Åse Kleveland
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| Åse Kleveland | |
|---|---|
 Åse Kleveland. Norwegian Constitution Day, 2007
Photo: Harry Wad |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Åse Kleveland |
| Born | March 18, 1949 in Stockholm, Sweden |
| Origin |  Sweden Norway |
| Genre(s) | Popular music, vispop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, politician, leader |
| Instrument(s) | Singer, guitarist |
| Voice type(s) | Contralto |
| Years active | 1966 - present |
| Associated acts | Ballade! |
Åse Maria Kleveland (born March 18, 1949 in Stockholm) is a Swedish-Norwegian singer and politician. She was the CEO of the Swedish Film Institute since 2000 and left this post in 2006. She was Minister of culture in Norway 1990-1996, representing the Labour Party under the Gro Harlem Brundtland administration.
In June, 2007 she became chairman of the Board of Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian humanist organization.
[edit] Personal life
Born in Sweden she moved to Norway in 1956. In a 1977 interview she describes how her parents shared equally in the household chores, and that she and her husband, a Swedish artist, also did the same.[1] She has also studied Law[2]
[edit] Musical career
As a singer, she is famous for her very dark, soulful voice. Besides singing, she also plays the guitar and has composed songs in the singer-songwriter tradition. In addition to her solo career, she was also part of the vispop group Ballade!.
She began playing classical guitar at eight and two years later she debuted in a radio show. Her first bout as a singer of vispop was on an Erik Bye show when she was 13. Her first album was released when she was 15, and with her second album she was one of the pioneers ushering in the then nascent genre vispop, a blend of traditional folk song and pop. This lead to a series of engagements in Paris and for a period she commuted between performances in Paris and her secondary school in Lillestrøm, north of Oslo. At 17 she conducted a major tour of Japan which included several TV shows and the release of four singles in Japanese.[1]
In 1966, she represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest with the entry "Intet er nytt under solen" (There's Nothing New Under The Sun), finishing in third place. In 1986 she hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Norway in Bergen following Bobbysocks' victory in 1985. From 1979 to 1987 she was the leader of the Norwegian association of Musicians.
[edit] References
| Preceded by Eleonore Bjartveit |
Norwegian Minister of Culture 1990–1996 |
Succeeded by Turid Birkeland |
| Preceded by Kirsti Sparboe |
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 |
Succeeded by Kirsti Sparboe |
| Preceded by Lill Lindfors |
Eurovision Song Contest presenter 1986 |
Succeeded by Viktor Lazlo |
