Early life and artist career Salem Al Fakir's father Nabil is of
Syrian origin and originated from
Damascus, whereas his mother, Inger, is from Sweden. Salem is the fourth of six siblings (Aminah, Ayman,
Nassim, Salem, Sami and Fares). He learned to play
violin at the age of four and subsequently toured Russia as a solo violinist at the age of fourteen, but returned to Sweden to study jazz piano. As a student he attended the
Adolf Fredrik's Music School in
Stockholm. In the autumn of 2006, Al Fakir released his first EP
Dream Girl. He is most famous for his chart topping albums
This Is Who I Am (2007),
Astronaut (2009) and
Ignore This (2010). At the Swedish Grammy Awards in 2008 he won big – taking home four awards and being nominated in seven categories. He took part in
Melodifestivalen 2010, the Swedish national selection for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with "
Keep On Walking" and finished in second place.
2010–present: Songwriting After his solo career, Al Fakir became more focused on the songwriting. Beginning to collaborate with
Avicii on "
Silhouettes" in 2012. Among the first co-writes with
Vincent Pontare are
Avicii's 2013
Billboard Hot 100 single "
Hey Brother" and "
Younger" by
Seinabo Sey. At the 2014 Swedish Grammy Awards, Al Fakir,
Vincent Pontare and
Magnus Lidehäll were awarded Composer of the Year after writing for
Veronica Maggio's album
Handen i fickan fast jag bryr mig and the
Petter album
Början på allt, and work with artists like
Galantis. In 2014 he wrote numerous songs on
Mapei's album
Hey Hey and
Avicii's "
The Days" and "
Divine Sorrow" (with
Wyclef Jean). Al Fakir followed up with another successful year in 2015 co-writing most songs on Seinabo Sey's highly acclaimed debut album
Pretend and songs for
Madonna's
Rebel Heart album.
Vargas & Lagola have co-written some of the biggest hits by
Axwell Ʌ Ingrosso – "
More Than You Know", "
Sun Is Shining", "Dreamer" and more - taken from their 2017 album
More Than You Know. The duo have also contributed to two songs on Swedish rock band
Ghost's
Billboard 200-charting and
Grammy Award-nominated album
Prequelle, including the album's second single "
Dance Macabre" which topped
Billboard's
Mainstream Rock Chart. In 2018, the same moment as Vargas & Lagola blazed onto the alternative pop scene with the hit single "Roads", they shared the no.1 spot as Sweden's most streamed songwriters for songs including
Avicii – "
Without You (feat.
Sandro Cavazza)" and "
Waiting For Love". After working closely with Avicii for several years, Al Fakir and Pontare played a key role in finishing up the 2019 posthumous
Avicii album
TIM and are featured artists on three of the album songs. On 5 December 2019, Vargas & Lagola performed at Avicii's Tribute Concert in Stockholm. Vargas & Lagola's debut album
The Butterfly Effect was released in January 2020. ==Discography==