Arne Bendiksen was a Norwegian singer, composer and producer who was referred to as "the father of pop music" in his home country. Between the 1950s and 1970s he was a prolific figure on the country's music scene, both as a performer and as a writer for other artists.
He was selected to represent his home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 in Copenhagen with the song "Spiral", which finished in 8th place with 6 points.
He was also well-known as a songwriter and composer for other artists, most notably for Åse Kleveland, who represented the country in the 1966 Contest in Luxembourg City with the song "Intet er nytt under solen", which gave the country its then best result in the Contest since first participating when it finished in 3rd place with 15 points.
He also established a record label which saw popular artists like Wencke Myhre and Kirsti Sparboe go on to achieve fame. Unfortantely, he was also responsible for the country achieving its second last place result as he was the composer of the latter's 1969 Contest entry, which finished in last place with a single point, and the 1971 Contest entry by Hanne Krogh, which finished in 17th place with 65 points.
He continued to work well into the new millennium before his death from heart failure on 26 March 2009 at the age of 82.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1964 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| |||