Kirsti Sparboe

Kirsti Sparboe in 1967

Kirsti Sparboe at the 1965 Eurovision

Kirsti Sparboe is a Norwegian musical performer and an actress. Most of her musical career has been built on participation in the widely popular Eurovision Song Contest.

She was born on 7 December 1946 in Tromsø, Norway.

Her first participation in the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1965 when she was 18, with the song "Karusell", which came in 13th place. She then participated in the 1966 Norwegian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Gi Meg Fri", which came in 2nd. In 1967, her song "Dukkemann" came in 14th place at Eurovision.

She also participated in the 1968 Norwegian pre-selection, and would have gone on to represent Norway in 1968, but the song she performed ("Jag har aldri vært så glad i no'en som deg") was disqualified after accusations of plagiarising a popular Cliff Richard song called "Summer Holiday." She also covered the winning song of that year, Spain's "La La La", in Norwegian.

She represented Norway once more in 1969 with the song "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli" in 1969, which finished in last place. This song was recorded in three languages (Norwegian, Swedish, and French), and years later a "Grand Jubilee" version entitled "Oj Oj Oj, Grand Prix Jubilee", was released.

Sparboe participated in the 1970 German selection for the Eurovision Song Contest after Norway, Finland, Portugal and Sweden refused to participate for that year. She sang "Pierre Der Clochard", and ended in fourth place. Sparboe also covered 1971's winning song "Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue" in Norwegian, and also the 1970. winning song "All kinds of everything". That cover can be heard in the "external links" section.

Since the Eurovision Song Contest, she has released singles mostly in Germany, where she found moderate success. Sparboe also showed off her acting talents for a one-off BBC TV Show, Jon, Brian, Kirsti And Jon, in 1980.

In recent years the song En Student Från Uppsala, meaning "A Student from Uppsala", initially a hit in 1969 in Germany as Ein Student Aus Uppsala, has become the unofficial anthem of students at Sweden's Uppsala University, giving new popularity to Sparboe.

Sources

• Short Bio of Kirsti Sparboe in German [1]
• Archived Eurovision National Finals 1956–1969 Archived 26 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• BBC Comedy Guide - "Jon, Brian, Kirsti And Jon"[2]

External links

• Kirsti Sparboe at IMDb
• Kirsti Sparboe performing "Gi meg fri" in 1966
• Kirsti Sparboe performing "Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli" in 1969
• Kirsti Sparboe performing "All kinds of everything"