Skid Row Has a New Lead Singer, and He's Actually Pretty Darn Good

Ever since Sebastian Bach left as Skid Row’s lead singer in 1996, they have struggled to find another front man with the charisma and pipes that Bach had. Johnny Solinger actually spent the longest time as Skid Row’s lead singer, fronting the band from 1999 to 2015. Sadly, Solinger passed away in 2021 from liver failure.

After Solinger, the band briefly replaced him with Tony Harnell from the Norwegian hard rock band TNT, but in 2016, they hired ZP Theart, a South African singer who was the original singer of the British power metal band DragonForce. Theart was with Skid Row from 2016 until March 23, 2022.

Enter Skid Row’s new lead singer Erik Gronwall. Who is Erik Gronwall? First and foremost, he was born in 1987, so he’s definitely not a retread ’80s or ’90s singer still hanging on. Gronwell, who is from Sweden, actually won the Swedish Idol reality TV show back in 2009. During his time on the show, he received standing ovations from the jury during his performances. In 2018, he portrayed Simon Zealotes in the NBC live television concert production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar, in which he received Grammy nomination for in the Best Musical Theater Album category.

There will never be another Sebastian Bach! Bach is still kicking butt and is one of our all time favorite hard rock singers. We’re happy for Skid Row though. They seem to have found a lead singer who’s not trying to “be” Sebastian Bach, but rather is thrilled to “be” the lead singer of Skid Row, and he sounds pretty damn good.

Enjoy this look at Skid Row performing I Remember You, 18 and Life, and Piece of Me live with new lead singer Erik Gronwall, and as a bonus, check out Gronwall performing 18 and Life during his audition for Swedish Idol. It has to be pretty freaking cool to be the lead singer of your favorite band. Enjoy!