Mads Langer (born 1984) is a Danish singer-songwriter, who became internationally known for his cover of "You're Not Alone" by the British band Olive. While the song is cheerful, his own songs are frequently typified as emotional guitar ballads, because many of them are in a minor scale and have a melancholic feel to them. He has explained that even when he tries to write an uplifting song, it often ends up being a sad song, even though he does consider himself to be an optimist rather than an emotional person and says about himself that he is not that sensitive but rather a very tough guy. Langer also writes more powerful songs and performs various songs on piano. His third studio album Behold was released on 9 May 2011.
Langer writes the majority of his repertoire alone, but also collaborates with among others Marcus Winther-John, Tim Christensen, Daniel Ahearn, Edie Kuhnle, and Justin Hawkins. Tim Christensen has contributed to several songs with backing vocals, guitar and bass on Langer's earlier albums, and Justin Hawkins sings backing vocals on Langer's upcoming album. He has announced that he will also be working with several artists and producers from the United States, including Ryan Tedder. About his approach to music, Langer says: "I'm very inspired of the way Keith Jarrett just lets his hands run out of control and create big poetic moments out of improvisation. The same can be said for other big artists like Ryan Adams and Jeff Buckley. I can relate to all three because they all seem to let their intuition and playful musicality take them to beautiful places. My own music originates in the same way.” Other musical influences he names are Chris Cornell, John Mayer, Prince, Coldplay, Rickie Lee Jones, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Nick Drake, The Band, Radiohead, Fionn Regan, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Ray Lamontagne. His voice is often compared to Thom Yorke's and Jeff Buckley's. His band, both in the studio and live, is composed of Søren Lund on guitar, Nis Tyrrestrup op bass, and Asger Møller on drums and percussion. On 30 March 2011, Langer introduced Simon Luth as his sixth band member and announced he will be the opening act for his shows in May 2011. Langer plays among others guitar, piano, Mellotron, and keyboard.
