P. J. Olsson

Paul Josef Olsson (13 July 1969) is an American singer, most notable as being the lead singer for Alan Parsons Live Project. He has toured with various artists over his lifetime, including Deep Purple, Train, Muse, Simple Minds, Rufus Wainwright, Earth, Wind & Fire, Wyclef, Nelly Furtado, Beth Orton, and Placebo.

Biography
He was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family. His father had a DMA in choral music and was an avant-garde 12-tone composer, A&R executive for Motown Records and later a professor at Michigan Tech; his mother was a music/voice major and schoolteacher. He started playing violin at age 6. PJ caught the attention of Columbia records, who in mid-2000 released the album Words For Living which received positive reviews in the United States. Olsson also made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, and his song "Ready for a Fall" was included on the soundtrack album for the television show Dawson's Creek.

Olsson began collaborating with Alan Parsons in 2004, first as a sound engineer, then as lead singer for the Alan Parsons Live Project. He has performed with many other notable acts, including Kid Rock, Muse, Train, Rufus Wainwright, Iggy Pop, Beth Orton, Bob Geldof, Something Corporate, Ben Harper, Nelly Furtado, Placebo, and Michelle Branch. In 2007 Olsson teamed up with Salman Ahmad to record a remake of the Nick Lowe song, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", as the theme to The CW television show Aliens in America.

Solo

 * 1998: P.J. Olsson
 * 1999: Words for Living
 * 2005: Beautifully Insane
 * 2007: American Scream
 * 2013: Lasers and Trees

with Alan Parsons

 * Studio albums
 * 2004: A Valid Path - vocals, programming
 * 2019: The Secret - vocals on "Years of Glory"
 * 2022: From The New World - vocals, keyboards, programming, bass guitar


 * Live albums
 * 2010: Eye 2 Eye: Live in Madrid - acoustic guitar, vocals
 * 2013: LiveSpan - vocals
 * 2016: Alan Parsons Symphonic Project, Live in Colombia - vocals, guitar


 * Singles
 * 2010: All Our Yesterdays
 * 2014: Fragile
 * 2015: Do You Live at All

Compilation appearances

 * 1999: Songs from Dawson's Creek (various artists) - vocals on "Ready for a Fall"