Kristian Valen
Encyclopedia
Kristian Valen is a comedian, actor, singer and songwriter originally from Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, Norway. Known for an extremely wide range of comedic impressions, Valen has also pursued a serious music career; his pop music album Listen When Alone was released internationally in Europe and Asia. Valen was asked by Katherine Jackson
Katherine Jackson
Katherine Esther Jackson is the matriarch of the Jackson musical family.-Early life:...

 to perform his hit song “Still Here” at the Jackson Family Foundation’s Forever Michael: A Celebration of an Icon, the one year Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 memorial show held in 2010 at Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, USA...

 the home of the Golden Globes in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

Early Life

Son of Inge Valen (a football player for the team Viking FK), Valen was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a famous sportsman. However, Valen left the world of football when he was 16 and wound up hosting a popular radio show in his native city of Stavanger, Norway. His quick wit and popular on-air impersonations led Valen to the world of comedy, and he is now regarded as one of the most famous people in Norway.

Comedy

Valen has created several extremely successful live shows, including Fartøy Valen (SS Valen), Et Musikalsk Kaos (Musical Chaos), and Raskere enn sitt eget beste (Faster than His Own Good). The shows have to date net Valen an estimated US$40 million in ticket sales. His three hit TV series Valen TV, Valen & De and Valen`s Frokost TV aired on national Norwegian broadcaster TV Norge, and topped the ratings. TV Norge. He has been voted “Entertainer of the Year” by viewers of Norway’s TV2  and the “Årets TV-ansikt” (“Face of TV”) by the readers of magazine Se & Hør (See & Hear).

All three TV series also became hit DVD releases. Valen stated he would have been happy if his first DVD Valen TV sold 5,000 copies; the DVD went on to sell well over 120,000 copies and to win the award for Best DVD overall in 2003. DVD releases of Fartøy Valen, Valen & De and Frokost TV also sold impressively and Valen’s most recent DVD production (of the hit show) Raskere enn sitt eget beste sold 25,000 copies in one day. To date, Valen’s DVD sales have reportedly topped 500,000 (6 DVDs).

Music

Valen founded his own company Deepwater Records and recorded his debut solo album Listen When Alone in 2004. Produced by Arvid Solvang (Maria Mena, Christel Alsos), the album went gold in five days, and went on to go platinum. The first single from the album, “Still Here” reached No. 1 on the country’s biggest station NRK’s P1 and the video for the single – which featured a spectacular car crash on the streets of Los Angeles – was voted No. 1 by viewers of Norwegian national broadcaster NRK’s popular Swish program, and No. 3 by readers of national newspaper Dagbladet
Dagbladet
Dagbladet is Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, and the third largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 105,255 copies in 2009, 18,128 papers less than in 2008. The editor in chief is Lars Helle....

. The song was used as the theme music for the German TV series Leben für die Liebe
Leben für die Liebe
Leben für die Liebe is a German television series....

. Another single from the album “If I Was” featured the controversial use of NATO troops. Valen’s most recent single “Blessed by a Woman” was released on March 15, 2011, also by Deepwater Records. Valen has signed a worldwide music publishing contract with Air Chrysalis Scandinavia.

In the top fifteen songs of the decade by Norway’s Biggest commercial P4
P4
-Computing:* Intel Pentium 4, a 7th generation processor design* Intel 80486 architecture, a 4th generation processor design-Hobbies:* P4 gauge for model railways* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, a video game from Atlus-Media:...

 

Recent and Current Events

Valen was asked by Katherine Jackson
Katherine Jackson
Katherine Esther Jackson is the matriarch of the Jackson musical family.-Early life:...

 (Michael’s mother) to appear at Forever Michael: A Celebration of an Icon. The show was held to commemorate the one year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death. Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, USA...

 in Beverly Hills (home of the Golden Globe awards), the show also featured performances by Jackson family members Genevieve Jackson and Tito Jackson
Tito Jackson
Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson is an American singer and lead guitarist and original member of The Jackson 5. He is the older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson.-Early life and rise to stardom:...

, as well as Motown legends The Chi Lites. Valen performed his song “Still Here” and also did a montage of his musical impressions for the event.

Valen recently had a cognac brand named after him by the renown French company Cognac Gautier
Cognac Gautier
story begins in the 16th century, but it was officially founded only in ' when the family obtained a Royal Warrant to produce Cognac and a founding charter signed by the king Louis XV....

. Selection Valen Cognac V.S.O.P. is currently sold in Norway, but will also be sold throughout Scandinavia and also in selected U.S. markets.
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