"I found Elvis Presley stupid and plumy"
On June 29, 1946, I was born in Aarhus, Denmark. My sister Jette is three and a half years older than me. I think my mother Erna made a great actress, she is so alive and imaginative. My father Otto is a songwriter, he calls himself Troubadour. He writes and writes songs and swing. I always found his swing a bit embarrassing, but his songs are really great. At home he always sings, his own pieces, but also things like Frank Sinatra, he likes very much. To my sister and me, singing is often too much - just like children.
1950
Our home is an artist household, so a bit bohemian. Not the kind of home where parents or grandparents read the little fairy tales or sing children's songs. A bit we read before, for example, Hans Christian Andersen. But children's songs? Never! This is always jazz. The music of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald is childish enough to appeal to me. Even when I am very small, I am a rhythmic person.
1954
In Germany there is a hit, "I marry Daddy", sung by little Conny Froboess and Camillo rims. My daddy's producer comes up with the idea of recording that in Danish and asks my dad, "Do not you have a daughter?" My dad says, "I even have two, but I do not know if they can sing." Because my sister is almost too old at the age of 12, my dad picks it up with me. It is called in Danish "Giftes med farmand" and will be a great success.
1958
I am a child star. I get my first record deal without my dad, but he still looks after me. He is very authoritarian, it is not always funny. He wants me to improve, practice constantly with me. I should learn to sing like a craft and be good at it. My parents' marriage is not happy. My father is not very popular at home because he has affairs with other women.
1958
In Copenhagen, where we now live, I experience a concert by jazz artist Lena Horne. I will never forget that. This incredible voice!
1959
The time when all girls love Elvis Presley. Not me! I think he's stupid and plump, with margarine in his hair. I rather like Tommy Steele from England, who also sings Rock'n'Roll, but seems to me more appetizing - if only because he is blond!
1960
Strangely enough, I remember very well a youth book I read: "The Jungle Boy Bamboo". A bit like Tarzan, but much better. Of course, they must also be typical girls books, a series is called "Christel", a "Hanne". Hanne goes to Marseille, I remember that, I liked that. Exciting, I find the books of Françoise Sagan, because it is about love and sex. My mother, who reads a lot, buys me the works of Kierkegaard, Ibsen and Strindberg. She thinks I should know that, so that I do not lose the depth of my superficial profession. I have never read any of these books, but their attitude has helped me a lot. She is the one who has taught me to pay attention to quality in everything I do. She saved me from flattening. What I read from their books was Henry Miller. I even took it to school and read aloud to my friends, and we laughed about it. When my mother heard about it, she said: You do not have to make a fool of Henry Miller. This is an excellent writer.
1960
I'm only 14, but my success has made me courageous. One day I go to my dad and say, "Frankly, I find it silly that we always perform together." In the meantime I only sing solo, but he still accompanies me on stage. I do not want to rebel, that's really a matter of taste for me. He is very indignant, but retires. I am now looking for a manager of my own.
1963
The song "I want a cowboy as a man" will be my breakthrough in Germany. But this year is also the year of my first love! For some time I had this idea, I would have to fall in love with a great musician. One of the reasons for this is that my parents were a big jazz bass player, Oskar Pettiford, who impressed me a lot and also influenced my taste in music. I want a musician! At 17, I fall in love with the famous bassist Nils Henning Örstid Petersen. We are a very sweet loving couple! I admire him so much, his music. Because of him, I am ashamed of the music I make myself, the hits that can not match his work. We stay together for two and a half years.
1964
My parents get divorced, my father moves out.As he says goodbye, he says threateningly to my mother: "Will you be able to do this, all alone, with Gitte and her career?" My mother wants to show self-assured, but I fall in front of him in the back and hiss: "Not again!" No one should interfere in my affairs now that he's gone. With my music I earn a living. How difficult that must have been for my mother, I did not really understand until much later.
1965
In Germany I have been under contract with the record company EMI in Cologne since I was 17. Whenever I'm in Cologne, I try to go to Museum Ludwig. I love the modern, Kandinsky, Klee, Miró. By the way, to this day, I have a picture of Klee at my house. I find the Impressionists terrible kitsch, with the unshakeable self-confidence of a very young person. But one opens sometime, thank God! The journey begins first. I arrive at Kirchner and Schiele, but I am also enthusiastic about Hieronymus Bosch. Much later, I discover my love for Rubens, I would never have thought possible! As a teenager, I found that awful. But he is so erotic!
1969
I can not hear the hits and the pop I sing anymore. That's why I do not want to renew my contract with the EMI. The technician who takes my recordings knows how much I love jazz. And suddenly the EMI people come to me and ask me if I would like to make a jazz record with the Francy Boland Kenny Clarke Big Band. They wanted to soften me up so I could extend the contract, but it was so beautiful!
1974
Jo Geistler becomes my manager and husband. Two years later, we are divorced again.
80s
I have the feeling that I have to educate myself, I have to get to know other things that have to do with music and entertainment. I start watching musicals on Broadway and in London. But I think only every fifth good. Because my eyes are very dry, they tire quickly, so I like to close them in the musical and just listen. Unfortunately, I often fall asleep. I see "A Chorus Line" twice on Broadway, fall asleep both times, see it a third time in London. I'm very tired again when I suddenly realize that I know one of the main characters - I had a hot love affair with him! That keeps me awake.
1995
My friend, the musical producer Friedrich Kurz, is in financial trouble. His musical "Shakespeare and Rock'n'Roll" in Berlin is not so special. One considers to occupy the main role with a woman who is a little older - and more famous. I want to help my friend and take over the role, sing the Gloria in tight-fitting spacesuit. In fact, the ticket sales doubled. When there is trouble between producer and investor, my advisor says, "Get out of here!" And I get out. Friedrich Kurz was sad about it, but he accepted it with a lot of greatness.
1997
I have a big wish: I want to get closer to my father. That's why I ask him to come back with me after all these years. In Berlin we give a jazz concert together: "Jazz in the tail - Songs for my father". It does not stay with this one. My father is happy. And I'm so happy and grateful that I got this chance to be his friend again. In February 2004 he dies.
1998
I record the album "My Favorite Songs", most titles really mean a lot to me. If I could do that again today, it would be absolutely necessary to have Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad And That Is Not Good" and "Song For You" by Leon Russell, "Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All Years", " Short People "by Randy Newman and" She's not a lady, she's my wife "by Lyle Lovett. Loud heart pieces!
2004
My 50th stage anniversary! On this occasion, I record two albums, the pop album "Johansson" and the live album "Jazz". These two records stand for my career: Without jazz I can never fulfill my musical needs, it is so rich, it is my love. I find pop much more difficult. It's very, very hard, really good pop to do. A constant challenge.
