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Bjørn Eidsvåg: born 1954 in Sauda, Norway Civil status: Married with three children. Cand.Theol. Degree from the Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in Oslo in1980. From 1981 he served as hospital minister at Buskerud Central Hospital in the Psychiatric Ward, with a break in 1987 during which when he performed his military service as a conscientious objector at the headquarters for Norwegian Church Aid in Oslo.

Bjørn Eidsvåg has been an artist since 1971. He has written a wide range of song lyrics and melodies (approximately 300 titles as of the spring of 2004). In 1976 he debuted with his first album. He has a total of 22 recordings to his name. All of his albums are available in CD format. Bjørn Eidsvåg has otherwise collaborated with other artists as a vocalist and lyricist on several albums.

What in many ways characterizes Bjørn Eidsvåg as an artist is his calling as a minister. But although his life philosophy is rooted thus, he has throughout his entire career claimed the right to speak his mind, independent of ideological pigeonholing. Through lyrics and music, he has illustrated a strong desire to communicate with everyone and personally Bjørn Eidsvåg defines himself as more of a cultural worker than a musician and artist.

The experiences stemming from his background in psychiatry have been important for Bjørn Eidsvåg. A number of the texts are about people whom he has met in his work as a minister in a psychiatric hospital. Throughout his entire career, the concept “to see” has been central. Most of the struggles we as humans contend with have to do with our need to be seen, Eidsvåg claims.

Bjørn Eidsvåg had his big break in Norway with the album «Allemannsland» which was released in October 1993. The album quickly sold more than 60,000 copies. The success was followed up in 1995 by «Landet lenger bak”, which as of the autumn of 1996 sold over 100,000 copies, the first of Eidsvågs albums to achieve such commercial success. Both albums were followed by large nationwide tours to full houses and warm reviews from the press. With «Allemannsland» and «Landet lenger bak» Bjørn Eidsvåg became a household word.

Bjørn Eidsvåg is now one of Norway’s best selling artists. All of the releases subsequent to 1996 have sold 100,000 copies or more, with the exception of “Tapt uskyld” (1999). The success reached new heights with the release of “Tålt” (2002) with more than 220 000 albums sold. All of the some 30 concerts of the autumn tour that year were sold out and extra concerts were organized in a number of locations. With “Tålt” Børn Eidsvåg was number one on the VG-hit list for 8 consecutive weeks.

Bjørn Eidsvåg has been nominated for Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy awards) ten times, among these the nominations were for «Live in New York» (1981), «Passe gal» (1983), «Landet lenger bak» (1995) and «På svai» (1997). In 1990 he received Spellemannsprisen for «Alt du vil ha». Bjørn Eidsvåg was selected as the Årets Spellemann 1997 (Musician of the Year 1997) and in 2002 he received the Spellemannsprisen for “Best Song of the Year” for the duet “Mysteriet deg” with Lisa Nilsson.

In addition to producing albums Bjørn Eidsvåg has since the end of the 1980s held up to 80 concerts and performances each year. In addition to concerts at home, he has on a number of occasions also toured in Denmark and Sweden.

Bjørn Eidsvåg is preoccupied with the significance of live music and of being able to reach everyone. He collaborates with both professionals and amateurs. Bjørn Eidsvåg has carried out several tours where local choirs and bands have contributed.

The first serious venture into the Danish market took place in 1996. Up until this time Bjørn Eidsvåg had only held sporadic concerts. In 1996 a serious initiative was carried out to present the artist Bjørn Eidsvåg in Denmark. In the course of the autumn, two showcases were held in Hillerød and in Århus, where Sissel Kyrkjebø took part as a guest artist. In January and February of the following year, Eidsvåg held another 13 church concerts throughout Denmark. Although Bjørn Eidsvåg was a relatively unknown artist to Danish audiences, he received an extremely warm reception by the public and the Danish press. None of Bjørn Eidsvågs albums were at this time released in Denmark. It took time to penetrate the Danish music market.

Due to diligent efforts, possibilities began to unfold in 2002. In the autumn, just before the release of “Tålt” in Norway, Petroleum Records and Sony contacted Sony Music Danmark, who had developed a great interest in Bjørn Eidsvåg. They wanted to make a serious investment in the artist in Denmark. In February 2003 “Tålt” was released on the Danish market and in the spring of 2004 Sony Music Danmark followed up with the special release of “Skyfri himmel”, containing live recordings done at Drammens Teater in February 2004. Danish artist Karen Busck takes part in “Skyfri himmel”, in a duet with Bjørn Eidsvåg of the song with the same title. Danish artist and colleague Allan Olsen has written the introductions for the two album covers and in collaboration with Bjørn Eidsvåg translated a number of Norwegian dialectical words into Danish. In the autumn of 2004 Bjørn Eidsvåg will hold some 10 concerts in Denmark.

Curiosity and receptivity with regard to the musical expressions of others has led to Bjørn Eidsvåg collaborating with a series of well-known musicians in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, including Lisa Nilsson, Alan Olsen, Karen Busck, Anne Dorte Michelsen, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Sondre Bratland, VAMP, Jan Eggum, Silje Nergaard, Morten Harket, Åge Alexandersen, Øystein Sunde, Sigvart Dagsland, Iver Kleive, Rita Eriksen, Bendik Hofseth, Susanne Lundeng, Frode Ahlnes, Kenneth Sivertsen, Arne Nøst and Hanne Krogh. In addition to these are the many musicians with whom he has collaborated on various recordings and tours (see discography).

Through collaborative projects with NORAD and later, Norwegian Church Aid, Bjørn Eidsvåg has also been on musical assignments in countries outside of the Nordic region.

In January 1996 he initiated a collaborative project with NORAD called «OBENDA» which entailed a colorful and spectacular musical encounter between 16 Namibian youths comprising the choir «Sunshine Kids», and Bjørn Eidsvåg himself. The project comprised a tour in Norway and meetings in Namibia, and the Norwegian state broadcasting channel, NRK, produced a documentary about the project, covering both Namibia and Norway. The program was broadcast in Easter of 1996. Follow up on the project was carried out by the organization Norwegian Church Aid in February/March1997, with concerts in Namibia, South Africa and Norway.

Christmas 2000 he was the main spokesperson in a TV program about the injustices perpetuated on the Mayan Indians of Guatemala. 220,000 Indians have been exterminated by different military regimes in Guatemala over the course of the past 30 years. Bjørn Eidsvåg and his musicians toured larger portions of this Central American country – performing his music, including a Spanish rendition of ”Eg ser”. The program about Eidsvåg’s meeting with the Mayan Indians was broadcast by NRK and created by Borgen Production.

In the spring of 2000 Bjørn Eidsvåg was anchorman of a TV program created in connection with Norwegian Church Aid’s annual ”Bread for the World Initiative”. The program was broadcast by the Norwegian channel TV2 – and was filmed in South Africa on the apartheid regime’s infamous prison island, Robben Island. Eidsvåg interviewed a number of victims of the apartheid regime. A number of them had spent more than 18 years in prison on the island. He also performed a number of his songs on the program.

A number of Bjørn Eidsvåg’s songs are represented in the «Tillegg til Norsk Salmebok» (Supplement to the Norwegian Psalm Book), which was published in the summer of 1997.

In addition to composing music and writing texts, Bjørn Eidsvåg has written for the Norwegian national daily newspaper Vårt Land.

Bjørn Eidsvåg is extremely active in the promotion of Norwegian popular music. He has been on the board of NOPA (A Norwegian association of composers and authors) GRAMO (joint society in Norway for musicians, performing artists and phonogram producers), and TONO (The Norwegian rights society) and is currently a board member of the newly founded Norwegian Artists Federation.