Birthe Wilke is a popular Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 singer. She grew up in a musical family in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

's Vesterbro area.

When she was in her teens, she won a talent competition at the National Scala Theatre in Copenhagen, sang as soloist with Bruno Henriksen's Orchestra at Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen

Tivoli Gardens is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg....

 in Copenhagen, made her first recording, and was named "Denmark's Doris Day

Doris Day

Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

" and recorded "Que sera sera" in 1956.

After qualifying in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

, she participated in Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision Song Contest 1957

The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the 2nd Eurovision Song Contest. Like the first contest, this one was still mainly a radio programme, but there was a noticeable increase in the number of people with televisions....

 where she sang ’’Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat’’ (The Ship is Leaving Tonight) with Gustav Winckler

Gustav Winckler

Gustav Frands Wilzeck Winckler was a popular Danish singer, composer and music publisher. He grew up in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen and started his career as a decorator....

. They ranked 3rd of out 10th at the end of the voting, and stunned television audiences with a 13-second long kiss at the end of their performance.

She also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959

Eurovision Song Contest 1959

The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Cannes, following the French victory the previous year....

 where she sang solo ’’Uh-Jeg Ville Ønske Jeg Var Dig’’ ("'Oh - I wish I were you"'). She was ranked 5th place at the end of voting.

In the late 1950s she toured Poland, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 and United States.

In 1961 she played a nightclub singer in the Danish film Reptilicus

Reptilicus

Reptilicus, a giant monster film about a fictional prehistoric reptile, is a Danish-American co-production, produced by American International Pictures and Saga Studios, and is upon close examination two distinctly different films helmed by two different directors.The original version, which was...

. She sang "Tivoli Nights".

In 1966 she retired from public life, but made a short-lived return in 1973.

In addition to her recording successes, she participated in radio, television, advertising and commercial film.