Herman Chang
| Herman Chang | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Herman Chang Björlin (legal name) |
| Origin | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Genres |
Pop Dance pop Swedish pop |
| Occupation(s) | lead singer for Suede |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2002 — 2013 (his death) |
| Labels | Blacklight |
Herman Chang Björlin (August 14, 1988 — January 23, 2013), simply known as Herman Chang, was a Chinese American-Swedish pop singer who was a member of the Swedish pop trio Suede. Though all of the members of the group sang lead vocals on their songs, Chang sang lead more so than the other two members of trio (his cousins Lennart and Anders Björlin) and was 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 was considered his "breakthrough" of sorts, found international success during their short career with their only album Today Is Our Day and the singles from that album.
In the early morning hours of January 23, 2013 (HKT), Chang was found murdered, shot multiple times to death in the doorway of the hotel room he was sharing with his bandmates/cousins. He was murdered by his father and two half-brothers who, hours later, turned themselves into the police and made tearful confessions admitting to the crime. As a result of Chang's death, his cousins, the Bjorlin twins, decided to disband Suede.
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 initially did not meet or know 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.
Relationship with father[edit | edit source]
Chang's biological father re-entered Chang's life when he was eight years old, when he began calling Chang's mother asking for her forgiveness and initially wanting to get back with her. After he found out she was (happily) married, he focused on attempting to build a relationship with Chang. Chang's biological father admitted that he initially denied that Chang was his because he was "in denial" saying that he was not his for a "variety of reasons". Chang's father admitted that Chang's mother was always faithful to him and we initially "wanted his family back" because he realized that he "messed up big time". He would also admit that he was not ready for fatherhood at the time of Chang's birth and came up with any reason to want out of his life.
Chang's parents kept the phone calls from Chang a secret and Chang never knew about them. Chang met his father when he was ten but was told that his father was a family friend. Chang was said to have never liked his father when he still thought of him as a family friend and reportedly thought he was a "creep". Chang finally found out the truth when he was fourteen years old, after an "ugly altercation" between the two occurred while they were having lunch by themselves. Chang immediately disowned his father, not wanting to do anything with him. Chang also met his two half-brothers and he too disowned them as well.
Chang insisted that he disowned his biological father's side of the family because he felt they were "extra, unneeded, and unwarranted" while stating that he already had a father, referring to his stepfather in actuality; Chang also felt that he did not want to "complicate anyone's family tree" by trying to build a relationship with his father and his side of the family. Chang would refer to his biological father and his half-brothers as "stalkers" as they constantly attempted to reconcile with him and kept calling him and e-mailing him. Chang had to change his phone number and e-mail address numerous times. When Chang was sixteen visiting San Francisco during the summer, his father, surprised him while drunk, attacked him with an empty glass bottle and physically assaulted him, resulting in him accidentally breaking Chang's leg. The father ran away but Chang did not call the police after the attack. The incident left Chang with a slight limp that he would walk with for the remainder of his life.
Chang admitted that his father and two half-brothers "innocently" stalked him for nine years until he was twenty-three, when they finally began sending more threatening and taunting messages to him, angered that they were not notified that Chang had already had a son, named Terrance (therefore making them a grandfather and uncles). Furious, they began sending death threats to him. While he and the rest of Suede were in London, Chang's car exploded; Chang's father and half-brothers tauntingly alluded that they were the ones responsible for the car explosion. Chang's paternal side of the family would continue to stalk him, especially after Suede began pursuing a career in Asia, especially in Hong Kong. Chang would say that the messages were getting more and more threatening. Chang's cousins, the Bjorlin twins, would also say that Chang was always nonchalant about his father and brothers' threats, never taking them seriously and even laughing when he mockingly read them aloud. They also stated that Chang was not shaken by the car explosion rigged by his father and brothers either.
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 — 2013[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.
With Today Is Our Day and its singles, the group found international success. In late 2012, the launched their careers in the Asian markets by releasing their EP Oh Mmm Gee.
In January 2013, after Chang's death, the band was disbanded by his cousins and surviving bandmates, the Bjorlin twins.
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 maintained a friendly relationship with his son's mother, who is thirteen years his senior (older than him). Chang lived in the same house as his son and his son's mother in Stockholm, where he had been co-parenting his son alongside with the child's mother. Chang spent his time between Sweden and the UK. Also living in the UK, he lived with his twin cousins Lennart and Anders in a flat in London.
Chang knew fluent Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Swedish, and English. His stepfather taught him Swedish while his mother taught him both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
Death[edit | edit source]
On January 22, 2013, while on promotional duties with Suede in Hong Kong, Chang received a threatening text message from his father who threatened to have him killed via his supposed deep connections with the Hong Kong triads. (In actuality, Chang's father didn't have any connection with the triads and was just trying to scare Chang). Chang, as usual, mocked the death threat and then sent a text back saying "C'mon and kill me if you want to bitch. I ain't scared of you." Hours later in the evening, while leaving a restaurant, Chang was confronted and ambushed by his father and half-brothers, who began to become physically aggressive towards Chang. A fight between Chang and his father and brothers broke out and Chang began running away from them. Eyewitnesses report seeing Chang's father and brothers chasing Chang down the street on a busy part of Hong Kong, yelling death threats at him. Chang was seen laughing and mocking them while he was running away from them. When they stopped chasing, Chang taunted at them by saying "Awww don't you guys wanna play?" before he laughed and then walked to his hotel room.
Hours later, in the early morning hours of January 23, 2013 (HKT), Chang and his cousin/bandmate Anders Bjorlin were writing songs when they heard a knock on the door of the hotel room they were staying in. Bjorlin apparently opened the door first when he saw Chang's father and brothers at the door. Chang's father fired two shots into Bjorlin's leg and Bjorlin began screaming in pain. Alarmed by the gunshots and Bjorlin's scream, Chang ran to the front door where once within sight, Chang's father and brothers fired multiple shots into Chang before they ran off. Chang was instantly killed and Bjorlin, with an injured leg, attempted to resuscitate him.
Others staying at the same hotel called the police reporting "loud noises that like firecrackers at a wild party" not knowing that they were actually gunshots and screams by Bjorlin. Lennart Bjorlin, who was grocery shopping, came in and saw Chang being cradled in Anders' arm, where he then called the police to report that Chang had been murdered. Chang was dead on arrival when he was taken to a nearby hospital in Hong Kong.
Chang's death sent shockwaves throughout the Swedish media, who regarded him as a "phenomenal talent", and the Asian press who considered him and the rest of Suede as rising stars. Chang's death was widely covered live by the local news stations in Hong Kong. Hours after, the shooting, Chang's cousins released a statement to the press saying that they had disbanded Suede out of respect for Chang. Chang's family back in Sweden were notified of his death and were said to have acted rather poorly and inconsolable upon hearing the news. At 1:58 PM (HKT), Chang's father and half-brothers turned themselves in and tearfully admitted that they murdered Chang out of a "fit of rage, jealousy, and hurt". Chang's body was flown back to Sweden and buried there. He is survived by his son Terrance, whom he ironically wrote three poems for on the day of his death.
