Biography
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Years Active
1992 – present (32 years)
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Founded In
Malmö, Malmö Municipality, Skåne, Sweden
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Members
- Cesar Zamini
- Jonas Wesslender
- Petrus
Basic Element is a Swedish Eurodance group of the mid 1990s, which has returned in 2005 and is still releasing new material.
From Malmö in Sweden the group originally consisted of keyboardist/programmers Peter Thelenius (Petrus) and Cesar Zamini and vocalist Zetma Prenbo who was eventually replaced by Saunet Sparell.
The history began in 1992 when Peter Thelenius together with his friend Ceasar Zamani, decided to start a group.
1993: Magnus Nygren, EMI records, finally contacted the band after several rejected demos. Later the same year the group released their first single "Move me" under the name Basic Element. The single didn’t make much noise on the radio but it established the contact with the DJ’s around the country, which rated the single very high on the Swedish Dance Chart.
1994: The group released their second single "The promise man" and it was a real bombshell. The single went straight up to no:1 at almost every dancecharts around Scandinavia. The follow-up singles "Touch" and "Leave it behind” also became great hits and the success was now a fact. The debut album "Basic injection" was sold (only in Sweden) in 35.000 copies.
1995: The expectation increased on the group and the 2:nd album: "The Ultimate ride" didn’t leave anyone disappointed. The same year Zelma Prembo, the singer in the group, got pregnant and decided to quit the band and was replaced by Saunet Sparell. With singles like "The Ride", "Queen of love", "The Fiddle" and "This must be dream" the group establish itself as one of the biggest Dance acts in Sweden.
1996: Peter & Cesar decided to go separate ways, and Peter decided to keep the name "Basic Element" but tried to do something different with it. He was tired of the sudden giant wave of "stragglers", so…disco!!? EMI believed that the decision Peter Thelenius & the producer Stefan Andersson made was the kiss of death for the group.
Their first single "Shame" from their coming album "Star tracks" turned out to be the opposite from the record company’s theory - sraight up at top-ten in Japan, Benelux, Spain, Germany, Italy. At this time the group had taken the next step and established oneself as an international act. With a global tour and 3 "dance" albums behind them the group decides to take a break.
1997: Peter released a solo album under the name "Petrus". Once again the "hit machine" was started and reached the top ten with the cover of Roxette´s "Listen to your heart". This unusual direction was nothing that scared Peter. To quote the hit maker him self "Everything has it’s time, and right now it feels good to do this", he said, stubborn as usual. Basic Element did only one appearance this year, but it was an appearance in front of 85.000 people in Tallinn as a warm-up act for Michael Jacksson.
1998: Peter felt that it was time to release a new album with Basic Element. Saunet had been offered a "solo deal" and after a consideration she rejected. The singer Marie Fredriksson became after an audition the new lead singer in the band. This time Peter and the producer decided to go back to the roots and they made a straight club-record.
At the beginning Peter didn’t believed that this odd and little unusual sound would led to any success, but…. Once again the band got international success and a new tour in Japan was arranged. One of the appearance was in front of 50.000 people at the legendary "football” arena Tokyo Dome.
1999: After a whole year of travelling Peter and Marie decides to take a break and work harder with the song writing. Basic Element has sold more than 1.000 000 albums across the world and has had 18 top ten hits in Scandinavia. Peter Thelenius has during the latest year delivered hits to She bang, Charlotte Perrelli, Annika Ljungberg, D-Flex, Maarja among others.
In 2005 Peter took part in the Swedish audition for EuroVision Song Contest as a front figure in the band B-boys international with the song "One Step Closer".
2005: Basic Element started to make their new album and the first single was a reproduced version of "This must be a dream", which was one of the "longest" hits during 1995. Behind the production was The Uppsalaboys "One Track".
2006: New single is released in March. Raise The Gain climbs the charts and just a few months later the second single – I’ll Never Let You Know- was released to be a hugh hit especially in Finland..
2007: Now the 3rd single -To you- is hiting the charts, and the new album "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK finaly is released!Marie also quit the band to make way for the new leadvocalist "Andrea Myrander", and the story goes on….
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