The Norwegian guitarist, singer, artist, composer and humorist Kenneth Sivertsen was born Jan 16th, 1961, in Mosterhamn, Norway. More or less self-taught, he made his musical debut at age 20. Sivertsen went on to lead an intense life both artistically and personally, being described (even by himself) as a man who was burning his candle at both ends. Illustrative of Sivertsens defiance of any particular style, and multi-dimentional talent, is the fact that he recorded a pop album the year after...
The Norwegian guitarist, singer, artist, composer and humorist Kenneth Sivertsen was born Jan 16th, 1961, in Mosterhamn, Norway. More or less self-taught, he made his musical debut at age 20. Sivertsen went on to lead an intense life both artistically and personally, being described (even by himself) as a man who was burning his candle at both ends.
Illustrative of Sivertsens defiance of any particular style, and multi-dimentional talent, is the fact that he recorded a pop album the year after his first jazz release, followed up by performing with a cabaret group, and then composed music commissioned by a ballet company. At the age of 24, some of his works included two major symphonies, a string quartet, several works for chamber orchestra and choir, music for two film scores several classical guitar albums, two vocal albums, and a "major work in progress" which was later performed at the opening of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway. Kenneth Sivertsen was the youngest member ever to be accepted into the Norwegian Association of Composers.
Mike Mainieri was one of Sivertsen's close musical friends, contributing on several of his records as well as producing his two jazz records. Sivertsen also worked with well known jazz musicians Michael Brecker, Tony Levin and Bob Mintzer.
In February 2005, a nasty fall during an epileptic seizure caused severe injury to Sivertsen's head, and consequently cerebral hemorrhage. The following year and a half he had to undergo several operations, and suffered four brain hemorrhages. Renaissance talent Kenneth Sivertsen passed away on Christmas Eve, 2006, at the age of 45. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
