Herman Chang
| Herman Chang | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Herman Chang Björlin (legal name) | |
| Born | August 14, 1988 San Francisco, California, United States |
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| Origin | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| Genre | Pop Dance pop Swedish pop |
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| Years active | 2002 to present | |
| Label | Blacklight | |
| Associated acts | ||
Herman Chang Björlin, simply known as Herman Chang, is a Chinese American-Swedish pop singer who is a member of the Swedish pop trio Suede Though all of the members of the group sing lead vocals on their songs, Chang sings lead more so than the other two members of trio (his cousins Lennart and Anders Björlin) and is therefore often considered to be the lead singer of the group. Before being involved with Suede, Chang was a former member of four other pop groups which all saw minimal to no success. Suede, which is considered his "breakthrough" of sorts, has scored a top ten hit in the UK and their native Sweden and also have a top three Gold album in the UK.
Early life[edit | edit source]
Herman Chang was born in San Francisco, California, United States on August 14, 1988. His mother and biological father are both Americans of Chinese descent with the latter being primarily raised in Hong Kong as well. Though Chang's parents were married for five years at the time of his birth, he was given his mother's maiden name. Chang's parents divorced when he was fourteen months old and his father moved to Hong Kong. Chang has not met his father. When he was two, Chang's mother got remarried to a Swedish man, who she was formerly in a long term relationship with. After their marriage, Chang's mother and Chang himself, took his stepfather's last name. Since then, Chang has been legally known as Herman Chang Björlin. Chang was fully raised by his mother and stepfather and has two half-siblings by them.
When Chang was seven years old, his stepfather moved back to his native homeland of Sweden, with him moving his family there soon after. They settled in Stockholm in a middle class neighborhood where his stepfather's brother lived just two houses down from their new home. Before the move, Chang's stepfather would take the family to Sweden every year on summer vacations and holidays to visit his stepfather's relatives. Chang first visited Sweden when he was two, just shortly after his mother and stepfather had gotten married. During the visit, he met his cousins (by marriage) Lennart and Anders Björlin and the boys seemingly bonded with each other. After the move, Chang's bond with his twin cousins strengthened and he would spend of most his free time either with them or his family.
Chang and his cousins began singing together when they were children and took singing seriously when his cousins became teenagers. They would often enter into talent contests where they would win or at least place high. When Chang was was fifteen, he almost dropped out of school because, during that time, he was already actively pursuing a career in music. Chang stayed in school to please his parents' and at the suggestion of his cousins but did not go to college; instead he began to fully continue pursuing a music career.
Early career and pre-Suede: 2002-2011[edit | edit source]
Chang began pursuing a career in music when he was fourteen years old. Between 2002 and 2010, Chang would be involved with four different groups in succession who all found little to no success and disbanded shortly after they got together. Chang's most successful group that he joined had a big hit throughout all of Scandanavia with their debut single but eventually found themselves dropped by their record label after their subsequent singles and thier only album flopped and failed to find an audience.
In between groups, Chang would constantly try to form a trio with his cousins, who thought it would be a good idea to do so but instead decided to go to college. After the failure of the four groups, Chang reluctantly considered going solo. However, his twin cousins finally decided that they wanted to be in a group with him and all of three of them finally formed as trio in early 2011.
Suede: 2011 to present[edit | edit source]
Suede officially became a group in early 2011 and then decided to enter into the Melodifestivalen, which would select Sweden's entry for the Uravision Song Contest. Suede submitted the song "I Release You" and eventually made it through to the finals of the contest, eventually coming in third. Though they did not win, buzz began to build about Suede after their performance at the competition and they began to further plans to pursue a music career.
Through out most of 2011, they recorded their debut album which would be known as Today Is Our Day. Suede, then moved to the UK, to try and build a fanbase there and breakthrough to the British music market. The trio released their debut single "See The Light" and their debut album Today Is Our Day in January 2012. Both releases were commercially successful with "See The Light" reaching the top ten in Sweden and #6 in the UK while Today Is Our Day reached the top twenty in Sweden and #3 in the UK, where it is currently certified Gold.
In 2012, Suede is currently participating at the 2012 Melodifestivalen and have made it through to the finals which will take place on March 10th.
Image[edit | edit source]
Chang appeared on Lucas Brandt's "To Do List", which listed all the people that Brandt would like to sleep with (or "do").
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Chang has a son named Terrance, who was born when Chang was only eighteen years old. Terrance shares the same birthday with Herman's cousin/bandmater Lennart, which is March 2nd. Herman maintains a friendly relationship with his son's mother, who is thirteen years his senior (older than him). Chang lives in the same house as his son and his son's mother in Stockholm, where he has been co-parenting his son alongside with the child's mother. Chang spends his time between Sweden and the UK. Also living in the UK, he co-habitates with his twin cousins Lennart and Anders in a flat in London.
Chang knows fluent Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Swedish, and English. His stepfather taught him Swedish while his mother taught him both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
Chang is currently single and is not in a relationship, nor is he truly seeking one either.
Chang revealed in late 2011 and also in early 2012, just as Suede was rising to popularity, that he has been stalked by a former family friend since he was the age of fourteen. Chang recently revealed that his stalker of ten years has just finally started to send him death threats but also admitted that he is indifferent towards his stalker's threats. Chang also revealed that his stalker is the reason why he walks with a slight limp.
