Morten Abel

All Music Guide:

One of Norway's most beloved and successful artists, the genial pop/rock singer and songwriter Morten Abel has been in the national musical spotlight for nearly three decades -- first as the lead singer of the group Mods in the early '80s, then with the September When and Peltz in the 1990s, and as a solo performer through the 2000s. Born Morten Abel Knutsen in 1962 and raised in the northern town of Bodø, he moved south to Stavanger at age 15 and successfully auditioned to sing for the rock band Catrix, which later became Mods. In their five-year run (from 1980-1984), Mods released two Top 20 Norwegian albums and a third, limited-edition English-language release, Time Machine. Knutsen dropped his surname after the group dissolved and released a solo single in 1985, but soon regrouped with two of his former bandmates to form the September When in 1987. That group would become even more successful than Mods, topping the Norwegian charts with three consecutive albums in the early '90s.

After a stab at acting in the 1993 film Hodet Over Vannet and a single album with the trio Peltz in 1996 (which reached number two), Abel shifted gears and embarked on a solo career, continuing his string of Top Five successes with 1997's Snowboy. Demonstrating an obvious broad appeal without pandering to specifically commercial tastes or trends, Abel's solo work occasionally found him incorporating electronic and dance-based elements into his understated but often playful pop/rock style. His three subsequent albums -- Here We Go Then, You and I, I'll Come Back and Love You Forever, and Being Everything, Knowing Nothing -- all topped the charts, and were followed by a pair of compilations featuring several new tracks. In 2004 Abel appeared in his second film, Alt For Egil, in 2006 he returned to the pop charts with the album Some of Us Will Make It, and in 2007 he married longtime girlfriend Gry Isabell Sannes; their daughter is spectacularly named Ella Dorthea Joppeline Navaho Snowflake Abel Sannes Knutsen.

Wikipedia:

Morten Abel Knutsen, (born October 15, 1962), better known by his stage name Morten Abel is a Norwegian pop artist, and one of Norway's best-selling domestic artists.

Career

Morten Abel was born and grew up near Bodø, but moved to Stavanger when he was 15 years old. There he became the lead singer of a band called Catrix, which soon changed their name to "Mods". They released two albums in Norwegian language in 1981 and 1982, and had a big hit with a song called "Tore Tang". A third album in English language was released in 1984.

After Mods split up, Abel released a solo single in 1985. Two years later he formed the band "The September When", which became very popular in Norway. The September When released four studio albums between 1989 and 1994. Two of their hits were "Bullet Me" and "Cries Like A Baby".

When The September When split in 1996, Abel formed a new band called "Peltz". They released one album. After Peltz, Abel started focusing on a solo career, and his first solo album Snowboy was released in 1997. Since then he has released a further four solo albums, which have all been very successful in Norway. Some of his biggest solo hits include "Tulipz", "Be My Lover", "Trendsetter" and "Birmingham Ho".

So far, Morten Abel has sold around 550,000 copies of his solo albums. The total album sales of all his projects is more than 1 million. Abel has also acted in two Norwegian movies, "Hodet Over Vannet" (1993) and "Alt For Egil" (2004).

In 2006, Morten Abel performed at the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.