Kai Hansen
| Kai Hansen | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kai Michael Hansen |
| Born |
17 January 1963 Hamburg, West Germany |
| Genres | Heavy metal, power metal, speed metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | SPV |
| Associated acts |
Gamma Ray, Unisonic, Helloween, Iron Savior, Avantasia, Blind Guardian, HammerFall, Angra, Stormwarrior |
| Website | Kai Hansen on Myspace |
| Notable instruments | |
| ESP SV Flying V, ENGL amplifiers | |
Kai Michael Hansen (born 17 January 1963 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a heavy metal guitarist and vocalist.
Hansen is the founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also the co-founder and former member of German metal band Helloween. He is a prominent figure in power metal and has sold millions of albums worldwide. He is regarded as "the godfather of power metal", having founded three seminal bands in the genre. In 2011, he joined the band Unisonic featuring former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske.
His musical career started in 1978 in a band called Gentry, alongside Iron Savior's co-founder and producer Piet Sielck. In 1983, he and Michael Weikath founded Helloween, where he was guitarist and singer until Michael Kiske took over the microphone for the albums Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 and Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2. Hansen left the band due to the extensive touring in 1988–89 and went on to form his own power metal band Gamma Ray. Hansen also joined Iron Savior as guitarist in 1997, but quit after a few years to focus his efforts on Gamma Ray. He has now forged a very successful career with Gamma Ray, releasing several albums and playing sold out tours across the globe.
Hansen participated in a large number of other projects. He appeared as a guest vocalist on Blind Guardian's albums Follow the Blind and Tales from the Twilight World. Around the same time, he and fellow Gamma Ray bandmate Dirk Schlächter collaborated on Angra's first full-length album Angels Cry, both playing guitar solos in the song "Never Understand". He also collaborated on Angra's album Temple of Shadows released in 2004 doing vocals for the song "The Temple of Hate". He participated as a guest guitarist on Michael Kiske's debut solo album Instant Clarity. Together with HammerFall he recorded a cover version of Helloween's I Want Out.
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