Jan Werner Danielsen, known professionally as Jan Werner, (10 April 1976 – 28 September 2006) was a Norwegian pop singer, also known for his interpretations of musical, classical, and rock standards. He was famous for his powerful voice which stretched over four and a half octaves. His breakthrough came after winning two important talent contests, most notably on national television in the show ''Talentiaden'' (

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 ...

) in 1994. He was one of the most popular and highest-selling recording artists in Norway at his death at the age of 30.

Childhood star

Jan Werner Danielsen was born in Nord-Odal in Norway in 1976. He was particularly known for his interpretations of popular musical hits and his voice, which stretched nearly five octaves. He started very early to sing songs by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

and he wanted to sing like her. Danielsen won his first talent show in 1988, at the age of twelve; the prize was a

record deal A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

and he released the single "Jeg Ser En Dag" (I See The Day). Then he had already been singing for two-thirds of his lifetime, as his first public appearance in a musical setting was at the age of four. He became widely noticed when he was appearing and singing in the popular youth program called Midt I Smørøyet on Norwegian Television

with "Somewhere" and between 1988 and 1993 he sang regularly with the Hamar Symphony Orchestra. In 1992 Jan Werner got his second record deal, and was also included in plans for the cultural events around the

Olympic Winter Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

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 ...

, Norway in February 1994.

Commercial success

Danielsen broke through as a national celebrity and artist in the 1994. He participated and won the national talent competition Talentiaden on

television with the song "The Right to Sing" and "Anthem" from ''

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

'' and received the first ever Olympic medal that was awarded the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994. The same year he represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest, with Elisabeth Andreasson, where they had a sixth place with the song ''Duett''. In 2000, Jan Werner again was part of the Norwegian final of Eurovision and this time alone. He came in second place with the song "One More Time". Jan Werner debuted as an adult-recording artist in the 1995 with the album ''All by Myself'', which went gold. ''Inner Secrets'', his second album, came two years later in 1997. It sold 14 000 copies and contained some self-written compositions and a duet with

Karin Krog Karin Krog (born 15 May 1937) is a Norwegian jazz singer. Life and career Krog began singing jazz as a teenager and attracted attention while performing in jam sessions in Oslo. In 1955, she was hired by the pianist Kjell Karlsen to sing in ...

. The third, ''Music of the Night'' came in 1999 with interpretations of songs from musicals such as ''

'', ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'', and ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

''. His fourth, ''Singer of Songs'' (2003) is the best selling with over 120,000 copies and it became his biggest seller to date. It reached second place on the national album chart. The fifth and final album, ''Stronger'', was released after his death on 13 November 2006. Jan Werner has participated in many musical contexts, from pop to classical, from Christmas carols to musical songs. He has interpreted the classics such as Johann Sebastian Bach (Air), and he has made his own songs and melodies. He has performed with artists such as Benedicte Adrian, Secret Garden,

Sølvguttene Sølvguttene ("The Silver Boys") is a boys' choir founded by Torstein Grythe in June, 1940. He held the position as conductor until 2004, when Fredrik Otterstad took over.Eldri Espedal StorhaugSølvguttene kom med julefredAftenbladet, December 1 ...

Tommy Körberg Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg (; born 4 July 1948) is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role as Anatoly/"The Russian" in the musical ''Chess''. He played the role on the 1984 concept album, and ...

Øivind Blunck Øivind Blunck (28 December 1950) is a Norwegian comedian and actor.Øivind Blunck
in Robert Wells in the Royal Albert Hall in 2003. That was a personal highlight of his career and he was singing "Air" by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. He also performed that song on the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in December this year. In addition, he toured as the artistic director of Dissimilis.

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...

and Jan Werner continued to work after their duet under the

Eurovision 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 ...

in 1994. From 1997 they held Christmas concerts all over Norway, and in the summer of 1999 they recorded an album in the Uranienborg Church (Oslo) with selected tracks from the same tour. On the Christmas-concert tour in 2004 he now was a solo artist and the Norwegian Bishop

Rosemarie Köhn Rosemarie Köhn (20 October 1939 – 30 October 2022) was a bishop of the Church of Norway, holding that position in the Diocese of Hamar from 20 May 1993 to 1 November 2006. Biography Köhn was born to a German father and Norwegian mother and ...

was with him on selected concerts. Jan Werner has sold a total of nearly 1 million copies in Norway, a country with just 4.6 million people and over one million concert tickets. In September 2006, only a week before his death, Jan Werner and his manager were in Canada to put business plans in conjunction with Jan Werner's international career. This included a springtour with The Canadian Tenors in 2007. In May 2007, The Canadian Tenors held a mini-tour in Norway, with a concert-tribute to Jan Werner. They wanted to pay tribute to Jan Werner in his own way and they also recorded his version of "Always There" (from "Stronger"), for their CD "The Canadian Tenors" in 2009.

Personal life

Jan Werner's

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

was throughout his career the subject of much talk and many rumors. Jan Werner never gave a clear answer when reporters asked about this. But in the book published in 2007, Werner's father Thor Egil Danielsen says that Jan Werner was not bisexual, gay or heterosexual. "Werner's unresolved sexual orientation characterized his life. It was problematic for him. He never took any final choice between women and men, simply because he could not. It was the truth, that the press was always looking for. He told us that it had nothing to do with gender, but that he fell in love with people," writes his father in the book.

Death

On 28 September 2006, Danielsen's friend and manager Febe Rognstad found him dead in his

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 ...

flat. The news caused an outpouring of grief in the Norwegian entertainment industry. His family denied rumours about his death being the result of a suicide. At the time he had recently finished a new album, ''Stronger'', which, in accordance with the wishes of his family, was released as planned. It went on to become a huge success, selling 63,000 copies in its opening week alone, reaching number one in the Norwegian chart "

VG-lista VG-lista is a Norwegian record chart. It is presented weekly in the newspaper '' VG''. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continents around the world. The data are collected by Nie ...

". At his funeral the church was packed with colleagues and celebrities, the highlight being his former duet partner Elisabeth Andreassen performing "

You Raise Me Up "You Raise Me Up" is a song originally composed by the Norwegian-Irish duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland, and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. After the song was performed early in 2002 by the Secret Garden a ...

" together with a recording of Danielsen's voice, accompanied by the song's composer

Rolf Løvland Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) is a Norwegian composer, lyricist, arranger, and pianist. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, in which he was the composer, producer, and keyboardist. He beg ...

on piano. The mourners responded with a standing ovation. He was later buried in Sand Church in Nord-Odal. The family wanted to have the memory ceremony in Oslo because Sand church is not large enough to accommodate all who wanted to show the deceased artist one last honor. The result of the autopsy was finally ready in early January 2007. It appears that Danielsen's death was caused by heart failure, most likely as a result of an inflammation of the

bronchi A bronchus is a passage or airway in the lower respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. The first or primary bronchi pronounced (BRAN-KAI) to branch from the trachea at the carina are the right main bronchus and the left main bronchus. ...

of the lungs, combined with physical fatigue after a period with too much work.

Releases after his death

In November 2006, the controversial biography of Jan Werner Danielsen – "Just Werner" penned by his father, Thor-Egil Danielsen was released. Christmas 2007, his family released, in cooperation with

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

, the Christmas album ''Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg'' with previously unreleased live-recordings from various concerts and TV appearances. On 22 November 2010, the double-album ''One More Time – The Very Best Of'', with several new and unknown recording came out. These recordings were found by Jan Werner's family after his death and released in cooperation with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. This album was received very well among both critics and audiences.

Discography

Albums

*''All by Myself'' (1995) *''Inner Secrets'' (1997) *''Music of the Night'' (1998) *''Bettan & Jan Werners jul'' (1999) *''Over the Rainbow and Other Musical Highlights'' (2000 with Bettan) *''Singer Of Songs'' (2003) *''Stronger'' (2006) *''Eg veit i himmelrik ei borg –

Christmas Album 2007'' (2007) *''One More Time – The Very Best Of'' (2010)

Singles

* "Jeg ser en dag/My Prayer" – Debut-radiosingle (1989) * "Duett" – Duet with

(1994) * "Time Will Let You Know" (1995) * "Carry Me/All by Myself" (1995) * "Step Out" (1997) * "Halde deg inntil meg" – Duet with Malin Holberg (1997) * "Come Back to Me" (1997) * "Inner Secrets" (1997) * "Find Your Way" (1997) * "Friend" – Duet med

(1997) * "One Night in Bangkok" (1998) * "Bonne chance à France" – Official European Fotbalcup-single med Synnøve Svabø (1998) * "Anthem" – Radio Version (1998) * "Here for You" (1998) * "One More Time" (2000) * "Half a World Away" with Secret Garden (2005) * "Always There" originally by Secret Garden and

Russell Watson Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club. He came to attention in 1999 when he sang "God ...

(2005)

Other

* Singing the song "He Lives in You" ("Han Bor I Oss") in the Norwegian version of The Lion King 2 movie (1998) * Singing the official "Brannmann Sam" song ("Fireman Sam") for his nephew Filip's birthday (2004) * Singing "Mary Did You Know?" on the ''Gospel-album'' with the Norwegian gospel-choir Mosaic (2005)

Television (selection)

*''Midt i smørøyet'' (TV) –

(1988) (Guest Appearance) *''Rett hjem'' (TV) – NRK (1994) (Guest Appearance) *''Talentiaden 1994'' (TV) – NRK (1994) *''Melodi Grand Prix 1994'' (TV) (with

) – NRK (1994) *''Vindu mot Lillehammer'' (TV) – NRK (1994) (Guest Appearance) *''NyttårsRondo'' (TV) – NRK (1994) (Guest Appearance) *''Du skal høre mye'' (TV) – NRK (199?) (Guest Appearance) *''Pick-up'' (TV) – NRK (1997) (Guest Appearance) *''XLTV'' (TV) – NRK (1997?) (Guest Appearance) *''Åpen post'' (TV) – NRK (1999) (Guest Appearance) *''Beat for beat'' (TV) (with Benedicte Adrian) – NRK (2000?) (Guest Appearance) *''Mine damer og herrer'' (TV) (with

) – TV2 (2000?) (Guest Appearance) *''Melodi Grand Prix 2000'' (TV) – NRK (2000) *''Først og sist'' (TV) – NRK (2000) (Guest Appearance) *''Retro'' (TV) – (with Grethe Svendsen) NRK (2000?) (Guest Appearance) *''Numme og Gunstrøm – før og nå'' (TV) – TV2 (2001) (Guest Appearance) *''Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2003'' (TV) – NRK (2003) *''Frelsesarmeens julekonsert 2003'' (TV) – NRK (2003) *''Fra Halvsju til Reser – Stjernefabrikken 25 år'' (TV) – NRK (2004) (Guest Appearance) *''Senkveld med Thomas og Harald'' (TV) – TV2 (2005?) (Guest Appearance) *''Med rett til å synge'' (TV) – NRK (2006) *''Tommy and Jan Werner – The Show'' – DVD (2006)

References

External links

Jan Werner – Air
on YouTube
Jan Werner – Med rett til å synge
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Danielsen, Jan Werner 1976 births 2006 deaths People from Nord-Odal Musicians from Oslo Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1994 Melodi Grand Prix contestants Norwegian pop singers Norwegian rock singers Melodi Grand Prix winners Singers with a four-octave vocal range 20th-century Norwegian male singers 20th-century Norwegian singers Deaths from organ failure