New Skid Row Singer Once Competed on ‘Swedish Idol’ With ’18 and Life’
Late Wednesday (March 23), it was revealed that Skid Row had chosen Erik Grönwall as their new vocalist, teasing a bit of the title track of their latest album The Gang's All Here with the singer on vocals. But Grönwall's history with Skid Row music goes back a way, in fact, all the way to the start of his professional career when he auditioned for Swedish Idol (the Swedish version of the American Idol singing competition).
After starting off in high school playing in a punk rock band, he eventually formed a group called RAID that had a more metal sound. It was during this time that he first auditioned for Swedish Idol in 2007, but he would not make it onto the singing competition series until two years later when he made it to the final auditions and was granted the opportunity to sing for the judges. His song of choice – Skid Row's "18 and Life."
"This song was basically the starting point of my professional career as an artist. I performed this song during my Swedish Idol audition back in 2009," stated Grönwall in the description of one of the YouTube videos below where he recorded a studio version of the track just last year, as heard below.
It should be noted that Grönwall didn't just audition for Swedish Idol, he won it. Throughout the run, he leaned into his rock and metal background performing KISS' "Shout It Out Loud," Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and Queen's "The Show Must Go On" among his selections.
Following his Idol breakout, the singer started off as a solo artist, topping the charts in Sweden with the single "Higher," and eventually releasing a pair of solo albums. He also joined the Swedish rock band H.E.A.T., releasing four albums with the group. In 2021, he formed the power metal group New Horizon with ex-bandmate Jona Tee with the song "We Unite" officially arriving back in November. But now things are right back where they started for Grönwall as he's singing Skid Row music, but this time as a member of the band. "The Gang's All Here" is expected to be released in full on Friday (March 25).
As he wrote in revealing his latest musical venture on Wednesday, "Ladies and gents. I hereby declare the circle of all fucking circles complete. You’re looking at the new singer of @officialskidrow." #skidrow #erikgronwall