The death of the artist Tommy Tokyo – NRK Norway – An overview of the news from around the country

He’s been admitted there since New Year’s Eve awaiting a lung transplant. His wife Lev was with him.

It was the newspaper Nidaros Who was the first to mention his death.

“Unfortunately, it was too late,” Teri Pedersen wrote at Tommy Tokyo-based record label Drabant Music. Facebook in a post Written in consultation with the Ottosen family.

Tommy is the man I will always associate with strong passion and love, and the greatest love has been his wife, Liv, and children. He loved them more than anything, and together they were the whole world to each other. My thoughts go to them today. The man of honor is gone. This is very sad. Let us honor his memory, it is said further from Pedersen.

autumn painting

Tommy Tokyo has just managed to finish a new album, which was due to be released in 2022 and will be a double album with 20 songs – to celebrate his 20th anniversary as an artist.

– When the Corona virus broke out two years ago, Tommy was already sick, but healthy enough that he could play and sing, and was in good spirits. We agreed to make a record. This album we recorded with producer Goran Greni, and this morning, around the time of his death, Kay Andersen sent out the last mix, Pedersen says in the post.

– He recovered until last week, got out of the ICU and we thought things were getting better now. The record will come out, it will be in the fall. That’s what Tommy wanted, says the record company manager and friend, mourning NTB.

Terry Pedersen describes Tommy Tokyo as “the most passionate man I’ve ever met.”

He could not stand falsehood, injustice, and indifference, so it annoyed him. It’s very rare to see such passion, but it’s the result of having the biggest heart in the world. As a lyricist and musician, he was passionate and persistent, and it was the drive to create something significant that drove him. This was a big thing for him to do.

First wrote poems

Tommy Tokyo first appeared on music fans’ radar in the early 2000s. It kicked off in 2007 with the release of the debut album “Octopusdrunk & Arms To Prove It” in March, which was picked up by Warner and re-released the following year. That breakthrough came with “Smear Your Smiles Back On” in 2008, which was sold for gold.

– I had no idea about the strike. Things went surprisingly well, Tommy told NTB Tokyo in 2007. Because he started his music career late, which he said began in 1992 when he heard “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” at the library. Before that he wrote poems.

– If I could draw, I would. I don’t think of my music as music, but rather as an opportunity to come up with things in my mind. I need to get it out and write it down on paper. Otherwise, I’ll burn inside a lot. Because you encounter a lot of strange things as a human being. He said in 2010 when the third album was released, I think it’s a good idea to publish it.

Together with the band Starving For My Gravy, Tommy Tokyo was twice nominated for a Spellemann Award. But it was only when he went solo in 2012 that he went ahead and won a rock class – for “And the Horse Came Riderless.”

I tried in Norwegian

“I got tired of myself,” he told NTB that same year, and wanted to be a lone wolf after breaking up with the band. After setting another English-language record, he wanted to “remove the distance filter”, and announced the transition to Norwegian with the 2015 edition “raise yourself above that out there”. When he missed the company in 2016, he brought together the old band who had to change their name to De Bipolare and join the critically acclaimed album Among Enemies and Friends.

On the eighth album, “The Remaining Days of Life”, he returned in English and as a solo. Published in 2020. In March, Tommy told Tokyo NTB about the bleak headline – without revealing anything about the disease:

– I am approaching 49 years old. The days left are mine, I’ll do what I can. It is an eternal reminder to myself. A reminder to think a little about how vulnerable life is, and not to skip the days. You must accept Mondays as well as Saturdays. It is beautiful with each day one gets.

Now it’s over, too soon.