Christine Guldbrandsen

Early life

Guldbrandsen began singing in the local church choir at age three; at age 13 she was discovered by Kjetil Fluge. At 15 in 2000, she sang "Kulturbyåpningen" in Bergen; in the audience was Sony Music Entertainment, who gave Guldbrandsen her first record deal after the performance. The contract was a result of long-dedicated time and work with Kjetil Fluge, Atle Halstensen, and Erlend Fauske in the Bergen Studio Sounds Familiar. In 2001, 16-year-old wrote her first song, "Fly Away," a tribute to her father who had just died.

2003

Guldbrandsen's debut album, Surfing in the Air, became a success in Norway and was subsequently released in Finland. The album sold 30,000 copies and she received a Gold record. The song Surfing in the Air became a radio hit supported by a music video. After this release she received the Karoline-Prisen, an award given to a young artist who combines school with a musical career. Other songs from her debut album included The Far End, which entered the Norsktoppen top 40 at number 22, and Fly Away, which entered the ISC The International Songwriting Competition and finished in the Semi Final with 350 other songs out of 11,000 songs from the world over.

In January 2004, Christine Guldbrandsen and her team started working on her second album; Moments was released that December. It entered the official Norwegian album chart VG-lista Topp 40; the song Because of You entered the Norsktoppen Top 40 at Number 26.

2006

In 2006 Christine represented her country at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece after winning the Melodi Grand Prix 2006. The Norwegian selection was a Nordic folk song, Alvedansen (The dance of elves) - the only one of 18 entries with Norwegian lyrics. Thea Tunås Bratteng accompanied her on stage, playing the typical Norwegian fiddle instrument hardingfele. She was placed 14th of 24 finalists. She also sang in the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix 2007 in Oslo Spektrum with a medley of Dansekjolen "5th place on the Norwegian Radio Stations chart" and the new version of Alvedansen. The special thing about this performance was that Guldbrandsen came flying onto the stage and had 6 dancers on stage with her. On Wednesday 9 January 2008, Christine's hit Alvedansen was finally released in an English version, Elf Dance, translated by Andrew Boyle.

2007

On 5 February 2007, she released her third studio album, simply entitled Christine, her most personal album and the first she co-produced. She co-wrote all 10 of the songs except for one traditional Norwegian folk tune; a new, improved version of "Alvedansen" was also included. The songs' styles ranged from low-key ballads with choir and piano to richly-coloured soundscapes. The Norwegian media responded well to this released; most magazines gave it four- and even five-star ratings.

2008

In September 2008, Christine portrayed Cosette in Les Miserables in 100 performances in Bergen, Norway. Les Misérables sold 35.000 tickets before the premiere. Only three weeks after the opening night, this musical experienced a huge success. All tickets for the musical were sold out, and Guldbrandsen and the rest of the ensemble also performed on New Year's Eve and now more than 42000 people have seen Les Misérables on Den Nationale Scene (The National Scene) in Bergen. The reviews were extremely positive and the newspapers gave the musical (6/6 in BA, 5/6 in VG and 5/6 in Dagbladet) to name a few. This musical was Guldbrandsen's first acting performance.

Christine also joined the Icelandic company NAVIA. The song "We Can Fly" is a project from Navia and is sung by Christine Guldbrandsen (Norway), Jippu (Finland), Julie Berthelsen (Denmark), Lisa Werlinder (Sweden), Disella Làrusdòttir (Iceland), and the African singer Youssou N'Dour. They are sent out on a mission to make a difference through the power of music, Representing different music genres, they perform individually and together, within the NAVIA-project. They share a dedication to making a difference, in the NAVIA spirit that has created a bond of friendship between them.

Saturday 27 December 2008, Guldbrandsen performed at a concert called Tribute to Madonna, dedicated to one of the world's biggest stars, Madonna. Guldbrandsen teamed up with other popular artists like Elisabeth Moberg, Tine Taule and Torhild Sivertsen to name a few.

2009

Late in May Guldbrandsen took part in "Mostraspelet" on Bomlo (located on the west-coast of Norway). She was offered the leading female role as Vigdis and accepted the role with high hopes. The leading male role was played by the actor/singer Sigurd Sele. Mostraspelet is a yearly event which show some of the Norwegian history. 100 actors and an orchestra of 40 musicians helped Guldbrandsen performing in the role as Vigdis. She also shared the venue with Alexander Rybak, who is the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest winner from Norway.

Christine Guldbrandsen sang as a guest artist on Håvard Lothe's Dorian Gray on the pop ballad "When We Fly." Håvard Lothe's album was released on 31 August in stores and for download.

On 18 October 2009, Christine performed with the Norwegian group Nightingales for the first time. Nightingales is a project she initiated with three other well-known young singers in Norway: Karianne Kjærnes, Helene Bøksle, and Heidi Ruud Ellingsen. The concert took place in Hareid (near the city of Ålesund) on the northwestern part of Norway.

Christine toured southwestern Norway in 4-12 December 2009; she and Sigurd Sele gave audiences a concert containing some of the best-known Christmas carols as well as lesser-known material. The concerts happened in five different churches in Norway with musicians like Vidar Eldholm (piano), Thomas Dahl (guitars) and Kjetil Fluge (bass). Eurovision winner 2009 Alexander Rybak also appeared.

In December Christine Guldbrandsen returned from her trip to Afghanistan, where she performed for the Norwegian, German, Swedish and U.S.American soldiers stationed in the northern part of the country. During her stay Christine performed with musicians from the Norwegian forces (Forsvarets Musikkorps Vestlandet).

2010

Christine Guldbrandsen performed at various gatherings initiated by "Den Norske Sjomannskirken". Christines mainly performed in "Millenium Place", situated in the Olympic city Whistler under the Vancouver/Olympic Winter Games of 2010.

From September 2010 to January 2011, Christine Guldbrandsen played Maria in Norway's The Sound Of Music. Espen Hana played the male role as George von Trapps.

Christine is featured as one of many artists on the album "Bergensbølgene - Et Dykk I Bergens Pop- og Rockhistorie" where she sings a song called "Telefonen" by the famous Norwegian singer/songwriter Jan Eggum. The song and the album can be bought at CDON.com. In addition to Christine several of Bergen's most distinguished artists participates on the album.

On December 2010, Christine held several Christmas-concerts with the tenor Mads Belden and Sigurd Sele.

2011

Gulbrandsen released the album Color in April 2011. The ten songs on the album were composed and had lyrics by several people, including Christine Gulbrandsen, Kjetil Fluge, Hans Petter Aaserud and Eivind Buene.