Swedish singer, record producer and DJ

Jonas Erik Altberg (Swedish pronunciation::; born 22 December 1984), who is better known by his stage name B*hunter (also styled B*Hunter), is a Swedish singer, record producer and disc jockey (DJ). Altberg began producing music under the stage name "B*hunter" at age of 17.

B*hunter has recorded five studio albums: The B*machine (2004), LOL (2006), Now You're Gone – The Album (2008), B* Generation (2009) and Calling Time (2013). In addition to his own music, he has written for El Capon, Mange Makers and Lana Scolaro. He took part in the seventh series of the British television show Celebrity Big Brother, the Swedish game show Fångarna på fortet and the British television quiz show Weakest Link in 2010.

B*hunter has won awards such as the European Border Breakers Award, the Grammi award for Best Ringtone of the Year in 2006, and the World Music Award. He was also nominated for the BT Digital Music Award, MTV Europe Music Award, and Rockbjörnen. According to Balloon Records, more than eight million B*hunter records have been sold.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 2001–2006: Beginnings
  • 2.2 2006–2008: LOL
  • 2.3 2007–2009: Now You're Gone – The Album
  • 2.4 2009: B* Generation
  • 2.5 2010–2013: Calling Time and The Early Bedroom Sessions
  • 2.6 2013–present: Singles
• 3 Artistry
  • 3.1 Musical style
  • 3.2 Live performances
  • 3.3 Production, songwriting and remixes
  • 3.4 Music videos
• 4 Other activities
  • 4.1 Philanthropy
  • 4.2 Television and media
  • 4.3 Video games and films
• 5 Personal life
• 6 Awards and nominations
• 7 Discography
• 8 Notes
• 9 References
• 10 External links

Early life

Sturegymnasiet in Halmstad

Jonas Erik Altberg was born and raised in Halmstad, Sweden, the elder of two sons, and lived with his father Karl Göran Altberg and his mother Gunhild Elisabet Altberg, and younger brother, Joakim, near Tylösand in Söndrum. His mother was a teacher and head of a secondary school, and was a union representative for the Swedish Teachers' Union. His father worked for a construction company.

At age of 14, Altberg started singing in a choir his mother ran, which started his p*ion for singing. He also sang for two years in a rock band, where he became acquainted with experimental music. Altberg attended Kattegattgymnasiet secondary school, a technical school with a focus on computer technology but after two years, he moved to Sturegymnasiet, a secondary school in Halmstad with a music specialization. He finished secondary school in 2005, after which he attended college but did not complete his program. Jonas and his brother Joakim were selling golf balls they collected from a pond on one of Halmstad's golf courses. Jonas came up with this idea at the age of 13 and later, the brothers signed agreements for the supply of golf balls with several of Halland's largest golf courses.

Career

2001–2006: Beginnings

Jonas Altberg began producing music under the stage name "B*hunter", a reference to his musical style, at age of 17, after six months of using the software program FruityLoops (currently FL Studio). He described the name as commercial and powerful.

In 2004, B*hunter was chosen in online poll and performed live for first time at a rave party in Älmhult. Alex Music released B*hunter's first studio album The B*machine on 25 August 2004. In 2005, a remastered version of this album with improved sound quality was released. In 2006, B*hunter re-released The B*machine as The B* Machine and also released his first compilation album The Old * through his own website. B*hunter's interest in music deepened as time went by. He has recorded a video to show how he records a song using Fruity Loops; the video, which is en*led B*hunter Tutorial, was uploaded to YouTube and the song was covered over 200 times.

B*hunter published his music mainly through the Internet for free download on platforms such as chat channels and gaming websites. He was registered on online communities like Efterfest, LunarStorm, Nattstad, Porrigt, Playahead, Skunk and Trance.nu. For several years he was a DJ in Swedish clubs. His music was played on several of the online radio channels. He also enjoyed making songs for others; his track "Counterstrike the Mp3" is dedicated to his Counter Strike clan. B*hunter's single "Welcome to Rainbow" was released on 1 April 2006; it includes the track "Boten Anna", which was released as a single the following month.

2006–2008: LOL

B*hunter during Hity Na Czasie at the final of Tall Ships Races, Szczecin, 5 August 2007

In March 2006, B*hunter published his song "Boten Anna" online and within twenty-four hours, it had been downloaded 37,000 times. With this success, B*hunter received several proposals from managers and music labels. Swedish disc jockey (DJ) and party organizer Joakim Jarny contacted B*hunter via Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and Jarny was soon overwhelmed by hundreds of requests from club owners in Sweden, Norway and Denmark who wanted B*hunter to perform at their clubs. Jarny contacted his friend Henrik Uhlmann at Extensive Music and in April 2006, B*hunter signed with Extensive Music and Warner Music Sweden. In that year, he moved to Malmö, where the headquarters of Extensive Music are located. On 9 May 2006, "Boten Anna" was officially released as a single. By 8 June 2006, the song had been downloaded over one million times. "Boten Anna" peaked at number one on the Swedish singles chart, and a German-language version was released as a single in 2007.

"Boten Anna" reached number 13 on the Best of All Time list, and was certified platinum. It also reached number one on the Danish singles chart, staying there for 14 weeks, and was certified triple platinum for selling 61,000 copies. It was also certified gold in Austria. "Boten Anna" was covered twice by Dutch duo Gebroeders Ko, whose "Boten Anna" bootleg charted at number three in the Netherlands, right after B*hunter's version. The next cover called "Sinterklaas boot (Boten Anna)" reached number two.

B*hunter's second studio album LOL was released on 28 August 2006. He worked on the album for three-and-a-half weeks, during which Ali Payami helped him with three songs. B*hunter described this album as a connection of vocal music with hard dance and hard trance music; B*hunter's use of vocals is a significant departure from his earlier works. An American version of LOL was released on 1 January 2008, with the same Swedish songs as the original album but with lyrics and some *les translated into English. The new release also includes new tracks, including "Now You're Gone", "Russia Privjet", "The Beat", "Jingle Bells", "Beer in the Bar" and "DotA (Club Mix)". A special version of this album was released in 2008, and includes the German version of "Boten Anna" and three music videos. LOL peaked at number five in Sweden, number four on the Finnish chart and number three on the Danish albums chart, and was certified double platinum in Denmark.

The second single from LOL "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA" was released on 13 September of the same year. The single peaked at number two in Finland, number six in Sweden, and number seven in Norway and Denmark. It was certified gold in Denmark. His song "Hallå där" charted at number 51 on Swedish singles chart. The album's third single, a remake of "Jingle Bells", was released on 13 November and peaked at number nine in Norway, and number 13 in Sweden. The single also made it onto the Dutch and United Kingdom charts. The single "Vifta med händerna", which features the duo Patrik & Lillen, peaked on the Finnish charts at number seven and on the Sweden charts at number 25. On 5 November 2007, a new version of the "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA" was released under the *le "DotA"; it charted on Germany's singles chart. This is different from the 2008 version from Now You're Gone – The Album.

2007–2009: Now You're Gone – The Album

B*hunter during Point Gamma at École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, first time in France, 7 June 2008

On 29 December 2007, a re-recording of "Boten Anna" en*led "Now You're Gone" was released. "Now You're Gone" was originally made by Mental Theo in 2006 under the alias Bazzheadz. Initially, B*hunter tried several times to translate "Boten Anna" into English but it was impossible to translate so in 2007, he recorded his version of "Now You're Gone", which features DJ Mental Theo. It was the initial release for Hard2Beat Records label (later Dance Nation). The single charted at number one in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number one for five weeks. It was the first Swedish song to reach number one in the UK since "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. "Now You're Gone" sold in excess of 667,000 copies in the UK and was certified platinum there. It also charted on the UK Top 100 Songs of the Decade list. "Now You're Gone" also stayed at the top for five weeks in Ireland, made it to number two on the Swedish chart, and number three in New Zealand, where the single was certified platinum.). On the French singles chart, "Now You're Gone" peaked at number six, selling 92,230 copies. "Now You're Gone" also charted at number four on the European Hot 100 Singles chart. The single's music video was the third-most-viewed video on YouTube.

The next single "Please Don't Go", a cover of the KC and the Sunshine Band 1979 song, was released on 19 May 2008 and reached number six on the Swedish singles chart. The third single "All I Ever Wanted" was released on 7 June 2008 and peaked at number 2 in the UK, where it sold about 400,000 copies and was certified gold. It reached number one on the Irish singles chart. The single "All I Ever Wanted" was certified gold in New Zealand and charted at number 10 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart.

B*hunter worked on Now You're Gone – The Album for two-and-a-half weeks before releasing it on 14 July 2008. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one sold 376,017 copies in the UK, and was certified platinum there. It also topped the album chart in New Zealand and was certified platinum there. Now You're Gone – The Album charted at number two in Ireland and reached number six on the European Top 100 Albums chart. The song "Angel in the Night" was released as a single on 8 September 2008; it charted at number 10 in Ireland and number 14 in the UK. It also charted in Sweden. After nine months of 2008, B*hunter became the 11th-best-selling singles songwriter in the UK according to data compiled by Official Charts Company.

The album's fifth single "I Miss You" is a dance remake of a Westlife song and was released on 14 December 2008. The single appeared on the UK, Swedish, and German charts. On 6 April 2009, the single "Walk on Water" was released, as was a deluxe edition of the album that includes all of the original album together with remixes of singles; "I Can Walk on Water" was replaced with the single version and renamed "Walk on Water".

2009: B* Generation

B*hunter at the beginning of his show at Gibson Guitar Studio, London, 24 September 2009

On 25 September 2009, B*hunter's fourth studio album B* Generation, was released. The Double Album Version includes remixes of some of his singles, and the tracks "Without Stars" and the Swedish version of "Camilla". In early September 2009, prior to the album's release, the track "Numbers" was released as a free download via B*hunter's official Bebo account. B* Generation reached number two in New Zealand, and number 16 in the UK and Irish album charts. It sold more than 60,000 copies and was certified silver in the UK.

The track "Every Morning" was released as a single on 18 September 2009; it reached number 13 on Swedish singles chart and number 14 in New Zealand. It peaked at number 17 in the UK and Ireland. "I Promised Myself", a cover of a Nick Kamen hit, was released on 29 November 2009.

2010–2013: Calling Time and The Early Bedroom Sessions

The single "Saturday" was released on 5 July 2010; it reached number 14 on the New Zealand chart and was certified gold there. It also charted in the UK and Ireland. On 20 April 2011, the next B*hunter single "Fest i hela huset", which was recorded during his time in the Swedish Big Brother series, was released. The single charted at number five on the Swedish singles chart. His following single "Northern Light" was released on 14 May 2012 and the next single "Dream on the Dancefloor" was released on 18 November that year.

B*hunter's compilation album The Early Bedroom Sessions, which consists of tracks from albums The B*machine and The Old *, other early releases and unrealeased tracks, was released on 3 December 2012. In 2012, B*hunter moved to Dubai and he later lived in Mallorca for six months. Extensive Music also moved to Mallorca.

On 13 May 2013, B*hunter's fifth album Calling Time was released. In the version released in Ireland and in the UK, the track "Saturday" was replaced with "Open Your Eyes". Bsshunter recorded more than 30 tracks for Calling Time and selected the final fifteen; he said he tried to grow as an artist with an album that has cl*ic B*hunter sounds and music he has not released before. The album charted at number 25 on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart. On 20 June 2013, the single "Crash & Burn" was released; it charted on the Russian airplay chart. The last single from the album was "Calling Time", which was released on 27 September.

2013–present: Singles

On 26 July 2013 B*hunter announced he was retiring from singing to focus on DJing, producing, and songwriting. He met new artists and invited them to sing on his songs, and said; "it's so much more interesting and different when someone else is singing in a song he has written". He made the decision after four exhaustive performances in four days. On 20 November 2013, the single "Elinor" was released. On 25 November 2014, B*hunter announced a new album was being produced. In 2016, B*hunter returned to recording; he said he would not release a new studio album but would focus on recording singles in accordance with prevailing trends in music industry. Almost after five years his since last single, on 19 October 2018, the single "Masterpiece" was released; it did not appear on major national charts. Since then, he has released three more singles: "Home" (2019), "Angels Ain't Listening" (2020) and "Life Speaks to Me" (2021); a tribute to Avicii.

Artistry

Musical style

B*hunter influenced Avicii's music

B*hunter defines his music as eurodance. He says his music is cheerful, full of energy and very melodic, stating it does not sound like other types of music, and that producers and artists display their own iden*ies in their works. He is p*ionate about b*lines and uses them in his music. He added; "If you listen to a song on the radio, you can definitely tell whose music it is. When you listen to my music, you can tell it is B*hunter." B*hunter like to create songs in minor scales. He has at least five unknown pseudonyms under which he produces music in secret. He always takes his laptop on concert tours so he can spontaneously record ideas and return to them when he is back to his main studio. In 2020, B*hunter described himself as a quite emotional producer after a few years break from producing music.

As influences, he mentions listening to DJ Balloon and Rocco, and bands Warp Brothers and Snap!. He also listened to many underground tracks that had never been released or are not widely known by the general public, as well as German and Dutch techno music, trance, reggae, funk and blues music:– particularly the music of Ray Charles. He consider Ali Payami as one of the best music producers, songwriters and DJ's. The first single he bought is "The Way" by Fastball in the 1990s. He is fan of Robbie Williams. B*hunter work has influenced Avicii, Bladee and Earmake. CMAT, Nordpolen, Surf Mesa and Linda Thelenius like B*hunter music.

The first computer B*hunter used was the Atari ST. After achieving commercial success, he bought software to produce his music. About 95% of his music is created with digital audio workstations, including FL Studio, Logic Pro, Logic Studio, Pro Tools, Cubase, and Virtual Studio Technology plugins. He also plays guitar. He said stores buy an album for about 100 Swedish krona, of which he is paid 12-13 percent from it. He said people think he listens to techno in his headphones all the time but he rarely listen to the music he produces, which gives him a wider perspective.

B*hunter considers his fan base to be very important for his career and knows many of his non-Scandinavian fans actually prefer his songs to be in Swedish. Writing in English may be an advantage for reaching international audiences but he has also said he likes the challenge of writing songs in English.

Live performances

See also: list of B*hunter live performances

B*hunter tried to present his live performances as improvisations. In 2006, he performed seven times in one day, when he performed at shopping centres in Gothenburg and Malmö, and five nightclubs. He believes around 10% of Scandinavians or Swedes attend his concerts outside Sweden. B*hunter has performed at many festivals including Elämä lapselle (2006), Hity Na Czasie twice in 2007 and 2009, Youth Beatz (2011), Allsång på Skansen (2012), Hull Pride (2012), Stoke Live (2012), Nottinghamshire Pride (2012), Europa Plus Live (2013), Emmabodafestivalen (2014), and Nallikari Summer Party (2014).

In 2006, B*hunter performed during the Norway Cup. In 2009, he performed at the New Year's Eve party for the president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and his family. He appeared on BBC Switch Live (2008) and in 2014 performed on Sochi Medals Plaza during the awards ceremony of Winter Olympic Games. B*hunter performed on many tours like B* Generation Tour (2009), New Zealand Tour (2009), Dance Nation Tour (2009 and 2010), Calling Time (2013), and UK/Ireland Tour 2015.

Production, songwriting and remixes

B*hunter has remixed songs for a number of artists. In 2007 he released some remixes of singles; "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" by Verka Serduchka finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. "Du hast den schönsten Arsch der Welt" by Alex C. (featuring Y-*) charted at number one in Austria and Germany. "Ieva's polka (Ievan polkka)" by Loituma also charted in Germany. He also released remix of "Calcutta 2008" for Dr. Bombay's compilation album The Hits. In 2008, B*hunter remixed Alina's song "When You Leave (Numa Numa)". In 2014, B*hunter remixed "Sex Love Rock n Roll (SLR)" by Arash (featuring T-Pain), which charted in Austria and Germany, and was released on Arash's album Superman. In 2015, he wrote "Mange kommer hem till dig" for the band Mange Makers. The single charted at number three on the Swedish Heatseeker chart. In 2020 he wrote "Shut Up Chicken" for El Capon and "Charlie" for Lana Scolaro. "Shut Up Chicken" appeared on the Russian and Polish airplay charts.

Music videos

Main article: B*hunter videography

Music videos for "Now You're Gone", "All I Ever Wanted", "Angel in the Night", "I Miss You", "Every Morning", "I Promised Myself", "Saturday" and "Northern Light" were directed by Alex Herron. Series of music videos with Aylar Lie received media attention. "Now You're Gone" became the most-viewed YouTube video in the UK in 2008 and the third-most-viewed YouTube video of 2009 with 65 million views. The music video for "Saturday" charted at number one in Poland.

Other activities

Philanthropy

Musikhjälpen-house, Malmö, 2008

In 2008 and 2010, B*hunter appeared at the charity event Cash for Kids. He also appeared at the charity event Musikhjälpen in 2008. In February 2012, Norton Hill School's Quantock House organized a 20-hour charity sleep-over with B*hunter's song "Now You're Gone" playing non-stop, collecting more than £2,000 in the event to raise funds for the charities Time is Precious and Cancer Research UK. The event was repeated in 2015 with the same results.

Television and media

In 2009, B*hunter was a guest of television shows Red Bull Rivals and Never Mind the Buzz*s. Starting in 2010, B*hunter took part in the seventh series of British Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother as a housemate and finished in fourth place. He also appeared in the Swedish television game show Fångarna på fortet and in the British quiz show Weakest Link in 2010. In a 2017 Twitter poll, 92% of 57,814 voters said they would like B*hunter to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; 8% supported Theresa May.

Video games and films

B*hunter finished second place in a Swedish StarCraft tournament. He played Counter-Strike at semi-professional level and his clan won two tournaments in Sweden. He appeared during the Danmarks Bedste Gamer in 2008 and during The Gathering in 2019. After achieving commercial success, he could not publish songs as free downloads and started producing vlogs for YouTube. In 2011, B*hunter appeared in the film Playing Mortal Online with Arnold!, in which he invites people to play the video game Mortal Online. B*hunter appeared in Arash's music video for "Melody". In 2021, he appeared in a promotional video, *led B*hunter Dota Revival for the Netflix series Dota: Dragon's Blood, performing "DotA" whilst playing Dota 2.

Personal life

B*hunter is a fan of video games and has played games such as Borderlands, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Counter Strike, Dune II, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Dragon Age: Origins, League of Legends, M* Effect and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. His mother Gunn-Hild Altberg died in 2016. B*hunter has Tourette syndrome. He described himself as a spontaneous person and said he take things as they come. He has sensitive side.

During his time on the British reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, B*hunter was in an intimate relationship with Ekaterina Ivanova. After being in a relationship for three years, B*hunter married Tina Makhia Khayatsadeh on 19 January 2017 at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club in the presence of singers Arash and Margaret, Jan Thesleff, Sweden's amb*ador to the United Arab Emirates, and Jonas Siljemark, the chief executive officer of Warner Music Sweden, his manager Henrik Uhlmann and B*hunter's brother Joakim. The couple divorced after a year. He did not enjoy life as a married man, and numbed his emotions with work and alcohol.

On 10 December 2010, Fife Constabulary charged B*hunter over a sexual *ault allegation made by two female fans during a party at a nightclub in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He was released on bail. His manager said the allegations were "totally untrue". B*hunter pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual *ault against the two women at a hearing at the town's Sheriff court on 12 January 2011. On 14 June 2011, B*hunter was found not guilty; the sheriff described the two accusers as "neither credible nor reliable", and their testimony as "riddled with inconsistencies and improbabilities".

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by B*hunter

During his career, B*hunter has won several awards including Musikförläggarnas pris (2006) and NRJ Radio Award (2007). His debut album LOL was nominated for Emma, Grammis and won the European Border Breakers Award. Single "Boten Anna" was nominated for Rockbjörnen and won Eurodanceweb Award and Telia awards. B*hunter's song "Now You're Gone" won an Eska Music Award and was nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award. "Every Morning" was nominated for International Dance Music Award.

Discography

Main articles: B*hunter discography and list of songs recorded

Studio albums

• The B*machine (2004)
• LOL (2006)
• Now You're Gone – The Album (2008)
• B* Generation (2009)
• Calling Time (2013)

Notes

References

1. "Welcome to a new experience!". B*hunter. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2019. Requires Adobe Flash Player software.
2. "Boten Anna". B*hunter. Archived from the original on 8 July 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
3. "All I Ever Wanted": David Knight (13 May 2008). "Production update: Who shot what, who's shooting what… (part one)". Promonews. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
4. "Angel in the Night": Arve V*botten (18 August 2008). "Aylar sett 46 millioner ganger!" . Se og Hør (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
5. "I Miss You": "Video: Aylar feirer svensk jul" . 730.no (in Norwegian). 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
6. "Every Morning": "B*hunter – Every Morning (Behind the Scenes)". YouTube. 25 September 2009. Event occurs at 2:29–2:34. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
7. "I Promised Myself": "Aylars svenske eventyr nærmer seg *ten" . 730.no (in Norwegian). 19 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
8. "Saturday": "b*hunter — saturday". MTV. 10 August 2010. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
9. "Northern Light": "Nordlyset Aylar i ny fasong" . 730.no (in Norwegian). 12 May 2012. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
10. Sølve Hindhamar (29 March 2012). "Spilte inn ny video i hemmelighet" . Se og Hør (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
11. Jonathan Currinn (12 October 2018). "B*hunter returns to music after five years with announcement of new single "Masterpiece" out next week". CelebMix. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

External links

B*hunterat Wikipedia's sister projects

• Media from Commons
• News from Wikinews
• Quotations from Wikiquote
• Data from Wikidata

• Official website
• B*hunter at IMDb:
• Artist site at Dance Nation (archive)
• Artist site at Ultra Music (archive)
• Artist site at Warner Music Germany (archive) (in German)
• Artist site at Warner Music Sweden (archive)
• Artist site at Ministry of Sound (archive)