Aud Saskia Wilken (born 1965 in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

) is a Danish-German singer, best known for her participation in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1995 The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 13 May 1995 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by Ir ...

Early life and career

Wilken was born to a Danish father and German mother, and lived in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

until 1974, when the family moved to Denmark. Her musical debut came in 1988, on the album ''Midnight at the Grooveyard'' by

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band The Overlords. She then appeared on The Poets' self-titled album in 1990. In the same year of 1990 she took part in the recording of the song "I Love You Love Me Love" as featuring artist for Danish musician

Master Fatman Morten Mabunda Lindberg (; 23 September 1965 – 26 March 2019), also known as "Master Fatman", was a Danish media personality and creative, including comedian, taxi driver, performer, disc jockey, host, musician, singer, film maker, actor, and ...

. This song was written by Aud along with Morten Lindberg.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1995, Aud participated at

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (), also known as Melodi Grand Prix or simply DMGP, is an annual music competition organised by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) since 1957, which determines the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The fe ...

. The final held on 25 March 1995 and consisted of 11 participants. She passed the first round and received 46 points in the second round, thereby winning DMGP with her song "

Fra Mols til Skagen Denmark was represented by Aud Wilken, with the song "Fra Mols til Skagen", at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 13 May in Dublin. "Fra Mols til Skagen" was chosen as the Danish entry on 25 March. Before Eurovision Dansk Me ...

" ("From

Mols Mols is a small Danish gathering of hilly peninsulas in the southern part of the larger peninsula of Djursland on the east coast of Jutland. The largest peninsulas of Mols comprise Skødshoved to the west, and Helgenæs to the east. Mols' la ...

Skagen Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skagen is ...

") and gaining right to represent

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in the

which took place on 13 May in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. The song was performed nineteenth on the Eurovision night, following

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

's Jan Johansen with "

Se på mej SE, Se, or Sé may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Sé'' (album), by Lúnasa, 2006 * Se (instrument), a traditional Chinese musical instrument Businesses and organizations * Sea Ltd (NYSE: SE), tech conglomerate headquartered in Singapore ...

" and preceding

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Darja Švajger Darja Švajger (born 16 June 1965 in Maribor, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia) is one of Slovenia's most popular singers, perhaps best known internationally for having represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions. Early l ...

with "

Prisluhni mi Slovenia was represented by Darja Švajger with the song "Prisluhni mi" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. Before Eurovision Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 took place on 18 February 1995 ...

". "Fra Mols til Skagen" was an unusual song for Eurovision at the time, and finished in fifth place out of 23 entries, receiving 2 sets of highest score of 12 points from Sweden and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Wilken was best-placed Danish entry of the 1990s.

Later career

In 1996, Wilken was invited to record the song "Summers Got the Colour" composed by Povl Kristian with text by Lars K. Andersen for the Danish

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

" Pusher" directed by

Nicolas Winding Refn Nicolas Winding Refn (; born 29 September 1970), also known as Jang, is a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his collaborations with Mads Mikkelsen, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling. He gained great success early in ...

Wilken's solo album, ''Diamond in the Rough'', was released in 1999. On 21 June 2004, various artists album ''På Danske Læber (Leonard Cohen-Sange I Danske Fortolkninger)'' was released. Wilken's song "Her og Nu", which was composed by

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

and Sharon Robinson was included on the album. On 4 October 2004, one more various artists album ''Cornelis på danska'' was released with song "Jeg Havde Engang En Båd" recorded by Aud Wilken and Niels Skousen. Wilken also participated in the

in 2007 with her song "Husker du" ("Do You Remember"). She performed in second semifinal at 2 February 2007 and failed to qualify. After the semi-finals two wildcard selections were held for the listeners of Danish radio stations P3 and P4, who selected two songs from those rejected in the semi-finals to progress to the final. Wilken's song participated in the voting of the radio station P3 and lost to eventual champion DQ receiving 18% of voters (2nd place).Eurovision Song Contest National Finals database – 2007
/ref> On 8 March 2007, various artists album ''A Tribute To Joe Meek - The Lady With The Crying Eyes'' was released with song "Hab Ich Das Recht" sung by Wilken. In 2007, she moved to America, where she has been writing and composing her own songs. In 2009, she released a song, entitled, "Knowing That It's There". Originally the song was included in the album ''12 Beats Per Minute'' (2009) of the American composer Edward Dowrick and re-released in 2013 as single. Also Wilken's voice can be heard in other works of Dowrick. In "Carry Across the Epoch", "Cathedral of Hidden Light" and "Rockin Mummer Mermaid" from 2017 album ''Everyone Loves a Story''; "Circle of Ease" and "The Witness" from 2018 album ''Orchestral Sketches from the New Hope Continent''; "Fluidity" from 2019 album ''Illuminated Realities''; "The Yellow Spinning of a New Appearing Chord" from 2020 album ''Musings of the Solar Winds''. In 2017 she recorded three songs with Knud Odde: "Lavender Graa", "Zahrtmanns Have" and "Salamander". All songs were included in the mini album ''I Zahrtmanns Have'' and released on 3 October, 2017.

Discography

Albums

Wilken has only one solo album. ''Diamond in the Rough'' was released on 2 August, 1999 in two versions CD and Vinyl.

Singles

* Master Fatman feat. Audrey Wilkens - "Baby I Need You More And More" (1990) * Aud Wilken - "Fra Mols til Skagen" (1995) * Aud Wilken - "Beauty Spoils the Boy" (1999) * Aud Wilken - "Sweetest Mystery"(1999) * Aud Wilken - "Tired Hangs the Head" (1999) * Aud Wilken - "Husker Du" (2007) * Aud Wilken - "Knowing That It's There" (2009/2013)

Other songs

* Aud Wilken - "Summers Got the Colour" (1996) * Aud Wilken - "Her og Nu" (2004) * Niels Skousen and Aud Wilken - "Jeg Havde Engang En Båd" (2004) * Aud Wilken - "Hab Ich Das Recht" (2007) * Knud Odde feat. Aud Wilken - "Lavender Graa" (2017) * Knud Odde feat. Aud Wilken - "Zahrtmanns Have" (2017) * Knud Odde feat. Aud Wilken - "Salamander" (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilken, Aud 1965 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Denmark Danish women singers Danish people of German descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1995