Dag Spantell

Who is Dag Spantell?

Dag Spantell is a Norwegian singer who was at his most popular in the 1970s.

At the age of twelve he was inspired by The Shadows to start his own instrumental band called Beatboys, where he played rhythm guitar. A huge fan of The Beatles he later joined the band Misfits in 1964, where he was a member until co-founding the band Happie in 1967. Writing many of his own songs he was clearly inspired by The Beatles, vocal harmonies and the psychedelia of the time. At 18 he had his first TV appearance with Happie and their song Flowergirl.

Spantell looked set on retiring from music life, and educated himself as a cook in 1969. However he would continue as a musician, mainly as the lead singer of the dance band Kjell Karlsens Orkester. In 1973 he was given the song Kjendis-party, a Norwegian translation of the Ricky Nelson-hit Garden Party. The song became widely popular and reached #4 on Norsktoppen. In 1975 his song En helt alminnelig sang om sommer reached the #1 spot.

Through the 1970s Spantell recorded numerous singles and two albums as a solo artist, but most notably he appeared on several albums together with other artists. From 1975 to 1978 he became a part of the enormously popular På Treff-gang, a group of four singers who put out several albums with covers of international hit songs, often translated to Norwegian. He toured extensively through the decade, often as part of På Treff, and participated four times in the Norwegian finals for the Eurovision Song Contest. For a period he was also lead singer in another dance band, Torry Enghs.