User:Lilduff90/Pearl

Pearl was a Norwegian rock/country rock band, active from 2003 to 2008 and briefly in 2014. The band became known in Norway due to their low age. .

History
The group was formed in 2003 by Christian Bjørgen (bass guitar), Einar Andre Aasheim (drums) and brothers Martin (guitars) and Øyvind Bjørnevik (keyboards), and a few months later, guitarist/keyboardist Martin Kviteberg completed the line-up, with Per-Ove Kviteberg assuming manager and promotor duties. After several failed attempts to recruite a lead singer, Øyvind began singing. In the following years, the band saw a lot of members coming and going, but the original five remained for most of the bands tenure. Martin Bjørnevik briefly left the band in Summer 2004 as he was tired of playing the guitar, being a drummer for the past ten years. He rejoined a few months later on the drums, and Martin Kviteberg took over the guitars. To broaden the bands sound, the number of singers were expanded to three, with Maria Johnsen and Randi Karin Rusten both joining the band, in addition to a secondary guitarist, Sigurd Hveem, being added to the line-up.

While known only to local audiences in the start of their career, they achieved national fame in December 2004, when the by then eight-piece-band played two sold out shows at famous country bar Old River Saloon in Etne, despite all but one of the members being underage (and thereby not allowed to enter the bar in the first place). Following their fifteen minutes of fame, the band saw a great increase in both shows and audience, and soon grew to become a very attractive act in Western Norway. The band subsequently toured the region for three years, including two major concerts in the summers of 2005 and 2006, attracting audiences in the thousands. While taking a few weeks off after their 2006 Summer shows, Øyvind Bjørnevik announced his departure to finish his studies, with Aasheim following him a few weeks later. To replace them, local singer Rune Landa was recruited as the new lead singer, with Martin Bjørnevik now taking full drum duties. However, the rising success and larger venues brought about tensions in the band about how the finances were handled and about the members' say in band matters, sparking conflict between some of the members and management.

After ending their Christmas Tour 2006-07, the band went on hiatus, as Landa and Hveem left the band due to the increasing tensions in the band. Soon afterwards, lead singer Randi Karin Rusten abruptly left the band to focus on a solo career, subsequently releasing an album the same year. Struggling to find replacement members, the band never resumed performing to the same extent as before, but did occasional local shows with guest musicians throughout 2007-08. In 2008, the band reunited for two major shows, one in March and one in September, as backup for Vassendgutane, with both concerts receiving rave reviews and large attendances. Despite efforts to keep the band going, a lack of interest from the members, due to them entering college in various cities, made rehearsing nearly impossible, let alone touring. After several months of on-and-off plans to reunite again, the band announced on their website in January 2009 that the band was done.

Following the disbandment, most of the members remained in touch, and on several occasions attempted reunion shows or projects, but none of these ever materialized, most notably a large-scale reunion concert set for July 2011. In May 2012, remaining members Johnsen, Bjørgen and Kviteberg announced that the band was planning another reunion, however, after only a few weeks of work on the project, schedueling conflicts began to slow down progress, and the plans were ultimately scrapped a few months later. The band attempted yet another reunion in 2013, which eventually led to the one-off performance in 2014, featuring the bands final 2008 line-up with the addition of Kjartan Hansen on bass guitar.

Releases
While band did not have any official releases during their career, their sold-out June 10, 2006 concert on Halsnøy was filmed with the intention of a possible DVD and/or CD release by the arrangers, but the project was scrapped due to poor sound mixing. A bootleg recording of the show, recorded by an audience member, was uploaded to a Norwegian torrent site a few weeks later.

According to guitarist Kviteberg, the band was planning their first studio recordings when Landa and Hveem suddenly left in 2007, forcing the plans to be scrapped. He has since commented that it is more likely that the band would reunite to make an album rather than resume touring. .

Final line-up

 * Maria Johnsen - vocals (2004-2008, 2014)
 * Christian Bjørgen - bass guitar (2003-2008), rhythm guitar (2014)
 * Martin Kviteberg - keyboards & guitars (2004-2008, 2014)
 * Rhune Dahle - drums (2008, 2014)
 * Kjartan Hansen - bass guitar (2014)

Former members

 * Øyvind Bjørnevik - keyboards & vocals (2003-2006)
 * Einar Andrè Aasheim - drums (2003-2006)
 * Martin Bjørnevik - guitars (2003-2004), drums (2004-2007)
 * Sigurd Hveem - guitars (2004-2007)
 * Randi Karin Rusten - vocals (2004-2007)
 * Jostein Hauge - lead guitars (2004)
 * Rune Landa - vocals, guitars (2006-2007)