Jørgen Ingmann (26 April 1925 – 21 March 2015) was a Danish jazz and pop guitarist from Copenhagen. He was popular in Europe and had a wider international hit in 1961 with his version of "Apache". He and his wife Grethe Ingmann won the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dansevise". Although virtually unknown in Britain, he sold hundreds of thousands of records in mainland Europe, Scandinavia, the US, Canada, and the Far East.
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Jørgen Ingmann Pedersen was born in Copenhagen, and as a young man still in his teens he became a messenger saving his pay checks to buy his first guitar. As a child he had learned to play the violin but his passion was the guitar. His next job was as a printing house clerk where he remained for 4 years. During that time he would learn to play the piano. One of his early influences was Charlie Christian – an American musician – who played the electric guitar – primarily designated to provide rhythm for jazz ensembles.
Jorgen would finally get his first guitar in 1941 along with an amplifier. He would next form his first group the “Ingmann Quintet”. The group were regulars playing in downtown Copenhagen. This was in the early 1940’s. In 1944 he would join the Roger Henriksen Orchestra playing in the village of Randers. 1945 would be a big turning point in his career when he became a member of Svend Asmussen’s backing group, Svend being crowned the “Fiddling Viking”. Svend provided Jorgen with the opportunity to record his first record with “How I’m Doing, Hey Hey” b/w “That’s My Weakness Now”.
Ingmann’s inspiration on the guitar came from America’s pioneer Les Paul. Like Paul, Jorgen would experiment with multi-tracking techniques, echo and special effects. He had his own 4-track recording machine at a time when 2-track mono was predominant. Ingmann also used half speed recording extensively in the studio. In addition to the guitar, Jorgen would overdub the bass and drums playing all the instruments and manning the controls for his echo special effects and began recording under the name Jørgen Ingmann & His Guitar.
He would cover the hugely popular Shadows’ UK hit “Apache” taking it to number 1 in Canada and number 2 in the United States. “Apache” even resonated with R&B radio stations reaching number 9 on the R&B national charts. He remade Silvana Mangano's "Anna" with moderate US chart success. In the first half of the 1960s he had many hits in Germany, including "Pepe" (1961 #15), "Anna" (1961 #19), "Violetta" (1962 #16), "Drina Marsch" (1964 #5) and "Zorba le Grec" (1965 #14). Billboard magazine reported that he charted at no. 2 on the Denmark pop singles chart with his recording of "Marchen Til Drina" on 7 December 1963. His recording reached no. 1 on 17 December 1963. Other recordings of his included "Tequila" (which he also recorded during the 60s, with the Champs) and a version of Pinetop Perkins'"Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (from 1962).
He also worked as a member of the duet, Grethe og Jørgen Ingmann, together with his wife Grethe Ingmann. After winning the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix competition in 1963, they went on to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 where they won with the song "Dansevise" (Dance Ballad), music by Otto Francker and lyrics by Sejr Volmer-Sørensen. His best jazz work is to be found on the LP Guitar in Hifi which, apart from "Margie", the first track, has many songs written by Hoagy Carmichael. It was issued in England on a 10-inch LP and in other places as a 12-inch LP. In the USA it was called Jorgan Ingmann Swings Softly.
Besides releasing his own recordings, his orchestra Jørgen Ingmann's Orkester backed a number of contemporary Danish artists in the 1950s and early 1960s. He and Grethe met in 1955, married in 1956, and divorced in 1975. Jorgen continued to perform as a soloist. Ingmann was never fond of appearing live solo but much preferred working in the studio. His final appearances were a disappointment for him, attending festivals in 1984 standing in the back of track and playing his familiar tunes from a tape recorder! By 1985 he sold all of his guitars and equipment and would never record or perform again.
Jørgen had a short two year marriage to Gitte Heide from 1979, but according to close friend and musician Laif Møller Lauridsen, the divorce from Grethe was devastating for him and he turned to drink for solace. Eventually they both reunited in 1984 but as close friends, as Gerthe had married advertising executive Bo Augustinusin in 1977. She died 18 August 1990 from cancer, age 52. In 2003 a biography about Jørgen Ingmann by Henrik Kristoffersen was published.
Jørgen Ingmann died in Holte, Denmark, on 21 March 2015, aged 89.
(Edited from Wikipedia. AllMusic, kimsloans & Eurovisionary)