Andre' GW Hagestedt

Hagestedt was born in Freiburg Im Breisgau, in 1962, in what was then known as West Germany. For a brief time as a toddler, his father, mother and newborn brother lived on the south coast, but moved to the Salem / Keizer area shortly after. He grew up there, studying classical and jazz music until his early 20s, dabbling in writing on and off and eventually chasing a career in music and then photography.

By his 30s in the 1990s, his longtime hopes of becoming a rock musician not realized he began writing about rock music as journalist. Highlights included interviews with some of his heroes including Jethro Tull, members of King Crimson and Love and Rockets. He soon began branching out into other kinds of journalism, writing (or working for) a wide variety of publications, including Salem’s The Statesman Journal, The Oregonian, KXL radio in Portland, The Rocket, Eugene Weekly and more.

Hagestedt started Oregon Coast Beach Connection (http://BeachConnection.net) in 2007. The publication now has a readership of 1.5 million people per year.