Jørgen Ingmann

Artist Biography by Mark Deming Jorgen Ingmann was a Danish guitarist who enjoyed a brief fling with international fame thanks to his instrumental recording of "Apache," which became a Top 10 hit in the United States, Canada and Great Britain in 1961. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1925, Ingmann first distinguished himself as a jazz artist, and performed with violinist Svend Asmussen in the group the Swe-Danes in the 1940s and '50s. Heavily influenced by Les Paul, Ingmann began exploring the possibilities of multi-track recording in the mid-'50s, and set up a home studio in which he could overdub himself into a one-man band, recording multiple layers of guitar and adding his own bass and percussion accompaniment. Billed as Jorgen Ingmann & His Guitars, his recordings mimicked Paul's use of speeded-up and distorted guitar sounds for musical effect, and displayed a playful quality of their own. Ingmann's version of "Apache" (written by Jerry Lordan of British guitar heroes the Shadows and first recorded by that group) became an unexpected hit at radio around the world, and topped the U.S. singles charts for a week. "Apache" proved to be Ingmann's only hit outside his native land, but was well-remembered enough to pop up on oldies compilations decades down the line; Ingmann's two albums for Atco Records were reissued on a single compact disc in 2004.