Sissel Kyrkjebø
Encyclopedia
Sissel Kyrkjebø (ˈsɪsəl ˈçʏʁçəˌbʷøː, /ˈsisel ˈçyrçeˌbø/; born 24 June 1969 in Bergen
), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian
soprano.
Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover soprano
s. Sissel's musical style runs the gamut from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and operatic aria
s. She possesses a "crystalline" voice and wide vocal range, sweeping down from mezzo-soprano
notes, in arias such as Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix from Saint-Saëns's
opera Samson et Dalila, to the F natural above soprano C. She sings mainly in English and Norwegian, but has also sung songs in Swedish, Danish, Gaelic, Italian, French, Russian, Icelandic, Faeroese, German, Neapolitan, Māori, Japanese and Latin.
She is well known for singing the Olympic Hymn (Hymne Olympique) at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics
in Lillehammer
, Norway
; for duets with Plácido Domingo
, Charles Aznavour
, José Carreras
, Neil Sedaka
, Warren G
, Brian May
, Bryn Terfel
, Josh Groban
, Diana Krall
, Russell Watson
and The Chieftains
; and her participation on the Titanic
film soundtrack.
Sissel received her first U.S. Grammy nominations on December 6, 2007 for a collaboration with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
. Spirit of the Season, a collection of songs from the choir’s 2006 Christmas concert featuring Sissel and the Orchestra at Temple Square, was nominated for the Best Classical Crossover Album of the Year, as well as Best Engineered Classical Album.
Sissel's combined solo record sales (not including soundtracks and other albums to which she contributed) amount to 10 million albums sold, most of them in Norway, a country with 4.7 million people. Her albums have also sold well in Sweden, Denmark and Japan. Together with Odd Nordstoga
, they are the only Norwegian artists to have an album go 11 times platinum in album sales for Strålande jul" (Glorious Christmas).
Sissel was married from 1993 to 2004 to Danish-American comedian and singer Eddie Skoller. They have two daughters.
The first name 'Sissel' is a Norwegian variant of 'Cecilia'. This first name has become popular after the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia
, who is the patron saint of church music according to the Catholic Church.
and Kate Bush
were inspirations.
In 1983, she appeared for the first time on Norwegian TV with the song Evergreen in the children's program Halvsju. In 1984 Sissel appeared in the sing-along program Syng med Oss ('Sing with us') together with a children's choir. The first Norwegian song she sang with this choir was the Norwegian folk tune Ung Åslaug.
Sissel sang solo on TV several times in 1984. She also appeared in several TV programs, and met Rune Larsen
, who later became her first manager.
, which took place in Grieg Hall
in her home town of Bergen. That same year, her first album, Sissel
, was released and sold more than 500,000 copies, making it the best selling album in Norway at that time.
In 1987, her Christmas album Glade Jul was released. It contained several traditional Christmas carols and it broke her previous record for best-selling album in Norway. This album still holds the record. Upon its release, it sold more than 600,000 copies in a country with a population of less than five million: to date, it has sold approximately 1 million copies. In Sweden, a Swedish language version was released, called Stilla Natt. That year Sissel was invited to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987
, but she declined.
In the fall of 1988, Sissel moved to Oslo
for a short period to play the role of Maria von Trapp
in the Norwegian version of The Sound of Music
. This production set box office records and was seen by over 110,000 people.
Sissel recorded the singing parts of the character Princess Ariel for the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish versions of the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid, and was the speaking roll of Ariel in the Norwegian and Swedish versions.
In 1989, she released her third album, Soria Moria, and on a Swedish TV-concert taped in Göteborg she met the man whom she would later marry, Danish comedian and singer Eddie Skoller. They sang "Vårvise" by Sebastian. The couple were engaged during the Christmas season of 1991 and married in Mariakirken in Bergen on 21 August 1993. This was a big event in Norway that year. They had two daughters, Ingrid and Sarah, before they divorced in 2004.
In February 1994, Sissel performed during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics
in Lillehammer. During the Olympics, legendary Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo
visited Norway, where he came across one of her earlier albums. He contacted Sissel and the next day they recorded Fire In Your Heart, an English version of Se ilden lyse, the official theme song of the Lillehammer Olympics. These two versions of the song were released in February 1994 on Sissel's solo album Innerst i sjelen
(Deep Within My Soul), a collection of Nordic folk songs. Domingo invited Sissel, along with world-renowned French singer Charles Aznavour
, to partake in his annual Christmas in Vienna concert later that year. The concert was broadcast around the world and released as an album internationally.
in London. There she performed the renowned aria O Mio Babbino Caro
from the opera Gianni Schicchi
by Giacomo Puccini
and the Norwegian classic Vitae Lux with the choir Gli Scapoli.
In 1997, Sissel toured the USA with the Irish group The Chieftains
. They appeared, among other places, on the Late Show
with David Letterman
and in Carnegie Hall
.
Later that summer Sissel was involved in recording the soundtrack to the film Titanic
. The soundtrack reached #1 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. James Horner
, the composer of the film's music, knew Sissel from her album Innerst I Sjelen
and he particularly liked how she sang Eg veit i himmerik ei borg (I Know in Heaven There Is a Castle). Horner had tried 25 or 30 singers before deciding on Sissel.
Sissel had a #1 hit across Europe in 1998 with Prince Igor
, a duet with an American rapper Warren G
on the concept album The Rapsody Overture
which combined American rappers with European opera singers. Sissel sang an aria from Alexander Borodin
's opera Prince Igor
during the chorus, while Warren G rapped. When the song was recorded, Sissel had just a half-hour to learn the Russian lyrics and she got help from a Russian, who drove a cab in New York City: the driver's name, coincidentally, was Igor.
In 1999, she sang the Gaelic song Siúil a Rún on The Chieftains' 1999 album Tears of Stone
.
In November 2000, Sissel released (in Norway only) her album, All Good Things
, which was her first solo album in nearly seven years. Following high sales, the album was released throughout Europe and Asia the following year. The album included the duet "Where the Lost Ones Go" with fellow Norwegian singer Espen Lind
, which was also released on his album This is Pop Music
in 2001.
In December 2000, she was invited to represent Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
, where she sang "One Day" and "Weightless", both songs from All Good Things. She was introduced by Jane Seymour
as "the Norwegian star Sissel."
In 2000, Sissel also released a greatest hits collection in Japan that included two new songs from the Japanese TV show Summer Snow
, one of which was the show's theme song. Sissel is enormously popular in Japan and has released several Japanese versions of her albums there.
In 2001, she was asked to sing a duet with the Danish goth rockers Sort Sol
. Sissel sang with them on the track "Elia Rising" from their album Snakecharmer, released in May 2001. They also performed together at the Roskilde Festival
that year.
record executives expected, their initial goal having been to sell 100,000 copies in the first nine months. The album, titled Sissel, was largely a re-recording of songs from her Norwegian album, All Good Things, with the addition of two songs, "Solitaire" and "Shenandoah
".
On May 24, 2002, dressed in traditional Norwegian costume, Sissel performed her hit "Lær meg å kjenne" at the wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
and Ari Behn.
In late 2002, one of Sissel's concerts was filmed at the Oslo Spectrum and later broadcast in March 2003 on PBS
in the United States. The British Singer Russell Watson
was one of her guests. The production was subsequently released as the DVD Sissel in Concert.
In December 2002, Sissel was again invited to represent Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
, for which she sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz
and "The Prayer" in a duet with Josh Groban
.
Sissel released her second USA album, My Heart, in March 2004. It was a classical crossover album and included two pop songs written by Richard Marx
and one ballad, "Wait A While", written by Jon Lord
of Deep Purple
. "My Heart" reached #3 on the Billboard Classical Album Chart after debuting at #7 and spent 31 weeks on the chart.
In the summer and fall of 2004, Sissel went on tour with The Lord of the Rings Symphony. She was a featured soloist for an orchestral performance dedicated to the music from the The Lord of the Rings
films. At each performance, Sissel performed with a symphony orchestra and choirs with 200 musicians on stage. Howard Shore
stated, "Ancient Norwegian mythology and culture had a great influence on Tolkien
's work. It is very thrilling to have the Norwegian singer Sissel perform as a soloist in The Lord of the Rings Symphony. Sissel's radiant voice illuminates this work." When asked about the tour in an interview, Sissel raved, "I love the music. It's such a wonderful feeling to be sitting in the middle of a symphony orchestra, surrounded by the beautiful voices of the choir and all those gorgeous melodies."
In May 2005, Sissel performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
in Salt Lake City, Utah
, on their radio and TV broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word
, which is featured on nearly 2,000 stations across the USA and around the world. Sissel joined the choir to commemorate the Centennial of Norwegian Independence from Sweden, which was being celebrated that year. Sissel sang the ABBA
song "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
," "Vitae Lux," the traditional Norwegian hymn "Herre gud, ditt dyre navn og ære," and the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet
" (Yes, we love this country!), with the choir.
In October 2005, Sissel was invited to perform on the well-known temple-concert, Ninna-ji
Otobutai, in Osaka
, Japan. She sang "Pie Jesu
", "Sancta Maria" (intermezzo
from Pietro Mascagni's
opera Cavalleria Rusticana
), "You Raise Me Up
", and several other songs. This concert was aired on television in Japan.
In December 2006, Sissel again joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as the featured soloist for their annual Christmas concerts. In four performances, she sang for more than 80,000 people in the 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The concerts were videotaped for PBS television and aired in December 2007.
Sissel celebrated more than 20 years in the music industry with the release of a greatest hits album presenting 40 of her best and most well-known songs.
In March 2007, a statistically representative sample of the Norwegian population chose her as the best female Norwegian musical artist in competition with 15 other big names, including Lene Marlin
, Wenche Myhre
, Kari Bremnes
, and Bertine Zetlitz
. In the summer of 2007, Sissel toured Norway, Sweden, France, and the USA with a band. According to Sissel, this is a new concert format for her, without a choir.
For the 2007 holiday season, PBS stations aired two concerts starring Sissel as part of the December pledge drive, one with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
titled Spirit of the Season, released on CD and DVD in late September 2007, the other with operatic legend and good friend José Carreras
titled Northern Lights, released on CD and DVD in early November 2007. The albums of these concerts have proven to be extremely popular, with Northern Lights reaching #10 in the Billboard Classical Crossover list, and Spirit of the Season staying firmly planted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts for nine consecutive weeks.
The album Northern Lights is a live recording of a concert at Bergstadens Ziir ("Jewel of the mountain town" in German), a church from the 17th Century in Røros
, Norway (a 17th-Century Germany mining town). It was inspired by Norway’s winter, the Blue Hour
, and the mystical Northern Lights. The concert featured the tenor José Carreras and music arranged by Kjetil Bjerkestrand. The musicians sharing the stage with Sissel were the Trondheim Soloists
, the Nidaros Cathedral
Girls Choir, and Sissel’s own band.
Sissel conducted an eight-city U.S. tour in February 2008, singing selections from Northern Lights. A second leg of the tour covered more cities in the central and southern United States and lasted through April.
On November 9, 2009, Sissel released a new Christmas album called Strålande Jul (Glorious Christmas), a project with Odd Nordstoga
, another popular Norwegian singer. This album presents mostly lesser-known Christmas carols from Scandinavia. Sissel toured in both Norway and Sweden with Odd Nordstoga, The Real Group
, Orsa Spelemannslag, and Krister Henrikson
. This album and their sold-out Christmas concerts received much critical acclaim in Norway and Sweden. The record company Universal Music anticipated sales of about 100,000 CDs, but ultimately sold more than 400,000 in Norway in the first two months.
In May 2010, Sissel visited China with Trondheimsolistene.
On September 20, 2010, an unauthorized biography of Sissel, named Sissel, by Stig Nilsson, was released in Norway. Nilsson had written several songs for Sissel earlier in her career. In the book, Nilsson claims—among other things—that Sissel never became a worldwide superstar because she did not want to be. The book has only been released in Norwegian.
On November 15, 2010, Sissel released a new album in Scandinavia called Til deg (For You), recorded in ABBA
's Polar Studios
in Stockholm
, Nidaros Studios in Trondheim
, and in Nashville. This album shows a new direction in music and is heavily influenced by the style of country, roots and folk. The album includes five songs sung in Swedish, three in Norwegian and two in English, including a Norwegian translation of Victoria Shaw's song "Never Alone", titled "Velkommen hjem", and a Swedish cover of Alisson Krauss' song "Ghost In This House", called "Levande död". Sissel has collaborated with Mikael Wiehe
, Espen Lind
, and Py Bäckman
on the new album.
On August 21, 2011, Sissel performed the Norwegian hymn "Til ungdommen
" by Nordahl Grieg at the National Memorial Ceremony for the victims of the 22nd of July 2011 terrorist attacks. This ceremony took place in Oslo Spectrum
and was broadcast live nationally to all the Nordic countries. H.M. King Harald and H.M. Queen Sonja of Norway were there with members from all the Nordic Royal Houses. The prime ministers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and also the presidents of Iceland and Finland were at this ceremony.
Other Webpages
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
soprano.
Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
s. Sissel's musical style runs the gamut from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and operatic aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
s. She possesses a "crystalline" voice and wide vocal range, sweeping down from mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
notes, in arias such as Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix from Saint-Saëns's
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
opera Samson et Dalila, to the F natural above soprano C. She sings mainly in English and Norwegian, but has also sung songs in Swedish, Danish, Gaelic, Italian, French, Russian, Icelandic, Faeroese, German, Neapolitan, Māori, Japanese and Latin.
She is well known for singing the Olympic Hymn (Hymne Olympique) at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
in Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
; for duets with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...
, José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, Warren G
Warren G
Warren G , is an American West Coast rapper and hip hop producer. He is also Dr. Dre's half-brother.His biggest hit is the song "Regulate" with Nate Dogg released in 1994...
, Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
, Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
, Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
, Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
, Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
and The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
; and her participation on the Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
film soundtrack.
Sissel received her first U.S. Grammy nominations on December 6, 2007 for a collaboration with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
. Spirit of the Season, a collection of songs from the choir’s 2006 Christmas concert featuring Sissel and the Orchestra at Temple Square, was nominated for the Best Classical Crossover Album of the Year, as well as Best Engineered Classical Album.
Sissel's combined solo record sales (not including soundtracks and other albums to which she contributed) amount to 10 million albums sold, most of them in Norway, a country with 4.7 million people. Her albums have also sold well in Sweden, Denmark and Japan. Together with Odd Nordstoga
Odd Nordstoga
Odd Nordstoga is a musician, actor and editor from Vinje in Telemark, Norway. In 2004, he went from relative obscurity to becoming the country's biggest selling recording artist, with the phenomenal success of his first solo album proper, "Luring"...
, they are the only Norwegian artists to have an album go 11 times platinum in album sales for Strålande jul" (Glorious Christmas).
Sissel was married from 1993 to 2004 to Danish-American comedian and singer Eddie Skoller. They have two daughters.
The first name 'Sissel' is a Norwegian variant of 'Cecilia'. This first name has become popular after the martyrdom of Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music because as she was dying she sang to God. It is also written that as the musicians played at her wedding she "sang in her heart to the Lord". St. Cecilia was an only child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Anglican,...
, who is the patron saint of church music according to the Catholic Church.
Biography
When Sissel was nine, she sang in a children's choir, under the direction of New Zealand-born conductor Felicity Laurence. Sissel stayed with the choir for seven years. She said, "That was my musical education. We sang everything: classical and jazz, folk and even Māori songs. People said we sounded like an angel choir because we had this very clean pure sound, almost like an English boys’ choir." Sissel won her first local talent competition when she was ten. She was influenced by various musical genres; her parents were interested in country music and classical music, and her brothers' interest in rock also influenced her. Later, Sissel said Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
were inspirations.
In 1983, she appeared for the first time on Norwegian TV with the song Evergreen in the children's program Halvsju. In 1984 Sissel appeared in the sing-along program Syng med Oss ('Sing with us') together with a children's choir. The first Norwegian song she sang with this choir was the Norwegian folk tune Ung Åslaug.
Sissel sang solo on TV several times in 1984. She also appeared in several TV programs, and met Rune Larsen
Rune Larsen
Rune Larsen is a Norwegian journalist, singer, musician, record producer and television presenter.He was born in Bergen. He made his stage debut in 1957, and his television debut in 1964. By that time he had already played with two bands, The White Shirts and The Black Diamonds, and rejected a...
, who later became her first manager.
1986–1994: Rise to prominence in Norway
In May 1986, Sissel performed during the intermission of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision Song Contest 1986
The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 3 May 1986 in the Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway. It was the first occasion on which Norway played host to the contest...
, which took place in Grieg Hall
Grieg Hall
The Grieg Hall is a 1,500 seat concert hall in Bergen, Norway. It has been the home of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since the hall's completion in 1978. It hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986, and is the host of the annual Norwegian Brass Band Championship competition, which occurs in...
in her home town of Bergen. That same year, her first album, Sissel
Sissel (album)
Sissel is a 1986 album from Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø. It was her debut album which contained different genres and styles. According to her, "....The songs tell different facets of love." It was sold more than 400,000 copies soon after the release, making it the best selling album in Norway...
, was released and sold more than 500,000 copies, making it the best selling album in Norway at that time.
In 1987, her Christmas album Glade Jul was released. It contained several traditional Christmas carols and it broke her previous record for best-selling album in Norway. This album still holds the record. Upon its release, it sold more than 600,000 copies in a country with a population of less than five million: to date, it has sold approximately 1 million copies. In Sweden, a Swedish language version was released, called Stilla Natt. That year Sissel was invited to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987
Eurovision Song Contest 1987
The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the 32nd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1987 in Brussels, Belgium after Sandra Kim's win the previous year. The presenter was Viktor Lazlo. Johnny Logan was the winner for Ireland with the song "Hold Me Now"...
, but she declined.
In the fall of 1988, Sissel moved to Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
for a short period to play the role of Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
in the Norwegian version of The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
. This production set box office records and was seen by over 110,000 people.
Sissel recorded the singing parts of the character Princess Ariel for the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish versions of the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid, and was the speaking roll of Ariel in the Norwegian and Swedish versions.
In 1989, she released her third album, Soria Moria, and on a Swedish TV-concert taped in Göteborg she met the man whom she would later marry, Danish comedian and singer Eddie Skoller. They sang "Vårvise" by Sebastian. The couple were engaged during the Christmas season of 1991 and married in Mariakirken in Bergen on 21 August 1993. This was a big event in Norway that year. They had two daughters, Ingrid and Sarah, before they divorced in 2004.
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
in Lillehammer. During the Olympics, legendary Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
visited Norway, where he came across one of her earlier albums. He contacted Sissel and the next day they recorded Fire In Your Heart, an English version of Se ilden lyse, the official theme song of the Lillehammer Olympics. These two versions of the song were released in February 1994 on Sissel's solo album Innerst i sjelen
Innerst i sjelen
Innerst i sjelen, in the United Kingdom: Deep Within My Soul, is a 1994 album from Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø.After a tour in Scandinavia countries, Sissel wanted to gather songs that could comfort and give hope, songs that told the story of longing, strong beliefs and hope, trust and love...
(Deep Within My Soul), a collection of Nordic folk songs. Domingo invited Sissel, along with world-renowned French singer Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...
, to partake in his annual Christmas in Vienna concert later that year. The concert was broadcast around the world and released as an album internationally.
1995–2001: Climb to international recognition
In 1995, Sissel was invited to perform at the annual Royal Variety ShowRoyal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
in London. There she performed the renowned aria O Mio Babbino Caro
O mio babbino caro
"O mio babbino caro" is a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi , by Giacomo Puccini, to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy she loves, have reached a breaking point that threatens to...
from the opera Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
by Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
and the Norwegian classic Vitae Lux with the choir Gli Scapoli.
In 1997, Sissel toured the USA with the Irish group The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
. They appeared, among other places, on the Late Show
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
with David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
and in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
Later that summer Sissel was involved in recording the soundtrack to the film Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
. The soundtrack reached #1 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
, the composer of the film's music, knew Sissel from her album Innerst I Sjelen
Innerst i sjelen
Innerst i sjelen, in the United Kingdom: Deep Within My Soul, is a 1994 album from Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø.After a tour in Scandinavia countries, Sissel wanted to gather songs that could comfort and give hope, songs that told the story of longing, strong beliefs and hope, trust and love...
and he particularly liked how she sang Eg veit i himmerik ei borg (I Know in Heaven There Is a Castle). Horner had tried 25 or 30 singers before deciding on Sissel.
Sissel had a #1 hit across Europe in 1998 with Prince Igor
Prince Igor (single)
"Prince Igor" is a 1997 single. The single was inspired by the Polovetsian Dances of Prince Igor opera. The main vocals are performed by Warren G, the Russian refrain by Sissel Kyrkjebø and the instrumental background is provided by The Rapsody...
, a duet with an American rapper Warren G
Warren G
Warren G , is an American West Coast rapper and hip hop producer. He is also Dr. Dre's half-brother.His biggest hit is the song "Regulate" with Nate Dogg released in 1994...
on the concept album The Rapsody Overture
The Rapsody Overture
The Rapsody Overture: Hip Hop Meets Classic is a concept album of remixes consisting of hip hop and classical, which combined American rappers with European opera singers. It was released in 1997 by Mercury Records and distributed by Def Jam Recordings....
which combined American rappers with European opera singers. Sissel sang an aria from Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
's opera Prince Igor
Prince Igor
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
during the chorus, while Warren G rapped. When the song was recorded, Sissel had just a half-hour to learn the Russian lyrics and she got help from a Russian, who drove a cab in New York City: the driver's name, coincidentally, was Igor.
In 1999, she sang the Gaelic song Siúil a Rún on The Chieftains' 1999 album Tears of Stone
Tears of Stone (album)
Tears of Stone is an album by The Chieftains, released in 1999. Each track features a different female guest artist or group, with the exception of Jim Corr of the Corrs and Jimmy and John of The Rankins...
.
In November 2000, Sissel released (in Norway only) her album, All Good Things
All Good Things (album)
All Good Things is an album from Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø. It was released in Norway in the year 2000, 2001 in many other countries, and 2002 in the United Kingdom. A re-recording of many of the album's songs as well as some new ones is included in her self-titled 2002 USA release, Sissel...
, which was her first solo album in nearly seven years. Following high sales, the album was released throughout Europe and Asia the following year. The album included the duet "Where the Lost Ones Go" with fellow Norwegian singer Espen Lind
Espen Lind
Espen Lind, , is a Norwegian songwriter, producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is one half of the production team Espionage.- Solo records :...
, which was also released on his album This is Pop Music
This Is Pop Music
This Is Pop Music is the 3rd album by the Norwegian singer/song-writer Espen Lind and the second released under his name. Three singles were released for the album: "Black Sunday", "Life Is Good", and "Where the Lost Ones Go", the latter a duet with Sissel Kyrkjebø...
in 2001.
In December 2000, she was invited to represent Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Nobel Peace Prize Concert
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December, one day after the date of Alfred Nobel's death, to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in the Oslo City Hall, while the concert is in the Oslo Spektrum Arena, with the...
, where she sang "One Day" and "Weightless", both songs from All Good Things. She was introduced by Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (actress)
Jane Seymour, OBE is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , East of Eden , Onassis: The Richest Man in the World , and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman...
as "the Norwegian star Sissel."
In 2000, Sissel also released a greatest hits collection in Japan that included two new songs from the Japanese TV show Summer Snow
Summer Snow
Summer Snow is a Japanese television drama that aired from July 7, 2000 to September 15, 2000 on TBS. It is a love story between a young man who has been forced to grow up too quickly, and a young woman with an activity-restricting ailment. The title refers to marine snow, which the two promise to...
, one of which was the show's theme song. Sissel is enormously popular in Japan and has released several Japanese versions of her albums there.
In 2001, she was asked to sing a duet with the Danish goth rockers Sort Sol
Sort Sol
Sort Sol is a pioneer rock band from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band was formed in 1977 as a punk rock outfit, originally under the name Sods. Despite drastic changes in the group's line-up, their current name, which translates to English as black sun, has remained with them since the early 1980s...
. Sissel sang with them on the track "Elia Rising" from their album Snakecharmer, released in May 2001. They also performed together at the Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
that year.
2002 to present: Global stardom
On October 1, 2002, Sissel released her first album in the USA: it sold over 100,000 copies in its first three months of release with almost no advertising or marketing. The album sold better than DeccaDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
record executives expected, their initial goal having been to sell 100,000 copies in the first nine months. The album, titled Sissel, was largely a re-recording of songs from her Norwegian album, All Good Things, with the addition of two songs, "Solitaire" and "Shenandoah
Oh Shenandoah
"Oh Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating at least to the early 19th century...
".
On May 24, 2002, dressed in traditional Norwegian costume, Sissel performed her hit "Lær meg å kjenne" at the wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway is the only daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja. She is fourth in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, after her brother and his two children.-Early life:...
and Ari Behn.
In late 2002, one of Sissel's concerts was filmed at the Oslo Spectrum and later broadcast in March 2003 on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in the United States. The British Singer Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
was one of her guests. The production was subsequently released as the DVD Sissel in Concert.
In December 2002, Sissel was again invited to represent Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
Nobel Peace Prize Concert
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December, one day after the date of Alfred Nobel's death, to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in the Oslo City Hall, while the concert is in the Oslo Spektrum Arena, with the...
, for which she sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
and "The Prayer" in a duet with Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
.
Sissel released her second USA album, My Heart, in March 2004. It was a classical crossover album and included two pop songs written by Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
and one ballad, "Wait A While", written by Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
. "My Heart" reached #3 on the Billboard Classical Album Chart after debuting at #7 and spent 31 weeks on the chart.
In the summer and fall of 2004, Sissel went on tour with The Lord of the Rings Symphony. She was a featured soloist for an orchestral performance dedicated to the music from the The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
films. At each performance, Sissel performed with a symphony orchestra and choirs with 200 musicians on stage. Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...
stated, "Ancient Norwegian mythology and culture had a great influence on Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's work. It is very thrilling to have the Norwegian singer Sissel perform as a soloist in The Lord of the Rings Symphony. Sissel's radiant voice illuminates this work." When asked about the tour in an interview, Sissel raved, "I love the music. It's such a wonderful feeling to be sitting in the middle of a symphony orchestra, surrounded by the beautiful voices of the choir and all those gorgeous melodies."
In May 2005, Sissel performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, on their radio and TV broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word
Music and the Spoken Word
Music and the Spoken Word is a weekly 30-minute radio and television program of inspiring messages and music produced by Bonneville Communications with music performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir .The radio program is distributed by the CBS Radio Network and its broadcast center is KSL...
, which is featured on nearly 2,000 stations across the USA and around the world. Sissel joined the choir to commemorate the Centennial of Norwegian Independence from Sweden, which was being celebrated that year. Sissel sang the ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
song "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
Unlike many other ABBA songs, the final mix of the track was sparsely produced - the entire track consisting of the soloist's vocals, synthesized strings, and a music box melody...
," "Vitae Lux," the traditional Norwegian hymn "Herre gud, ditt dyre navn og ære," and the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet
Ja, vi elsker dette landet
is the national anthem of Norway. It is commonly referred to as just "Ja, vi elsker" . The lyrics were written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson between 1859 and 1868, and the melody was written by his cousin Rikard Nordraak in 1864. It was first performed publicly on 17 May 1864 in connection with the 50th...
" (Yes, we love this country!), with the choir.
In October 2005, Sissel was invited to perform on the well-known temple-concert, Ninna-ji
Ninna-ji
is the head temple of the Omuro school of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism. Located in western Kyoto, Japan, it was founded in AD 888 by the retired Emperor Uda. It is part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto", a UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:...
Otobutai, in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan. She sang "Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu is a motet derived from the final couplet of the Dies irae and often included in musical settings of the Requiem Mass. The settings of the Requiem Mass by Luigi Cherubini, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, John Rutter, Karl Jenkins and Fredrik Sixten include a Pie Jesu as an independent...
", "Sancta Maria" (intermezzo
Intermezzo
In music, an intermezzo , in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work...
from Pietro Mascagni's
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
opera Cavalleria Rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
), "You Raise Me Up
You Raise Me Up
"You Raise Me Up" was the debut single from Westlife's fifth studio album, Face To Face.This version is considered by many to be the most popular , of all the various versions of the same song. The single peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's 13th Number One. It was the first...
", and several other songs. This concert was aired on television in Japan.
In December 2006, Sissel again joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as the featured soloist for their annual Christmas concerts. In four performances, she sang for more than 80,000 people in the 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The concerts were videotaped for PBS television and aired in December 2007.
Sissel celebrated more than 20 years in the music industry with the release of a greatest hits album presenting 40 of her best and most well-known songs.
In March 2007, a statistically representative sample of the Norwegian population chose her as the best female Norwegian musical artist in competition with 15 other big names, including Lene Marlin
Lene Marlin
Lene Marlin is a Norwegian musician.-Playing My Game :Marlin made her Norwegian debut on 12 October 1998, with the single "Unforgivable Sinner", which proved to be a hit as it reached number one and kept that position for eight weeks...
, Wenche Myhre
Wenche Myhre
Wenche Synnøve Myhre , in some countries known as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer and actress who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, German as well as the Swedish markets and languages.She got her first recording contract with composer and producer Arne...
, Kari Bremnes
Kari Bremnes
Kari Bremnes is a Norwegian singer and songwriter.She got an M.A. in language, literature , history and theater studies from the University of Oslo, and worked as a journalist for several years before deciding to dedicate herself to music full time.In 1987 she received the Spellemannprisen for the...
, and Bertine Zetlitz
Bertine Zetlitz
Bertine Zetlitz is a Norwegian pop singer. She is one of Norway's most popular performers.-Biography:Bertine Axeliane Robberstad Zetlitz began her musical journey at a young age, penning her first numbers aged just 12. After gaining a background in classical music, Zetlitz began to experiment...
. In the summer of 2007, Sissel toured Norway, Sweden, France, and the USA with a band. According to Sissel, this is a new concert format for her, without a choir.
For the 2007 holiday season, PBS stations aired two concerts starring Sissel as part of the December pledge drive, one with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
titled Spirit of the Season, released on CD and DVD in late September 2007, the other with operatic legend and good friend José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
titled Northern Lights, released on CD and DVD in early November 2007. The albums of these concerts have proven to be extremely popular, with Northern Lights reaching #10 in the Billboard Classical Crossover list, and Spirit of the Season staying firmly planted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts for nine consecutive weeks.
The album Northern Lights is a live recording of a concert at Bergstadens Ziir ("Jewel of the mountain town" in German), a church from the 17th Century in Røros
Røros
is a town and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Other villages include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen....
, Norway (a 17th-Century Germany mining town). It was inspired by Norway’s winter, the Blue Hour
Blue hour
The blue hour comes from the French expression l'heure bleue, which refers to the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness...
, and the mystical Northern Lights. The concert featured the tenor José Carreras and music arranged by Kjetil Bjerkestrand. The musicians sharing the stage with Sissel were the Trondheim Soloists
Trondheim Soloists
Trondheim Soloists are a musical chamber ensemble of string players based in Trondheim, Norway. The ensemble was founded in 1988 and has been an arena for professional concert training for string-players at the Music Conservatory at the Norwegian University of Science and...
, the Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537. Since the Reformation, it has been the cathedral of the...
Girls Choir, and Sissel’s own band.
Sissel conducted an eight-city U.S. tour in February 2008, singing selections from Northern Lights. A second leg of the tour covered more cities in the central and southern United States and lasted through April.
On November 9, 2009, Sissel released a new Christmas album called Strålande Jul (Glorious Christmas), a project with Odd Nordstoga
Odd Nordstoga
Odd Nordstoga is a musician, actor and editor from Vinje in Telemark, Norway. In 2004, he went from relative obscurity to becoming the country's biggest selling recording artist, with the phenomenal success of his first solo album proper, "Luring"...
, another popular Norwegian singer. This album presents mostly lesser-known Christmas carols from Scandinavia. Sissel toured in both Norway and Sweden with Odd Nordstoga, The Real Group
The Real Group
The Real Group is a professional a cappella group from Sweden, consisting of five members: Emma Nilsdotter, Katarina Henryson, Anders Edenroth, Morten Vinther Sørensen, and Anders Jalkéus....
, Orsa Spelemannslag, and Krister Henrikson
Krister Henriksson
Jan Krister Allan Henriksson is a Swedish actor. He is best known for playing Kurt Wallander in a series of television movies based on the novels by Henning Mankell.- Biography :...
. This album and their sold-out Christmas concerts received much critical acclaim in Norway and Sweden. The record company Universal Music anticipated sales of about 100,000 CDs, but ultimately sold more than 400,000 in Norway in the first two months.
In May 2010, Sissel visited China with Trondheimsolistene.
On September 20, 2010, an unauthorized biography of Sissel, named Sissel, by Stig Nilsson, was released in Norway. Nilsson had written several songs for Sissel earlier in her career. In the book, Nilsson claims—among other things—that Sissel never became a worldwide superstar because she did not want to be. The book has only been released in Norwegian.
On November 15, 2010, Sissel released a new album in Scandinavia called Til deg (For You), recorded in ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
's Polar Studios
Polar Studios
Polar Studios is one of the most famous recording studios in Scandinavia. Originally located in a former movie theater from 1934 at Sankt Eriksgatan 58-60 on Kungsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden, Polar Studios was founded by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA in 1977 and had its grand opening on...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Nidaros Studios in Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, and in Nashville. This album shows a new direction in music and is heavily influenced by the style of country, roots and folk. The album includes five songs sung in Swedish, three in Norwegian and two in English, including a Norwegian translation of Victoria Shaw's song "Never Alone", titled "Velkommen hjem", and a Swedish cover of Alisson Krauss' song "Ghost In This House", called "Levande död". Sissel has collaborated with Mikael Wiehe
Mikael Wiehe
Mikael Christian Wiehe is a Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer. As the main songwriter and driving force of Hoola Bandoola Band he was also one of the most important people in the proggmovement.-Career:...
, Espen Lind
Espen Lind
Espen Lind, , is a Norwegian songwriter, producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is one half of the production team Espionage.- Solo records :...
, and Py Bäckman
Py Bäckman
Py Marie Elisabet Ulrika Bäckman Wennborn is a Swedish musician. She is a singer and songwriter of pop and rock for musicals and films. She also plays piano and harmonica.-Career:...
on the new album.
On August 21, 2011, Sissel performed the Norwegian hymn "Til ungdommen
Til Ungdommen
Til Ungdommen , also known by the words of the first line Kringsatt av Fiender , is a poem from 1936 by Norwegian poet and writer Nordahl Grieg. It was set to music in 1952 by the Danish composer Otto Mortensen. The song has been recorded by various artists and has been sung at meetings held by...
" by Nordahl Grieg at the National Memorial Ceremony for the victims of the 22nd of July 2011 terrorist attacks. This ceremony took place in Oslo Spectrum
Oslo Spektrum
Oslo Spektrum is an indoor multi-purpose arena in east central Oslo, Norway. It opened in December 1990. It is currently owned and operated by Norges Varemesse , who also own and operate the Norges Varemesse conference center in Lillestrøm which is Norway's largest conference center...
and was broadcast live nationally to all the Nordic countries. H.M. King Harald and H.M. Queen Sonja of Norway were there with members from all the Nordic Royal Houses. The prime ministers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and also the presidents of Iceland and Finland were at this ceremony.
Discography
Awards and recognition
- 1986 - Årets navn (Person of the Year) by Norwegian national newspaper VGVerdens GangVerdens Gang , generally known under the abbreviation VG, is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper...
. - 1986 - Årets spellemann (Musician of the Year) in the Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy).
- 2005 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
- 2006 - Knight of the 1st Class in the Order of St. Olav. On 2 Feb 2006, The King of Norway knighted Sissel for her contributions to music and as an ambassador for Norway. She was the youngest ever recipient of this honor.
- 2006 - Juryens hederspris (Most Distinguished Artist—akin to a lifetime achievement award) in Spellemannprisen 2006. She is the youngest Norwegian performer ever to receive this award.
- A rose developed by Poulsen Roses is named after Sissel and she baptized the rose in Baroniet RosendalBarony RosendalBarony Rosendal is a historic estate and manor situated in Kvinnherad in Hordaland county, Norway.-History:The history of Rosendal dates back to the 1650s, when the nobleman Ludvig Holgersen Rosenkrantz came to Bergen as commissioner of war for the Danish king...
on 4 Aug 2009. - 2011 - On 16 September, a set of stamps of four Norwegian female performers (Wenche MyhreWenche MyhreWenche Synnøve Myhre , in some countries known as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer and actress who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, German as well as the Swedish markets and languages.She got her first recording contract with composer and producer Arne...
, Mari BoineMari BoineMari Boine, previously known as Mari Boine Persen, is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people...
, Inger Lise RypdalInger Lise RypdalInger Lise Rypdal is a Norwegian singer and actress in many different genres: pop, rock, theater, film, and musical.-History:Inger Lise Rypdal has been an artist since 1968...
and Sissel Kyrkjebø) was issued. - 2011 - Rolf Gammleng Prize (Open category)
External links
Official WebsitesOther Webpages