Johan Christher Schütz

Johan Christher Schütz is a Swedish songwriter and music producer.[2][3][4]

Johan Christher Schütz
Schütz performing in Tokyo in 2011
Background information
Birth nameJohan Christher Schütz
Also known asJ.C. Schütz, Peacebird
BornSweden
OriginMjölby, Sweden
GenresPop, Bossa nova, Jazz, World music, Musical theatre
Occupation(s)Songwriter, Music producer, singer
Years active2004–present
LabelsOne Perfect Line Music[1]
Websitejcschutz.com

Life and career

Early years

Born and raised outside the small town of Mjölby, Östergötland, he started singing and playing musical instruments, such as drums and electric organ, very early. Aged seven, he found a guitar in a dumpster, an experience that he says changed his life, as he decided to dedicate his life to music.[5] Despite this, he entered the Kungshögaskolan College in Mjölby with the intention to study art, but the restrictive curriculum made him return to music. During a period in 1999 he lived in London after receiving a songwriting grant from Swedish royalty collection society STIM.[6] He studied Portuguese at Stockholm University, and released his first solo album Passion in 2004. In 2015 he relocated to the UK.[7]

Musical theatre

In 2008, Japanese musical theatre production company Takarazuka Revue licensed a Japanese version of his song Passion for one of their shows, which inspired Schütz to start writing for musical theatre. The Swedish musical Tivolisaga, translated as Carnival Tale, based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but with the main characters renamed Punch and Judy, was written in close collaboration with director Johan Pettersson. It premiered in Norrköping, Sweden, in August 2013 in a small production at Arbisteatern.[8] Following the success, Schütz and Pettersson staged a new Swedish production of Jonathan Larson's rock musical RENT, with Schütz as musical director.[9]

Since 2016, Schütz is a member of the BML workshop in musical theatre songwriting in London, a workshop modelled after the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York.[10]

Solo releases

Schütz has released five solo albums as a singer and performer, starting with Passion in May 2004, with jazz and bossanova influenced pop that was generally well received by the Swedish press.[11][12] The second release Blissa Nova from November 2007 has a more contemporary and authentic Brazilian sound and had an even better reception by the Swedish press and also saw Schütz invited to do his first Japan tour.[13] On his third album C'est La Vie he sang in Swedish for the first time, however the international edition included 5 songs translated into English.[14]

In 2010 Schütz started writing songs for a fourth album and announced it would be released under the pseudonym Peacebird, and released two charity singles during the spring of 2011, Peace! (Give the People the Power Back) supporting the demonstrations for democracy in Northern Africa, and Hold On Now following the 11 March, Japan earthquake and tsunami. A full-length album, Peacebird, was released on 5 October 2011, and was more contemporary as Schütz had been experimenting with drum loops to further develop his influences from Brazilian and Cuban music. Slow Down, the first song on the album, was the most played song by a foreign artist on Japanese radio during October 2011.[15]

In 2012 he returned to using his own name and released the single Christmas Time (We Can Change the World), a comment on the growing racism and nationalism around the world.[16] In July 2013, his fifth album Beautiful Place was released, again leaning mainly towards his influences from Latin and world music, and featuring an acoustic version of the musical theatre classic Over the Rainbow.[17]

Since 2013 Schütz has focused his writing on musical theatre, but has continued to release singles with remixes and new versions of older songs. 2018 also saw the release of the Original Swedish Cast recording for Tivolisaga, and 2019 the instrumental soundtrack album Bull Rider Boy, with music he had written and produced in 2015 for a Swedish indie documentary film.

Other versions of his songs

Brazilian singer Aline de Lima recorded a version of Schütz' song Som om ingenting har hänt for her 2008 album Açai, and Japanese singer Toki Asako recorded his song Let the Sunlight In for her 2009 album Touch.[18] Also in 2008, a Japanese version of his song Passion was used by Takarazuka Revue in one of their all-female-cast shows, also released on CD and DVD. In 2011, Swedish jazz singer Nina Ripe released her debut album with new versions of Brazilian standards, with three lyrics written by Schütz, such as the first official English version of Jobim & Buarque's classic song Retrato Em Branco E Preto (Picture in Black and White), and a Swedish version of Milton Nascimento's Encontros e Despedidas (Möten och avsked) which Schütz released his own version of in 2014. Ripe's album was nominated in the category Best Album of the Year by Sweden's leading jazz magazine Orkesterjournalen.[19]

Discography

Albums

Singles
  • "Se solen gå upp" (2009)
  • "Dröm" (2009)
  • "Balans (Bossa Remix)" (2009)
  • "Peace! (Give the People the Power Back) [Peacebird Edit]" (2011)
  • "Hold On Now" (2011)
  • "Christmas Time (We Can Change the World)" (2012)
  • "I Guess It's Ok" (2014)
  • "Det kunde lika gärna varit vi" (2014)
  • "Möten och avsked" (2014)
  • "I'm Here (Acoustic Version)" (2015)
  • "Changes Changes (Nujabes Tribute Remix)" (2016)
  • "Love This World" (2017)
  • "Difficult (Impossible Remix)" (2017)
  • "Let the Sunlight In" (2018)

Musical cast album
  • Tivolisaga (Original Swedish Cast Recording) (2018)

Film soundtrack album
  • Bull Rider Boy (2019)
gollark: Hah.
gollark: /\///\//\\/\/////////\//\
gollark: Receiving room.
gollark: I mentioned an idea for golfier Python.
gollark: Maybe someone should make a python dialect with curly bracket blocks for code golf.

References
  1. Official website for One Perfect Line Music; Retrieved 31 March, 2020: http://oplm.jcschutz.com
  2. Official website retrieved 28 February 2011: http://www.jcschutz.com
  3. Östgöta Correspondenten, printed newspaper, May 2001: "Schütz har blivit en mogen artist." (Schütz has matured as an artist.) Website: http://www.corren.se
  4. Östgöta Correspondenten, from their Facebook page on culture. Retrieved 13 December 2012: "Mjölbys singer/songwriter-ess Johan Christher Schütz har gjort en sån där jullåt som känns som en evergreen redan efter första lyssningen." (Mjolby's champion singer/songwriter Johan Christher Schutz has made one of those Christmas songs that feels like an evergreen already the first time you hear it.) https://www.facebook.com/Correnkultur/posts/274205499369686
  5. Östgötatidningen 19 March 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2019: "Bakom uppsättningen står bland andra regissören Johan Pettersson, med rötterna i Boxholm, och Johan Christer Schütz, uppvuxen utanför Mjölby, som är musikalisk ledare." (Behind the production we find among others director Johan Pettersson, with his roots in Boxholm, and Johan Christer (sic) Schütz, raised outside of Mjölby, who is the musical director.) Link: http://ostgota.lokaltidningen.se/nyheter/nyheter_lokala_mjolby/2014-03-19/-Svartare-version-av-popul%C3%A4r-musikal-226431.html
  6. Official bio. Retrieved 2 July 2019: http://www.johanchristherschutz.net/press/jcschutz-formal-bio.pdf
  7. Official website retrieved 30 July 2019: http://www.jcschutz.com
  8. Official Tivolisaga website; Synopsis – http://www.tivolisaga.com/synopsis.php
  9. Östgötatidningen 19 March 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2019: ”Regissören Johan Pettersson […] och Johan Christer Schütz [… ]som är musikalisk ledare." (Director Johan Pettersson, and Johan Christer (sic) Schütz, musical director.) http://ostgota.lokaltidningen.se/nyheter/nyheter_lokala_mjolby/2014-03-19/-Svartare-version-av-popul%C3%A4r-musikal-226431.html
  10. Book Music & Lyrics website. Retrieved 30 July 2019: http://www.bookmusicandlyrics.com/members
  11. Dagens Nyheter, 26 May 2004 – https://www.dn.se/arkiv/kultur/skivrecensioner-2004-05-26/ – "Romantisk bossa från Mjölby" (Romantic Bossa Nova from Mjölby)
  12. Lira Musikmagasin, issue 4, 2004 – http://www.lira.se – "Somrig bossanovacocktail" (Summery bossa nova cocktail), "Hans gitarrspel ligger närmre Nick Drake än Jobim" (His guitar playing is closer to Nick Drake than Jobim), "Något som imponerar är den nyskapande instrumentationen" (Something that impresses is the inventive instrumentation).
  13. Groove, issue 1, 2008 – "Blissa Nova är snudd på fulländad" (Blissa Nova is literally perfect), "Inledande Plunge into the Miracle går från 0–100 på under en sekund och hade alla låtar varit i samma stil så hade det här kunnat utmana om titeln årets bästa svenska platta inom genren." (First song Plunge into the Miracle goes from 0–100 in less than a second, and if all songs had been in a similar vein, this could well have been the best album of the year in the genre). – http://www.groove.se/site/recension.asp?recId=1610&mediumId=1
  14. Östgöta Correspondenten, June 17, 2009 – http://www.corren.se – "Välspelat, välformulerat" (Well written, well played).
  15. "Radio success in Japan for Swedish pop song"; SVT Swedish broadcasting corporation website; published 11 October 2011: http://www.svt.se/kultur/svensk-poplat-gor-radiosucce-i-japan
  16. Östöta Correspondenten online (Corren Kultur) Facebook page. 13 December, 2012. "Vår popman i Japan, Mjölbys singer/songwriter-ess Johan Christher Schütz har gjort en sån där jullåt som känns som en evergreen redan efter första lyssningen" (Our pop man in Japan, Mjölby's champion singer/songwriter Johan Christher Schütz has made one of those Christmas songs that feels like an evergreen already the first time you hear it). https://www.facebook.com/Correnkultur/posts/274205499369686
  17. Official website: News page. 9 July, 2013. http://www.johanchristherschutz.net/news.php
  18. Toki Asako Official website: https://www.tokiasako.com/discography/RZCD-46095.html
  19. http://orkesterjournalen.com/wordpress/?p=3906 Accessed 17 January 2017
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