1. Kurt Nilsen won the first season of the Norwegian reality show Idol, which aired on TV 2 in May 2003.
13 Facts About Kurt Nilsen
1. 2.
Kurt Nilsen then won a one-off international version of Pop Idol called World Idol on 1 January 2004, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows.
3.
Kurt Nilsen became the lead singer in the Norwegian band Fenrik Lane.
4.
Kurt Nilsen is a left-handed musician and plays his guitar with the strings upside down.
5.
Kurt Nilsen subsequently won the title for the World Idol on 1 January 2004, singing the hit "Beautiful Day" by U2, beating competitors from ten other nations, including the more famous Idol winners, Britain's Will Young, and favourite Kelly Clarkson of the United States, and scoring the first place in 10 out of 11 countries eligible to vote for him.
6.
Kurt Nilsen performed the duet "When You're Gone" alongside English pop singer, and former-Spice Girls member, Melanie C at the Top 20 event at Radhusplassen in Oslo, Norway in the summer of 2007.
7.
In 2008, in connection with his latest and country-flavoured album Rise to the Occasion Kurt Nilsen teamed up with American music legend Willie Nelson to perform the old country music standard "Lost Highway".
8.
Spring 2010 saw Kurt Nilsen touring Norway with an acoustic concert tour in intimate concert halls.
9.
Kurt Nilsen's guest artist was Elin Gaustad, who was a competitor in Norway's first X Factor show in 2009.
10.
In 2010, Kurt Nilsen recorded a Christmas song album entitled Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with the Kringkastingsorkester, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.
11.
On 15 September 2012, it was announced on the official Norwegian Idol website that Kurt Nilsen would be the second of an all-new four-member jury of former Idol contestants to celebrate 10 years since the debut of Idol in Norway.
12.
In January 2005, Kurt Nilsen broke up with his fiancee, Kristine Jacobsen.
13.
Kurt Nilsen has received national attention for his guitar-shaped alpine hut, in the Hardangervidda in Norway.