Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) 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 ...

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 began composing at an early age (he formed a band at the age of nine) and grew up studying at the

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

Music Conservatory, later receiving his master's degree from the Norwegian Institute of Music in

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 ...

Notable songs

Løvland has won 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 ...

twice, resulting in Norway's first two titles. He composed the song "

La det swinge "La det swinge" (; "Let it swing") is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on ...

" in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. He also composed the song "

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

" in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, as part of the duo Secret Garden. In 1985 Løvland was one of the composers behind the song "

Tomorrow Will Be Better Tomorrow will be Better () is a Taiwanese Mandopop charity record written by Brendan Graham, Rolf Løvland and Lo Ta-yu and sung by over 60 artists. It was recorded on 15 September 1985 and released on 25 October 1985 and was directly inspired by ...

" (

simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 明天会更好;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Míngtiān huì Gènghǎo''), a song directly inspired by the UK charity single "

Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of pop ...

" written the previous year by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. He also composed the song "

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 ...

". In an interview with

Radio Norge :''If you are looking for the military radio station with the same name, see Radio Norge (1978–1991).'' Radio Norge (formerly ''Kanal 4'' and ''Kanal 24'') is a Norwegian radio station with headquarters in Bergen. It is subsidiary of Bauer Me ...

in February 2010, Løvland stated that this song had been covered more than 500 times thus far.

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 ...

asked

Ann Hampton Callaway Ann Hampton Callaway (born May 30, 1958) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress. She wrote and sang the theme song for the TV series ''The Nanny''. Career A native of Chicago, her father, John Callaway, was a journalist and her mot ...

to write lyrics to a Rolf Løvland melody which she entitled " I've Dreamed of You", and sang to James Brolin at their wedding. The song was later recorded on her CD, "A Love Like Ours", released as a single and selected for the album, The Essential Barbra Streisand. Streisand performed this song on her live double CD, Timeless.

Awards

Spellemannsprisen 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 ...

(Norwegian Grammy equivalent) *Winner of the National radio chart "Song of the year-award" *Grand Prix winner of the

twice (1985 with "

" and 1995 with "

") *Four times winner of the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, the

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 ...

References

External links

Secret Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovland, Rolf 1955 births Living people Norwegian composers Norwegian male composers Norwegian songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1995 Eurovision Song Contest conductors Eurovision Song Contest winners Melodi Grand Prix contestants Melodi Grand Prix composers Musicians from Kristiansand