Hans Rotmo is a Norwegian singer/songwriter who rose to fame in the mid-'70s as the frontman of
Vømmøl Spellmannslag, a remarkably successful folk-pop band, before proceeding to form a number of other bands and embark on a solo career in the 1980s. Born on March 10, 1948,
Rotmo began his musical career in the mid-'60s in a local band called the Valley Boys. (In 1982 he would reunite the band and release the album
Løkka i Livet.) In 1973
Rotmo adopted the alias
Kristian Schravlevold and founded the folk-pop band
Vømmøl Spellmannslag in Trøndelag, Norway. The band released a pair of tremendously popular albums, Vömmöl'n (1974) and
Vömlingen (1975). The former spent 43 consecutive weeks in the Top Ten of the Norwegian albums chart, peaking at number two, while the latter went all the way to number one. In the aftermath of this remarkable success,
Rotmo put
Vømmøl Spellmannslag aside and formed a new band, Arbeidslaget Hass K. Vømmølbakken, with which he released another pair of albums, the Spellemannprisen award-winning Grovarbeid (1976) and Varsko Her! (1976). The albums failed to rival the commercial success of
Vømmøl Spellmannslag, however, and
Rotmo proceeded to form yet another band, Heimevernslaget, with which he released a few more albums, Mob. Styrken (1978), Spaellet om Trøndelag (1979), and Trekkspellkrigen (1979). In the 1980s
Rotmo embarked on a solo career, releasing the albums Vårres Jul (1980) and
Løkka i Livet (1982). In another twist, he adopted a new alias, Ola Uteligger, for a few albums released during the mid- to late '80s. The first two, Brøllopet i Kaanan (1985) and Herberget Sannheten (1987), were Top Ten hits while the third, Sorgens Bar (1989), reached the Top 20. In the 1990s
Rotmo reverted to his born name for another couple albums, Vårres Jul Revidert (1990) and Fest i Natt (1992), but mostly occupied himself with a vast number of theater productions. After the turn of the century he released the album Bønder i Solnedgang (2000) and the compilation Spaell Åt Mae (2003), the latter of which was a big hit. ~ Jason Birchmeier