Folk singer, songwriter, musician, and actor Odd Nordstoga was born in Vinje, Norway on December 10, 1972. He is best known for his enormously successful 2004 solo album Luring as well as the 2009 Christmas album Strålande jul, a collaboration with Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø. Although mostly known for his work in the folk genre, Odd Nordstoga has also collaborated with other artists in genres as varied as jazz, electronica, hip hop, classical, rock, and pop. He first came to the attention of the public as a member of the band Something Odd, who released their self-titled debut album in 1997. After the lack of success of their second album, Solreven (1998), he changed the name of the band to Nordstoga, who released their self-titled album in 2000. Although the group achieved some success and won the Evardprisen Award for their single “Bie på Deg,” the band split up and Odd Nordstoga formed the more traditional folk band Blåmann Blåmann, who released a self-titled album in 2001. His next project was another folk-oriented release, Nivelkinn (2002), which was a collaboration with Norwegian folk artist Øyonn Groven Myhren. Odd Nordstoga finally achieved commercial success with the release of his album Luring (2004), which spent 14 weeks at the top of the Norwegian albums chart. He also charted with singles such as “Hallo Hallo,” “Texas,” “Farvel til deg,” and “Svingensongen.” He also hit Number 1 on the albums chart with his Christmas album Strålande jul (2009), November (2010), Bestevenn (2011), and Dette landet (2015). While albums such as Aleine heime (2016), Kløyvd (2018), and Inn I skogen (2022) didn’t climb to the top of the charts, Odd Nordstoga remains one of the most popular artists in his homeland.
