| History |
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| Read the story of
the Olsen Brothers written by music journalist Ove Nørhave |
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The
history of Olsen Brothers
Jorgen Olsen (born 15 March 2026) and Niels "Noller"
Olsen (born 13 April 2026) originate from Odense, Denmark.
They moved to Copenhagen with their parents and by the age
of 12 and 8 respectively, they started a band called "The
Kids" with Morten and Niels Thybo.
In 1965, they supported The Kinks on their visit to Denmark.
In 1967, the Kids performed two songs in the movie "Masser
af pigttråd". Later that year, The Kids won a musical
contest in the Copenhagen Forum.
By 1970, the brothers were simply known as Olsen and changed
band members regularly over the years. At one time, Erik Stephensen,
now better known as a Danish TV manager and journalist, played
the guitar in their band. At this time, Jorgen Olsen was writing
most of the group's material.
At the beginning of 1972, Jorgen and Noller auditioned for
the hippie musical "Hair" and both got roles. Jorgen
had a lead role and on the subsequent album he sang five of
the songs and even released the title song in Danish, together
with Eddie Skoller.
 The
brothers had great success in Hair and following this, they
contacted managers and record companies to present their own
material. The material was very good, and the Olsen Brothers
recorded their first album "Olsen" in London with
Peter Knight's Orchestra.
Released in 1972 and with all songs in English, this was their
first album to sell more than 100,000 copies in Denmark. Suddenly
the Olsen Brothers were the greatest all-time Danish pop idols.
This famous duo performed all over Europe - from Copenhagen's
Tivoli to Knokke in Belgium. Two singles were released from
their first album: "Angelina" and "Jimmy Loves
Me". Both singles became great hits on the Danish charts.
By 1973, the Olsen Brothers' posters were to be seen in the
rooms of every teenage girl in the country. The hardworking
duo had a tight schedule: they played festivals and performed
on TV and radio shows in Denmark, at Montreux in Switzerland,
Rostock in Germany and Sopot in Poland.
The two singles, "Vienna Express" and the title
track from the newest album "For What We Are" were
released in 1973. After releasing the single "My Sweet
Baby", the brothers wanted to move away from their pop
image and by 1974 had released "For the Children of the
World" in collaboration with UNICEF. In the same year,
the Olsen Brothers performed in Japan at the World Popular
Music Festival and in many other places around the world.
 In
1975, their only release was the single "Kodachrome"/"Den
dag det skete" on which the B-side was their first song
in Danish. The brothers needed a pause and after a year, they
came back to their worried fans with a lot of new releases;
two albums "Back On The Track" and "You're
the One" and six very exciting single releases: "Only
Lies", "Crack Brain Madonna", "Music Is
My Only Friend", You're the One", King Of Rock'n'Roll"
and "I Just Saw An Angel".
By the end of 1977, the Olsen Brothers were definitely "back
on track" and once again made a big hit at the World
Popular Music Festival in Japan. The year 1978 was fairly
relaxed and they released a new single "San Francisco"/"Marie"
(she was actually very popular in the Olsen family, as you
will see later). The single was the first Olsen Brothers release
with a Danish song on the A-side and became one of their most
sold singles ever. From "Dans, dans, dans", the
1979 album, the title track was released as a single and both
single and album remained best-sellers on the charts that
year.
All in all, the 1970s were a great period for the Olsen Brothers.
Their only release in 1980 was the hit single "Laila"
and after a 12-month pause, the duo was back in full force
in 1982. The new singles "Marie-Marie" (she's back)/"Feels
Like I'm Crazy" (no. 21 in Germany) and "Louise"
were some of their most successful releases in Denmark as
well as in Germany. The single "Neon Madonna" was
their long-awaited 1984 release becoming a huge success in
Denmark and Germany. In 1985, "Rejsen til solen"/"The
Game Is Over" was released as a single in Denmark.
 Throughout
the 70s and 80s, their numbers, especially "Marie Marie",
were to be found on almost 2 million records sold in Germany.
In 1986 they once again participated in the Danish song contest
with the number "Fællessang i parken", distributed
as a single with "Rejsen til solen" on the B side.
In 1987, for a concept album, "Rockstalgi", the
Olsen Brothers recorded new versions of their 1960 classic
favourites (something like David Bowie's "Pin Ups"
LP), including "I Saw Her Standing There", "If
You Gotta Go, Go Now" and "Hello Mary Lou".
A great success, the album sold more than 25,000 copies in
Denmark alone.
In 1989, Jorgen Olsen decided to work alone and performed
the song "Fugle" in the Danish song contest. He
released his first solo album in 1990, "Det stille ocean"
and performed again in the Danish song contest with the song
"Berlin".
The Olsen Brothers have participated in the Danish song contest
seven times, with Jorgen Olsen being a solo performer in two
of them.Throughout the nineties, the Olsen Brothers have mainly
concentrated on their civil jobs in education. But in 1994,
our heroes were back with a new release on their new album
label, CMC Records. The album, "Latest And Greatest"
was packed with Olsen hits and a couple of new songs. The
single release from that album was "Flyvende sommer"
- their first single release in almost ten years. Needless
to say, both album and single enjoyed great success. The Olsen
Brothers were busy again. They played live and prepared a
TV talk show with themselves as hosts and many Danish celebrities
and stars as guests.
 In
2000, they won the European Song Contest with the song "Fly
On The Wings Of Love" (in Danish "Smuk som et stjerneskud")
and have again become stars throughout Europe with the winning
tune and the album "Wings Of Love", a degree of
success seldom enjoyed by Danish performers.
In 2001 the Olsen Brothers found the time to record an album
which in every way was worthy to follow "Fly On The Wings
Of Love".
"Walk Right Back" consisted
solely of new songs. The title song was performed by the Olsen
Brothers at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002
hosted in Denmark due to the Olsen Brothers victory in 2000.
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The new album was well received by the audience as well
as by the radio stations. And having spent a great deal
of time and efforts on this album the Olsen Brothers decided
to take some time off to spend with their families before
they, in the beginning of 2002, started recording the album
"Songs" which was released on the 5th of August
2002. |
For the Olsen Brothers this album was an old dream coming
true. They recorded their own versions of their favourite
songs from their youth. "Love Grows" (Where My
Rosemary Goes), "Cecilia", "Mr. Tamourine
Man", "Daydream Believer", "No Milk
Today" and more - all songs that they wish they
had written themselves. The CD was recorded with a live
orchestra consisting of some of Denmark's finest musicians
(Poul Halberg on guitar, Jette Schandorf on bass, Olle Nyberg
on piano, Jan Sivertsen on drums and Jacob Andersen, percussion)
and was a huge success - not only in Denmark but in
Norway and Sweden as well.
Same year, by popular demand, the Olsen Brothers released
a special album just for the German market - the Olsen
Brothers translated into German language on the album "Weil
Nur De Liebe Zählt".
The massive success of "Songs" could not be disregarded
and it felt very natural for the brothers to follow up with
"More Songs", released in 2003. Same style and
atmosphere characterized this album, which was released
not only on CD but also on a CD including a bonus DVD. All
together "Songs" and "More Songs" has
sold more than 120.000 copies in Denmark.
This is the story so far but yet another chapter is in the
making as the Olsen Brothers are in the process of recording
the first studio album since "Walk Right Back".
The album is titled "Our New Songs" and contains
brand new hits to be released on the 28th of February 2005.
 This
year the Olsen Brothers celebrate their 40th jubilee, and
not just that; Jørgen and Noller Olsen - and 13 other
former European Song Contest contestants - have been voted
into the great 50th Congratulations Jubilee Show scheduled
for
22. October at Forum, Copenhagen.
”Fly On The Wings Of Love”, the Olsen Brothers
' winning entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm
in 2000 , is in with a chance of being voted the best Eurovision
Song Contest
entry of all time.
In honour of the occasion, the Olsen Brothers have decided
to release an outstanding new jubilee album - “Celebration”
- with the most popular tracks from an impressive career.
The album will be released on October 17, 2005.
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