SOL HEILO

Upbringing:

Sol grew up in Bærum as the youngest of four siblings. Her father taught them to play the piano, and her mother sang with them every day. Both of her brothers are musically active, and she has written music together with her brother Kristian Heilo. She was seven years old when she started playing percussion in the Haslum skoles jentekorps (Girls’ Marching band), and at the age of twelve, she participated as a drummer in the torch relay for the Lillehammer Olympics alongside percussionists from the Norwegian Academy of Music who were ten years older. After high school, she traveled the world and ended up in Connecticut, where she briefly served as a percussionist in the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.

 

Education:

From 1998 to 2000, Heilo attended the music program at Rud High School in Bærum. It was there that she met Marianne Sveen, whom she later brought into Katzenjammer. From 2000 to 2001, she studied photography and theater at Buskerud Folkehøgskole. She then moved to Oslo and studied composition and music production at the Nordic Institute for Stage and Studio from 2003 to 2005. It was during this time that Katzenjammer was formed by Heilo, Anne Marit Bergheim, and Turid Jørgensen Honerud. She began playing guitar and other instruments that Katzenjammer wanted to use, and also debuted as a vocalist. She graduated from the Nordic Institute for Stage and Studio with top marks and received the St. Olav’s Prize as Student of the Year.

 

Work:

In 2017, she began her solo career and has been touring regularly since then. Her participation in the TV show “Hver Gang Vi Møtes” gave her a kickstart for touring in Norway. Before this, she mostly toured internationally. During her TV appearances, she had great success with hits like “Holde rundt deg.”

 

She has released three albums so far: “Skinhorse Playground,” “Unplugged Playground,” and “Solstice.”

 

As a solo artist, she has also written and produced film music, including “Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by” and “Kaptein Sabeltann og den magiske diamant.” Here, she served as a music producer, musician, vocalist, technician, arranger, and lyricist. She played all the instruments herself, a total of 28 instruments. She also provided the voice for the parrot in the film “Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by.”

 

On the theater stage, she is behind the music for the theater production “Kokosbananas og moromaskinen.”

 

Freelance Work:

Sol has worked as a freelance musician with several well-known artists, including playing keyboards for Bertine Zetlitz, vocals and multiple instruments on the album “Diggin Deep” (2006) by HP Gundersen, trumpet for Westlife, vocals and drums on several Espen Lind and Stargate recordings, vocals and drums for Magnus Uggla’s band, trumpet on Grand Island’s album “Boys and Brutes” (2008), vocals on Vinni’s song “Mørkredd” (2011), mandolin on Thomas Dybdahl’s song “Før Morgengry” (2011), as well as percussion and vocals with Odd Nordstoga and Kåre Vestrheim on video projects for NRK.

 

In 2005, Heilo and Johan Wilhelm Schioldborg set up a music studio at Propeller Recordings, where she practiced recording phonograms and produced Katzenjammer’s first demo album. In 2012 and 2013, she worked as a composer, arranger, musician, music producer, technician, designer, and actor in Worsøe’s theater production “Stilleben.”

 

In 2013, Holmenkollbakken and the Ski Federation announced a song competition among recognized musicians and composers. The goal was a new official Kollen song, and several prominent Norwegian bands and composers submitted their contributions. Together with Terje Borg, Heilo wrote the winning song, and “Kollenbrølet” (2013) is now the official Holmenkollen song.

 

Heilo has been instrumental in Katzenjammer’s arrangements and compositions and was a co-producer on their first (Le Pop) and third (Rockland) albums. She helped write the singles “Rock Paper Scissors” and “I Will Dance” from the album “A Kiss Before You Go” (2011) and wrote the singles “My Dear” and “Shine Like Neon Rays” from the album “Rockland” (2015). Together with Eivind Buene, she is behind Katzenjammer’s version of Bjørn Rønningen’s Christmas song “Vi tenner våre lykter,” which is the title track on the Crown Prince Couple’s humanitarian fund’s Christmas album from 2011. She also arranged all the vocals for Katzenjammer’s version of The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” where Tormod Tvete Vik arranged the strings. She arranged alone Katzenjammer’s versions of the songs “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” and “White Christmas.”

Katzenjammer is behind the rearrangement and recording of the music for the animated film “Dyrene i Hakkebakkeskogen” (2016) (Qvisten animation). The music is written by Thorbjørn Egner and Christian Hartmann with the exception of “Skinkestek” (Heilo). Gaute Storaas is behind the rest of the film’s music.

 

Design:

Heilo designed Katzenjammer’s first album, “Le Pop” (2008), together with her sister Kaja Heilo and Sandrine Pagnoux. She also participated in the design of the second album, “A Kiss Before You Go” (2011), together with Mathias Fossum and Heydays, and was solely responsible for the design of the third album, “Rockland” (2015). She has also designed most of Katzenjammer’s merchandise, such as t-shirts, buttons, and mugs, as well as posters, stage setups, early web design, and the well-known balalaika bass “Akerø.” She sewed most of the stage costumes she wore in Katzenjammer herself and also sewed dresses as merchandise for Katzenjammer. Heilo designs the artwork for several of her own albums and also produces her own music videos, based on her own visual art. “London is Trouble,” “America,” and “Killing Karma” are examples of this. She also produces visual art for others, including backdrops for Chris Holsten.

 

Other Projects:

In 2012, Heilo started a band with Unni Wilhelmsen and Hanne Mari Karlsen. The trio played a selection of songs written by Wilhelmsen and Heilo. Heilo also participated in Magnus Grønneberg’s solo project, where she played drums and sang. In 2015, she contributed vocals to the CC Cowboys’ latest album “Til det blir dag” (2015).

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(Source: Wikipedia)