Silje Nergaard

Award-winning Norwegian jazz-pop vocalist and composer Silje Nergaard achieved her widest commercial reach in the early 2000s through the chart-topping releases At First Light (2001) and Nightwatch (2003). Born June 19, 1966, in Steinkjer, Norway, she draws from sources that include Al Jarreau and Joni Mitchell. During her teenage years she created a national stir by stepping into an unplanned jam at the 1983 Molde Internasjonal Jazz Festival. In 1984 she issued her first solo recording, the 7" single "One of These Mornings"/"My Funny Valentine," which appeared on PolyGram. She later entered a contract with Lifetime Records and delivered her debut full-length album, Tell Me Where You're Going (1990), the initial entry in a trilogy of English-language jazz-pop projects produced and co-written by Richard Niles. Highlights from that set and its two successors, Silje (1991) and Cow on the Highway (1995), were gathered on the retrospective The Lifetime Years (2005). After leaving Lifetime Records, Nergaard issued a pair of Norwegian-language albums on Kirkelig Kulturverksted: Brevet (1995) and Hjemmefra (1996). A move to Universal Music brought mainstream exposure with Port of Call (2000), an English-language collection built largely around cover songs. The album reached the Norwegian Top Ten and paved the way for the number-one follow-ups At First Light (2001) and Nightwatch (2003). Both records, like their predecessor, spotlight a quartet featuring Tord Gustavsen on piano and Rhodes, Harald Johnsen on acoustic bass, and Jarle Vespestad on drums alongside Nergaard’s vocals. Nightwatch, composed almost entirely by the singer herself, proved especially successful and earned her a Spellemannprisen as Musician of the Year. In the aftermath came Be Still My Heart: The Essential (2005), a career overview that also included fresh tracks, together with the already-mentioned Lifetime compilation. Subsequent efforts Darkness Out of Blue (2007) and A Thousand True Stories (2009) both landed in the Norwegian Top Five; they employ a larger ensemble and feature arrangements by Vince Mendoza. Nergaard switched to Sony for the holiday-themed If I Could Wrap Up a Kiss (2010). Unclouded arrived in 2012 and included a guest appearance by John Scofield. Chain of Days followed in 2015, with For You a Thousand Times appearing in 2017.