Christian Johan Walz, born 4 September 1978 in Stockholm, is a Swedish artist, songwriter and music producer. BMG (now Sony Music) signed Walz in 1997 and the first album Christian Walz was released two years later, in 1999. The debut album featured the hit singles “Lovin’ Is All Right” and “Sentimental” and sold over 20,000 copies. In 2004, the second album Paint By Numbers was released, featuring the hit songs “Wonderchild”, “Never Be Afraid Again”‘ and “Maybe Not”. It resulted in four Grammy nominations and a Grammy for Best Pop.
In 2007, he recorded the song “Stay The Same” with the Pork Quartet. On November 26, 2008, the third album The Corner was released, which includes the single “What’s Your Name?” which he performed at the 2009 Grammy Awards. He co-wrote the 2010 winning song of the music competition Idol. On 12 February, he competed in the 2011 Melodifestivalen. The song was called “Like Suicide” and was written by Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Janson and Tony Nilsson and finished in fifth place in the semi-final in Gothenburg.
Walz produced Veronica Maggio’s third studio album Satan in the Street, released on 27 April 2011. During the 2012 Grammy Awards, they won together in the categories “Composer of the Year” and “Lyricist of the Year” (wikipedia)
And here´s his second album:
While Christian Walz is still largely unknown in UK, USA and in the rest of the world, he has already gone gold and won a Grammy in Sweden with his second longplayer “Paint By Numbers”. His singles are played over and over again on the radio stations, and when the 26-year-old artist plays concerts, the sales figures of his CDs always increase immensely. Now the time has come … Mr Walz is ready to convince the rest of the world of himself.
There is a surprising freshness that almost jumps out at you throughout the album. Elements of the most diverse musical genres mix into the songs, creating a creative soundtrack that one has rarely or never heard before. Pop, reggae, soul, rock, R&B all come together without any hiccups. This sound was intentional. For Christian Walz, it is important to evoke new emotions in people and not to rehash feelings that have already been triggered. Even if that meant listening to his music a few times to get a feel for it; it would be worth it.
And indeed, many people should enjoy this album. For effect lovers, Christian has reached deep into the toy box, a whirring here, a booming there puts his individual stamp on every track. It is also allowed to dance quite uninhibitedly, whether playfully through the flat (“You Look All The Same”, “I Will Let You Down”) or slow-mo by candlelight (“Sunday Morning Breakup”). Souls with a penchant for soft, heartfelt, almost boy-band voices can also add this CD to their collection (“Never Be Afraid Again”).
It quickly becomes clear why “Wonderchild” was chosen as one of the singles, because this song has a catchy character that quickly takes hold. In addition, “Wonderchild” is an excellent reflection of the overall character of the album. But his ballads don’t lose their effect either, because Christian Walz doesn’t drown in his suffering, but highlights passages with effect elements, underlines the chorus, takes back the verses or makes them special in a different way (“Die”).
After eleven songs and a journey through all the spectrums of feelings there are to go through in the pop world, an inner joy spreads. Joy that the album has found its way to us in Germany. And with the hope that we will soon hear more from this young man, we immediately press the start button of the CD player again. (cdstarts.de)
This really not my kind of music, but you know … many fantastic colors …
Personnel:
Staffan Astner (guitar on 01., 04., 05. + 11.)
Mattias Axelsson (drums on 01,. 02., 07. + 11.)
Joakim Berg (guitar on 08.)
Petter Bergander (synthesizer on 01. + 11., organ on 02., 07.)
Patrik Berggren (guitar on 02., 07., 08.)
Dan Berglund (bass on 04., 05. + 11.)
Mats Berntoft (guitar on 03.)
Blackcell (guitar on 01., 03., 07., 08. + 11.
Henrik Edenhed (guitar on 11.)
Thobias Gabrielsson (bass on 01., 02., 07. + 11.)
Andreas Levander (bass on 03.)
Ollie Olson (guitar on 03. + 11., vocals on 04., 05., background vocals on 09.)
Alex Papaconstantino (bouzouki on 10.)
Magnus Persson (drums on 04.,05., + 11. percussion on 01. + 11.)
Rex (talking voice on 02.)
Mats Schubert (keyboards on 04., 05. + 11., synthsizer on 01.)
JaJu Taneli (guitar on 09.)
Christian Walz (vocals, piano, programming, all instruments on 06. + 10.)
+
Stockholm Session Strings (on 04., 08., 10. + 11.
Tracklist:
01. Hit N Run (Walz/Jeberg)3.42
02. No N (Walz/Berggren) 4.12
03. You Look All The Same (Walz/Olson/Berggren) 3.17
04. Never Be Afraid Again (Taneli/Walz/Olson) 4.16
05. Sunday Morning Breakup (Walz/Olson) 3.35
06. Maybe Not (Walz/Olson/Berggren) 3.34
07. Wonderchild (Walz/Berggren) 3.28
08. Die (Walz/Olson) 3.57
09. Will Let You Down (Isacson/Taneli/Jhones7Berggren/Walz/Olson) 3.54
10. Red Eye (Walz) 3.42
11. Missing You (Walz/Olson/Jeberg) 4.16
ManyFantasticColors 