- Raquel Rastenni
Raquel Rastenni (
August 21 ,1915 -August 20 ,1998 ), born Anna Rachel Rastén, was a popular Danish singer. She was born inCopenhagen , and grew up in a little apartment in the poor central part of the city. Her parents had immigrated to Denmark from Russia at the start of the 1900s. Her father was a tailor, and her mother was a seamstress.She started her career as a dancer in the
Helsingør Revue in 1936 and had her debut as a singer in 1938, when she was also broadcast on radio for the first time. She sang with various orchestras through the early 1940s and in 1940 formed her own swing trio. That same year her first record was released. She also toured during these years inSweden .As a
Jew , she fled Denmark in October 1943 along with her family, as the country had came under Nazi occupation. She spent the war years in Sweden where she continued having great success with her career, performing with orchestras and incabaret s and varieties. Her jazz singing style has been compared to that ofElla Fitzgerald .She returned to Denmark in 1945 and in the years that followed she became Denmark's leading female ballad singer. Among her successes were "Vovsen i vinduet" ("
(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? ") in 1953 and "Heksedansen" ("The Witch Dance") in 1960. Her best-selling song was "Hele ugen alene" ("All week alone") in 1953 which sold over 120,000 copies. She was the first artist in Denmark to earn a gold record. She continued to garner awards throughout her career.In addition to her
Danish language recordings, she recorded also in Swedish, Yiddish and Hebrew.After qualifying in the
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to represent Denmark at theEurovision Song Contest , she participated inEurovision Song Contest 1958 where she sung [http://34sp.eurosong.net/~songthrush/web/den58.html Jeg rev et blad ud af min Dagbog] ("I Tore A Page Out Of My Diary"). She ranked number 8.She participated once more in the Danish Melodi Grand Prix, singing a duet with
Grethe Sønck entitled "Hjemme hos os" ("At our home").In the late 1980s she retired from public life. She died in
Skodsborg in the northern part ofSjælland on the day before her 83rd birthday.References
* Laursen, Carsten Michael (1999). ""Top-Pop: Navne i dansk pop 1950-2000"' ("Top-Pop: Names in Danish Pop 1950-2000"). L&R Fakta. ISBN 87-614-0086-6.
External links
* [http://www.def-musikportal.dk/musik-portal/eng/emner/jazz/raquel.zap# "Det Virtuelle Musikbibliotek" (The Virtual Music Library) article on Raquel Rastenni, in English, with photo)]
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