Sissel Kyrkjebø

Sissel Kyrkjebø (born June 24, 1969 in Bergen, Norway), also known as just Sissel, is a Norwegian singer. She is best known for singing the Olympic Hymn (Hymne Olympique) at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, for duets with Plácido Domingo, Warren G and The Chieftains, and for participation on the Titanic film soundtrack.

Biography

Sissel sang in a children's choir from the time she was 9 years old, and won her first local talent competition when she was eleven. Sissel was influenced by various musical genres. Her parents were interested in country and classical music, and her brothers' interest in rock influenced her also. Later Sissel said that Barbra Streisand was a huge inspiration.

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In 1983 she appeared for the first time on Norwegian TV, together with a children's choir in the children's program Halvsju, and later in the sing along program Syng med Oss (Sing with us).

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Sissel sang solo on TV several times in 1984 . She appeared in several TV programs, and met Rune Larsen, who later became her first manager.

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May 1986, Sissel performed during the intermission of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was arranged in Grieg Hall in her hometown of Bergen. That same year, her first album, Sissel, was released, which set the record for most albums sold in Norway with over 500,000 copies sold in its first run. Also in 1986, Sissel Kyrkjebø was named Årets navn (Person of the Year) by the Norwegian national newspaper Dagbladet.

Related Topics:
Eurovision Song Contest - Dagbladet

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In 1987 her Christmas album Glade Jul was released. It contained several traditional Chrismas carols and it broke her previous record for most albums sold in Norway. This album still holds the record for most albums sold in Norway. The initial release sold over 600,000 copies in a country with only 4.5 million people and has since sold over 900,000.

Related Topics:
1987 - Chrismas - Carols

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Fall 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.

Related Topics:
Oslo - Maria von Trapp - The Sound of Music

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In 1989, she released her third album, Soria Moria, and met the man who would be her husband, the Danish comedian/singer Eddie Skoller, to whom she became engaged Christmas 1991 and married 21. August 1993. Sissel has two young daughters Ingrid and Sarah with Eddie, whom she divorced in 2004.

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Sissel recorded the audio dub of the character Ariel for the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish versions of the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid.

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February 1994 Sissel performed during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. The world renowned tenor Plácido Domingo visited Norway during the Olympics, 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, a collection of Nordic folk songs. Plácido Domingo invited Sissel to partake in his annual Christmas concert in Vienna later that year. The concert was broadcast around the world as well as released as an album internationally.

Related Topics:
1994 - 1994 Winter Olympic Games - Vienna

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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, which reached #1 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 24 million copies worldwide.

Related Topics:
1997 - The Chieftains - David Letterman - Carnegie Hall

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Sissel had a #1 hit across Europe in 1998 with Prince Igor, a duet with American rapper Warren G on the concept album The Rapsody Overture, which combined American rappers with European opera singers. Sissel sang an aria from Borodin's opera Prince Igor during the chorus, while Warren G rapped.

Related Topics:
Warren G - Borodin - Opera - Prince Igor

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In 1999, she sang the Gaelic song Siuil A Run on The Chieftains' 1999 album Tears of Stone.

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November 2000 Sissel released (in Norway only) her solo album, All Good Things, which was her first solo album in nearly seven years. In 2001, Sissel released All Good Things throughout Europe and Asia.

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Sissel sang a duet with the Danish goth rockers Sort Sol on the track Elias Rising. This song appears on the Sort Sol album, Snakecharmer, released in May, 2001.

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October 1st, 2002 Sissel released her first album in the USA, which sold over 100,000 copies in its first 3 months of release with almost no advertisement or marketing. The album sold better than Decca record execs expected. Their initial goal was to sell 100,000 copies in the first 9 months. Her USA album, self-titled Sissel, is largely a re-recording of songs from her Norwegian album, All Good Things with a couple of other songs such as Solitaire and Shenandoah added.

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In March 2003, Sissel appeared in her first full-length concert to be broadcast on USA TV on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

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Sissel released her second USA album My Heart, in March 2004, a classical crossover album, which also included two pop songs written by Richard Marx and one ballad Wait A While written by Jon Lord of Deep Purple.

Related Topics:
Richard Marx - Deep Purple

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Summer and Fall 2004, Sissel went on tour with The Lord of the Rings Symphony Tour. Sissel was a featured soloist on an orchestral performance dedicated to the music from 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."

Related Topics:
Lord of the Rings Symphony - Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore

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May 2005, Sissel performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah on their TV broadcast Music and the Spoken Word which is broadcast to nearly 2,000 TV and radio 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. A majority of the Tabernacle Choir count their ancestry from Norway. Sissel sang the ABBA song Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, Vitae Lux, the traditional Norwegian hymn Herre gud, ditt dyre navn og aere, and the Norwegian national anthem Ja, vi elsker dette landet! with the choir.

Related Topics:
Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Salt Lake City - Utah - Music and the Spoken Word - Sweden - ABBA

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