Otto Nielsen (19 June 1909 – 9 October 1982) was a Norwegian songwriter, revue writer, cabaret singer and radio personality. He participated in Norwegian cultural life for five decades, starting from the 1930s, and played an important role behind the scene as program manager for the radio program series "''Søndagsposten''" for over twenty years.

Personal life

Nielsen was born in Trondheim as a son of Karl Otto Severin Nielsen and his wife Anna Louise Kaspersen Berg. He was married to dancer and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Elsa Emilie Ramberg from 1938 to 1945, and to nurse Aslaug Josefine Becker Fossum from 1953.

Career

1930s

Nilsen co-formed the song duo ''Gerd og Otto'' in 1930, together with his younger sister Gerd. The group had its first appearance at Trøndelag Teater in Trondheim. Their first recordings were ''Et luftslott på månen''/''Haveorkesteret'' and ''På turné''/''Hans og Grete'' from 1934, and the duo issued several 78 rpm records during the 1930s. The duo also produced children's programs for ''Trøndelag Kringkaster'' in Trondheim, and Nielsen co-wrote the first Norwegian operetta for radio, ''Postboks 39''. He also wrote a children's operetta, ''Spilledåsen'' in 1939.

1940s

Following the outbreak of World War II, Nielsen was arrested in November 1942 and held at Møllergata 19 for three weeks, and again arrested in November 1943 and held at the Grini concentration camp until May 1945. While staying at Grini he orchestred several cabarets for the prisoners. His song ''Det har vi'' was first performed inside the camp in 1944, and the song found its way out and became very popular. Another of Nielsen's Grini songs was ''Grinimarsjen''. The duo ''Gerd and Otto's'' most popular hit was the song ''En grønnmalt benk'' from 1948.

1950s

Nilsen was program editor for 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 largest ...

's program series ''Søndagsposten'' from 1958 to 1979. In this position he played an important role behind the Norwegian cultural scene. Several singer-songwriters saw their first songs performed in this program, including Kari Bremnes, Birgitte Grimstad, Lars Klevstrand and Stein Ove Berg. Among Nielsen's songs from the 1950s are ''Prinsessen i berget det blå'' (1952), ''Litjvisa mi'' (1958) and ''Gamlemor og Vesleblakken'' (1959).

1960s

In the 1960s Nielsen wrote songs such as ''Hemmeligheten'' from 1961 and ''Fiskeribølgen'' from 1964. His song ''Pappa'n til Tove Mette'' from 1964 had a melody composed by Willy Andresen, and ''På ski'' (1965) had a melody by Robert Normann. Nielsen composed the melody for Alf Prøysen's popular song ''Du skal få en dag i mårå '' (1966). He wrote the song text for ''Jeg vil være tung'', with melody composed by

Arne Bendiksen Arne Joachim Bendiksen (19 October 1926 – 26 March 2009) was a Norwegian singer, composer and producer, described as "the father of pop music" in Norway. Career Bendiksen was born in Bergen, Norway. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, he was a ...

. His book ''Søndagspostens bok'' was issued in 1967.

1970s and 1980s

The album ''Hajnhojnn i bajnn og 13 andre trønderviser'' was released in 1975. Nielsen received the Spellemannprisen honorary award in 1975, and the revue award Leonard Statuette for 1979. Nielsens and his sister Gerd (Røstad) made a re-recording of some of their best known songs in 1982, issued on the Polydor album ''Svanesang i stereo''. The street ''Otto Nielsens vei'' at Tyholt in Trondheim is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Otto 1909 births 1982 deaths Grini concentration camp survivors NRK people Norwegian radio personalities Norwegian male singer-songwriters Norwegian singer-songwriters Spellemannprisen winners People from Trondheim Leonard Statuette winners 20th-century Norwegian male singers 20th-century Norwegian singers