Per Natrud Bergersen (1 October 1960 – 28 June 1990) was a musician from

Røros Municipality ( Norwegian) or is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The municip ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He was killed by a friend in 1990, when 29 years old, with a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

. According to news reports the friend said that he did this at Bergersen's request, as he wanted help committing

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

Life

Bergersen was born in Australia. His parents later divorced, with his father, the metallurgist Olav Bergersen, remaining in Australia while his mother, Ingrid Natrud, returned to Røros with her son. She died when he was 13 and he lived with a friend of hers, Reidun Roland. At 16 he began training as a car mechanic and moved to Fastevollen, outside Rorøs. After he turned 18 he moved back to his childhood home and lived off his inheritance from his mother, which included several paintings by

Christian Krohg Christian Krohg (13 August 1852 – 16 October 1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. He was the director and s ...

. He taught himself the guitar and started writing songs while living at Fastevollen; in 1983–84 he studied music at Skjeberg

Folk High School Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsbor ...

Musical career

Prior to his untimely death Per Bergersen had published a

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

, ''Redrum Psychosis'', in 1985, and he also contributed a song, "Duejakt", to a flexi single released by the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

journal ''

Gateavisa ( Norwegian: ''Street Newspaper'') is a countercultural magazine. It was first produced by an anarchist collective in 1970 at Hjelmsgate 3 in Oslo and focuses on anti-authoritarian topics. In it heyday in the early 1980s, an issue examining th ...

''. After his death, the LP ''PB'' was released by Røros fritidsklubb (a local youth club). 1000 copies were released, which quickly sold out. This LP has gained

cult status A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, book ...

in various milieux, and is sold used for more than $100. In 2021 it was re-released on CD. ''PB'' is mainly based on ''Redrum Psychosis'' and live recordings from Thomasgaarden, Røros, in 1990, the night before he was killed. The lyrics of his song "Kyssing" was used as the theme song of the Norwegian movie, '' Store gutter gråter ikke''. There the song had the title "Skyter meg på julaften" which directly translated means "I'll shoot myself on Christmas Eve", which is the opening line of the song. Bergersen's version was not included on ''PB''. Per Bergersen wrote most of his songs in Norwegian, although he also had three in English, and much of his material was very dark and sad, probably because of his own depressions and problems, having grown up with his mother until she died when he was 13. Some, however, also had a humorous and grotesque edge, whereas still others were social commentaries. Per Bergersen is considered among many people as the greatest (undiscovered) Norwegian songwriter to ever have lived, and in November 2010 the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

broadcast a half-hour-long documentary on Bergersen titled ''Ridder Sjanseløs''. Most of his material would also classify as pretty strong comments towards society and social structures like the song "Sachsenhausen" which have a line that directly translated means something like, "They will fire up the ovens for you or me, they don't really care who they burn". Which must be seen in relation to how Per Bergersen probably felt as an outsider in society and being neither able nor welcome to participate on his own terms. He has been named as an early influence by Mayhem.Svein Strømmen
"Mayhem – tretti år i mørket"
''Natt & Dag'', 20 August 2014

Discography

* PB * Redrum Psychosis * Live Røros Fritidsklubb, 1990 * Live Thomasgaarden, Røros

References

External links

Per N. Bergersen Online''Ridder Sjanseløs''

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

radio documentary, 6 November 2010
''Ridder Sjanseløs''
MP3 download of radio documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergersen, Per 1960 births 1990 deaths Deaths by firearm in Norway Norwegian murder victims Norwegian musicians People from Røros People murdered in Norway