Plumber (and father of two children) from Bergen, Norway, Kurt Nilsen was the winner of the first edition of the Norwegian Idols. In addition, he was also allowed to call himself the first World Idol, the version of Idols in which the winners of all countries participated. He had to endure some insults from the 'strict but fair' jury, but the public walked away with him and the main prize was in.
In Norway his debut single She's So High (original by Tal Bachman) was a huge hit: the best-selling single of all time with eleven times platinum. And his album I also came in first. Now Nilsen has set his sights on the rest of the world and given the chosen music genre, that should work. He sounds like a cross between U2, Bon Jovi and a Scandinavian rocker like Andreas Johnson. That means extremely radio-friendly rock, and Nilsen is not a bad singer, so that's okay. (IV)more
