Trille Bodil Nielsen, also Gudrun Bodil Nielsen, (1945–2016) was a popular Danish singer, guitarist and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
activist. In the 1960s, she began to sing mainly traditional folk songs and children's songs. After singing Jesper Jensen's controversial song "Øjet" (The Eye) on the TV programme ''Musikalske venner'' (Musical Friends) in 1970, she gained immediate popularity. A few years later, her album ''Hej søster'' (Hi Sister) with her own songs about the problems faced by women saw the beginning of a successful career as both a songwriter and a singer. She suddenly completely retired from the limelight in 1988, thereafter concentrating on her humanitarian and cultural interests. In particular, she produced programmes for children on Danish television.
Early life
Born on 6 March 1945 in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Gudrun Bodil Nielsen was the third child of the dental technician Niels Otto Nielsen (1913–1952) and Ragnhild Eleonore Kirstine Hansen (1912–1992), a secretary.
[ After her father died of kidney problems when she was seven, she was brought up by her mother on the island of ]Amager
Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...
, together with her two older brothers.[ In 1965, when she was 19, she met the 16-year-older artist Carl Henrik Jensen on the island of ]Fanø
Fanø () is a Danish island in the North Sea off the coast of southwestern Denmark, and is the very northernmost of the Danish Wadden Sea Islands. Fanø municipality is the municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') that covers the island and its seat ...
. They married, had a daughter, Sille, but divorced seven years later.
Career
In the 1960s, she collaborated with various singers and songwriters, including Georges Marinos, Frode Veddinge, Jens August Schade
Jens August Schade (10 January 1903, Skive, Denmark - 11 November 1978, Copenhagen) was a Danish poet. His debut was the 1926 poetry collection ''den levende violin'', "the living violin". He referred to himself in his poetry as "the bright poet" ...
and Cornelis Vreeswijk
Cornelis Vreeswijk (; ; 8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch-born Swedish singer-songwriter, poet and actor.
He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become ...
. After her daughter Sille was born in 1964, she included children's songs among her folksongs.[ Now part of the Copenhagen folk scene of the 1970s, inspired by the Canadian folk singer ]Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
she developed her own style and wrote her own songs.[
Trille gained immediate success throughout Denmark as both a singer and a feminist on 18 September 1970 after appearing for three minutes on the TV show ''Musikalske venner'' where she sang Jesper Jensen's controversial song "Øjet".][ Causing something of a national scandal, it tells of how God looked down on forbidden erotic feelings although he knew nothing about sex as he never had any himself. It led to one of Denmark's few court cases relating to blasphemy although both she and ]Danmarks Radio
DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterp ...
were freed of any crime a year later as the judge could see nothing provocative in the song.[
Her 1976 album ''Hej Søster'' which expressed her feelings as a mother and a woman reflected the goals of the women's movement, confirming her as a spokesman for their cause. In an interview in 2004, however, she denied any role in the movement: "I have never been a member of a social group or a political party. I didn't even participate in the Red Stocking Movement because at the time I was living together with my daughter's father. As I was active in community affairs, something may perhaps have been expected of me. But they associated me with everything the women's movement did and believed, and however much I screamed and yelled, it didn't help a bit."][
Albums such as ''En Lille Bunke Krummer'' (A Little Heap of Crumbs, 1978) and ''Altid Har Jeg Længsel'' (I Always Keep On Longing, 1979) served as inspiration for the singers ]Anne Linnet
Anne Linnet (born 30 July 1953 in Århus, Denmark) is a Danish singer, musician composer، and writer. She has released a number of solo albums and has also been a member of several bands, such as Shit & Chanel, Anne Linnet Band, and Marquis de ...
and Anne Dorte Michelsen
Anne Dorte Michelsen (born 17 July 1958, Århus) is a Danish singer and composer. In Denmark she first became known as a member of the groups Tøsedrengene and Venter på Far. Outside Denmark her second solo record ("Næste Dans") sold well in N ...
.[ After she had released her last album ''Hjemlige eventyr'' (Secret Adventure) in 1988, she suffered from a deep depression which drove her to give up singing once and for all.][ She returned to Danmarks Radio's children's department where she had played a pioneering role with children's programmes in the 1970s. She produced TV series for children and documentaries about children in the ]Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
.[ On the occasion of her 70th birthday in 2015, she published her memoirs: ''Altid har jeg længsel: Erindringer''.]Præstø
Præstø () is a town with a population of 3,857 (1 January 2022) in Vordingborg Municipality in Region Sjælland on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'').
The islands of '' Maderne'', ''Storeholm'', and ''Lilleholm'' are part ...
on 17 October 2016, aged 71. In 1980, she had officially changed her name to Trille Bodil Nielsen.[
]
Selected discography
In addition to recordings with other artists, Trille has released the following albums:
References
External links
Trille singing "Øjet" on YouTube
{{authority control
1945 births
2016 deaths
Danish folk singers
Danish jazz singers
Danish women singers
Danish women's rights activists
Singers from Copenhagen
Danish jazz guitarists