Åse Maria Kleveland (born 18 March 1949) is a Norwegian singer, guitarist, politician and activist. A well-known folk singer and traditional guitarist in Norway, she was appointed

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

in Norway in 1990, and held the position until 1996, representing the Labour Party under the

Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician ( Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organizat ...

administration. She was also president of the

Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, comp ...

from 1999 to 2006. In June 2007 she became

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Human-Etisk Forbund The Norwegian Humanist Association ( no, Human-Etisk Forbund; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF b ...

, the Norwegian

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

organization, a position she held until 2013.

Personal life

Kleveland was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden to Eva Hansson, a bookkeeper from Sweden, and Olaf Kleveland, a civil engineer from Norway who had fled to Sweden in 1943 because of the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

and found refuge with relatives. In 1957 Kleveland and her family moved to

Romerike Romerike is a traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Viken municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern end (Nedre Romerike) ...

, northeast of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, where her father got a job working at the Institute for Atomic Energy. In a 1977 interview she describes how her parents shared equally in the household chores and that she and her husband Svenolov Ehrén, a Swedish artist, did the same. She is currently married to film director and cinematographer Oddvar Bull Tuhus. Kleveland is fluent in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English, French and Japanese. She studied law at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

.she was finishing the second part (2. avd.) of the Norwegian Law degree program in 1976/77.

Musical career

As a singer she is famous for her very dark, soulful voice. She also plays the guitar and has composed songs in the singer-songwriter tradition. She was also part of the vispop group Ballade!. She began playing classical guitar at eight; at 10 she debuted in a radio show. Her first bout as a vispop singer was on an

Erik Bye Erik Erikssønn Bye (March 1, 1926 – October 13, 2004) was a versatile Norwegian-American journalist, artist, author, film actor, folk singer and radio and television personality. He was one of the 20th century's most well-known and popular ra ...

show when she was 13, and she released her first album in 1965. With her second album in 1966 she was one of the pioneers ushering in the new ''vispop'' genre, a blend of traditional

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

and pop. This led to a series of engagements in Paris, and a period of commuting between these Paris performances and her secondary school in

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

, north of Oslo. At age 17 she conducted a major tour of Japan which included several TV shows and the release of four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

in Japanese. She released her final solo album in 1973 and has released 13 singles for the Scandinavian and German markets. In 1966 she represented Norway in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

with the entry "

Intet er nytt under solen Norway was represented by Åse Kleveland, with the song "Intet er nytt under solen", at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 5 March in Luxembourg City. "Intet er nytt under solen" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi G ...

" (''There's Nothing New Under The Sun''), finishing in third place. She broke a tradition expected of female performers at the time in that she was the first woman to not wear a dress, choosing a pantsuit instead.1966 Eurovision contest notes
She had a long association with the Norwegian Association of Musicians, first holding the office of secretary from 1979 to 1983, then serving as their leader from 1983 to 1987. She was also the President of the Musicians' Union from 1983 to 1986 and their Vice-President from 1986 to 1987. In 1986 she hosted the first

to be held in Norway in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

following

Bobbysocks Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

' victory in 1985, having previously introduced the Norwegian entry on camera at the 1980 contest.

Books

* (with facsimiles of

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well ...

's sheet music from first editions of the 1790 ''

Fredmans epistlar ''Fredmans epistlar'' (English: ''Fredman's Epistles'') is a collection of 82 poems set to music by Carl Michael Bellman, a major figure in Swedish 18th century song. Though first published in 1790, it was created over a period of twenty years ...

'' and the 1791 ''

Fredmans sånger ''Fredmans sånger'' (in English, ''Fredman's Songs'' or ''Songs of Fredman'') is a collection of 65 poems and songs published in 1791 by the Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman. As a follow-up to ''Fredmans epistlar'' from the previous year, the ...

'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleveland, Aase 1949 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1966 Women guitarists Ministers of Culture of Norway Melodi Grand Prix contestants Melodi Grand Prix winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Norwegian women singers Norwegian folk singers Norwegian guitarists Norwegian humanists Norwegian singer-songwriters Singers from Stockholm Norwegian people of Swedish descent University of Oslo alumni

Personal life

Musical career

Books

See also

References

External links