MLTR band
by Ruvini Jayasinghe
 It
all began in 1987 at a high-school in Aarhus when singer and keyboard
player Jascha Richter, drummer Kare Wanscher and guitarist Mikkel Lentz
formed a small “café band.” All three are great music lovers and they
decided to form a more serious band using the songs Jacsha Richter had
composed.
Michael Learns to Rock (also known as MLTR) is the result of their
endeavor, “one of the absolute greatest” pop makers’ - a Danish soft
rock/pop rock band formed in 1988.
MLTR’s music has been described as the Scandinavian light meeting the
classic international pop song, refined through the years by great
artistes as The Beatles, Eagles, Elton John and Billy Joel.
In September 1991 they released their album ‘Michael Learns to Rock’.
“The Actor” is one of the songs on the album and this great ballad plays
an important part getting the album to the top of the Danish charts in
January 1992 where the record went to Number 1.
The song travelled faster than the band and went to Number 1 on the
charts in Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the
Philippines.
Jascha Richter (born on June 24 1963) is a Danish singer-songwriter
best known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of Michael Learns to
Rock (MLTR). He has composed and sung most of MLTR’s songs. Some of his
most well known songs including “The Actor”, “25 Minutes” “Sleeping
Child”, “That’s Why (You Go Away)”, “Complicated Heart”, “Breaking My
Heart” and “Someday” are still popular amongst MLTR fans. This love song
“The Actor” of love is one of his great creations which explains “what
true love is…..”
Seen as simply the romantic agonising of a poor young man over a
woman he loves being overwhelmed by the vulgerness and sadism of
materialism belonging to a rich lover. “The Actor” reads as the words
are spoken by a lost soul, damned to Fire for the attempt to buy
absolution in advance of committing a crime.
This song describes the characteristics of a true lover who can
certainly be found in all truly loving relationships. The problem with
trying to “find” love in our dating lives, is that too often we don’t
look for these characteristics. Rather we look at physical appearance,
popularity, or wealth. These are not the qualities that God looks at and
neither we.
A soft but powerful Danish rock song which reminds us of the late
80’s English rock stars and recent albums. Jascha Richter’s vocals take
us high when unleashed to the max. And about the tune, it’s one of those
MLTR melodies which will haunt your music buds for a long time. The
entrancing use of the guitar with piano and the mellifluous chorus will
turn your speakers in to a midnight’s stage and your room in to an open
auditorium! |
