From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kurt Erik Nilsen

Born:	September 29, 1978 Bergen, Norway
Occupation:
Spouse:	Kristin Halvorsen (since July 29, 2006)
Children:	Marte (10), Erik (6) and Lukas (1)
Website:	Kurt Nilsen Fanclub

Kurt Erik Nilsen (born September 29, 1978 in Bergen, Norway), won the Norwegian version of the television show Pop Idol, aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He won with 53 % of the votes against Gaute Ormåsen. His subsequent single, "She's So High", written by Tal Bachman, went straight to number one in the Norwegian singles chart and is among the biggest-selling singles in Norway to date. His debut album was simply called I.

He subsequently won the vote for the World Idol title on January 1, 2004, singing the hit "Beautiful Day" by U2, beating competitors from ten other nations, including favourite Kelly Clarkson from the United States, and scoring the first place in 10 out of 11 voting countries. In the show presenting the entries on December 25, Ian Dickson, the Australian judge, said: "You have the voice of an angel, but you look like a Hobbit. Right. And the fact is if we were looking for Middle-earth Idol you'd be an absolute hands down winner" Kurt's gap-toothedness did not seem to bother the viewers and voters, though.

His second CD, A Part Of Me, released in 2004, contains only his own material.

In January 2005, he broke up with his fiancée, Kristine Jacobsen. They had been together for 11 years, and had two children together: Marte (born 1996) and Erik (born 2000). He and his new girlfriend, Kristin Halvorsen (not to be confused with the Norwegian Minister of Finance), welcomed their first son, Lukas, on January 20, 2006. Nilsen and Kristin later married on July 29, 2006.

Kurt Nilsen is one of only seven contestants in the Idol (Norway) history who succeeded in staying out of “bottom three/two” places in weekly votes along with Gaute Ormåsen (season 1), Susanne Nordbøe (season 2), Jorun Stiansen (season 3), Alejandro Fuentes (season 3), Tone Damli Aaberge (season 3) and Jonas Thomassen (season 4).

Of them, Nilsen and Stiansen went on to win the competition.

In 2006 he and three other Norwegian artists Askil Holm, Espen Lind and Alejandro Fuentes, all in the same management, joined forces and went on tour in March as what was known by the media as "The New Guitar Buddies".

Initially, they planned just a short tour (5-6 concerts), but they got so popular that they ended up playing for more than 100,000 people during their around 30 concerts. They released a live album, which they never planned to do, and that album ended up as the fastest selling album of all time in Norway. So far they have sold around 250,000 copies of it. To make the success complete, they also released a live DVD, which also soon became a success. After only two weeks, it was almost the best selling music DVD of all time in Norway.

Albums

• Shoe - Breed (1998)(Former band Breed; later Fenrik Lane)
• Come Down Here - Fenrik Lane (2002)(Former band Fenrik Lane)
• Idol (May 2003)
• I (September 2003)
• I - International Version (May 2004) (Includes Beautiful Day)
• A Part of Me (November 2004)
• Hallelujah - Live (June 2006)

Singles

• She's So High (June 2003)
• Here She Comes
• All You Have to Offer
• My Street
• Before You Leave
• Never Easy (August 2005)

• Before winning the Norwegian version of the television show Pop Idol, Kurt made his living as a plumber.
• He was the lead singer in the Norwegian band Fenrik Lane.

• Kurt Nilsen the Official Unofficial Kurt Nilsen Fansite
• "She's so high" Music Video at TV2.no
• Google Music

Preceded by None

Idol (Norway) Winner Season 1 (2003)

Succeeded by Kjartan Salvesen