Early Years
Martin Hansen started his career as a singer and guitarist in a number of local bands in Gothenburg in the early nineties. During 1996-1998 he studied at the University of Luleå in Sweden getting a bachelors degree in sound engineering.
In 1998 he teamed up with Mikael Nord Andersson and the next couple of years they produced and wrote for numerous Swedish artists.
In 2002 Martin was awarded a Swedish Grammy for the complementary album to the Swedish artist Plura from the band Eldkvarn.
Martin also reached #1 on Swedish radio charts in 2003 with co-written and co-produced "Måndag morgon" performed by Björn Skifs. The album "Ingen annan", which he co-produced made gold in Sweden the same year.
During 2003 he furthermore co-produced an album together with Swedish artist Peter LeMarc, “Det Som Håller Oss Vid Liv”, that topped the Swedish album charts and went platinum after only a few weeks.
In 2004 he co-produced a track for the Spiderman II soundtrack, "We are" with Ana Johnsson which became a major hit in Europe, charting and peaked in the top 20 in almost every European country.
2005 he co-produced “Sjutton Sånger - LeMarc Sjunger LeMarc” which went to #1 on the Swedish album charts and was certified gold.
Along with making records he's moreover co-written and co-produced a lot of music for film, TV and commercials, including Tusenbröder, a successful drama TV-series on Swedish Television and a Xerox commercial.
The Rasmus
The first international success came with Finnish band The Rasmus in 2001. The album "Into" sold double platinum in Finland and received four Finnish Grammy awards that year. The first single of the Into album, ”F-F-F-Falling", was #1 in Finland for three months in early 2001.
The following year he started to work on a new The Rasmus-album, "Dead letters" which became the big international breakthrough for the group in 2003. Both the album and the first single, "In The Shadows”, reached #1 on sales and radio charts all around the world and sold over 1.7 million copies.
During 2005 he co-produced The Rasmus “Hide From The Sun” album. It got a platinum award in Finland and has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.
In 2012 he reunited with the band, producing the self-titled album “The Rasmus”. It received two Finnish Emma awards and gold status in Finland.
Scorpions
In 2006 Martin and Mikael Nord was contacted by the Scorpions and together with Klaus Meine they wrote The Game Of Life which became the second single from the album Humanity.
Early in 2009 the band reached out again for Martin and Mikael and in May they started to record what would become “Sting In The Tail”, an album where they also contributed a lot as songwriters. It was released in the beginning of 2010 and debuted at #2 on the German album charts and was certified platinum after a couple of months. The album also peaked at #2 on the Billboard Rock Charts. The second single from the album, “Raised On Rock” which they co-wrote, went to #2 on the Classic Rock Mediabase chart.
In 2011 they furthermore produced the compilation album “Comeblack” which features re-recorded versions of Scorpions classic songs and cover versions of 1960s and early 1970s rock songs. The album received gold status in France.
In 2013 they produced and co-arranged the MTV Unplugged – Live in Athens, both the live album and the DVD was certified gold in Germany. Martin also toured in Germany the following year with the band, playing guitar, harmonica and backing vocals on their unplugged tour.
The album “Return To Forever” was released in 2015 reached #2 on German album charts and received gold status in France. The first single from the album which was co-written by Martin, ”We Built This House”, reached Top 10 on U.S. Classic Rock radio.