Tomas "Ace" Börje Forsberg AKA Quorthon: 17 February 1966 – c. 7 June 2004
It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Quorthon was found dead at only 38 years old.
He didn't die from a drug overdose or "misadventure," as has been the sad case with many musicians. He had heart problems, likely cardiomyopathy. His heart simply stopped working. He was found dead in his apartment after no-one had heard from him for a week.
Quorthon is considered one of the creators of the Scandinavian black metal genre as well as being the father of the Viking metal genre. He initially utilized horror/dark/occult themes in his music but switched to writing songs about Scandinavian history, legend, and mythology.
Quorthon cautioned people not to allow themselves to become too wrapped up in the theatrical imagery of the metal genre. He expressed his feeling that it was necessary to remember that it was theatre, and that he personally kept in mind that he was just a regular person who enjoyed creating theatre.
Quorthon was distressed to receive letters written in blood and on occasion containing dead, mutilated animals or photographs of women engaging in obscene acts using crucifixes. He wanted to escape the image as "the baby-eating, blood-drinking God of the bat-cave". He expressed the feeling that it was sick and wrong to harm small animals in such a fashion, and that he really didn't care to see unsolicited photographs of people engaged in obscene acts.
Offstage, Quorthon was polite, soft-spoken, evidently very intelligent, and refreshingly lacking in stereotype "rock star" attitudes and behaviors.
I believe the older fellow in the video is his father, Börje "Boss" Forsberg. While Boss was owner of the Tyfon Grammafon label and produced Quorthon's early work with Bathory, Quorthon received no particular special favors. He worked under a very tight budget. In one case, he recalled creating a particular echoing effect by playing his guitar in the bathroom at the studio.
Following Quorthon's death, his sister, Jennie Tebler, wanted to remix certain of her brother's songs to create a duet between herself and him. However, she stated in one interview that she couldn't stop herself from crying when she heard his voice, so she ended up using only the guitar tracks. The person who created this video has envisioned what the remix might have sounded like had she been able to go through with the project.
The talented siblings created this song together not long before Quorthon's death. He played all of the instruments and mixed the track. It's a shame they couldn't have done more work together.
The world is a poorer place for the loss of Quorthon, a fine musician and a fine human being. But it is a richer place for the fact that he was here. May he rock Valhalla!
~DJ Adam~
For the KHEL 666 Krew
