In her last post on Instagram, Lene has paid a thankful homage to colleague Ole Paus, who died on December 12th in Drammen at the age of 76.
Descendant of a Norwegian elite family, throughout a life full of experiences and collaborations, he stood out as singer, songwriter, poet, and author, and published about fifty albums and ten books.
His and Lene's artistic paths crossed during season 2 of Hver Gang Vi Møtes, aired in 2013. Ole Paus was a passionate supporter of the use of the Norwegian language: in the show's third episode, dedicated to Lene, he sang Masken, an adaptation of Lene's Disguise into Norwegian which touched Lene very much. Lene, in turn, sang Ole Paus' Jeg reiser alene and Engler i sneen, (the latter in duet with Kurt Nilsen), in episode seven (dedicated to Ole) and eight, respectively.
Later that same year Lene recorded Ole Paus' Omfavnelsen for his triple album Avslutningen, which, according to Ole Paus, was going to be his last one.
Here are Lene's words:
Ole ❤️ Your ability to see other people was special.
Thank you for all the moments, thank you for the music 🙏🏻 You touched so many hearts, also mine ❤️
We send our condolences to his family, and our thanks to Ole Paus for touching our hearts too, and making us experience one of the most emotional moments in the career of our beloved Lene Marlin.
Lene Marlin hasn't stopped writing. In december 2021 Du har meg (You have me), a collaboration with singer and songwriter Trygve Skaug, was published. Lene had already recorded a cover of Skaug's Øynene til mora mi, for her mother's 65th birthday.
However, Lene did not record her voice in the song, in which Skaug sings with Jenny Zett. Du har meg is part of a collection of 12 songs, available on Spotify and Apple Music, produced by company PwC as a Christmas present and released as a innovative advent calendar.
De Neste ("The Next"), airing from March 7th on Norwegian television channel NRK1 (premiere on March 5th on NRK TV streaming service) is a new musical entertainment tv show with Ida Maria Sivertsen as host and music personalities Lene Marlin, Cato Sundberg from Donkeyboy, Ingebjørg Bratland, OnklP, Sondre Lerche and Magnus Grønneberg from CC Cowboys, whom we remember from season 2 of Hver Gang Vi Møtes together with Lene. There is indeed something in common between the two shows, that is singing the other celebrities' songs. This time though, the ones facing such challenge will be six young newcomers in the norwegian music industry: Hedda Mae, dePresno, Sebastian Zalo, Marja Mortensson, Endre Nordvik, and Ylva. In every episode, each one of them will be assigned a song by one of the artists, with the freedom to create their own version, without the authors getting to hear the result until the final performance during the show: the artists will discuss only the background of the song and what it means for them. The show was recorded last January and will last six episodes.
In this so uncertain - and to some extents horrible - year 2020, we feel even more joyful to share this news. Lene herself announced it with a message on Instagram and Facebook, together with a picture of a little hand:
A little girl who's changed our lives ❤️ she's been with us for a while, we wanted to wait before we shared the news. Our beautiful daughter, Ellie❤️ So happy. So grateful.
After she personally announced her pregnancy last June, Lene, who turned 40 last August, and actor Kåre Conradi became parents to Ellie.
We're so happy for them, and wish them nothing but the best for this new adventure.
Welcome little Ellie :)
En liten jente som har forandret våre liv ❤️ vi har holdt henne for oss selv en stund, det har vært fint 😊Skjønne, gode...
Life begins at forty, they say, and for you who celebrated today expecting your first baby, there is a new life (literally) waiting for you. It's a very special birthday you will never forget, and we want to bring to you our dearest wishes. Happy birthday Lene Marlin! You're always in our hearts and on our minds!
Between Febrauary and March two related events took place: By:Songs (Feb. 25-28) and By:Larm (Feb. 28-Mar. 2). You might remember the latter from 2001, when Lene declined an intivation to the round table about her success. The former, which has by now reached its fifth edition, gathers authors, producers, and artists (both stars and newcomers) to promote professional collaborations.
Thanks to the unceasing activity from our Kathie and Knox, we are now able to share with you not only Lene's recent participation in By:Songs, but also the playlist of the songs that were written in that occasion.
We know Lene has been writing all this time - she was also recently spotted working in studio - and has already taken part in events like this in the past. In 2009, she was in the workshop organized by EMI on Dvergsøya island (remember S'pose?), and in 2010 she was with other artists at Song Farm on Saltö island in Sweden.
Ad here are four songs from this year's By:Songs, the last of which is sung by Lene herself!
Further research allowed to track down other eleven (!) collaborations in the Warner/Chappel catalogue; most of these songs were written together with Tobias Stenkjaer (already rumored in the past to have worked with Lene). The danish singer and songwriter tweeted in 2011 about a weekend of songwriting with Lene, though none of the titles appear among his records. Here's the full list:
A quick update to let you know that Free is back available for streaming on SoundCloud.
For those of you who missed it, it's an unreleased track that appeared more than two years ago on Jesper Mattsson's profile page (co-author with Lene of both Free and So Little Time), which though was later removed.
The file is not downloadable, but you can listen to it from any device.
Though a little late, we report here, after sharing it on Facebook, the link to the video Lene dedicated to her mother on December 26 as a gift for her 65th birthday. It's a guitar-and-voice cover of Øynene til mora mi (My mother's eyes) by norwegian singer and poet Trygve Skaug.
The video shows footage taken during the recording session along with private pictures of Lene and her mother throughout the years.
Here's Lene's words:
"Happy birthday to my dear mom, who is celebrating her 65th birthday today!
I wanted to give her a different birthday present this year, so I've recorded my own version of a song called «Øynene til mora mi - My Mother's Eyes» by the Norwegian artist Trygve Skaug.
I've loved this song since the first time I heard it some time ago. And I thought this was the perfect moment to sing this song, as a tribute to my mom. So here it is; Happy birthday to the best mom ever!
Guitar: Hans Mathisen
Recorded at Whiteroom Studio by Bjørn Erik Pedersen"
We are sure her mom has loved such a gift just as we loved the video, still in the hope to hear more singing from our star. Meanwhile, three months after the re-release of Playing My Game on vinyl in Norway to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lene's debut album, Lene will be back on TV on January 14th for the blind auditions of the fifth season of The Voice - Norges Beste stemme which took place last November. Lene will be judge and mentor for the second year in a row, after taking Thomas Løseth to the victory last year.
Good luck!
