Olsen Brothers ( da, Brødrene Olsen) are a Danish rock/pop music duo, formed by brothers Jørgen (born 15 March 1950) and Niels "Noller" Olsen (born 13 April 1954), both from

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, who won the

Eurovision Song Contest 2000 The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson. Organised by the Europea ...

. They formed their first band, The Kids, in 1965. The Kids warmed up for

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

in the

K.B. Hallen K.B. Hallen is a multi-purpose arena located at Peter Bangs Vej in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally, it was used primarily for badminton, tennis, basketball and volleyball, but also hosted other events, including dance ...

in 1965 and released their first single in 1967.

Career

Both Jørgen and Niels Olsen participated in the musical

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

in the Cirkusbygningen in Copenhagen March 1971, and went on tour afterwards through Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The Olsen Brothers' first album was released in 1972 and in total they have released 13 albums. Some of the biggest hit singles include "Angelina" (1972), ”For What We Are” (1973), "Julie" (1977), "San Francisco" (1978), "Dans Dans Dans" (1979), "Marie, Marie" (1982), "Neon Madonna" (1985), ”Wings Of Love” (2000), "We Believe In Love" (2001), "Look Up Look Down" (performed with Cliff Richard) (2009) and "Brothers To Brothers" (2013). The Olsen Brothers have sold approx 3.2 million albums, 1.5 million singles and 2.7 million compilations. They have a two-voice harmony and among their “fans” are

Sir Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals '' Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

who both call the Olsen Brothers the "European Everly Brothers”.

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and Eurovision participation

The Olsen Brothers and on occasions Jørgen Olsen on his own took part in a number of annual competitions known as

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (), also known as Melodi Grand Prix or simply DMGP, is an annual music competition organised by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) since 1957, which determines the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The fes ...

the winner of which would represent Denmark 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 pr ...

DMGP 2000 and Eurovision Song Contest 2000

They won the annual

song competition in 2000 in Copenhagen and went on to represent Denmark in the

in Stockholm. where they won with the song "

Fly on the Wings of Love "Fly on the Wings of Love" is a song by Danish pop-rock duo Olsen Brothers, which was the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2000, performing for in English. The song was performed fourteenth on the night, following 's Serafín Zubiri with " Col ...

" (translated from the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

"Smuk som et Stjerneskud" (literally translated, "Beautiful as a Shooting Star"). At one stage, they sold 100,000 copies in one day, in Denmark. They became the second Danish act to win the competition. On the day of their victory, Jørgen Olsen was 50 years and 61 days of age, making him the oldest artist to win the contest. However, he only held the record for one year as

Dave Benton Dave Benton (born 31 January 1951, birth name Efrén Eugene Benita) is a pop musician from Aruba who lives in Estonia. He is one of the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. At the age of 50 years and 101 days at the time of his victory, ...

triumphed in 2001 at the age of 50 years and 101 days. The combined ages of The Olsen Brothers make them the oldest aged act ever to win the contest. They opened the

Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the E ...

in Copenhagen with a short reprise of their winning song from the previous year, followed by a full performance of their new release "Walk Right Back".

Later years

In 2005 for the first time since their victory, they re-entered the Danish Melodi Grand Prix, the national pre-selection for the Eurovision contest, with the song "Little Yellow Radio". It was widely reported that they hoped to repeat their triumph; however this time they had to settle for second place, finishing behind

Jakob Sveistrup Jakob Sveistrup (born 8 March 1972) is a Danish singer. He entered the Danish music scene in 2003 as a competitor in the Danish televised talent contest '' Stjerne for en aften'' ("Star for a Night"). He made it to the finals. Unusually, Sveistru ...

. Their song ''Fly on the Wings of Love'' was nominated as one of the 14 finalists for the Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 22 October 2005. They performed the song in the event finishing 6th overall from 14 songs. The winner was " Waterloo" from

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

In 2019, the brothers called a hiatus to their musical career after Niels was diagnosed with

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

. However, Niels was declared cancer free by the end of 2020 in a victory that was described as "against the odds", not ruling out returning to music in the future.

Discography

Albums

* ''Olsen'' (1972) * ''For What We Are'' (1973) * ''For the Children of the World'' (1973) * ''Back on the Tracks'' (1976) * ''You're the One'' (1977) * ''San Francisco'' (1978) * ''Dans - Dans - Dans'' (1979) * ''Rockstalgi'' (1987) * ''Det Stille Ocean'' (1990) * ''Greatest and Latest'' (1994) * ''Angelina'' (1999) * ''Wings of Love'' (2000) * ''The Story of Brødrene Olsen'' (2000) * ''Rockstalgi'' (2001) * ''Neon Madonna'' (2001) * ''Walk Right Back'' (2001) * ''Songs'' (2002) * ''Weil Nur Die Liebe Zählt'' (2003) * ''More Songs'' (2003) * ''Our New Songs'' (2005) * ''Celebration'' (2005) * ''Respect'' (2008) * ''Wings of Eurovision'' (2010) * ''Brothers to Brothers'' (2013)

Singles

(Selective) * "Angelina" (1972) * "Julie" (1977) * "San Francisco" (1978) * "Dans dans dans" (1979) * "Marie, Marie" (1982) * "Neon Madonna" (1985) * "

" (2000) * "Wings of Eurovision" (2011)

References

{{Authority control Danish pop music groups Eurovision Song Contest winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Denmark Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2000 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix contestants Dansk Melodi Grand Prix winners Sibling musical duos Musical groups established in 1972