Kate Gulbrandsen (born 6 August 1965 in

Slemmestad Slemmestad is a village in Røyken in Asker municipality in Viken, Norway. Slemmestad is located on the west bank of the Oslofjord, west of Oslo. History Historically Slemmestad was located on the old highway running between Oslo and Drammen. ...

) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

singer. In 1986 she represented Norway at the Yamaha Song Festival in Tokyo with the song "Carnival". She won the Norwegian national final

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

1987 in a very close regional vote, giving her the opportunity to compete for Norway at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1987 The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the 32nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brussels, Belgium, following the country's victory at the with the song "J'aime la vie" by Sandra Kim. Organised by the European Broadc ...

with the song " Mitt liv" (My Life), written by

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 ...

and

Hanne Krogh Hanne Krogh (born 24 January 1956) is a Norwegian singer and actress from Haugesund and Oslo. Krogh is among the most selling record artists in Norway ever and is internationally well known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with Elisab ...

. She went on to place ninth overall. Gulbrandsen tried to represent Norway again in 1989, singing "Nærhet" (Closeness) at the

, although was unplaced. The song was rerecorded by Gulbrandsen in 1991, with a slightly different arrangement. Her version of Jørn Hansen's "Med gullet for øyet" was the official song of the

1998 Winter Paralympics The , the seventh Paralympic Winter Games, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remain ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, Japan. In 2004, after more than ten years away from the Norwegian popular music scene, Kate made a musical comeback in country style with two new tracks reaching

Norsktoppen ''Norsktoppen'' was a musical hit list at NRK Radio, originally playing songs exclusively by Norwegian artists. Until 1986, the songs had to be in the Norwegian language. ''Norsktoppen'' started airing in 1973, once a week. Norsktoppen was can ...

, Norway's main pop chart. These included a new version of the

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

hit "Jolene", which was included on her 2005 album release "Vi to" (We Two). Kate's "Jolene" spent 11 weeks in

, and was cited as the 8th most popular song of Norsktoppen in 2004. Today she lives in Hokksund with her daughter Sandra. She is still remembered well as one of Norway's former Eurovision singers, and appeared in the audience at one of the semifinals for the 2009 Melodi Grand Prix contest in Norway, where a tribute to her 1987 participation was shown. In 2023, she returned to the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix contest with her song "Tårer i Paradis" (''Tears in Paradise''). She participated in the first semi-final on 14 January, but ultimately didn't qualify to the final.

Discography

* The Beauty and the Beat (1987) * Sol om natten (1991) * Vi to (2005)

References

1965 births Living people People from Røyken Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1987 Melodi Grand Prix contestants Melodi Grand Prix winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Norwegian women singers {{Norway-singer-stub