Amund Bjørklund is a songwriter and record producer of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

/ Icelandic background. He is one half of the production team

Espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

. He is also the co-founder of music school LIMPI in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

. Amund's songs have sold in excess of 50 million singles and albums. Amund has also appeared as a judge on Idol.

Writing and Producing

Amund originally collaborated with partner

Espen Lind Espen Lind (born 13 May 1971) is a Norwegian record producer, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is one half of the production team Espionage, and together with his long time partner Amund Bjorklund he has written and/or produced ...

in 1997 for Lind’s solo album ''Red''. Their partnership proved prolific with the success of the album in Europe and the pair have been co-writing ever since. In 2001, they solidified this working relationship with the formation of their songwriting and music production team

. Their next award winning song was co-written for

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

in 2006. The international hit "

Irreplaceable "Irreplaceable" is a song by American singer Beyoncé for her second studio album, ''B'Day'' (2006). The song was written by Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund, Beyoncé and produced by ...

” held the number one spot on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

for ten consecutive weeks and won the pair a BMI Urban Award for song of the year in 2008. This massive success gave Amund international recognition as a songwriter and established him as an in-demand hit maker in the US. This recognition led to his feature as a judge in the fourth season of Norway’s Idol.

’s success continued with the co-writing of

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

’s hit With You in 2007. Amund and Lind later formed a working relationship with

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

, co-writing and co-producing some of their most successful hits. Most notable are " Drive By" and

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winning "

Hey, Soul Sister "Hey, Soul Sister" is a song by American rock band Train. It was written by lead singer Pat Monahan, Amund Bjørklund, and Espen Lind. It was released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, ''Save Me, San Francisco'' (2009). The ...

". Along with writing partner Lind, Amund has written and/or produced songs for artists

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

, and

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...

. ; ; Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 Singles * "

" -

* "

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* " Drive By" -

* "

With You With You may refer to: Music * With You., an American house music group Albums * With You (826aska album), ''With You'' (826aska album) or the title song, 2023 * With You (Stacy Lattisaw album), ''With You'' (Stacy Lattisaw album) or the title s ...

" -

; ;

LIMPI

In 2018, along with

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producer

Tor Erik Hermansen Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

and composer Magnus Beite, Amund developed and opened the Lillehammer Institute of Music Production and Industries, also known as LIMPI, in

. The school was formed with the intention of having the music industry itself take charge in educating and nurturing the next generation of music makers, actually working on real life examples with some of the most experienced and reputable

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...

songwriters A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, and

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

in the music industry, including Amund himself. LIMPI’s core subjects are music production and the international music industry, offering an intensive, year-long course that culminates in a diploma in "Advanced Program in Professional Music Production and International Music Industries".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorklund, Amund Norwegian record producers Record production teams Grammy Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) School founders Living people