Kurt Nilsen
| Kurt Nilsen | |
|---|---|
 Nilsen performing at Ibsenhuset in Skien, 2 March 2010. |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kurt Erik Kleppe Nilsen |
| Also known as | Kurt |
| Born | September 29, 1978 |
| Origin | Bergen, Norway |
| Genres | Rock/Country |
| Occupations | Singer, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Singing, guitar, drums, bass |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | SonyBMG |
| Website | KurtNilsenMusic.com |
Kurt Erik Kleppe Nilsen (born September 29, 1978) is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian version of the reality television show Pop Idol, which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of Pop Idol, called World Idol on January 1, 2004, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Pop Idol
Upon leaving school, Nilsen made his living as a plumber. Nilsen became the lead singer in the Norwegian band Fenrik Lane. He is a left-handed musician and plays his guitar with the strings upside down. He appeared on and won Pop Idol with 54% of the votes against Gaute Ormåsen. He is one of only seven contestants in the Idol (Norway) history who succeeded in staying out of “bottom three/two” places in weekly votes.
His subsequent single, "She's So High", written by Tal Bachman, went straight to number one in the Norwegian singles chart and is among the biggest-selling singles in Norway to date. His debut album was simply called I.
[edit] World Idol
He subsequently won the vote for the World Idol title on January 1, 2004, singing the hit "Beautiful Day" by U2, beating competitors from ten other nations, including the more famous Idols, Britain's Will Young, and favourite Kelly Clarkson of the United States, and scoring the first place in 10 out of 11 countries eligible to vote for him (Norwegian voters being unable to vote for him).
In the show presenting the entries on December 25, Ian Dickson, the Australian (English ex-pat) judge, said: "Kurt, you are a hell of a marketing challenge, because you have the voice of an angel, but you look like a Hobbit." [1] The comment made Kurt laugh out loud. The crowd seemed to revel in his underdog status as a gap-toothed man, with an astonishingly good voice.
[edit] After Idol
His second CD, A Part Of Me, released in 2004, contains only his own material.
Nilsen performed the duet, It's All Coming Back To Me Now, alongside Norwegian Pop/Alternative Rocker, Marion Raven at the One Call Event. Taking the place of Meat Loaf, with whom Raven recorded the track for the Bat Out Of Hell 3 album
In 2006 he and three other Norwegian artists Askil Holm, Espen Lind and Alejandro Fuentes, all in the same management, joined forces and went on tour in March as what was known by the media as "The New Guitar Buddies".
Initially, they planned a short tour (five to six concerts), but ended up playing for more than 100,000 people during their tour of around 30 concerts. Although they had not planned to, they subsequently released a live album from that tour.
Nilsen performed the duet "When You're Gone" alongside English pop singer, and former-Spice Girls member, Melanie C at the Top 20 event at Rådhusplassen in Oslo, Norway in the summer of 2007.
In 2008, in connection with his latest and country flavoured album Rise To The Occasion Kurt teamed up with American music legend Willie Nelson to perform the old country music standard "Lost Highway". The song was an instant hit in his native Norway and helped him top both the single chart, the album chart and the radio chart all at once.[2]
In 2009 "The New Guitar Buddies" will be back with a new tour and a new album, tour start is scheduled to be May 9, Rockefeller Oslo.
Spring 2010 sees Kurt touring Norway with an acoustic concert tour in intimate concert halls. His guest artist is Elin Gaustad, who was a competitor in Norway's first X Factor show in 2009. In late February, on the TV2 show Senkveld, Kurt and Elin sang the duet "The Water is Wide" to great acclaim. This performance can be found on YouTube.
In 2010, Kurt recorded a Christmas song album entitled Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with the Kringkastingsorkester (KORK], the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. It was released on November 15, 2010 in Norway. He performs with this orchestra and some guest artists at Lillestrøm messecenter, near Oslo on 18 December 2010. It was broadcast live on NRK television. The album stayed at the top of the Norwegian Albums Chart for 5 consecutive weeks (48/2010 to 52/2010)
2011 will see Kurt out on the road touring again and playing at a number of music festivals and venues (most yet to be announced). It is also rumoured that a "best of" album is in the pipeline.
[edit] Personal life
In January 2005, he broke up with his fiancée, Kristine Jacobsen. They had been together for 11 years and had two children together: Marte (born 1996) and Erik (born 2000). In January 2006, Kurt's new girlfriend Kristin gave birth to their 1st and his 3rd child, Lucas. They married later that year.
Nilsen has received national attention for his guitar-shaped alpine hut, in the Hardangervidda in Norway.[3][4]
[edit] Discography
| Releases | ||
|---|---|---|
| ↙Studio albums | 7 | |
| ↙Singles | 17 | |
| ↙Collaborations | 3 | |
The following is a discography of albums and singles released by Norwegian music artist Kurt Nilsen.
[edit] Albums
| Statistics | Singles |
|---|---|
| I |
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| A Part of Me |
|
Hallelujah - Live
|
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| Push Push |
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| Rise To The Occasion |
|
Hallelujah - Live Volume 2
|
|
| Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions[8] | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR | AUS | AUT | BEL(FL) | GER | NL | NZ | SWE | SWI | UK | |||
| 2003 | "She's So High" | 1 | 60 | 42 | 9 | 25 | 16 | 38 | — | 91 | 25 | I |
| 2004 | "Here She Comes" | 12 | — | — | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "All You Have to Offer" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "My Street" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | A Part of Me | |
| "Before You Leave" | — | — | — | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005 | "Never Easy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2006 | "When the Stars Go Blue" (featuring Venke Knutson) | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Venke Knutson's Places I've Been |
| "Hallelujah" (with Espen Lind, Askil Holm and Alejandro Fuentes) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Hallelujah - Live | |
| "Boys Of Summer" (with Espen Lind, Askil Holm and Alejandro Fuentes) | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2007 | "Push, Push" | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Push Push |
| "Silence" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008 | "Reality Kicks" | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Lost Highway" (featuring Willie Nelson) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Rise to the Occasion | |
| "Don't Have What It Takes" | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Rise to the Occasion" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 38 | — | — | ||
| 2009 | "With or Without You" (with Espen Lind, Askil Holm and Alejandro Fuentes) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Hallelujah - Live Volume 2 |
| 2010 | "Himmel på jord" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas |
[edit] Other releases
- 1998 Shoe (with former band Breed; later Fenrik Lane)
- 2002 Come Down Here (EP) (Norwegian album charts: #2)[9] (with Fenrik Lane)
- 2003 Idol '03 (Norwegian album charts: #1)
[edit] #1 Singles in Norway
| Preceded by "Things Are Gonna Change" by Christian Ingebrigtsen |
Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: She's So High 11 June 2003 – 6 August 2003 |
Succeeded by "Chasing Rainbows" by Gaute Ormåsen |
| Preceded by "Floden" by Bjørn Eidsvåg |
Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: Hallelujah w/Lind, Fuentes and Holm 10 January 2007 – 17 January 2007 |
Succeeded by "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem |
| Preceded by "Umbrella" by Rihanna |
Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: "Push Push" 4 July 2007 - 11 July 2007 |
Succeeded by "Umbrella" by Rihanna |
| Preceded by "Mercy" by Duffy |
Norwegian VG-lista number-one single: "Lost Highway" w/Willie Nelson 6–13 May 2008 |
Succeeded by "4 Minutes" by Madonna (second run) |
[edit] References
- ^ "Kurt Nilsen: World Idol Comments". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUdteyGzPaU&feature=related.
- ^ Trippel listetopp for Kurt Nilsen og Willie Nelson - Farojournalen
- ^ Se Kurt Nilsens gitar-hytte!, VG
- ^ Kurt Nilsen bygger gitar-hytte, Dagbladet
- ^ Kurt Nilsen, Norwegian Bandindex
- ^ Kurt Nilsen - I (album), norwegiancharts.com
- ^ a b Kurt Nilsen, VG-lista
- ^ Discography Kurt Nilsen. norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
- ^ Fenrik Lane, VG-lista
[edit] External links
- Official site
- The Official Kurt Nilsen Myspace website
- The Official Unofficial Kurt Nilsen Fansite
- CountryHQ's review of Rise to the Occasion
- "She's so high" Music Video at TV2.no
| Preceded by None |
Idol (Norway) Winner Season 1 (2003) |
Succeeded by Kjartan Salvesen |
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