Arne Joachim Bendiksen, born 19 October 1926 in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, died 26 March 2009, was a Norwegian singer, composer and producer, described as "the father of pop music" in Norway.

In the 50s, 60s and 70s, he was a major figure in Norwegian popular music. First, as a member of the group The Monn Keys, later as soloist

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 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

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 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

Eurovision Song Contest 1964

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark after the Danish victory the previous year. Sweden did not participate because of a boycott by singers. They did however broadcast it...

) with Spiral as soloist, in 1973 (Eurovision Song Contest 1973

Eurovision Song Contest 1973

The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the eighteenth Eurovision Song Contest and was held in Luxembourg. The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their national languages was dropped, so performers from some countries sang in English....

) with Å, for et spill and in 1974 (Eurovision Song Contest 1974

Eurovision Song Contest 1974

The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom...

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

Åse Kleveland

Åse Maria Kleveland is a Swedish-Norwegian singer and politician.A well-known folk singer and traditional guitarist in Norway, she was appointed Minister of Culture in Norway from 1990 to 1996, representing the Labour Party under the Gro Harlem Brundtland administration...

's Intet er nytt under solen

Intet Er Nytt Under Solen

"Intet er nytt under solen" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, performed in Norwegian by Åse Kleveland....

in 1966 (Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1966

The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition and was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created in this year. This was possibly created due to the 1965 Swedish entry, "Absent...

), 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 Myhre

Wenche Synnøve Myhre , in some countries known as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer and actress who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, German as well as the Swedish markets and languages.She got her first recording contract with composer and producer Arne...

 and Kirsti Sparboe

Kirsti Sparboe

Kirsti Sparboe was born on 7 December 1946 in Tromsø, Norway. She Is a musical performer, and an actress. Most of her musical career is based around the widely popular Eurovision Song Contest....

 reached fame. However, in the Eurovision Song Contest finals of 1969

Eurovision Song Contest 1969

The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th in the series. It was the first time that the contest resulted in a tie for first place, with four countries each gaining 18 votes. Since there was at the time no rule to cover such an eventuality, all four countries were declared joint winners...

, Norway received a mere 1 point for the song Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli

Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli

"Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, performed in Norwegian by Kirsti Sparboe....

, which was composed by Arne Bendiksen and performed by Kirsti Sparboe

Kirsti Sparboe

Kirsti Sparboe was born on 7 December 1946 in Tromsø, Norway. She Is a musical performer, and an actress. Most of her musical career is based around the widely popular Eurovision Song Contest....

.

Arne did not let this crush his spirits though, and he continued his dedicated work as a singer/songwriter throughout the 70s. In the 80s, 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 - a cassette filled with catchy songs about the various Disney characters inhabiting the fictional city of Duckburg. 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

Nesodden is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Nesoddtangen. The parish of Næsodden was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...

, Akershus

Akershus

- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...

.

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
  Intet Er Nytt Under Solen
  "Intet er nytt under solen" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, performed in Norwegian by Åse Kleveland....
  
  "
• "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli
  Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli
  "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, performed in Norwegian by Kirsti Sparboe....
  
  "
• "Lykken er..."
  Lykken Er
  "Lykken er" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, performed in Norwegian by Hanne Krogh....
  
  
• "Og han kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakk-, kvakker når han ser, pengene blir fler' og fler'!"
• "Knekke egg"
• "Det blir ikke regn i dag"