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 Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, he was a major figure in Norwegian popular music. First, as a member of the group The Monn Keys, later as soloist and composer for other artists. Besides writing his own songs, he also translated many foreign hits into Norwegian, making them Norwegian hits. Arne Bendiksen took part in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selections several times, both as an artist and as a songwriter. Three times he represented Norway in Eurovision as singer; in 1964 (

Eurovision Song Contest 1964 The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Dansevise" by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. Organised by the Eu ...

) with ''Spiral'' as soloist, in 1973 (

Eurovision Song Contest 1973 The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the Euro ...

) with ''Å, for et spill'' and in 1974 (

Eurovision Song Contest 1974 The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporati ...

) with ''Hvor er du?''. Four times he took part as composer, most memorable as songwriter for

Åse Kleveland Åse Maria Kleveland (born 18 March 1949) is a Norwegian singer, guitarist, politician and activist. A well-known folk singer and traditional guitarist in Norway, she was appointed Minister of Culture in Norway in 1990, and held the position ...

's '' Intet er nytt under solen'' in 1966 ( Eurovision Song Contest), finishing a strong third. Beginning in 1964 he was the boss of his own record company. Thanks to him, popular artists like

Wenche Myhre Wenche Synnøve Myhre (born 15 February 1947), known in some countries as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, Danish, German and Swedish markets and languages. Early caree ...

and

Kirsti Sparboe Kirsti Sparboe (born 7 December 1946) is a Norwegian musical performer and an actress. Most of her musical career has been built on participation in the widely-popular Eurovision Song Contest in which she competed three times and scored a grand ...

reached fame. However, in the Eurovision Song Contest finals of 1969, Norway received a mere 1 point for the song '' Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli'', which was composed by Arne Bendiksen and performed by

. Arne did not let this crush his spirits though, and he continued his dedicated work as a singer/songwriter throughout the 1970s. In the 1980s, he gave a shot at the popular children's cassette industry and released his major children's work ''Barnefest i Andeby'' – Children's party in

Duckburg The Donald Duck universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting of stories involving Disney cartoon character Donald Duck, as well as Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Scrooge McDuck, and many other characters. Life in the Donal ...

– a cassette filled with catchy songs about the various

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

characters inhabiting the fictional city of

. This popular cassette got a sequel, released especially for the Christmas season, called ''Jul i Andeby'' – Christmas in Duckburg''. In June 2006, his all-new self-composed children's musical stage debuted in the small elementary school Fjellstrand Skole in

Nesodden Nesodden is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality is Nesoddtangen. The parish of ''Næsodden'' was established as a municipality on 1 ...

, Akershus. Arne Bendiksen died on 26 March 2009, after having been sick for a short period of time. The cause of death was heart failure.

Famous songs

* "Jeg vil ha en blå ballong" * " Intet er nytt under solen" * " Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli" * "

Lykken er Norway was represented by 15-year-old Hanne Krogh, with the song "Lykken er", at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in Dublin. "Lykken er" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 20 February. "Lykk ...

..." * "Og han kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakker når han ser, pengene blir fler' og fler'!" * "Knekke egg" * "Det blir ikke regn i dag"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendiksen, Arne 1926 births 2009 deaths Musicians from Bergen Melodi Grand Prix contestants Norwegian male composers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1964 Eurovision Song Contest conductors Norwegian pop singers Norwegian singer-songwriters Melodi Grand Prix winners Spellemannprisen winners 20th-century Norwegian male singers 20th-century conductors (music)