Grethe Kausland (July 3, 1947 – November 16, 2007) was a Norwegian singer, performer and actress. As a child star she was one of Norway's most popular singers (her debut single “Teddyen min” from 1955, sold more than 100,000 recordsJan Eggum, Bård Ose, Siren Steen: '' Norsk pop & rock-leksikon'' (Vega Forlag AS, 2005) Norsk pop- og rockleksikon (2005)
Grethe Kausland
(Retrieved on November 17, 2007)), and she participated in several films as a child.IMDB
Grethe Kausland Filmography
(Retrieved on November 17, 2007) 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 pri ...

, singing " Småting" with

Benny Borg Benny Borg (born 13 November 1945) is a Swedish singer and composer. He was born in Gothenburg, but moved to Norway in 1968, and was married to Kirsti Sparboe from 1972 to 1978. He is known for his cooperation with the Dizzie Tunes, and with ...

. From 1973 she performed regularly with the entertaining group

Dizzie Tunes Dizzie Tunes was a Norwegian musical show group from the city of Skien. Dizzie Tunes was one of the most successful in Norwegian show business. Biography The group was founded as the dance band ''Rex Band'' in 1959, was named ''Dizzie Tunes'' in ...

. Awarded "Spellemannprisen" 1978 for the album ''A Taste of Grethe Kausland'', and " Leonardstatuetten" 1991 for her achievements on the revue scene. She died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

on November 16, 2007 in

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 ...

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 th ...

Child career

Grethe made her stage debut at age 4 at a local revue, and cut her first record at age 8 in 1955, after winning a radio-transmitted amateur competition; the song, "Teddyen Min"/"Cowboyhelten" became a big radio hit in and sold over 100,000 copies. She made her first film, ''Smugler i smoking'' in 1957; by age 12 she had cut 10 records and acted in five films. Described "crazy about jazz" as a child, she visited jazz clubs while still underage, "swinging" like an adult jazz vocalist despite her youthful voice.

Shows with ''Dizzie Tunes''

Dizzie Tunes og Grethe Kausland (11097025686)

Kausland's cooperation with the show group ''Dizzie Tunes'' started with her ''Chat Noir'' Theatre debut ''På go'fot'' (1973). Later followed the shows ''Showkade med og uten fyll'' (1974), ''Vi spillopper'' (1976, film version 1979), ''Memories Of Music'' (1979/1980, also video), ''The Show Must Go Home'' (1984, also video), ''Festsprell i Dizzie Tider'' (1988). She also participated in many of their TV shows. ''Sing Sala Bim'' (1973) was awarded Bronze Rose at the Montreux festival. Her music albums with ''Dizzie Tunes'': ''Toppop 1'' (1972), ''Mere Ra-ta-ta-ta'' (1972), ''Folk i nord'' (1973), ''Hei-hå-hei-hå'' (1973), ''Norsklåt'' (1973), ''På go'fot med Dizzie Tunes'' (1973), ''Memories of Music'' (1982), ''Go'biter med Dizzie Tunes'' (1992).

A Star is Torn

In a 1993 adaptation of Robyn Archer and Rodney Fischer's show ''A Star is Torn'' Grethe Kausland portrayed nine tragic female fates in popular music:

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...

, Helen Morgan,

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Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions an ...

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as " T ...

, Marilyn Monroe,

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and

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. A full evening one-woman-performance, first at '' Rogaland Teater'' (Stavanger, 1993, 45 performancesPå norske scener. Sesongen 1992/93. (De norske teatres forening, Oslo 1993) ), and later at ''Victoria Teater'' (Oslo, 1995).

Television series

From the late 1990s Kausland participated in several TV series. In '' D'ække bare, bare Bernt'' (1996) she starred as "Vera", with Jon Skolmen as her husband "Bernt". In the

situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Karl & Co'' (63 episodes, running 1998–2001) she appeared regularly as "Ruth Frantzen". She played the role "Mamsen" in the children's series ''Jul i Blåfjell'' in 1999. This series became quite popular, it received the Gullruten award in 2000 for ''Best TV drama'', a music album from the series received

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organiza ...

in 1999 for ''Best children's album'', and the follow-up series ''Jul på månetoppen'' appeared in 2002.

Discography

Singles on the Columbia label (as child star)

*1955: "Teddyen min"/"Cowboyhelten" *1956: "Den lille kjøkkenskriver"/"Jeg vil gifte meg med pappa" (with Frank Robert) *1956: "Maria Fly-fly"/"Eventyrswing" *1956: "Grethemor"/"Dukkestuen" *1956: "Til Nisseland"/"Ding-dong" *1957: "Min lille mandolin"/"Kjære lille vov-vov" *1957: "Hipp Hurra!"/"Lolly Poll" *1958: "Lillesøster"/"Musefest i kjelleren" *1959: "På tivoli"/"Pappas lille pike" *1960: "Souvenirs"/"Conny" *1960: "Det finns millioner"/"Europa Non Stop" *1963: "Gullregnen"/"Ønskedrømmen" *1964: "Hjerte"/"Hvis jeg var gutt"

Albums

*''Grethe gjennom 10 år'' (Columbia, 1964) *''A Taste of Grethe Kausland'' (Troll, 1978) *''Grethe synger Lille Grethe'' (Troll, 1979) *''Stay With Me'' (Troll, 1984) *''Jazzway to Norway'' (1991) (with several artists) *''Jazz my way'' (Curling Legs, 2008)

Filmography

*''Smuglere i smoking'' (1957) *'' Selv om de er små'' (1957) *''

Far til fire og onkel Sofus ''Father of Four and Uncle Sofus'' ( da, Far til fire og onkel Sofus) is a 1957 Danish family film directed by Alice O'Fredericks and Robert Saaskin. Cast * Karl Stegger as father * Birgitte Bruun as Søs * Otto Møller Jensen as Ole *Rudi ...

'' (1957) *''

Far til fire og ulveungerne ''Father of Four and the Wolf Cubs'' ( da, Far til fire og ulveungerne) is a 1958 Danish family film directed by Alice O'Fredericks and Robert Saaskin. The film received controversy due to a song titled "A Black Little Negro From Africa". C ...

'' (1958) *'' Ugler i mosen'' (1959) (directed by Ivo Caprino) *'' Millionær for en aften'' (1960) *''To på topp'' (1965) *''Tut og kjør'' (1975) *''Vi spillopper'' (1979) *''Over stork og stein'' (Stork Staring Mad, 1994) *''Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa'' (Gurin with the Foxtail, 1998) (voice)

TV series

*'' D'ække bare, bare Bernt'' (1996) *'' Karl & Co'' (1997–2000) *''Jul i Blåfjell'' (1999) (Awarded Gullruten 2000 for ''Best TV drama'', and

1999 for ''Best children's album'') *''Jul på månetoppen'' (2002) *''Brødrene Dal og mysteriet med Karl XIIs gamasjer'' (2005) (mini TV Series) *'' Hos Martin'' (2005 episode)

Personal life

From 1966 to 1979 she was married to jazz guitarist Halvard Kausland. She did not revert to her

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...

Nilsen after the end of the marriage, but kept the name Kausland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kausland, Grethe 1947 births 2007 deaths Norwegian film actresses Norwegian child actresses Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Norwegian child singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1972 Melodi Grand Prix contestants People from Horten Melodi Grand Prix winners Spellemannprisen winners Leonard Statuette winners Deaths from lung cancer Norwegian television actresses 20th-century Norwegian women singers