SISSEL

Sissel Kyrkjeb¿ has sold millions of records in her homeland of Norway. Millions of records to a country that only has four million people. More than that she has become their definition of excellence, an icon representing their country, their history, their future. Her voice is as grand and beautiful as the land.

As a priority on the PolyGram International label, Sissel has released 5 albums in her native language, singing Nordic hymns, gospel and folk songs. With each album she has won more acclaim leaving Billboard writer Timothy White to declare that Sissel could become a North American star even singing in Norwegian. She has recorded a duet with Placido Domingo for the Lillehammer '94 Olympic Winter Games, and performed at three Olympic Games. She is 28 years old.

By the time Sissel finishes her current recording, her first English language CD with renowned producer Rick Chertoff (Joan Osborne), North Americans and the rest of the world will have already become familiar with the sound of her voice. She is the featured vocalist on the soundtrack for "Titanic," the epic film by director James Cameron that is bound to become a masterpiece for our time. Sissel's extraordinary voice complements the beauty of Cameron's visual images -- a soft and lilting instrument of a voice that wraps itself around the picture, singing beyond words. Moviegoers will remember this film, replete with love and glamour and actual footage of the sunken ship. They will remember these images, and the sound of these images -- the voice accompanying the haunting memories.

Lest Sissel be cast as an angel with a voice on hymns, soundtracks and Olympiads, check out the Def Jam Recordings CD entitled The Rapsody Overture. It is a compilation of "Hip Hop Meets Opera" recordings that feature rap's biggest stars (LL Cool J, Run DMC) performing the world's most famous arias. Her versatility as a vocalist is on display as Sissel pairs up with rapper Warren G for an astonishing rendition of the classic "Prince Igor." Released as a single in Europe, the track immediately climbed into the Top 20 on the Eurochart Hot 100 singles. It entered Norway's Official Hotlist Singles chart in the Top 5, and has since been #1 for four straight weeks -- displacing Elton John's "Candle In the Wind '97" and topping the Spice Girls, Chumbawamba, Backstreet Boys and Hanson.

Just in case these accomplishments weren't enough, Sissel is finishing off '97 by taping a television special with opera star Jose Carreras, and embarking on her 7th Scandinavian Christmas Tour. For the past 6 years, her Christmas shows have sold out 5,000 - 10,000 seat venues throughout Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and this year Sissel has invited The Chieftains to be her special guests on the tour. It is an honor they bestowed upon her earlier this year when the international ambassadors of Irish music invited her to perform with them in New York City at their sold-out St. Patrick's Day show at Carnegie Hall, on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and on "Good Morning America."

So impressed is the leader of the Chieftains, Paddy Maloney, that he has included Sissel on two of his upcoming projects. The first is the soundtrack for the PBS Documentary Long Journey Home -- Irish in America, for which Maloney is Executive Producer, and which features such superstar talent as Sinead O' Connor, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello. The second of his projects to feature Sissel is the next studio record by The Chieftains. Entitled Tears of Stone, it is a who's who of female artists -- from Joan Osborne to Lorenna McKennitt to Emmylou Harris -- in collaboration with the famous Irishmen on some of their favorite traditional tunes.