Sverre Knudsen (born 1955) is a Norwegian writer and musician. He has written for stage, television and digital media, and worked as a music producer.

Career

Music

Between 1979 and 1988 Knudsen played in and produced the

bands Bands may refer to: * Bands (song), song by American rapper Comethazine * Bands (neckwear), form of formal neckwear * Bands (Italian Army irregulars) Bands () was an Italian military term for Irregular military, irregular forces, composed of nati ...

The Aller Værste! The Aller Værste! (1979–1981) was a Norwegian rock band from Bergen, that was awarded Spellemannprisen for the album '' Materialtretthet'' (1980). Biography The Aller Værste! was influenced and inspired by punk, new wave, ska and regg ...

(TAV!), Løver & Tigre ( no) (Lions and Tigers) and The Beste ( no). He received a Spellemannpris in 1980 for the album Materialtretthet (Metal Fatigue) with TAV! He has also worked as music producer under the pseudonym Freddi Fiord (thus baptized by

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash' ...

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

) on

recordings 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 ...

by Norwegian

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

pioneers Wannskrækk and

DumDum Boys DumDum Boys are a Norwegian rock band from Trondheim, formed in 1979 and originally known as Wannskrækk. The band is one of the most successful Norwegian rock acts of all time, and are considered one of the "big four" bands who popularized mod ...

. His first solo album, ''La det brenne'' (Let It Burn), was released in 2008. For the lyrics of his second album, ''Vi'' (We) from 2017, he won his second Spellemannpris in 2017. ''Vi'' was the first album of a trilogy in cooperation with

Lasse Marhaug Lasse Marhaug (born 10 September 1974) is a Norwegian musician who primarily works in the field of noise music but frequently drifts into other areas such as improvisation, jazz, rock and extreme metal. Marhaug has also been involved in creating ...

, followed by ''Gud'' (God) in 2018 and ''Lit'' (Trust) in August 2019.

Writing

He made his debut as author with the novel ''Strålende nederlag'' (Brilliant Defeat) in 1989. His 25th book ''Aarons maskin'' from 2011 received

Riksmål Society Riksmålsforbundet (; official translation: "The Riksmaal Society - The Society for the Preservation of Traditional Standard Norwegian") is the main organisation for Riksmål, an unofficial variety of the Norwegian language, based on the official ...

's Price for Children and Youth Literature ( no), was nominated for the

Norwegian Critics' Association The Norwegian Critics' Association (''Norsk litteraturkritikerlag'') is an organization for Norwegian critics in the newspaper and broadcasting professions. Former independent critic teams merged into Norwegian Critics Association in 1998. The ...

Prize for Children's Literature ( no) and the

Brage Prize The Brage Prize (Norwegian: ''Brageprisen'') is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation (''Den norske bokprisen''). The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature. The Brage Pr ...

. He has written TV drama: ''The Third Sign'' (NRK 2002), one episode in ''Hvaler'' (NRK ), 12 episodes for Children's Television ''"Fritt Fram"'' and more than 160 episodes for the Norwegian television soap opera ''

Hotel Cæsar ''Hotel Cæsar'' is a Norwegian soap opera that aired on TV 2 from October 24, 1998 to December 14, 2017. From 1998, the show was broadcast Monday to Friday, except during the autumn of 2006, when the show was only broadcast Monday to Thursday ...

.'' Knudsen has translated over 50 fiction books, including books by

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

Niall Griffiths Niall Griffiths (born 1966) is an English author of novels and short stories, set predominantly in Wales. His works include the novels ''Grits'' and ''Sheepshagger'', travel guides to Aberystwyth and Liverpool, and a book of poetry. He has won t ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

and

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

Miscellaneous

He has also worked as a piccolo, caretaker, distribution manager, consultant for publishing and film, carpenter, stevedore, teacher, driver, tram driver in

Oslo Sporveier AS Oslo Sporveier is a defunct municipal owned company responsible for public transport in Oslo, Norway. It was created in 1924 to take over the city's two private tram companies. In 1927 its started with bus transport, including from 1940 to 1 ...

, clerk, documentation writer in

Norsk Data Norsk Data was a minicomputer manufacturer located in Oslo, Norway. Existing from 1967 to 1998, it had its most active period from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. At the company's peak in 1987, it was the second largest company in Norway and em ...

, copywriter in JBR advertising agency, for Filadelfia advertising agency, and as multimedia and internet developer in HEP, BeatMap and never.no AS. He started the digital communications agency never.no AS in the autumn of 1999, where he worked as a creative leader until the end of 2001. He became a full-time writer and playwright again from 2002.

Recordings

The Aller Værste!

;Album *'' Materialtretthet'' (1980) *''Disniland i de tusen hjem'' ( no) (1981) *'' Materialtretthet'' (1st reissue) (1990) *''The Aller Værste!'' ( no) Compilation (1999) *'' Materialtretthet'' (2nd reissue) (2010) *''Live 1980'' ( no) (2007) ;Singles *''Blålys/På vei hjem + SOS + En av dem'' (1980) *''TAV!'' EP (1980) *''Hakk/Bare feiginger'' (1981) *''Bare ikke nok'' (flexidisc) (1986)

The Beste

*''En sang for åtte kroner'' ( no) (1985) *''Blått'' ( no) (1987) *''En sang for åtte kroner... & Blått'' (2012)

Løver and Tigre

*''Grr...'' ( no) (1983) *''Grr... & Live på Høvikodden'' (2010)

Solo

;Album *''La det brenne'' ( no) (2009) *''VI'' (2017) *''Gud'' (2018) ;Singles *''Rask'' (1992) *''Kløen i blodet'' (2017) *''Oh Cordial'' (2018) *''Oh Cordial, Lasse Marhaug Remix'' (2018) *''Brunbeiser Boogie'' (2018) *''Overalt'' (2019)

Theater

* ''Rytmeboksen'' – Norsk dramatikkfestival ( no),

Den Nationale Scene Den Nationale Scene () is the largest theatre in Bergen, Norway. Den Nationale Scene is also one of the oldest permanent theatres in Norway. History Opened under the name '' Det Norske Theater'' in 1850, the theatre has roots dating back to its ...

, (1990) * ''Gåkunstens forfall'' – Bergen Internasjonale Teaterfestival, (BIT), (1993) * ''Kål og karri'' – Drammens teater ( no), (1998)

Drama

* ''Fritt fram'' – Children's television, 13 episodes,

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 ...

, (2000) * ''Det tredje tegnet'' – TV series, 6 episoder, NRK, (2002) * ''Hvaler'' ( no) – (writer) TV series, TV 2, (2008) * ''

'' – (writer) soap opera TV series, TV 2, approximately 163 episodes (2008–12 + 2015)

Books

* ''Strålende Nederlag'' – novel,

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises o ...

(1989) * ''Rabaldriansen og Lille Fiskebank'' – children's literature, Aschehoug (1990) (with

Christopher Nielsen Christopher Nielsen (born 20 April 1963 in Oslo) is a Norwegian comics artist. He is especially known for his subcultural depictions. Nielsen got his first comics printed in 1980 after entering a competition in the Norwegian anarchist magazi ...

) * ''Sommerfuglbensin'' – poems, Aschehoug, (1991) * ''Rask'' –

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

, Aschehoug, (1992) * ''Rabaldriansen og Lille Fiskebank står i butikk'' – children's literature, Aschehoug, (1993) (with Christopher Nielsen) * ''Munn til munn'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug, (1996) * ''Berettiget'' – novel, Aschehoug, (1997) * ''Noe i lufta'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (1997) * ''Løpe løpsk'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (1998) * ''Harmonilære'' – poems, Aschehoug (1998) * ''Mannen som ble edru'' – novel, Aschehoug (1999) * ''Kommer sjelden alene'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (1999) * ''De aller nærmeste'' –

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

, Oktober (2000) * ''Spill for stjernene'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (2001) * ''Hjerte til salgs'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (2002) * ''Død hånd'' – crime fiction, Kagge Forlag ( no) (2002) * ''Rytmisk Forening'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (2003) * ''Fare, fare krigsmann'' – crime fiction, Kagge forlag (2004) * ''Sukkersug'' – novel, Kagge forlag (2005) * ''Fabrikken uten hjerte'' – young adult fiction, Cappelen Damm (2006) * ''Racerbilen og tyven'' – children's literature, Cappelen Damm (2007) * ''Skremt'' – barnebok, Cappelen Damm (2008) * ''Elsker'' – young adult fiction, Aschehoug (2009) * ''Hunden'' – children's literature, Cappelen Damm (2010) * ''Aarons maskin'' – young adult fiction, Cappelen Damm (2011) * ''Aarons hevn'' – young adult fiction, Gyldendal (2015) * ''Sverre Knudsen, 1979'' – autobiography, Aschehoug (2015) * ''Frie og reptile. Norsk rasisme 2018'' –

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

, Kvali-Kvanti (2018)

Awards and nominations

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

( no) for '' Materialtretthet'' with ''

'' * Sonja Hagemanns barne- og ungdomsbokpris ( no) (1999) for ''Kommer sjelden alene'' ( no) * Språklig Samlings literature prize ( no) (2005) * Oslo bys kulturstipend (Cultural Stipend from the city of Oslo) (2008) * Nominated to Spellemannprisen, Best Lyrics for ''La det brenne'' (2009) * Nominated to Brageprisen for ''Aarons maskin'' (2011) *

's Price for Children and Youth Literature ( no) for ''Aarons maskin'' (2011) * Nominated for

Prize for Children's Literature ( no) for ''Aarons maskin'' (2011) * Spellemannprisen ( no), Best Lyrics for ''Vi'' (2017)

External links

Sverre Knudsen's official web pagePress release for Sverre Knudsen's solo album ''Lit''
* *
About Sverre Knudsen's books on Aschehoug Publishing HouseSverre Knudsen's books on Kagge Forlag

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knudsen, Sverre 1955 births Norwegian record producers Writers from Oslo Musicians from Oslo Living people