There was an earlier melodic rock band of this name in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Ark was a progressive metal band resulting from the friendship and musical collaboration of guitarist Tore Østby (Conception, DC Cooper, Giant's Playground, Hypose, Redrum, Headcrash) and drummer John Macaluso (TNT, Riot, Spread Eagle, Alex Masi, Yngwie Malmsteen, Powermad), who later joined up with singer Jørn Lande to record two acclaimed albums.
Lande, Østby and Macaluso were joined by Randy Coven (Steve Vai, Steve Morse) on bass and Mats Olaussen (Yngwie Malmsteen) on keyboards for their second effort.
The Ark is a Swedish glam rock band formed in 1991 by Ola Salo, Mikael Jepson, and Lasse "Leari" Ljungberg, when Ola Salo and Leari were only fourteen years old. Martin Axén officially joined the band in 1997, and Sylvester Schlegel in 1999. In late 2006, Jens Andersson joined The Ark as an official member. He had at that point played live with the band for several years.
Generally written in a collaborative effort by the band, the Ark's lyrics are sometimes controversial. For example, the 2002 single "Father of a Son" is about homosexuals' right to have children. In October 2006, the band and Ola Salo were criticized by members of the U.S. public for some controversial comments referencing the September 11, 2001 attacks that were apparently part of the joking banter between songs as the band performed at the opening festivities for the new Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C. blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301369.html This was unfortunate timing, as the free concert was the kick off for the band's U.S. tour.
The Ark participated in the Swedish _Melodifestivalen 2007 with the song "The Worrying Kind". The song, which won the contest after capturing both the popular vote and the jury's vote, was written by Ola Salo. The song was Sweden's Eurovision 2007 entry, and is also included in The Ark's fourth album Prayer for the Weekend, released in April 2007. Despite being a bookmaker favorite, they finished in 18th place (out of 24) with only 51 points, compared to winning Serbia's 268 points. "Absolutely No Decorum", the first single from the album, was released in January 2007.
The Ark has collaborated with artists such as The Darkness and The Cardigans.
"One Of Us Is Gonna Die Young" was used in the 2007 snowboarding video, "Picture This" from Mack Dawg Productions for Seth Huot and Andreas Wiig's video part.
Ark were a musical group formed around Birmingham and The Black Country, England active from c.1985 to c.1995. The group's sound was a mixture of progressive rock and pop rock styles.
The group's line-up comprised:
