Biography
Michael Poulsen grew up in Ringsted, Denmark which is about a 40 miles (63 kilometers) from Copenhagen in a working-class family. He has a twin sister and two younger sisters who are also twins. His parents were big fans of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Chuck Berry. As a teenager, he got in touch with metal music like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Iced Earth and Black Sabbath. At the age of 17, he moved to Copenhagen and formed his first band Dominus. Poulsen stated a major influence during this period was Chuck Schuldiner and his band Death.
Dominus released four records between 1994 and 2000. The band split-up a year later as Poulsen was fed up with death metal music and the death metal scene. He wrote new songs with a more rock'n'roll approach and established Volbeat. After releasing two demos, their debut album The Strength / The Sound / The Songs reached number 18 in the Danish charts and became the first album of a Danish metal band in 20 years to enter the top 20. On 22 April 2006, Poulsen performed with some of Elvis Presley's studio musicians in Copenhagen. Volbeat's sophomore record Rock the Rebel / Metal the Devil and their third effort Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood went straight to number 1 in the Danish charts.
Poulsen later showed his affinity towards Social Distortion, and taking cues from a "new influence" created Volbeat's distinct sound.
March 2010 Poulsen was married at Graceland, Memphis, to his wife Lena.
In 2012, Poulsen is doing a liner note for the Relapse Records reissue of Death's 1989 album Spiritual Healing, which he considers one of his favorite albums.
Read more about this topic: Michael Poulsen
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)