Gitte Hænning (born 29 June 1946) is a Danish singer and film actress, who rose to fame as a child star in the 1950s. She was known primarily mononymously (without a surname) in Europe. She moved to Sweden in 1958. Her first hit in Swedish was "Tror du jag ljuger" from 1961. As a teenager, Gitte sang popular hits in German, English, Italian (4 songs: "Amo Johnny", "Parla", "La mela", and "Il ricordo", recorded on two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

), and Danish. She had five different number one hits in three countries: one in Denmark, two in Sweden, and two in Germany. Her first German number one song was "Ich will 'nen Cowboy als Mann". This

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

sold 1.05 million copies by mid 1965, earning Gitte a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. In 1962, she attempted to compete for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

with "Jeg Snakker med mig Selv", but was disqualified because the composer, Sejr Volmer-Sørensen, had whistled the song in the canteen of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. In 1973, she competed for

Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest Germany has been represented at every Eurovision Song Contest since its inaugural edition in , except in when its entry did not qualify past the audio-only pre-selection round, and consequently did not enter the final and does not count as on ...

with the song "Junger Tag". Her success continued after famous duets with

Rex Gildo Rex Gildo (formerly Alexander Gildo, born Ludwig Franz Hirtreiter; 2 July 1936 – 26 October 1999) was a German singer of Schlager ballads who reached the height of his popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, selling over 25 million records and st ...

as 'Gitte & Rex' in a number of popular films. Gitte made an attempt to represent

Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest Luxembourg has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 39 times since its debut at the first contest in . The Luxembourgish national broadcaster, (RTL), participates in the contest representing the country. The nation participated in a ...

in 1978 with the song "Rien qu'une femme" but she lost out to the group

Baccara Baccara was a Spanish female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spanish artists Mayte Mateos (born 7 February 1951) and María Mendiola (4 April 1952 – 11 September 2021). The duo rapidly achieved international success with their debut single " Yes ...

. In the 1960s she also starred in several music and drama movies and on TV in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Gitte was among the most popular Schlager (hit music) singers of the

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

era, and continued to be popular in Germany and Denmark even as American music increasingly dominated the airwaves in the 1970s. She recorded a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

album with The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band in 1968. Through ensuing decades her singles still reached the German

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

, but never with the same success she enjoyed in the 1960s. In the 1980s, she changed her image and performed more adult-oriented music. She won some awards as a singer/entertainer. Her chart entries ended in the mid-1980s, but she has continued to be a successful live performer to the present day. A number of

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s have been recently released in Germany, among them a biographical

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. From 2004 to 2006 she starred with two other Scandinavian entertainers,

Wenche Myhre Wenche Synnøve Myhre (born 15 February 1947), known in German as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, Danish, German and Swedish markets and languages. She represented Ger ...

and

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany (today's Germany). She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and West Germany in the Eurovi ...

, in a huge stage and tour success. The live CD recording of their show entered the German charts. In 2010, she presented a new CD, which also had a German chart entry. She had her first chart entry in 1960 in Sweden and her last in 2010 in Germany.

Selected filmography

* ''

The World Revolves Around You ''The World Revolves Around You'' (German: ''Jetzt dreht die Welt sich nur um dich'') is a 1964 Austrian musical film directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner and starring Gitte Hænning, Rex Gildo and Claus Biederstaedt.Von Dassanowsky p.186 It was sho ...

'' (1964) * '' In Bed by Eight'' (1965), as Prinzessin Margaret * ''

The Pipes ''The Pipes'' () is a 1966 Czechoslovak film directed by Vojtěch Jasný. It was entered into the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. Cast * Walter Giller as George Randy * Gitte Hænning as Mary Randy * Juraj Herz as William Poker * Václav Lohnis ...

'' (1966), as Mary Randy * '' Hagbard and Signe'' (1967), as Signe

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haenning, Gitte 1946 births Living people 20th-century Danish women singers Danish film actresses Danish television actresses English-language singers from Denmark German-language singers of Denmark Italian-language singers of Denmark Singers from Aarhus Schlager musicians 21st-century Danish women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants