Erlend Bratland
| Erlend Bratland | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Erlend Bratland |
| Born |
27 October 1991 Husnes, Kvinnherad |
| Genres | Pop music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | vocal |
| Years active | 2008 - |
| Labels | daWorks |
| Associated acts | Norske Talenter (series 1) (winner) |
| Website | www.erlendbratland.no |
Erlend Bratland (born 27 October 1991 in Husnes, Kvinnherad, Norway) is a Norwegian singer with a Egyptian mother. Best known for winning Norske Talenter 2008, a Norwegian television talent series.
Bratland was born to Kjersti Bratland, a native of Husnes, in 1991. Aged 13, he played the lead role in the musical Oliver together with the local "Blandakor" in Husnes. After this he performed in the musical Chess in neighbouring Bømlo. He also participated in Ungdommens Kulturmønstring (UKM) and made it to the semi-finals.
He moved to Haugesund in his teens to study food and restaurant management, but dropped out during his first year in order to continue his music career. During his early career, he was easily recognizable for his "emo" style and appearance, but during his musical hiatus, he dropped this look.
In early 2008, Bratland attanded the Bergen auditions for Norske Talenter where he, sporting a black Marilyn Manson T-shirt, performed "O Holy Night". He qualified for the main rounds, and soon became a favorite. At the semi-final he sang "Nella Fantasia" as the last contestant, where he won the public vote. In the final, he sang "Lost" by Anouk, again as the final contestant, and won the series with 36% of the votes, ahead of runner-up Vegard F. Dommersnes, an 8-year old hula hoop artist. After the show ended, he recorded his first single, "Lost", which he had sung in the final round.
Following his win, Bratland took part in the Norwegian Idol tour during the summer of 2008 together with Norwegian Idol winner Glenn Lyse and other contestants from both shows.
On May 16, two weeks after he won Norske Talenter, his version of "Lost" was made available for download by Telenor. The next week, the single hit #4 on VG's single list, hitting #1 two weeks later. On October 27, Sony BMG released his debut album True Colours, which hit gold status in short time. After the album was released, he was nominated for the 2008 Spellemannsprisen best new artist award, with the lead single "Lost" nominated for song of the year, but he won neither awards. He subsequently resumed touring, and announced that a second album was in the works.
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