Sissel Kyrkjebø

Sissel Kyrkjebø (born 24 June 1969), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano.

Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos.

Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and operatic arias.

She sings mainly in English and Norwegian and has also sung songs in Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Irish, Italian, French, Russian, Icelandic, Faroese, German, Neapolitan, Māori, Japanese and Latin.

She rose to prominence in Norway in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and her cover version of Ole Paus' song "Innerst i sjelen" gained wide popularity in the 1990s.

In 1980, she appeared in the sing-along program ('Sing with Us') together with a children's choir.

Her first solo TV appearance without the choir was in 1983 on Norwegian TV, with the song "Evergreen" in the children's program .

Later same year she and Rune Larsen, her later manager guested the TV-program ('Do You Remember?'), hosted by Odd Grythe.

She performed "" ('Childhood Home') and "Sukiyaki".

Her first solo appearance was in 1984, when she sang the Norwegian folk song "Ung Åslaug".

She first sang "Å, Vestland, Vestland" on Syng med oss in 1985; it has been her signature song since then.

In January 1986, Sissel appeared on the Norwegian TV-show "Kanal 1", hosted by Ivar Dyrhaug.

She performed "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Barbra Streisand and later, in February she performed "Comin' In and Out of Your Life" on the 1986 Alpine Skiing World Cup TV-show in Norway.

In May, Sissel performed "Bergensiana" during the intermission of the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, which took place in Grieg Hall in her home town of Bergen.

That was her big breakthrough and same year, her first album, Sissel, was released.

It sold more than 500,000 copies, making it the best selling album in Norway at that time.

In 1987, Sissel made her debut on Danish television, on Under Uret, hosted by Hans Otto Bisgaard.

She performed two songs: "Vårvise" with Danish singer/composer Sebastian and "Summertime".

Later that year, in November Sissel released her Christmas album Glade Jul.

It contained several traditional Christmas carols and it broke her previous record for best-selling album in Norway.

This album still holds the record.

Sissel performed in this program many times until 1989.

She is well known for singing the Olympic Hymn (Hymne Olympique) at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway; for duets with Plácido Domingo and Charles Aznavour at the "Christmas in Vienna" concert of 1994, José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Josh Groban, Neil Sedaka, Mario Frangoulis, Russell Watson, Brian May, Tommy Körberg, Diana Krall, Warren G, Dee Dee Bridgewater and The Chieftains; and her participation on the Titanic film soundtrack.

Spirit of the Season, a collection of songs from the choir's 2006 Christmas concert at Temple Square, was nominated for the Best Classical Crossover Album of the Year, as well as Best Engineered Classical Album.

Sissel's combined solo record sales (not including soundtracks and other albums to which she contributed) amount to 10 million albums sold, most of them in Norway, a country with 5 million people.

Her albums have also sold well in Sweden, Denmark and Japan.

Together with Odd Nordstoga, they are the only Norwegian artists to have an album go 11 times platinum in album sales for Strålande jul (Glorious Christmas).

In Norway she is mostly known as Sissel Kyrkjebø; she started using her first name mononymously abroad later in her career.

Her first name 'Sissel' is a Norwegian variant of 'Cecilia'.

This is a popular first name from Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of church music.

Her last name means "church farm" or "church field", and may be derived from an agricultural property owned by or located near the local church.

Sissel grew up on Lønborg in Bergen with two older brothers, Eirik and Bjørn.

Sissel and her parents often took hikes in the mountains surrounding Bergen.

In early years she wanted to be a nurse, but at the age of nine music became her passion.

She joined her first children's choir under the direction of New Zealand-born conductor Felicity Laurence.

She stayed with the choir for seven years and said, "That was my musical education. We sang everything: classical and jazz, folk and even Māori songs. People said we sounded like an angel choir because we had this very clean pure sound, almost like an English boys' choir."

Sissel won her first local talent competition when she was ten.

She was influenced by various musical genres; her parents were interested in country music and classical music, and her brothers' interest in rock music also influenced her.

She has stated that Barbra Streisand, Kathleen Battle and Kate Bush were inspirations.

Sissel received her first U.S. Grammy nominations on 6 December 2007 for a collaboration with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.