Trine Rein is an American-Norwegian singer. Her album sales have exceeded more than a million records. She was born in San Francisco in 1970, and is married to Norwegian adventurer

Lars Monsen Lars Thorbjørn Monsen (born 21 April 1963) is a Norwegian adventurer and journalist. He has done a number of exploration and backpacking expeditions in harsh wilderness. He became well-known after documenting a thru-hiking trip made over the cour ...

Biography

Debut

Trine Rein released her first solo album in 1993, ''Finders, Keepers''. It peaked at the top of the Norwegian album chart for five weeks. But as she was almost unknown before the release, it took her 14 weeks to finally be the most popular album in Norway. And due to the extensive foreign press coverage of the

Olympic Winter Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

February 1994, her album was soon a hit in Japan as well. At one time she topped 16 different Japanese radio station charts simultaneously. Due to this popularity and interest on the Japanese isles, almost two-thirds of the more than 600,000 albums sold of her first album were bought by Japanese fans. Rein has released two successful singles. The first came with her debut album, called "Just Missed the Train", and has become Rein's trademark song, exposing her great singing ability. The song has later been covered by child star actress

Danielle Brisebois Danielle Anne Brisebois (born June 28, 1969) is an American producer, singer-songwriter and former child actress. She is best known for her role as Stephanie Mills on the Norman Lear-produced sitcoms ''All in the Family'' and its spin-off ''Arc ...

(who wrote the song with

Scott Cutler Scott Michael Cutler is an American songwriter, musician, record producer, and music executive. As a member of the alternative rock band Ednaswap, he co-wrote " Torn" which was covered in 1997 by Natalie Imbruglia. Her recording became the wor ...

), Estonian

Eurovision 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 ...

participant

Maarja-Liis Ilus Maarja-Liis Ilus, sometimes better known by her performing name Maarja (born 24 December 1980) is an Estonian pop musician and presenter. She has represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. She was only 15 when she participated in the ...

, ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' winner

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

, and a pre-American Idol Carly Hennessy (a.k.a. Carly Smithson), among others.

Declining sales

Her second album came in 1996, called ''Beneath My Skin'', and also enjoyed some success, though only selling about half the number of copies as her debut album did. More than 300,000 copies were sold in Norway, Japan, and Denmark, which was a new market for Rein. In its first release week, the album went straight to number one in Norwegian albums chart. Again a popular single was released in 1996, this time her

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Ednaswap Ednaswap was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, that existed between 1993 and 1998. Over a span of five years, the band released four major label records on East West, Elektra Records and Island Records. The band is best know ...

's song " Torn", which later, in 1997 got its worldwide fame with the

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing car ...

cover, with one of the most broadcast music videos of that time on music channel

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Moving abroad

Her third album ''To Find The Truth'' was released in 1998, and sold about 100 000 copies. Shortly afterwards, she decided she had got enough of the celebrity life, and searched anonymous refugee existence abroad for a few years. In 2000, Rein settled permanently in San Francisco and Los Angeles where she had a variety of odd jobs, including being a limo driver. She finally moved back to Norway in 2004 and decided to make a comeback to the music scene. She managed two projects simultaneously; firstly she starred in a summer show called "80-tallet beat for beat" with three other artists. She also released her first compilation CD, entitled ''The Very Best of Trine Rein'' the same year.

Eurovision ambitions

Rein years ago stated that she would ''never'' participate in the Norwegian final and selection method for 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 ...

, the so-called

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 ...

. Rein decided to leave all disputed comments to the past and figured the time was finally right when she was asked by the Norwegian Broadcasting (

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

) to participate in 2006. On January 13, 2006, Rein entered the stage in Alta to become the first artist to illuminate the northernmost national Eurovision selection in the history of the European contest, and the televoters would send her to Oslo Spektrum and the final of

Melodi Grand Prix 2006 ''Melodi Grand Prix 2006'' (shortened ''MGP 2006'') is the television show in which the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was chosen. The contest was held on February 4 in the Oslo Spektrum and was hosted by Synnøve Svabø an ...

. Rein's composition, "Here for the Show", was written by three experienced Swedish producers/songwriters, and was criticized for having similarities to

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

's " Let Me Entertain You", which the authors also admitted had been their sole inspiration. The song did not qualify for the international finals though. She has recorded " Time After Time" with the Danish singer Flemming "Bamse" Jørgensen.

New album and single in 2010

On May 18, 2010, Rein premiered her first single in twelve years titled "I Found Love" on her official website, and it became available for digital purchase on May 24. Rein's new album (her fourth record to date) was called ''Seeds of Joy'', and was released on September 20, 2010.

Discography

Singles

* "Just Missed The Train" (1993) No. 4 in Norway * "Stay With Me Baby" (1994) * " Torn" (1996) No. 10 in Norway * "Do You Really Wanna Leave Me This Way" (1996) * "The State I'm In" (1996) * "Never Far Away" (1996) * "World Without You" (1998) * "Stars And Angels" (1998) * "I Found Love" (2010) * "Når Klokkene Slår" (2011) * "If You're Next to Me" (2012) * "Closer" (2014) * "Den Første Julenatt" (2015) * "Don't Say It's Over" (2016) * "Hello It's Me" (2016) * "Julegaven" (2017) * "Where Do We Go" (featuring

Ole Børud Ole Børud (born December 6, 1976) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer, and engineer known both for his solo recordings and as a member of the groups Arnold B. Family, Schaliach, Extol, and Fleshkiller. Børud, son of t ...

) (2019)

Albums

* ''Finders, Keepers'' (1993) No. 1 in Norway * ''Beneath My Skin'' (1996) No. 1 in Norway * ''To Find The Truth'' (1998) No. 22 in Norway * ''Seeds of Joy'' (September 20, 2010) No. 19 in Norway * ''The Well'' (January 27, 2017)

Compilations

* ''The Very Best of Trine Rein'' (2004)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rein, Trine 1970 births Living people American people of Norwegian descent Melodi Grand Prix contestants American women pop singers 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers 21st-century American women