Pianist, Composer, Singer, Actress. Karen Jønsson (sometimes spelled Jönsson) began composing music at the age of 10 and received piano lessons with a view to being accepted at the conservatoire, but she was soon attracted by jazz and rhytmic music. The following years she had numerous engagements at cabarets and revue theatres in Copenhagen where she performed her own songs, followed by appearances in Stockholm, Oslo and London. In a revue in 1936 she shared the piano stool with Victor Borge (then Børge Rosenbaum), and in 1937 and 1938 they acted together in the films "Frøken Møllers Jubilæum" and "Alarm". Besides acting she composed the music for these and other films, and one on her songs, "Hvorfor er lykken så lunefuld" (Why is happiness so changeable) has become an evergreen and is still played daily somewhere or other in Europe. In spite of her huge success in the films, on the stage, on the radio and through her records she felt restless and often depressed, and after a failed attempt as the owner of a piano bar in Copenhagen she moved to Stockholm where new engagements awaited her. There she married for the third time, but like her two previous marriages this new one did not last long. In 1942 she was offered an engagement back home in Copenhagen, and although Denmark in the meantime had been occupied by German Nazi troops she looked forward to performing again in Copenhagen, but shortly before her departure she suffered a severe attack of pneumonia and died after two days' unconsciousness.
Pianist, Composer, Singer, Actress. Karen Jønsson (sometimes spelled Jönsson) began composing music at the age of 10 and received piano lessons with a view to being accepted at the conservatoire, but she was soon attracted by jazz and rhytmic music. The following years she had numerous engagements at cabarets and revue theatres in Copenhagen where she performed her own songs, followed by appearances in Stockholm, Oslo and London. In a revue in 1936 she shared the piano stool with Victor Borge (then Børge Rosenbaum), and in 1937 and 1938 they acted together in the films "Frøken Møllers Jubilæum" and "Alarm". Besides acting she composed the music for these and other films, and one on her songs, "Hvorfor er lykken så lunefuld" (Why is happiness so changeable) has become an evergreen and is still played daily somewhere or other in Europe. In spite of her huge success in the films, on the stage, on the radio and through her records she felt restless and often depressed, and after a failed attempt as the owner of a piano bar in Copenhagen she moved to Stockholm where new engagements awaited her. There she married for the third time, but like her two previous marriages this new one did not last long. In 1942 she was offered an engagement back home in Copenhagen, and although Denmark in the meantime had been occupied by German Nazi troops she looked forward to performing again in Copenhagen, but shortly before her departure she suffered a severe attack of pneumonia and died after two days' unconsciousness.
Bio by: Erik Skytte
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