Jorun Erdal

Jorun Irene Erdal is a Norwegian singer and musical theatre artist. Her parents are from Oppstryn in Stryn, in Sogn og Fjordane county, and she has also lived there since age 12. However she was born in Oslo on May 14, 1963, and from then on raised on Snarøya in Bærum, a suburb of the city of Oslo.

Jorun Erdal started her musical career touring Norway for three years with the band Ice. At the end her voice was exhausted, so she decided to take a break studying economics instead. Then she was engaged as a backing vocalists for the two Norwegian revue show stars Hege Schøyen and Øivind Blunck. After seven years, she had done almost 850 performances for them and their two shows "Bare gode venner" and "Fast følge". During the last few years, she has been involved with several summer revues, as well as a couple of Christmas concert tours at winter time. In 1993/1994 she had a hit under the name "Paparazzi Mama" with a dance-pop cover of the song "Mercedes Benz". The song was produced and arranged by Torstein Bieler and David Eriksen.

Since 1999 she has been heavily involved with the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selections, the Melodi Grand Prix, participating as a judge in 1999, and competing in 2000, 2005, and 2006. In 2000 she came fourth with "Another You", which she improved in 2005 when her "I Am Rock 'n' Roll" came second, just short of Wig Wam who later became one of the most successful Melodi Grand Prix winners ever, hitting the top spot on the national single chart, and being an instant hit in other Northern European countries like Iceland and Finland. In Melodi Grand Prix 2006 she participated with the ABBAish schlager tune "Lost and Found", a duet with last year's Eurovision contender for Finland, Geir Rönning. The duo went straight to the final in Oslo following their performance in the Alta semi-final, and was selected to be performed a second time in the final, ultimately being placed 4th.

After a drastic weight loss her voice has matured even further, and her stamina and power increased greatly.

External links

* [http://www.jorunerdal.no/ Official website]