Anders and Lennart Björlin
Anders Björlin (March 1, 1985 — October 21, 2013) and Lennart Björlin (March 2, 1985 — October 21, 2013) were fraternal twin brothers who were members of the Swedish pop trio Suede, alongside with their cousin Herman Chang before the trio's split following Chang's death in January 2013.
On October 21, 2013, Lennart and Anders were shot and killed by unknown assailants inside their car outside of their Stockholm home. They both were 28 years old at the time of their deaths.
Early life[edit | edit source]
Lennart and Anders Björlin were born and raised in Borås, Sweden and were fraternal twin brothers who were twenty-two minutes apart but, technically, on different days. Anders was born shortly before midnight on March 1, 1985 and Lennart was born shortly after midnight on March 2nd. They were born to a Swedish father and Korean mother but were solely raised by their uncle, who is their biological father's identical twin brother, after their parents abandoned them at the age of two. When the twins were seven, their biological father signed away his parental rights and their uncle adopted them, making him their legal father. Their biological father has three other sons that were born outside of his marriage to the twins' mother, going on to raise one of them. The twins met their biological parents in 2012. The twins never fully reconciled with their biological father or mother prior to their deaths, despite various attempts to do so.
Considering their uncle their "father", the twins were raised by him in their hometown of Borås where they grew up poor, being financially supported solely on their father's low income. Their father later moved the family to Stockholm where he got a better job and was able to provide a better lifestyle for the boys. The twins did most of their schooling in Stockholm. With demands of a new job, their father called his older brother (not his estranged identical twin) over to help him raise the twins. His older brother, along with his sister-in-law and her seven year old son from a previous marriage, Herman Chang, moved from San Francisco to Stockholm. Before the move, the twins' relatives, including their cousin Herman, would often visit from the United States to Sweden every summer. The twins were close to Herman since they were little children.
Herman and the twins eventually started to sing together. By the time the twins were in their teens, they decided to take music seriously and entered into a bunch of talent contests where, in plenty of them, they won or at least placed significantly high.
Suede: 2011 — 2013[edit | edit source]
The twins' younger cousin, Herman, tried constantly to form a group with them, though he was constantly in and out of a series of four groups and already actively pursuing a music career. Though the twins' thought that Herman's idea was a good one, they often rebuffed him and instead decided to focus on going to college. After they completely finished their education, the twins finally seeked to form a group with Herman and the three boys formed as a trio in early 2011.
Suede entered in the Melodifestivalen 2011 contest, which determines Sweden's entry into the Uravision Song Contest later that year, with the song "I Release You". They came in third in the competition. Anders would later record the song with him being featured soley on lead vocals for the b-side for the group's single "See The Light", which was released in January 2012 and became a big commercial success in the UK and Sweden, reaching the top ten in both countries. The trio also released their debut album Today Is Our Day which reached #13 in Sweden and #3 in the UK, where it is currently certified Gold. The Swedish version of the Anders-fronted "Let Them Go" was released in Sweden, where it reached #11.
The band participated at Meldoifestivalen in 2012 with the "Break My Heart From The Start", coming once again at third place. The trio then had an internationally successful career through North America, Europe, and Asia with their Today Is Our Day album and their first EP Oh Mmm Gee. The trio had planned to work on a second album.
In January 2013, the twins' cousin was shot and killed by two half brothers and estranged father. Anders was shot in the leg and was found on the floor with an already deceased Herman trying to revive him to no avail. The twins' decided to break up Suede hours after Herman's death. Their second album was never completed.
Image[edit | edit source]
The members of Suede have received a lot of attention because of the fact that they are both Asian and from Sweden. Indeed, all three members are of Asian descent with Herman being Chinese-American and the Björlin twins being half-Korean and half-Swedish. The Björlin twins have always identified themselves as Swedish and are said to be unfamiliar with their Korean heritage. Apparently, they haven't even visited South Korea, the origin of their mother. The twins also do not know how to speak the Korean language.
Personal life[edit | edit source]
In an interview with a Swedish publication, Anders revealed that he would not ever want to get married but would like to be a father to "either two or plenty of kids. Which ever happens for me." He also commented that marriage is "too much work". In early 2012, Anders surprisingly got engaged to his girlfriend who he had been secretly dating from between a few months to a year. Anders has since retracted his comments and views on marriage which his fiancee formerly agreed with him on. Lennart is currently single.
Lennart speaks both English and Swedish, though it is considered that his English is "broken" as he does not speak the language all that well. Anders only speaks Swedish and does not speak in English, despite him having to learn the words phonetically when it came time to record Suede's debut album, Today Is Our Day. Anders was said to be taking classes on how to speak English but it has since been reported that he had dropped out and would only prefer to speak Swedish.
Deaths[edit | edit source]
On October 21, 2013 Lennart and Anders were found dead in their car outside of their home in Stockholm, Sweden. They had been shot and killed by unknown assailants, who are believed to family members from their mother's side of the family. With Chang's death still fresh in the minds of their fans, the twins' death shocked many people and became a media frenzy in Sweden and South Korea.
