Learn'' material, which Turner condemned as a 'homemade bootleg.'

Discography

* Baltimoore - ''Double Density'' (1992) * Baltimoore - ''Thought For Food'' (1994) * Brazen Abbot - ''Live and Learn'' (1995) * Brazen Abbot - ''Eye of the Storm'' (1996) * Brazen Abbot - ''Bad Religion'' (1997) * Nikolo Kotzev - ''

'' (2001) * Brazen Abbot - ''Guilty as Sin'' (2003) * Brazen Abbot - ''A Decade of Brazen Abbot'' (2004) * Brazen Abbot - ''My Resurrection'' (2005)

References

External links

*
Official Brazen Abbot website

Official Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus website

Nitrax Productions, Kotzev's Production Company's website

Nikolo Kotzev's Draconia - the rock opera

Brazen Abbot Argentina Fansite

Nikolo Kotzev
at

Bulgarian Rock Archives Bulgarian Rock Archives (or Български рок архиви) is the first online encyclopedia dedicated to rock music in Bulgaria. Launched online on 2 August 2013 and includes more than 350 bands and performers from the mid-1960s. The arti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotzev, Nikolo 1961 births Living people People from Pazardzhik Bulgarian rock guitarists Bulgarian expatriates in Finland Bulgarian record producers Brazen Abbot members Baltimoore members