Biography

1970

Born in San Francisco, California November 7th, 1970

In 1971, less than a year old, Trine boards the Norwegian America Line boat “Bergensfjord” with her mother to begin a new life in Norway in a small town called Nesodden. Already on the boat, Trine shows early signs of having a knack for the entertainment business, and at 6 she declares she is going to become a “singing star”. In her childhood home at Nesodden, Trine begins her determined journey developing her voice and the skills of a performing artist.

1990

In 1991, Trine is asked to sing the backup vocals on a track for a new hip hop band called W.I.P. (World in Peace). The band is so happy with Trine’s performance that they ask her to sing the backups on the rest of the tracks as well. When their album is complete, Trine’s contribution is so dominant that the band realizes they need to add her as a full member. The style of music represented by W.I.P. is not something Trine desires to pursue as she feels she is reduced to being an ad lib singer rather than the lead singer she sees herself as. Trine agrees to play the part of a substitute until the band can find another singer. Upon the album release of “The Songs We Write”, W.I.P. gets a radio hit with their first single, “Ghost Jam”, and is suddenly a sought after band for interviews and tv shows in Norway. The next single, a cover version of the Everly Brother’s “All I do is Dream” also makes it to the charts, and at this point Trine is discovered as a singer by other record labels. Trine is contacted by manager Steinar Fjeld, who ensures her first contract as a solo artist with EMI Records in Norway.

Two years later, in November of 1993, Trine’s debut album “Finders Keepers” is finally ready for release, with first single “Just missed the train”. After all this time, Trine has lost faith in herself as well as in the album, and the night prior to the release she is torn up and in tears on the floor. The market, however, has a different opinion, and in less than two months, “Finders Keepers” has passed 50.000 copies sold in the stores. Into 1994, the album makes number one in the charts in Norway, and sales end at 200.000 copies in Norway (every fourth home has one…), and more than 400.000 copies is sold in Japan. In Japan, single “Just missed the train” tops all of 16 different charts at once. Follow up single “Stay with me baby” also becomes a radio hit and places Trine on the map of very credible singers. Trine’s over night success has taken everyone by surprise, including the artist herself. However, due to a very heavy schedule of promoting and touring with her album, Trine is not given much time to contemplate her incredible break through, and for a while her life becomes a complete whirlwind.

For her debut album, Trine receives a Norwegian Grammy award for “Best New Artist” of 1993. For this year’s Grammy awards, the Norwegian Grammy awards committee have decided not to nominate Trine. Behind the scenes, there is a major tug-o-war between the members of the committee, with only one of the members, Kristian Lindeman, fighting to ensure Trine’s nomination. As the album sales continue to break new records nationally as well as internationally, the committee eventually decide an award is necessary in order to maintain their own integrity. A new Grammy award category for “Best New Artist” is established, and Trine receives her Grammy award as a big surprise in a news cast outside of the main Grammy award show. 

The following year, Trine is nominated to “Artist of the year” in the Norwegian Grammy awards.

During this period, she breaks the collaboration with her first manager, Steinar Fjeld, and begins working with new manager, John Overgaard in Denmark. This brings her to Copenhagen where she switches record companies to work with EMI Medley, Denmark. Her new A&R/Executive Producer Poul Bruun becomes her right hand for the next few years, and together they create follow up albums, “Beneath my Skin” and “To find the Truth”. “Beneath my Skin” is released in 1996 with first single “Torn” which opens new territories for Trine as well as securing her position as an established artist in Norway and Japan. The total sales of her second album pass 300.000 copies, and Trine is nominated to “Best Female Artist” in the Norwegian Grammy awards 1996.

In the springtime of 1997, Trine is invited to participate in an annual songwriter retreat in France, organized by Sting-manager Miles Copeland. More than once, the songwriter sessions at “Le Printemps de Marouatte”, or “the Castle songs” have made music history, with among others, Aerosmith’s hit song “Love in an elevator” by Mark Hudson and Steven Tyler. Trine has the honorable opportunity to work and write with legendary songwriters like Carole King, Louise Goffin, Mark Hudson, Bob Dipiero and Billy Maddox, as well as musicians and artists like Vinnie Colaiuta, Dominic Miller and Brad Roberts from the “Crash Test Dummies” to mention only a few. The “Le Printemps de Marouatte” also marks the beginning of a romantic relationship between Trine Rein and world famous Sting-drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta. The experience changes the course of Trine’s plans, and she decides to temporarily move to Los Angeles, CA to pursue working with her newfound colleagues in the music business. 

“To find the Truth” is to a great extent produced in LA, California, where Trine spends much time between 1997-2000. The great Norwegian influence in this particular album cover, video and press pictures symbolize Trine’s passion for her childhood country, and her need to share the beauty of Norway with fans across the world. Although passing sales of 100.000 copies, the Norwegian press decides to downplay Trine’s latest release making it difficult for the artist to continue on her career path. Upon finishing her promotion tour with the “To find the Truth” album, Trine takes a brake from the music business to recover from her immensely hectic years of success, and to seek inspiration for new and exciting future projects. She moves to LA to be with Vinnie Colaiuta. Their relationship is turbulent and intense, yet filled with mutual love. The couple begins creating music together, getting bass player Neil Stubenhaus to do bass overdubs and Islandic singer, Anna Mjoell, to do background vocals on their recordings. Even though they manage to create quite a few tracks, they never see the light of day, and remain unfinished demos.

The break from the music business lasts for five years with only a few occasional, rare performances. In 2000, Trine Rein leaves Vinnie for good, and moves back to live with her father in San Francisco, California. She needs a complete life re-boot, and faces an all time low in her career as a professional artist. In order to make a living, she finds herself working as a limousine driver in San Francisco to make ends meet. After a year, Trine gets into a legendary fight with her father, and decides to move back to Los Angeles to try to pick up where she left creating music with friends and colleagues. Still stuck in the limousine business to make a living, Trine becomes more and more desperate to finding a way out of the rat race and back into the music business. During this time, many songs are created, and many demos recorded, however few of which are ever released. Meanwhile, Trine faces somewhat surreal experiences in her job as a limousine driver as she encounters her unknowing famous colleagues as clients in her vehicle. People like Quincy Jones, Paula Abdul, Clive Davis, and Robert Plant are all clients Trine takes care of through her job, and yet she is prevented from letting them know about her “other life” as a professional artist. Quincy Jones actually contacts Trine after their encounter, and invites her to send him her previous albums. Trine is very excited over this phone call, and immediately sends her three album releases to Jones. After a short while, Quincy Jones calls her up again, and invites her to join him for a dinner at his private home in Beverly Hills, CA. Trine does not know what to expect, but is obviously hopeful one of the worlds greatest producers of all time has taken an interest in her as a singer and artist. The evening passes in the company of another friend couple, playing Trine’s music in the background during a wonderful three course meal. Towards the end of the dinner, Quincy Jones begins to reach for Trine’s hand to caress, and Trine realises that the invitation unfortunately never had anything to do with her music…

2000

In 2004, Trine gets a break she has long awaited when theatre producer Anders Eriksen from Norway contacts her in LA to offer her a part in a new show called “80-tallet Beat for Bit” (The 80-ies, Beat by Bit). The show is performed by Torhild Sivertsen, Tom Sterri, Sturla Berg-Johansen and Trine Rein in addition to The Monroes as permanent guest artists. This will be a stepping stone towards a place in the entertainment business, and Trine resigns from her job as a limousine driver shortly after to go back to Norway. The show is a great success, and becomes Trines main source of income for the next two years in addition to opening doors for her into the music business. Her record company, EMI Records, release a greatest hits album, “The Very Best of Trine Rein”, in attempt to take part in Trine’s comeback as a live artist in Norway. 

In the summer of 2005, Trine creates her own summer show to be seen at Trommøy outside of Arendal. The show is called “Sommerstemning med Trine Rein”, and is a feel-good type show with elements of music, poetry and short stories. The experience helps Trine really grow as an artist and a performer, and gives her new dimension in ways to communicate with her audience. 

In 2006, Trine participates in a concert called “ABBA in Symphony” together with Tommy Kjörberg, Geir Rønning and Maarja-Liis from Estonia. The concert is held in Hjertnes Kulturhus in Sandefjord, and is seen by many. 

The following fall, the four singers Trine Rein, Marianne Antonsen, Sigrid Brennhaug and Torhild Sivertsen get together with band leader Øystein Lund-Olavsen to plan and create a brand new show called “The Ladies Night”. The show is directed by Erik Ulfsby, and played through the fall/winter season of 2006 at Edderkoppen Theatre in Oslo. The singers are not entirely happy with the way the show turned out, and feels there is a distance between their roles on stage and the expectations of their audience. Due to this friction, the girls decide to take matters into their own hands, and re-direct their show. The new premier is a great success, and the show continues through the spring and summer of 2007 in various cities around Norway.

In the fall of 2008, Trine meets the love of her life, explorer, author and expert on wilderness, Lars Monsen. Monsen is an important addition to Trine’s life, giving her the support, stability and foundation she needs to begin creating a new solo album. With the exception of a Christmas tour in November/December with KOR-90 and guests, Trine Rein performs only a limited amount of live concerts due to the planning of a new album. In 2009, Trine is contacted by yet a new producer to participate in the celebration of Motown Records 50’ieth anniversary. A new show is created, and during the fall of 2009, solo artists Marianne Antonsen, Noora Noor, Knut Anders Sørum, Marvin Charles and Trine Rein performs gems from Motown Records on Edderkoppen theatre in Oslo with much success.

2010

At this point, Trine Rein stakes out a new direction for herself as a recording artist. With the firm support and motivation from her better half, Trine begins to write, record and finance her most personal solo album to date, and her first album in twelve years, “Seeds of Joy”. On September 20, 2010 “Seeds of Joy” is released in Norway, and later world wide. 

After all this time, Trine is extremely excited to get out on tour with her own band to present the music from her new album.

At the same time, Lars and Trine get the idea they are going to create a show together, combining their two professions in music and speech into a full evening show. They call their show Vilt&Vakkert (Wild&Beautiful), and the plan is to set up this original evening show in only a few, selected venues in Norway. On Oct. 6th, 2010, they perform the opening show of Vilt&Vakkert in Årnes, a small town in the South East of Norway. The show is well received by the audience, and to no surprise, not so well received by the critics. At first, the show is only set up in 10 different venues. These are completely sold out, and Trine and Lars decide to extend their tour to visit more venues around Norway. One year later, Vilt&Vakkert is seen by some 20.000 people from Kristiansand to Alta, and is well received and recommended by many throughout the country. 

In Nov. 2011, a live recording of Vilt&Vakkert from Olavshallen in Trondheim is released on a DVD. 

Recording albums and playing live is something Trine really enjoys, and in the springtime of 2011, she begins pondering her next album. Through much encouragement from her surroundings, Trine decides to begin planning for her next album – a Christmas album! The idea of creating a Christmas album is  something Trine has always dismissed due to the amount of existing Christmas albums on the market. However, after a strong, spiritual experience in a church in LA a few years earlier, Trine perceives the new urge to actually record her very own Christmas album as a calling to share the message she received. 

Many have asked Trine why she never sings in Norwegian, so this time Trine challenges herself, and records a mixture of English and Norwegian lyrics. Ths album is called “Julegaven” (The Christmas gift), and is released on Nov. 25th 2011. 

As Trine’s first Christmas album, JULEGAVEN (THE CHRISTMAS GIFT) is released, Trine sets out on her very first solo Christmas tour in Norway. She begins to work with various local children choirs in the Soul Children network, opening her tour in the local church of her new home town, Skiptvet together with wonderful Skiptvet Soul Children. Leading and conducting Skiptvet Soul Children is Wenche Pedersen Dahl, a person who later proves to become an important contact and friend of Trine in the following years. Wenche inspires and motivates Trine to continue on her quest to share the gift she received, and Trine decides to make the Christmas tour an annual tradition. In 2011, Trine works with Soul Children choirs visiting 10 different churches.

2012 is also a productive year for Trine as a recording artist. Together with her better half, Lars Monsen, and her friend, writer and producer, Øystein Lund Olafsen, she writes and records a new support song to honor the mushers in the dog mushing race, Femundløpet. The song is called “When Heroes are Made”, and is released on February 2nd, 2012. To the surprise of the writers, the melody of the song turns out to be very similar to Toto’s “Child’s Anthem”. Needless to say, this causes a few weeks of nerves and headache for the share holders, and Trine proceeds to do what she feels is the only right thing to do, – she contacts the writer of “Child’s Anthem”, David Paich in Toto to work out the issue. David turns out to be a very understanding and positive guy, and to make a long story short, Trine and David manage to work out a deal where they both end up as co-writers on “When Heroes are Made”. Trine speaks of this event as a very honorable chapter in her life as a song writer, and is eternally grateful to David Paich for meeting with her to find a good solution.

Later in 2012, Trine also records and releases a new single written by Hanne Sorvaag, Svein Olav Hyttebakk and Sam Bisbee. The song is called “If you’re next to me”, and is immediately embraced by her live audience as she performs it in her concerts that year. The radios, on the other hand, are more reluctant to play the new single, and unfortunately it ends up being one of many hidden gems in the history of music… 

In November the same year, she records a new, traditional Norwegian Christmas song, “Deilig er jorden” to be added to her digital Christmas album. Trine plans and coordinates all preparations for her second Christmas tour, and starting late November, she visits 18 churches, working with some 40 local choirs on the way. At this point, Trine begins working with Hilde Killingdalen from Killing Promotion, soon to become Trines right hand in several ways. For the second year in a row, her Christmas tour is a financial drawback, however Trine keeps the faith that things will turn around as long as she does not give up. She continues to plan another Christmas tour for the next year, but first – she passes an important milestone:

2013

20 year anniversary!

Trine Rein celebrates her 20th anniversary as a recording solo artist in Norway!

She wants her anniversary year to begin with the release of new music. Right after new years, Trine releases her new single, “The weight of your kiss”, written by Danish artist, producer and writer, Tobias Stenkjær. 

In July, Trine Rein is to perform at a festival called “Skudefestivalen” on the West-coast of Norway. This is where she runs into tenor Sveinung Hølmebakk from Nordic Tenors for the first time, and together they perform David Foster’s “The Prayer”. The more than 5000 people in the audience love their performance, and the two singers decide to create something exciting together for the following year.

In September/October of 2013, the anniversary is celebrated with Trine’s very own anniversary tour. The tour is called “20 years – in the Midst of Music”, and she performs a self written multi media show in 9 different venues, covering 7 Norwegian counties with a 5 piece band and crew on the road. The tour is also entirely booked and coordinated by Trine Rein herself, with a lot of help from her PR-manager, Hilde Killingdalen. 

Finishing up her anniversary tour, receiving standing ovations from an undoubtedly impressed audience, Trine turns around to release her very first live album from the anniversary show. The album is called “Hit’s and Favorites” from her “20 years – in the Midst of Music”. Her new artist partner, Sveinung Hølmebakk, joins her in some of her anniversary concerts, and together they perform “The Prayer” which ends up as one of the tracks on Trine’s live album.

But there is no rest for the weary. Come November, Trine begins her third Christmas tour. This time, she has booked as many as 21 concerts herself, and works with some 40 various, local choirs along the way. She covers 15 of the Norwegian counties this time, travels far, and meets many wonderful people. She claims to get energized from sharing her message in every church she visits, and promises to continue on her endeavour to spread the Christmas gift of unconditional love which she once received. 

2014

New show with Trine Rein & Lars Monsen

In 2014, Trine Rein and her better half, Lars Monsen again create a show together. This time the show is based upon the new TV-series shown on Norwegian national tv during Christmas, “Monsen and his dogs”. This year, Trine celebrates her 20th anniversary as an international recording artist, and her repertoar is much based on her live album, “Hit’s and Favorites”. The new show is called DagsTour (“DayTour”), and to begin with the show is only set up in a couple of venues. Lars is really in the middle of the dog mushing racing season, and only has a few days to spare for shows in his busy schedule, and Trine is eager to begin the planning of her next Christmas tour. 

NRK’s The Hit2014

In the springtime of 2014, Trine is requested by Norwegian national broadcasting company, NRK, to participate in a brand new tv show concept. The concept is to invite amateur songwriters to compete with their own songs, chosen by experienced artists or bands to perform them live on tv, almost like a songwriter’s Idol. Trine accepts the invitation, and through the summer, she works together with producer Thomas Kongshavn to create the best version possible of the song she has chosen among the originals. Trine’s choice is the song Story of Love by Geir Arne Hansen, originally a country ballad which is produced as an up tempo country song. The song becomes popular among the viewers, who in the end vote Trine’s version of Story of Love to be the winner of NRK’s The Hit2014! 

Julegaven Christmas Tour 2014

November 2014, Trine releases a new, updated version of her Christmas album, Julegaven (The Christmas Gift), and embarks on her fourth Christmas tour by the same name. Like all the other years, Trine Rein organizes the entire Christmas tour by herself, only getting the assistance of her friend and colleague Hilde Killingdalen from Killing Promotion to set up the promotion behind the tour. Trine contacts the various local choirs, puts together the logistics, organizes the sponsors, provides the sound system and is the band leader – all the way down to being the designated driver of the band bus she is involved in all the odds and ends of the tour. Upon finishing the tour after completing 16 concerts and the same amount of rehearsals with the various local choirs prior to every concert, she can finally look back on a successful tour not only performance wise, but also financially. It took four years of blood, sweat and tears to make ends meet – in case you’re wondering how profitable all the so-called Christmas artists out there really are… 

2015

Inspired to go new ways

For her 44th birthday, Trine’s better half, Lars Monsen, surprises her with tickets to see The ZappaUnion play live in Oslo. Trine has no idea she even likes Zappa’s music, but during this concert, she finds the inspiration to go completely new ways with her music. She calls one of her most creative colleagues, guitar virtuoso Ronni le Tekrø, to share her thoughts, and Ronni immediately catches on to the idea. Ronni insists on bringing one specific producer and writer into the equation, namely rock legend Tony Carey. With an open mind and a mission to let the creativity flow, Trine picks Tony up at the airport in Oslo for the first time in January, 2015 to begin their studio session at Ronni’s own Studio Studio Nyhagen. This collaboration proves to be one of the most creative sessions Trine has ever embarked upon, and within the first three days of collaborating, the three create all of three new songs, record and finish their first demos together – safely engineered by genius tweaker, Kjartan Hesthagen, or Chuck the Geek as they decide to call him. 

The three talk about collaborating live, and after several rounds on how to make it happen, Trine and Tony materialize the touring plans with Tony’s regular Norwegian backing band The Jan Holberg Project. The opening show is held on April 25th 2015 in Ibsenhuset, Norway, and it marks the beginning of a longterm collaboration between Trine, Tony and The Jan Holberg Project to come. The release of their first single How About Us also takes place on the same date, and is viewed some 50.000+ times on YouTube and Facebook in the first two days after release.

The Battle of the Stars (Stjernekamp)

Trine Rein is headhunted to participate as one of ten contestants in NRK’s TV show Stjernekamp (The Battle of the Stars) to begin in the end of August 2015. The TV show is a fierce contest between the ten participants to compete in becoming Norway’s ultimate entertainer. They are challenged to perform in 15 various music genres every Saturday for ten weeks – at the mercy of the viewer’s votes. Trine becomes one of two finalists, and thus manage to compete in every single genre for all ten Saturdays in a row. Between Trine and artist Maria Haukaas Mittet, the viewers vote Maria to be Norway’s ultimate entertainer 2015. 

Secret wedding

On November 7th, 2015, Trine Rein’s 45th birthday, and only one week after the Stjernekamp final, Trine Rein and Lars Monsen secretly tie the knot, and throw a big wedding party to everyone’s surprise, including their invited guests. All the guests are invited to believe they are going to surprise Trine on her 45th birthday. Little do they know that they are set up for the surprise of a lifetime as Trine enters the facilities in her wedding gown. According to plan, the press is left completely in the dark, and begin to speculate in whether the couple was already married in July. The truth is, Lars Monsen proposes to Trine in July, and the secret about their upcoming wedding is well kept up until their wedding day on Nov. 7th 2015. The couple use their social media channels to break the news to their followers, and thus avoid scrutiny from a tabloid media.

Christmas tour 2015 – Julenatt

No rest for the weary – only days after her wedding, Trine Rein turns around to rehearse the new repertoar for the upcoming christmas tour, Julenatt (Christmas night) together with colleagues Christian Ingebrigtsen (A1), Gaute Ormaasen (Norwegian Idol), Froydis Grorud (saxophone and flute virtuoso, Beat for Beat), and Trond Lien (keyboard virtuoso, maestro, Beat for Beat). For the first time in four years, Trine is not organizing her own christmas tour as she has been requested to participate in this existing production. The five colleagues create this year’s christmas concert together, and rehearse to get ready for an extended tour of 47 concerts around Norway. On November 27th, the tour begins with two concerts per night to end on December 22nd in Uranienborg church, Oslo. The tour is a great success, and practically every church is sold out weeks before their arrival. Trine is requested to participate the following year, and is happy to accept the invitation. 

Off shore between Christmas and New Years

After finishing her longest christmas tour so far, Trine turns around to embark on yet another tour before the year is over. She is invited to play all of 9 concerts on the same amount of oil rigs in the North Sea between Christmas and New Years, and is very excited to experience this different way of traveling to see new audiences on each rig. She is received warmly by the rough off shore workers, and has a memorable tour together with her keyboard player, Atle Hundsnes. 

Between the end of October and New Years, Trine plays some 60 concerts back to back, and 2015 turns out to be an incredibly eventful music year for the artist!

2016

A year to play and to prepare

2016 starts out with single concerts around Norway playing with various musicians and bands, among others her partner in crime, Tony Carey and The Jan Holberg Project. It is a busy year for the artist with an overwhelming amount of requests for live concerts, much due to the exposure she receives in NRK’s Stjernekamp 2015. Riding on a cloud of inspiration from being challenged in all the different genres within music, Trine combines a wide spectrum of musical genres in her concerts. She visits any venue from the smaller clubs to large churches to perform and share her special and life changing story, and she is no stranger to playing concerts with set lists containing anything from gospel to rock in the same venues. The audience receives her mix of genres and story surprisingly well, further inspiring the artist to continue on her experimental endeavor in the world of music.

New single releases

Her collaboration with Tony Carey continues, and between playing concerts together and creating new material for her upcoming album, Trine is ready to release her second single from the forthcoming album, The Well with Don’t Say It’s Over in the beginning of September.

Her next single, Hello It’s Me, is released in the beginning of November – a song about the people we love, and wish we could have spent more time with. Trine is relating to her late Grandmother, and the beautiful relationship they shared together. 

Christmas tour with Julenatt (Christmas night)

Through November and December 2016, Trine joins the Christmas tour production, Julenatt, for the second year in a row. Together with Christian Ingebrigtsen, Gaute Ormåsen, Frøydis Grorud and Trond Lien, they perform all of 47 Christmas concerts together around Norway before Christmas, and the concerts are a great success!

Between Christmas and New Years, Trine Rein and Tony Carey are working intensively in preparing her upcoming album release and following release tour for 2017. 

2017

New Solo album – THE WELL

Official release date: Jan. 27, 2017!

Trine Rein goes on tour with rock legend Tony Carey and his Norwegian band, The Jan Holberg Project. The tour continues on and off throughout the year with a short brake in August when Trine emerges on a memorable journey to Uganda organized by MAF Norway (Mission Aviation Fellowship). They are planning to cooperate during Trine’s upcoming Christmas tour, JULEGAVEN the same year.

Her The Well tour ends in late October when Trine needs to begin focusing on JULEGAVEN. After two years of being a guest artist with competitor Christmas tour production, JULENATT, she is reviving her own Christmas concerts, JULEGAVEN again. This year, she is taking a guest artist along for the ride: Opera soprano Eli Kristin Hanssveen, employed by Oslo Opera House in Norway. The two singers get along so well they decide to record one of the Christmas concerts in order to release a mutual Christmas album the following year, and to continue their collaboration.

 2018

Continues her The Well tour, new album release, Christmas tour

In 2018, Trine Rein continues to tour with The Jan Holberg Project, and at this point, they have become Trine’s band. The musicians, Jan Holberg, Jostein Svarstad, Arild Følstad and Per Ole Iversen are the most loyal musicians Trine has ever had the pleasure of working with, and they develop a close and creative relationship. Musically, the band performs at a very high level, and they are incredibly disciplined playing each and every concert as if it was their last.

In June, Trine goes off to record a TV show in Norway together with 7 other artist colleagues on a ranch south of Oslo. The show is called ‘Hver gang vi møtes’ (When ever we meet), and it is a musical feelgood show featuring each artist through ‘their own day’. The show is aired in January/February 2019, and gives each participating artist a positive career boost.

In the fall season, Trine contacts her friend and colleague, Bernt Rune Stray, to set up a collaboration to create music together. After kicking a few new ideas around, they end up using a track from an earlier session, and Trine does a doctoring job on the lyrics. They agree it would sound nice as a duet, and as this song requires a talented singer, Trine decides to ask artist colleague, Ole Børud, to sing the duet part with her. He agrees immediately, and the two go into the studio to record ‘Where Do We Go’ together. Their voices are a great match, and the pop track is mixed and finished at the Whiteroom studios by Bjørn Erik Pedersen in no time. The second single they write together is another track Bernt Rune has started, and Trine gets to write the lyrics from scratch. ‘Live&Forgive’ is recorded in November, ready for an early 2019 release.

November 28, Trine Rein embarks on her sixth Christmas tour, JULEGAVEN, around Norway together with guest singer, Eli Kristin Hanssveen. Their Christmas album, Julegaven LIVE, is released simultaneously, and is only available at the concerts during the Christmas tour. She has a wonderful collaboration with relief organisation MAF Norway (Mission Aviation Fellowship) who is serving as crew on tour, and in return, Trine tells her audience about their important work around the world encouraging people to support by donating on their way out. This kind of voluntary work proves to be very positive for the organisation, and they gain many new sponsors during the weeks of November and December.

Towards the end of the tour, it is brought to Trine’s attention that their carefully planned add campaign for the Christmas tour due to a major misunderstanding with the media bureau has not seen the light of day at all. Not being able to find an answer to the surprising lack of ticket sales, this explains much, but unfortunately much too late to be able to do anything about it. Sadly, Trine has to finish the rest of her Christmas tour with lower ticket sales than ever, only hoping to find a solution with the advertiser post tour. After a tedious round with lawyers and researching, the two parties finally come to a settling agreement.

 2019

Hver gang vi møtes (When ever we meet), single releases, Christmas tour

2019 is a very busy year for Trine Rein, starting with the launching of TV show ‘Hver gang vi møtes’ (When ever we meet) in January. Lots of promotion activities take up Trine’s time parallell to the launching of her two new singles, duett ‘Where do we go’ with Ole Børud, and later in May, ‘Live&Forgive’. Trine creates her very first diy lyric music video for ‘Where Do We Go’, and manages to rush release the song and the video during the time of promoting her TV show. After creating her first lyric music video, and much inspired by her colleague and one of the guests in the TV show, Sol Heilo from Katzenjammer, Trine realizes she may be able to learn more about video making and creating her own music videos in the future.

The release of ‘Live&Forgive’ is scheduled for May 24, and Trine begins to prepare the creating of another music video for the single. Even though May is Trine’s planned vacation month with her husband, she has to put the plans of relaxing and re-charging aside in place of shooting and editing the new video in time for release. Learning everything about how to shoot a video, lighting, editing and everything around a video production is a lot to take in, but the result is impressive for a beginner at the trade. When the ‘Live&Forgive’ music video is released on May 31, Trine basically needs another vacation.

The TV show generates many requests for Trine Rein in concert, and her summer months become fully booked up until her next Christmas tour, JULEGAVEN. In between these concerts, Trine is working on contacting local choirs to collaborate with during her Christmas tour. Like every year, she is also creating the content and repertoire for JULEGAEN, and organizing everything from catering to transportation logistics, add campaigns and hotel booking for the Christmas tour. The band rehearsals begin in august, and the pre production starts in the week prior to the opening show.

Just before embarking on her seventh Christmas tour, Trine is contacted by her longterm friend and artist colleague, Christian Ingebrigtsen, and asked if she would like to collaborate with two of his amazing friends from Nashville as they visit Norway in November. Even if this is a very hectic period of the year for Trine, she decides to prioritise this opportunity, and clears her schedule to meet up with them. The producer team is Swedish producer and songwriter, David Thulin, and lyricist and artist, Rhyan Shirley from Nashville. The three of them hit it off completely in Christian’s studio, and Trine leaves the studio with a new, exciting demo and more inspiration than she can remember. They decide to meet up again one more time before they return to Nashville, and before Trine embarks on her upcoming Christmas tour, and again, they have an incredibly inspiring and productive studio session. Trine feels like she’s flying, and begins to plan a trip to Nashville for march 2020.

November 28 - Premiere on JULEGAVEN, with local choirs and Trine’s trio band with Olav Torgeir Kopsland on guitars and pedal steel, Eivind Kløverød on drums, and Kenneth Bjørdal on Hammond organ. This time, the add campaign is running as planned, and the ticket sales are up from 2018 for the 26 church concerts they perform during this time.

 2020

Nashville, Single releases, Covid-19

A new decade, a clean slight, and the world is your oyster! That’s pretty much how Trine Rein felt after New Years in January 2020. Together with her booking agent, Reidun Berntsen from Rocksport Booking, they started preparing for this year’s Christmas tour right away knowing that the competition on getting reservations for the right churches is tight. By the end of February, the entire tour is booked, and the concert content pretty much laid out. 35 churches for this year’s Christmas tour, local choirs and a new mystery guest artist is on the board, and the plan for the year is set.

After performing her first few concerts in 2020, Trine’s much anticipated trip to Nashville begins when she hops on a plane on March 7. Her plan is to spend 12 days in the music mekka working intensively with David Thulin and Rhyan Shirley to create new music material for the time to come. New live concerts are awaiting her once she gets back to Norway, and with little to no consideration for the mandatory jet lag, she is booked for a return only one day before her next performance. Little does she know that all her best laid plans are going to shambles shortly after.

On March 12, the gravity of the Covid-19 pandemic is sinking in, and the world goes into a lock down. Trine’s return flight is cancelled, and she begins to weigh her options in her native country. Her father lives on the other side of the USA. So does a lot of her friends. Could that be an option? She books a flight to go to California, and at the same time, her husband is getting more and more worried about her possibilities of getting back to Norway. Finally, Trine succeeds in finding a flight back to Norway two days after the original plan. However, all of her concerts are either cancelled or postponed at this point, so her tardy return does not cause any problems. Getting to stay for an extra two days in Nashville results in the writing of yet another song - a Christmas song yet to be recorded, and when she gets back to Norway, she has all of seven new, freshly recorded songs in her suitcase ready for release!

Once back in Norway, Trine witnesses the music business creating an inflation of free online streaming concerts, some of them paid better than ever, and others not making enough to cover production expenses. During Easter week, Trine decides to create an online streaming concert from home together with her gitar player, Sjur Husom Vonen. The concert is streamed live on Trine’s official Facebook page, and is viewed by some 50k viewers from all over the world.

Her first single from the Nashville sessions, ‘You Make Me Oooo’, is released on May 15, along with a new diy lyrics music video one week later. Trine organizes yet another streaming concert, this time it is broadcast through a pay-per-view platform, and is still seen by people from all continents of the world.

The next single to be released from the Nashville session is JOY! - This single is a much needed, positive, up tempo, happy song in attempt to cheer up those going through rough times during the Covid-19. Released on July 3, 2020, with the lyrics video released one week later. The lyrics video is created by Trine Rein entirely as she is getting more and more into video editing by means of necessity.

Towards the fall season, Trine prepares to release one of her strongest tracks to date, and environmentally conscious song called ‘Mother’. This is the third song from the Nashville sessions written by Rhyan Shirley, David Thulin and Trine Rein herself. The official music video recorded around Trine’s home county, using some of Trine’s local friends as extras, is released one week after the single release. Single release for Mother is Aug. 28, 2020, official music video release Sept. 4. Produced by Mathias Fossdal.

Trine Rein’s final single for 2020 is a song which adresses people’s habit of tending to their smart phone screens, tablets or computers rather than giving their surroundings the deserved attention. ‘Get Your Act Together’ is the fourth track coming from the Nashville sessions, and the second song where she has added much longed for sound of a real horn section. Release date is Oct. 30, 2020. One week later, the lyrics video for ‘Get Your Act Together’ is released, also produced by Mathias Fossdal. Release date Nov. 6. 2020.

On November 7. 2020, Trine Rein turns 50! For the occasion, she puts together a brand new show called “Femti, Feit & Bitter” (Fifty, Fat & Bitter), and launches the show at Chat Noir in Oslo on Nov. 6. Her 50’ieth birthday is also her and her husband, Lars Monsen’s 5 year wedding anniversary, and she includes a symbolic celebration of this romantic day in her show. The show is to continue into 2021, and a tour around Norway is planned to commence as soon as all the covid-19 restrictions lift. By means of necessity, Trine becomes much a a DIY (Do It Yourself) type artist, and she produces the entire show on her own. To quality check the script before the opening show, she meets up with comedian colleague Bård Tufte Johansen, who turns out to be very helpful in taking the show to the next level. To be continued…

 2021

More Covid-19, Single releases, Christmas tour(?)

Putting 2020 behind, or Annus Horribilis, the year of the pandemic, everyone believes they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, we will all be able to meet again, travel, have live concerts, hug each other and go back to living a normal life. That’s what we think, anyways. Instead, 2021 commences with more restrictions, a third wave of covid-19 for many countries, bad news about the vaccines developed in record time, and a call for us to have even more patience with sticking to the social distancing for a little while longer. No one knows for exactly how long…

As far as the live concert market goes, the restrictions are fierce, and most live concerts are cancelled or postponed again and again. Trine Rein’s plans to go on tour with her new show “Femti, Feit & Bitter” (Fifty, Fat & Bitter) are cancelled due to the difficulties in literally getting the show on the road under the circumstances. So is her planned album release. Everything is put off until next year. However, Trine still has a few more singles to be released from her previous year’s ‘Nashville Sessions’, and with her first single, ‘Fighter’ she wants to help motivate her audience to hang in there. Release date: January 8, 2021.

Fighter is written by David Thulin, Rhyan Shirley and Trine Rein, and it is produced by David Thulin in Nashville. The horn section is recorded on Music Row, Nashville. Cover art work by Trine Rein.

Trine loves this style of music, funky, up tempo soul with horns, energy and a challenge for the voice much inspired by singers like Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin.

Next up is ‘Prove Myself’ - a mid-tempo pop song lowering the expectations in life. We don’t have to always strive for more efficiency, to jump higher, run faster, or prove more each year. We are good just the way we are as long as we are doing our best. Trine felt the need for a song like this after a year of Covid-19 forced thought processes. Having turned 50, she says there’s not much more to prove. I am what I am - and I’m happy with that. With ‘Prove Myself’, she wants us to put on our Superman- or Superwoman cloak, and just face the world with a lifted chest and heart. We are enough! Written by David Thulin, Rhyan Shirley and Trine Rein, and produced by David Thulin in Nashville. Cover art work by Trine Rein.

By springtime, the authorities in Norway begin to allow for a few live concerts with a very limited audience, and Trine gets to do three live concerts towards the end of April. It almost feels like a comeback. She’s unsure of her voice - will it even work anymore after all this time with no live concerts? - but it doesn’t take her long to get back in the saddle again. Following this sense of spring and new burst of energy, she releases ‘Heroine’ on May 7 - a tribute to her mother who single handedly raised her two children, and a song to honor all the single and strong mothers out there with the same experience. ‘Heroine’ is the last recorded song from her ‘Nashville Sessions’, and it is written by David Thulin, Rhyan Shirley and Trine Rein. Produced by David Thulin in Nashville. Cover art by Trine Rein.

With the pandemic stopping most live concerts, Trine contacts her producer friend David Thulin in Nashville to write even more songs for her upcoming album. They meet up for an online writing session together with Rhyan Shirley, and a new song is born! The plan is to release it in July, however Trine decides to hold off on any more releases as long as she is unable to promote her new music through live concerts and her postponed tour. Later that summer, she writes another song online with David Thulin, Rhyan Shirley, and another one with David and Carmen Justice. All three songs are produced in Nashville by David Thulin, and the vocals are added in Norway working with Trine’s long term friend and colleague, Christian Ingebrigtsen, in his studio. The three new songs will be added to her upcoming album with a planned release for spring ‘22.

Parallell with the writing sessions and recording, Trine is also preparing her upcoming Christmas tour, Julegaven (The Gift of Christmas). As it was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year she is putting on the biggest production this far with three musicians, local choirs and a guest artist. Her guest artist is Adrian Jørgensen, a wonderful singer from the northern parts of Norway, Bindal, with lots of experience through various TV-shows and radio play. Trine and Adrian really hit it off, and find much joy in singing and preparing for the Christmas tour together.

During the fall season, the spreading of covid'-19 is on the rise again, and the press and media is full of warnings against seeking larger crowds and mingling. This basically stalls the ticket sales for every production out there, and once again, the future is unsure for the entire entertainment industry. With no other choice than to proceed with her plans, Trine embarks on her Christmas tour towards the end of November. All the concerts are promoted and announced fiercely due to the failing ticket sales, and enormous resources and money is spent in order to get the tour up and running. Some of the churches are filled with an anticipating audience, others are less than half full. Towards the middle of the tour, the authorities re-introduce the covid-19 restrictions of social distancing by three feet. This dramatically reduces the audience capacity in the churches, and many concert productions are forced to reimburse several of their hard sold tickets. At this point, the Delta variant of the covid-19 virus is dominating in Norway, but a new variant, the Omikron, is on the rise. One week later, the authorities tighten the restrictions even more, and reduces the max capacity to 50 in each venue. With these restrictions, there is no other choice than to cancel the rest of the tour in order to damage control the financial situation. 11 of the planned 35 Christmas concerts are cancelled, and the rest of the tickets are swiftly reimbursed.

At this point, Trine Rein goes through a rough time mentally, trying to find a reason to continue to work as a full time artist. She also realizes her weakened condition towards the final week of her Christmas tour leading up to the cancelling of 11 concerts is due to a case of Covid-19. Watching her livelihood being almost annihilated by the authorities with no prospects of support or funding, she finds it extremely difficult to proceed with her plans of combining an album release with her much anticipated concert tour, ‘Femti, Feit & Bitter’ (‘Fifty, Fat & Bitter’). She realizes that the title must be changed all the while this show was originally an anniversary show marking her 50th birthday. By 2022, she will be in her 52nd year, and the show must be adjusted and in many ways, re-written…

 2022

Pandemic 3.0, debt and lack of motivation

Every new year, “Happy New year” is probably the most used term around January 1st. This year does not begin as a very happy one for most of those working in the entertainment industry. Trine Rein’s spirits are down, and she is literally looking for alternative way to make a living. Yet, at the same time, whenever a new year begins, so does the planning of all upcoming tours, releases and new projects and events. With other words, not much time for afterthought, just a feeling of diving onto the next projects ahead. With her upcoming tour, ‘Femti’ish, Feit & (enda mer) Bitter’ (‘Fifty, Fat & (even more) Bitter’) as well as her new album only weeks away, she begins the planning of these projects parallel with trying to deal with the challenges of a broken economy from last year’s cancellation of her Christmas tour. It takes money to make money, and the events of the previous year has robbed many of their means to commence with new projects for the coming year. Public funding is apparently in the pipeline, but with no specific guidelines as to what criteria is needed to apply, everything remains in the open.

On the upside, Trine decides to release a new single from her upcoming album, ‘Alive’. The new single is ‘Be OK’, an EDM-inspired up tempo song with a positive message thrown into a dark world. Along for the performance is Sauda Soul Children singing backup from a recording made in Sauda Church during a concert where they had invited Trine as their guest artist. With Trine’s longterm relationship to this chain of childrens choirs, she had no hesitations to request their assistance on her new song. Sauda Soul Children really manage to lift ‘Be OK’ to another level with their innocent and enthusiastic young voices through the choruses. Release March 9 2022 followed by a lyric video on March 25.

After having to cancel 1/3 of previous year’s Christmas concerts, Julegaven (The Gift of Christmas), the new year commences still with many restrictions due to covid-19. Ticket sales are at an all time low for everyone, and all those with upcoming projects in the entertainment business are suffering majorly from a reluctant audience. Many seem to have changed their habits severely during the pandemic getting more used to staying at home in front of their TV sets, or entertaining new hobbies, supporting the entertainment business not being one of them. The authorities continue to propagate the dangers of going to an entertainment show, and meanwhile stores, public transportation, gyms, sports arenas and all other public arenas seem to be open for business. An all time high spreading of the Omikron covid-19 virus is predicted to hit mid-March the same year.

With the risk of losing the last resources in her company Joy Music AS, Trine, in collaboration with her booking and management, Reidun Berntsen from Rocksport Booking, decide to postpone her upcoming concert show, ‘Femti’ish, Feit & (enda mer) Bitter!’ (Fifty’ish, Fat & (even more) Bitter!) for the third time. Trine Rein was supposed to perform this show back in 2020-21, when she was still 50. Now she is pushing 52, and the entire show is in need of a makeover. Trying to time her tour with the release of a new album has proven to be impossible, and instead, she decides to plan for an earlier album release, and to push her tour from March/April to September/October the same year. With the new plan, she is hoping to let her followers get used to her new music, and at the same time, get more time to market the available tickets for her upcoming show.

On June 3, Trine Rein releases her new album, Alive, and on September 9, her long time coming tour, ‘Fifty’ish, Fat & (even more) Bitter’ (‘Femti’ish, Feit & (enda mer) Bitter!’) finally begins. In the interest of keeping the costs down, Trine has personally taken on the responsibility of programming and running the presentation on the screen in combination with the tracks for the entire show. If not for her longtime friend and colleague, sound engineer Erik Valderhaug being on stand-by to aid during the course of the tour, the show would have never seen the light of day. As she daily keeps running into technical challenges, this responsibility turns out to be so stressful for Trine that she loses sleep and develops atrial fibrillation. Not a great warm up to her next upcoming tour, her annual Christmas tour ‘Julegaven’ (The Gift of Christmas). However, she finishes her 50th anniversary tour two years on overtime just to turn around to commence with her following Christmas tour - this time with no mid-air cancellations by the authorities. During the final week of her Christmas tour, Trine again catches covid-19 - but even so, she continues to perform all of her planned concerts. Needless to say, 2022 is an extremely challenging year physically as well as mentally for Trine Rein, and at the end of the year she feels like she has participated in several back-to-back marathons. Christmas could not come soon enough this time…

During the final week of her Christmas tour, Trine again again catches covid-19 - but even so, she continues to perform all of her planned concerts. Needless to say, 2022 is another extremely challenging year physically as well as mentally for Trine Rein, and at the end of the year she feels like she has participated in several back-to-back marathons. Christmas could not come soon enough this time…

 2023

It’s a new year with supposedly a clean slate and new opportunities. But to making use of new opportunities, it requires some resources. Energy. Motivation. Inspiration. Funding. All of which at this point are not at hand for Trine Rein. She is looking back on three extremely challenging years, and the new year is not looking great either. The artist wakes up January 1st with no ambitions to conquer the world, a body which refuses to obey, and a feeling of general distress over a state of dead batteries. The reasons could be many. It could stem from the years of being completely overworked, it could be from going through covid-19 twice while on tour, it could be from taking the vaccines, or it could simply be due to the complete lack of resting. Who knows? Regardless of the reason, Trine, in agreement with her long-term booking agency, Rocksport Booking AS, decides not to pursue the booking of a new Christmas tour this year in order to let Trine rest up and catch her breath in life. This decision takes a major weight off of Trine’s shoulders. However, as she is not known to be very good at resting even though her body cries out for it, she turns around make use of her sudden spare time to learn a new trait: Property investing and apartment leasing.

During the fall of 2022, Trine and her husband, Lars Monsen, sell their beautiful home in Skiptvet. Trine is in charge of much of the formalities and organizing of the move, and as they have the opportunity to do so, Trine decides to make some fruitful choices towards their mutual retirement. They purchase a much smaller apartment with only 1/5 of the space they are used to living in, and in addition, they purchase a secondary apartment to put on the marked for lease. The move, the preparing of the secondary apartment, the educational weeks of learning about leasing etc etc take up most of Trine’s time for the first 6 months of the year. It is a much welcomed break from the music business as Trine is simultaneously receiving a lot of professional help in getting her energy levels back to normal. Her booking agent, Reidun Berntsen, is literally holding her head above water in placing just enough concerts into her schedule to keep her going financially through the year. Trine gets to cooperate with several marching bands as well as choirs all around Norway, something which gives her a continuation as an artist in the music business without taking too much toll on a worn out body.

Towards the end of the year, Trine is beginning to feel more perky and ready to get back in the saddle again, and she begins to work on a brand new project for 2024 - namely a tribute concert to one of her biggest idols: The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin! To be continued…