3-11 Porter

Per Arne Bertheussen formed 3-11 Porter in 1997. The original line-up was Per Arne on vocals and synth, Bjarte Jørgensen on drums and programming, Frode Johansen on Bass and Arild Elverum on guitar. On backing vocals were Merete Hugaas, Jeanette Plesner and Kari Lockert Lie.

In 1998, Erik Honore and Vidar Ersfjord produced the band’s first demo CD. Their first single was released later that year, with Kjell Vidar Lautizen producing.

After meeting Svein Hansen in 2000, he and Per Arne decided to combine their musical talents and today’s 3-11 Porter was born.Later on, Tracee Meyn was invited to join the band as a lead vocalist with Per Arne and to provide backing vocals.

Musically speaking, the members are from completely different backgrounds. Svein is a jazz and folk musician, Per Arne is strongly influenced by new wave and electronica, while Tracee’s many influences include a strong gospel and soul connection.

After a concert in the Oslo club Mono in 2003, the band was signed by Nordic records and, in the same year, their first album ‘Nurse Me’ was released in Norway and Poland, with a number of imports being sold in Denmark. [http://www.vg.no/musikk/artikkel.php?artid=200106]

The song ‘Surround Me’ was remixed by Per Martinsen (Mental Overdrive) and was immediately released on the Tea Lounge compilation album, the first of more than 100 compilation albums to include this song.

The band’s international breakthrough came when the song appeared on Hôtel Costes, Vol. 6

In 2005, ‘Surround Me’ was used by Rimmel in a commercial starring Kate Moss, which was shown in 63 countries. [http://www.vg.no/musikk/artikkel.php?artid=245779]

‘Surround Me’ has been used by many TV stations around the world, including the BBC, TV Globo (Brasil) TV2 Norway, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet . It has also been featured in an episode of the American TV series The L Word.

In 2007, 3-11 Porter were signed by German label Stereo Delux and have now released their second album ‘Surround Me’.

In 2008, the song ‘Surround Me’ appeared on the soundtrack of the film Fireflies in the Garden starring Julia Roberts in the German language version of the movie. It has also been used to promote the film on radio and television in the German speaking countries.

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