Atle Bakken

Atle Bakken (born 1962 in Sandefjord, Norway), is a composer, performer and producer from Norway, known on both sides of the Atlantic, through his work with Stevie Wonder, Sting, Diana Ross, Andy Summers, Snoop Dogg, Andraé Crouch and scoring credits such as the Fox/HBO award-winning TV comedy series Martin, starring Martin Lawrence. Bakken has since 1986 been a journalist for music magazines such as Keyboard magazine (US), Ballade (NO), Sonic Shocks (UK) and Musikkpraksis (NO). Life and career Atle Bakken started his music involvement at 5 years of age by copying Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade” on a Hohner melodica. He took up classical studies at 10 with Dr. Norbert Bojanowski, going through the repertoire of Grieg, Bach, Mozart and Liszt, and the likes. At 14 Bakken started his own organ jazz trio and started to perform concerts in the spirit of Larry Young and Jimmy Smith, and recorded his first radio show (at NRK). He also started performing R&B and soul with a band a la Tower of Power. At age 15, Bakken was discovered by Sony Music A&R, Kristian Lindeman by having recorded his own material for local talent scout & manager, Fredrik Friis. Bakken was noted nationally in Nor