Lene Marlin Pedersen was born in 1980 on August, 17th in Ullsfjørd, village of Stordalstrand near Tromsø , a Norwegian fjørd above the polar circle. However, she had always lived in Tromsø until her success. While her parents and her brother Rude were listening to songs broadcasted on the radio, she started to sing them at the age of 2. It even appears that she would have cried in a music shop as she didn't want to leave a guitar. Years have passed and the young girl kept interested in music. After talking for a long with her friends, she was used to liberate her mind by writing. She told her own experiences, her circle's ones or she talked about things she had heard,… She also liked singing. That's why her parents offered her a guitar for Christmas, while she was 15. Then she learnt to play very fast and turned her lyrics into songs : she composed more than 60 songs in only 3 years.

She decided to play some of them to her friends who immediately loved it. Therefore, during the summer 1997, while she was left in holidays, they got in touch with a journalist of the NRK Troms, a local radio. He liked her music too so he met her when she came back. That is how she recorded a model intended for being sent to several record companies. She didn't expect to have any answer but however she tried. Listen to the Flown away demo (1997)



Finally, the NRK journalist made Per-Erik Johansen (from Virgin) discover the young artist's talent. And three weeks later she signed a 5-album contract... Although she was already recording her songs in studio, the student didn't want to leave school before passing her exams. Thus she had to fly every week-end to Oslo , which was obviously very tiring. Besides she was given the national price Karolineprisen, awarded by Wang Handelsskole in Oslo . It rewards pupils leading an artistic or sportive life very active, without neglecting studies.

She released her first single, Unforgivable Sinner, which went up at the number one in the sales, for 8 weeks in a row. Her second release, Sitting Down Here, has been a great hit too, not only in Norway but also in England. Her first album, Playing My Game, went out on March, 22 nd ,1999 in Norway. People rushed to buy it : 50 000 copies have been sold in only 3 days (for 4 millions inhabitants, which means that 125 persons out of 1000 went to buy it the first three days!). During the year 1999, 1 500 000 copies have been bought in Europe and Japan. She won many prices like 4 Grammy Awards in 1999 in Norway , or like the MTV Music Awards for being “the best northern artist”, on November, 11 th, 1999 in Dublin. In 2000, her album kept on being at the top of the charts, especially in Italy and in England . Lene moved everywhere and performed in several festivals. But after having received 4 spellmanprisen in February 2000, she disappeared.

Three years and a half passed by and no one had heard from her during this period. There were rumours about the release of a new album going round, but nothing was coming. Finally, it is in spring 2003 that her coming back is officially announced for the summer to follow.
Tired of round trips, TV shows all around Europe , journalists,... She had decided to stop for a while. She didn't know if she could bear all this pressure once again. So the question was not when would she make a new record but if she would. Nevertheless she had gone on playing guitar and writing songs.
But after a several-year rest and a psychological follow-up, Lene decided to come back. “I still had things to say and to share, and I wanted to please my fans who were still waiting for me...” she said.



This is how she found herself in a studio, writing new songs and composing them helped by her musicians. You Weren't There came out for the first time on the European radios at the end of July in 2003. As for the album, Another Day, it has been released in September 2003 with a DVD. It is very different from the first, as Lene herself, who had grown and had new expectations, as the one of sleeping in her own bed more often !

She performed in many shows and travelled in Europe . We saw her in Milan , Paris , Oslo ,... She also sang for the Nobel Price in Oslo on December, 11 th in 2003. A little European tour was even planned for 2004, but it has been finally cancelled. Her appearances rarefied, but in December of 2004 she made several concerts with Bertine Zetlitz and Amorten Abel (other Norwegian singers) all around Norway.

In January 2005 she wrote a song, "Venn" (“Friend”), intended for the help of Asian countries struck by the Tsunami. It reunited lots of Norwegian singers, especially Espen Lind, who composed the song. A double CD has been released then.

After that event, no new was given about her anymore for several months. But she made a surprise and appeared on NRK1 (Norwegian TV channel) performing her new song “How Would It Be”. She revealed that a new album was about to go out, entitled Lost In A Moment.

Thus, Lene comes back changed. She appears more mature and more « feminine » as the papers say. Lost In A Moment has been released between June, 13 th and October, 19 th depending on countries. Lene is currently travelling through Europe so as to promote her new album.
To be continued...

A suivre...