Life and career
Lene Marlin (last name Pedersen) was born on August 17th 1980 in Tromsų, a city in the far north of Norway, inside the Arctic Polar Circle. Her passion for music was born together with her, in fact her parents say that when she was 2 she cried because she had to leave a guitar in a music shop. When she was 15, Lene had a really big Christmas gift: the guitar (a Takamine, model EF-2SBL) that she started to play. At the same time, in her room, during the long and dark Scandinavian winters, she started to write her songs, that she used to sing to her brother Rune (5 years older than Lene) and to friends, she also recorded her songs on a tape recorder. Lene's friends noticed her talent and gave her a surprise in summer 1997, when they got in touch with a NRK journalist (NRK is the main radio/tv station in Norway). Lene had the opportunity to record two songs as a demo in the NRK Tromsų radio station; it was just a game for her, she didn't expect the success at all! Luckily, Lene came back home with the journalist who discovered her and he said that he had a friend in Virgin and could make him listen to the tape she had just recorded. Everything went well, and they asked to Lene to do a full demo. Lene did it very well, singing 15 songs (written by herself) in two and half hours. Virgin bosses were pleased with her performance, so Lene's contract was ready; Lene's big passion became a job: her dream, to have a recording contract was fulfilled.

At 18 Lene started to record her songs at Virgin studios in Oslo, and at the same time she finished High School in Tromsų. She had a really tiring life, and every day she had to take a plane from Tromsų to Oslo, as well as having to study like a normal girl to get her school leaving certificate, that she eventually got with the mark 5 out of 6. She managed to balance school and job engagements, and she was awarded of the Karolineprisen, and that's just the first award of her life!

The Unforgivable Sinner single was released in Norway in 1998, and had massive success, staying at number 1 in the charts for 8 weeks, and becoming the biggest selling single ever in Norway. Sitting Down Here was next and had similar results. The release of the album Playing My Game exceeded all records and sold 50.000 copies in the first 3 days, which was a massive amount, considering that the Norwegian population is only about 5 million people. Sales were very very good, so Virgin decided to try and compete in the European market. Lene gained many awards in her home country, and her cd was released in Japan and Europe, having big success mainly in Italy, where the album stayed in the charts for 1 whole year.
In 2000 her success continued in England, with Sitting Down Here; in Italy she performed at the popular Sanremo festival, then she went away from the spotlight, taking some time off to rest. Lene has a 5 album contract with Virgin.

Lene is rather different from the other stars of international music. She doesn't like to show herself, she is shy during interviews, and she is amazed by the interest that people have in her. She's a simple girl, doesn't have "diva" manners and that's one of the reasons why people like her. She is really fond of her family and friends, who are really important for Lene; she likes to have fun with them and have parties. She's going out with Stian Barsnes Simonsen, a Norwegian actor, from the TV series "Hotel Caesar", but Lene is keeping her life away from the spotlight, so we don't know many things about her private life. The meaning of Lene's lyrics hasn't been revealed by Lene, in fact she says that no one, not even her closest friends, know about these; the inspiration comes from her own experiences, friends, or something that happens in the world. More passions of Lene: Playstation (Tekken 3 and Driver are her favourite games!), McDonalds, pizza. Sport: when she was younger, Lene played many sports, particularly Tai Kwan Do ("I'm little and have to defend myself!"), football, volleyball and table tennis. Favourite movie: Face Off. She likes to listen to music, like Alanis Morrisette, Radiohead, Verve, U2... her favourite song from her debut album is Playing My Game (but she won't say why!). Clothes: she doesn't wear bright colours, "because I'm shy and just wanna hide". Lene bought a new house in Oslo, in one of the wealthy districts in the city, but when she can, she visits her relatives and friends in Tromsų.