Unni Elisabeth Wilhelmsen (born 12 July 1971) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and musician. Her musical influences are pop music and the American tradition of the singer-songwriter in which the lyrics play an important role as well as the music. (in Norwegian) She lives in Oslo but has throughout her career had the whole of Norway as a venue. When she made her breakthrough in 1996 with her debut album ''

To Whom It May Concern To Whom It May Concern may refer to: *Salutation (greeting), used for opening a letter to an unknown recipient In music ; Albums * ''To Whom It May Concern'' (Bee Gees album), 1972 * ''To Whom It May Concern'', a Blacklite District album, 2016 ...

'' (

Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

), she became an important mediator of the singer-songwriter genre, a genre that has a broad audience in Norwegian popular music.

Store Norske Leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...

(in Norwegian) (in Norwegian)

Career

Wilhelmsen was born 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 ...

. She was given a guitar as a teenager and so the guitar became her first instrument. However, she had always dreamed of playing the piano, and later took it up. Her first tune featuring the piano came in 2006. She writes most of her music herself, but from time to time collaborates with others. Wilhelmsen is a full-time musician and releases her music on her own

indie label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, ''St. Cecilia Music''. In addition to pursuing her solo career, in September 2013, Unni joined the Norwegian Band "

Di Derre Di Derre is a Norwegian Pop rock band, founded in 1992. They were awarded the Gammleng-prisen in 1996. Band members *Jo Nesbø – vocals, guitar *Espen Stenhammer – drums *Magnus Larsen jr. – bass guitar, vocals *Halvor Holter – keyboard ...

" as a guitarist and vocalist. Her debut as singer was at ''Smuget'' in Oslo, where music journalist

Finn Bjelke Finn Bjelke (born 10 April 1959) is a popular Norwegian humourist, writer, music journalist and radio host. Finn Bjelke is known as program host at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation for their radio shows '' Reiseradioen'', '' Popquiz'', and ...

was present. He liked what he heard and mentioned her to music producer

Ole Evenrud Ole Evenrud (born November 17, 1962) is a Norwegian pop artist and teenpop producer. He had his big time in the 1980s under the name Ole i'dole. After the 1980s he has operated as a musical producer. He was Head of A&R at Polygram Norway from 1993 ...

. This led to her first record contract, and her debut album ''To Whom It May Concern'' was released on Polygram 1996. She was awarded

Spellemannprisen 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 ...

1996 in two categories for this album. International release on

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

of ''To whom it may concern'' in Germany followed, but her international career was slow to develop. She started her own record company to be in charge. Now her audience outside Norway is growing; in effect she functions as her own distributor and a subcontractor for her former label, Universal.

Private life

Wilhelmsen lives in Oslo, Norway. She has installed her own studio in the kitchen, ''Fett Studio'', and most of her album ''Til Meg'' (St. Cecilia Music, 2006) was recorded there.

Discography

*''To Whom It May Concern'' (Polygram, 1996), produced by

Bugge Wesseltoft Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1 February 1964) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer, and producer, son of jazz guitarist Erik Wesseltoft. Career In 1989, Wesseltoft collaborated with the Knut Riisnæs Quartet and was soon after ...

at the studio ''Bugges Room'' *''Definitely me'' (Polygram, 1997), produced by

at ''Oslo Lydstudio'' *''Back in the blonde'' (Universal Music, 2000), produced by

Malcolm Burn Malcolm Burn (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. Emmylou Harris's ''Red Dirt Girl'', produced by Burn, won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 2001 Grammys. Biography Born in Cornwall, Ontar ...

at ''Clovet St. Studio'' *''Disconnected'' (Universal Music, 2001), produced by

Ronni Le Tekrø Ronni Le Tekrø (born Rolf Ågrim Tekrø, 5 October 1963) is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist cooperating with guitarists Terje Rypdal and Mads Eriksen as "N3". LeTekrø ...

and Knut Bøhn at ''Øya Studio'' *''Hurricane's eye'' (St. Cecilia Music, 2003), produced by Kjetil Saunes at ''Høytoglavt Studio'' *''Til Meg'' (St. Cecilia Music, 2006) *''7'' (St. Cecilia Music, 2010) *''Live With Bodø Rhythm Group feat. Bodø Sinfonietta'' Platekompaniet
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Honors

1996: female artist of the year; album of the year for ''To Whom It May Concern''

References

External links

Unni Wilhelmsen's websiteUnni Wilhelmsen's MySpaceHumbly for Her: fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelmsen, Unni 1971 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian women singers 21st-century Norwegian guitarists 21st-century women guitarists 21st-century women pianists Norwegian women pianists Musicians from Oslo English-language singers from Norway