Born: December 27th, 1908, Odense (Denmark)
Died: March 9th, 1989, Helsingør (Denmark)
Nationality: Danish
In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview
BIOGRAPHY
Kai Mortensen was a violinist, composer, and conductor. He went to music school in Odense; later, he took lessons with Max Schlüter. When he was 16, he was already touring as a violinist and a conductor in different bands. In subsequent years, he played for Jens Warny and Teddy Petersen. In 1948, he became the conductor of the Kabaret Orkester.
Three years later, he took up the baton of the light entertainment orchestra of Danish Radio, the DR Unterholdningsorkester. With his orchestra, he accompanied many radio and television shows. He presented the radio programme Meloditimen himself. As a composer, he wrote several light classical works, the most famous one being ‘Den drilartige violin’ (The teasing violin). He conducted studio orchestras for recordings with many Danish artists, amongst whom Gustav Winckler. He was musical director of the 1974 animation film Fra poetens pen.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Kai Mortensen was one of the usual guest conductors in the early years of the Eurovision Song Contest. From Denmark’s first participation in 1957 until 1964, he conducted all the entries submitted by the Scandinavian country. He did not contribute as an orchestrator to any of these entries, but conducted the studio orchestras for the record versions on multiple occasions - with the scores mostly written by Arne Lamberth. During all those years, he also was the musical director of the Danish preselection, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. In 1963, he belonged to the Danish team that won the contest in London with ‘Dansevise’ (sung by Grethe and Jørgen Ingman).
When, the year after, the contest was staged in Copenhagen, all songs were accompanied by the Unterholdningsorkester and Kai Mortensen was the musical director. Because Portugal had not sent along a guest conductor, Mortensen also conducted the – very first – Portuguese entry, ‘Oração’, which had been arranged by Joaquim Luís Gomes and conducted in the Portuguese heats by Armando Tavares Belo. After 1964, Mortensen never participated in the contest anymore. All in all, he conducted nine Eurovision songs.
EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Skibet skal sejle i nat”
Rendition – Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler
Lyrics – Poul Sørensen
Composition – Erik Fiehn
Studio arrangement – Arne Lamberth
(Statsradiosinfoniens Danseorkester conducted by Kai Mortensen)
Live orchestration – Arne Lamberth
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 3rd place (10 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog”
Rendition – Raquel Rastenni
Lyrics – Harry Jensen / Sven Ulrik
Composition – Harry Jensen / Sven Ulrik
Studio arrangement – Arne Lamberth
(Statsradiosinfoniens Danseorkester conducted by Kai Mortensen)
Live orchestration – Arne Lamberth
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 8th place (3 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Uh – jeg ville ønske jeg var dig”
Rendition – Birthe Wilke
Lyrics – Carl Andersen
Composition – Otto Lington
Studio arrangement – Arne Lamberth
(Radio Danseorkestret conducted by Arne Lamberth)
Live orchestration – Arne Lamberth
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 5th place (12 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Det var en yndig tid”
Rendition – Katy Bødtger
Lyrics – Sven Buemann
Composition – Vilfred Kjær
Studio arrangement – Morten Reesen
(Grand Prix Orkestret conducted by Morten Reesen)
Live orchestration – Morten Reesen
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 10th place (4 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Angelique”
Rendition – Dario Campeotto
Lyrics – Aksel V. Rasmussen
Composition – Aksel V. Rasmussen
Studio arrangement – Otto Francker
(studio orchestra conducted by Kai Mortensen)
Live orchestration – Otto Francker
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 5th place (12 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Vuggevise”
Rendition – Ellen Winther
Lyrics – Sejr Volmer Sørensen
Composition – Kjeld Bonfils
Studio arrangement – Poul Clemensen
(studio orchestra conducted by Kai Mortensen)
Live orchestration – Poul Clemensen
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 10th place (2 votes)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Dansevise”
Rendition – Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann
Lyrics – Sejr Volmer-Sørensen
Composition – Otto Francker
Studio arrangement – Otto Francker / Arne Lamberth
Live orchestration – Otto Francker / Arne Lamberth
Conductor – Kai Mortensen
Score – 1st place (42 votes)
1964 Copenhagen (1)
Country – Denmark
Song title – “Sangen om dig”
Rendition – Bjørn Tidmand
Lyrics – Mogens Dam
Composition – Aksel V. Rasmussen
Studio arrangement – Ole Høyer
(studio orchestra conducted by Ole Høyer)
Live orchestration – Ole Høyer
Conductor – Kai Mortensen (MD)
Score – 9th place (4 votes)
1964 Copenhagen (2)
Country – Portugal
Song title – "Oração"
Rendition – António Calvário
Lyrics – Rogério Braçinha / Francisco Nicholson
Composition – João Nobre
Studio arrangement – Joaquim Luís Gomes
(studio orchestra conducted by Joaquim Luís Gomes)
Live orchestration – Joaquim Luís Gomes
Conductor – Kai Mortensen (MD)
Score – 13th place (0 votes)
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