Atle Bakken (born 1962 in

Sandefjord, Norway Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

), is a composer, performer and producer from Norway, known on both sides of the Atlantic, through his work with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

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Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated w ...

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Andraé Crouch Andraé Edward Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music profess ...

and scoring credits such as the

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HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

award-winning TV comedy series ''

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

'', starring

Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American comedian and actor. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. He got his start playin ...

Life and career

Atle Bakken started his music involvement at 5 years of age by copying

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

's “Moonlight Serenade” on a

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usual ...

. He took up classical studies at 10 with Dr. Norbert Bojanowski, going through the repertoire of Grieg, Bach, Mozart and Liszt, and the likes. At 14 Bakken started his own organ jazz trio and started to perform concerts in the spirit of Larry Young and Jimmy Smith, and recorded his first radio show (at

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

). He also started performing R&B and soul with a band a la Tower of Power. At age 15, Bakken was discovered by Sony Music A&R, Kristian Lindeman by having recorded his own material for local talent scout & manager,

Fredrik Friis Hans Fredrik Friis-Olsen, born 2 April 1923 in Sandefjord, Norway, died 15 March 2008, was one of Norway's first talent scouts, music managers and producers. He was also a noted composer, lyricist and singer, producing more than 600 songs of his ...

. Bakken was noted nationally in Norway at age 19, at the annual Jazz Symposium in

Søgne Søgne is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 2020 when it was merged with the municipalities of Songdalen and Kristiansand into the "new" Kristiansand municipality in what is now ...

, Norway in 1980. Jazz notables such as

Radka Toneff Ellen Radka Toneff (25 June 1952 – 21 October 1982) was a Norwegian jazz singer, daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, pilot and radio technician Toni Toneff, she was born in Oslo and grew up in Lambertseter and Kolbotn. She is still conside ...

, Arild Andersen and

Jon Eberson Jon Arild Eberson (born 6 January 1953) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist and composer, the son of jazz guitarist Leif Eberson (1925–1970), and the father of keyboardist Marte Maaland Eberson. He was a member of the bands Moose Loose (1973–77), ...

heard his talent among other students such as

Sidsel Endresen Sidsel Endresen (born 19 June 1952) is a Norwegian singer, composer, and actress. She was part of the Jon Eberson group. Since 1987, Endresen has pursued a successful solo career, recording for ECM. Career Endresen was one of the most prono ...

and

Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Andy Sheppard, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef, Django Bates, and Nils ...

. Eberson invited Atle to join his newly founded band, Jon Eberson Group, which through Kristian Lindeman went to break all records in terms of sales for a “jazz” group in Norway, and in general, selling more than 250,000 albums. Atle consequently joined Sony Music as a producer and arranger for their Norwegian roster. From the beginning, Atle always made it a priority of utilizing electronic instruments and computers in a “human way” in his music. In the mid-seventies, Atle was the first artist in Norway to use the

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4-voice polyphonic synthesizer. Later, in the mid-80s, he was the first artist in Scandinavia to record with the

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Digital Music System. (

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of ABBA was a close second.) Atle joined ECM Records and the group Terje Rypdal & The Chasers, recording and traveling all over Europe, playing symphonic music and jazz. At the same time Atle would produce music for Schlager Records in Oslo with various artists, as well as composing music for dancetheatre, video and multimedia projects. He would also assist Terje Rypdal in his classical scorings and orchestrations for the concert stage and theatre. In 1991 Atle was invited to the US. by gospel legend Andraé Crouch to help him produce his album. He went on to work on multiple CDs and projects for Andrae Crouch, Helen Baylor,

Phil Driscoll Phil Driscoll (born November 9, 1947) is a trumpeter, singer, composer, and producer. He performs in varying music genres and styles which include rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and patriotic music, and is best known for his work in Christian ...

and others, winning a

Grammy 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 pre ...

for Andraé Crouch's album and getting nominated for Baylor's. His longstanding collaboration with Crouch also resulted in the Gospel legends studio album ''Pray'', which went to the top on the Billboard charts. Atle went on to tour worldwide with Andy Summers for two years and teamed up with Sting, playing at the

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. Stevie Wonder requested Atle for work on ''

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'' and Diana Ross's ''

The Force Behind the Power ''The Force Behind the Power'' is the nineteenth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 10, 1991 by Motown Records. The album reached No. 11 on the UK Albums chart. Singles The album spun off five hit singles in the ...

''. At the same time, Atle attended the prestigious Dick Grove School of music in Los Angeles, studying harmony and orchestration with Dr.

Dick Grove Richard Dean Grove (1927 – December 26, 1998) was an American musician, composer, arranger, and educator. He is best known as the founder of the Dick Grove School of Music. Its students include Michael Jackson, Linda Ronstadt, and Barry Manilow ...

and movie composer Thom Sharp. In the mid-1990s, Atle was involved with projects for Sony Music's European division and Stateside, Atle composed for three seasons on the now syndicated TV series ''Martin''. Through his association with TV- and filmwork in Hollywood, Atle also polished his skills, working with the orchestras at various scoring sessions. Atle then formed ALEX MUSIC, and started finding new artists for recording. One of the projects, produced in association with EMI/Toshiba, was released in Japan and sold over 1 million units. Atle & Alex was recently been charted on the top of the Billboard and the European lists by producing LEANA, a Swedish artist. In 2006 Atle was requested to start the online music company Castle Entertainment. The project, with bases in Zurich, Switzerland and Ibiza, Spain has industry endorsers such as Ramon Hervey III and Andy Summers. Atle is annually and recently named in ''Who Is Who In Hollywood'' in the Hollywood Reporters Film & TV issue, mentioning the top composers in the world. Currently, of Atle is concentrating on a new personal music album and project, ''Future Sound of Østerdalen'' with his deceased great-grandfather, Ingulf Bakken, a recording which also features

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

, Andy Summers and others. He is also involved with projects for Castle Entertainment in the US and Europe, Sony Music and EMI Music Japan (Asia).

References

Ascap.com

Ascap repertory

AndraeCrouch.com

AndySummers.com

Discodogs.com

External links

Official website

HRsyndications.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakken, Atle 20th-century Norwegian organists 21st-century Norwegian organists Male organists Norwegian keyboardists Norwegian composers Norwegian male composers Living people 20th-century Norwegian male musicians 21st-century Norwegian male musicians 1970 births