
Jens Peter Book-Jenssen (14 November 1910 – 28 March 1999) was a Norwegian singer of popular music, songwriter, revue artist and theatre director. From his stage debut in the early 1930s, his career included radio and television work, recordings, and extensive touring. His career spanned more than sixty years, and he was the top selling record artist in Norway in the 20th century.
Personal life
Book-Jenssen was born in
Bærum
Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electora ...
as the son of gardener Olaf Jenssen (1874–1949) and Pauline Book (1883–1962),
who were born in
Hamar
Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...
and
Stockholm respectively. He grew up at the farm Store Stabekk.
He married Gerd Kværnberg in 1936.
[ Book-Jenssen was often informally referred to as "Book'n" or "Booken" in the press.]
Career
1930s and 1940s
He made his stage debut at Det Nye Teater
Det Nye Teater was a theatre that opened in Oslo in 1929, and ended as an independent theatre in 1959, when it merged with Folketeatret to form Oslo Nye Teater. The theatre's original purpose was to support contemporary Norwegian drama.
History ...
in Oslo in 1933. As a revue artist he first performed on Scala Teater
Scala or SCALA may refer to:
Automobiles
* Renault Scala, multiple automobile models
* Škoda Scala, a Czech compact hatchback
Music
* Scala (band), an English electronic music group
* Escala (group), an electronic string quartet formerly known ...
, and later on Chat Noir in Oslo. He started his recording career in 1933, and made about 400 recordings between 1934 and 1945. Among his hits during this period were songs such as "Når lysene tennes der hjemme", "En liten gyllen ring" and "De lyse netters melodi". He also wrote song lyrics, under the pseudonym Peter Coob. From the mid-1930s until 1973, he toured the country with his shows, and according to his own estimate he travelled the distance from 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 ...
to Kirkenes
Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsula along the Bøk ...
at least a hundred times.
Post war
Book-Jenssen was the director of the revue theatre Chat Noir in Oslo from 1947 to 1950, and from 1954 to 1959. In 1972 he founded Bookn's Teater. Among his post-war song recordings are "Gudskjelovkvelden" from 1949, and "Når kastanjene blomstrer i Bygdø Allé" in 1950 and again in 1956 when it became a hit. Other popular songs were "Skjærsliperen" (1956) and "Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått
Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått (''Norway in red, white and blue'') is one of Norway's most famous national songs. It is widely used on 17 May, Norway's Constitution Day (Norway), Constitution Day. The song originates from the time of the German occ ...
" (1963).[ He made about 150 recordings for the record company NERA from 1946 to 1958, and about forty recordings for the record company HMV between 1958 and 1965.][ During his career he made more than ninety national tours, and also toured European countries with his revue ensemble.][ In the 1970s he contributed to a series of radio programs, by singing and telling stories from his career.][ Already in the mid-1950s he became the first Norwegian artist to sell over one million records.] He later came to be the top record selling musician in Norway in the 20th century, with a conservative estimate of more than two million sold items.[ According to other estimates, the number was over three and a half million.][
Book-Jenssen was awarded the ]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 organizati ...
honorary award in 1972,[ the Leonard Statuette in 1974,] and was also decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and HM The King's Medal of Merit.[ His last television appearance was in connection with his 85-year anniversary, when he was celebrated in a show on the ]Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...
by a wide array of Norwegian artists. He died aged 88 on 28 March 1999, and was buried from a capacity church in Haslum, Bærum
Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electora ...
.
References
External sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Book-Jenssen, Jens
1910 births
1999 deaths
Musicians from Bærum
Musicians from Hamar
Norwegian people of Swedish descent
Norwegian songwriters
Melodi Grand Prix contestants
Leonard Statuette winners
Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit
Spellemannprisen winners
20th-century Norwegian male singers