Jan Werner Danielsen

Jan Werner Danielsen, artist name Jan Werner, (April 10 1976, Nord-Odal – September 29 2006, Oslo) was a Norwegian pop and rock singer, famous for his powerful voice. His breakthrough came after winning two important talent contests, most notably on national television in the show "Talentiaden" (NRK) in 1994.

He was one of the highest-selling recording artists in NorwayFact|date=June 2007 at his death at the age of 30.

Childhood star

Danielsen won his first talent show in 1988, at the age of twelve; the prize was a record deal. Then he had already been singing for two-thirds of his lifetime, as his first public appearance in a musical setting was at the age of four.Fact|date=June 2007

For several years after this victory, between 1988 and 1993, he sang regularly with the Hamar Symphony Orchestra. In 1992, Danielsen cut his second record deal, and was included in the plans for cultural events during the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer.

Commercial success

1994 was a busy year for Danielsen. First there was his appearance at the Olympics, then the "Talentiaden" victory, and finally representing Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 singing a duet with Elisabeth "Bettan" Andreassen. They performed a ballad and received sixth (6th) place.

Danielsen released his debut album, "All By Myself", in 1995. It earned him a gold record, selling 35,000 copies.Fact|date=June 2007 From then on he was known to most Norwegians as simply "Jan Werner", having dropped his last name. "Inner Secrets", his second album, was released two years later, in 1997. It sold 14,000 copies and included some of Danielsen's own compositions.Fact|date=June 2007

His third album, released in 1999, was "Music of the Night". It was inspired by the musical-theatre genre in broad, and had somewhat the same success as his previous album.Fact|date=June 2007 Danielsen's next album, "Singer of Songs" (2003), became his biggest seller to date. It reached second place on the national album chart and ended up selling around 100,000 copies.Fact|date=June 2007

Since 1997, Elisabeth Andreasen and Danielsen toured Norway with their Christmas concert. They called themselves "Bettan & Jan Werner". In 1999 and 2000, their concert tour was the most popular Christmas concert in Norwegian history.Fact|date=June 2007 They released an album together in 1999 with music from their Christmas tour.

A personal highlight of his careerFact|date=June 2007 came in 2003, when he performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, singing "Air" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Danielsen's various albums have sold a total of nearly 1 million copies,Fact|date=June 2007 an impressive figure in a country with just 4.6 million people.

Early death

On 29 September 2006, Danielsen's manager Febe Rognstad found him dead in his Oslo flat. [cite_web|url=http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=132205|title=Jan Werner funnet død|accessdate=2006-09-30|author=Bjørn, Camilla & Sæther, Anne Stine|date=2006-09-29|publisher=VG Nett|language=Norwegian] The news caused an outpouring of grief in the Norwegian entertainment industry. His family have denied any rumours about his death being the result of a suicide.Fact|date=June 2007 At the time he had recently finished a new album which, in accordance with the wishes of his family, was released as planned. It went on to become a huge success, selling 63,000 copies in its opening week alone,Fact|date=June 2007 reaching number one in the Norwegian chart "VG-lista".

The result of the autopsy was finally ready in early January 2007. It appears that Danielsen's death was caused by heart failure, most likely as a result of an inflammation of the bronchi of the lungs, combined with physical fatigue after a period with too much work.Fact|date=June 2007

References