Kari Rueslåtten

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Kari Rueslåtten is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and keyboard player known for her ethereal, powerful soprano voice. She became famous as the lead singer of The 3rd and the Mortal, one of the first metal bands to feature a prominent female vocalist, and she helped inspire other groups like The Gathering and Nightwish. She was born in Trondheim on October 3, 1973.

At age 19 she joined The 3rd and the Mortal and helped create early releases, including the 1993 demo and the 1994 album Tears Laid in Earth. After leaving the band, she explored Nordic folk influences with the project Storm and then began her solo career. Her first solo album, Spindelsinn (1997), was sung in Norwegian and drew on Nordic folk music. She followed with Mesmerized (1998). To shape her own sound, she later studied music production in London.

In the 2000s she released music with the GMR Music Group, including the experimental album Pilot and Other People’s Stories (2005). She took a break from her career after touring for that album. She returned in 2013 with a remake of The 3rd and the Mortal’s “Why So Lonely,” featuring Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish on piano, and then released Time to Tell in 2014.

Her 2015 album To The North mixed acoustic feel with darker, atmospheric elements, and its singles included Turn, Turn, Turn and Battle Forevermore. The 2017 album Silence Is the Only Sound stayed in English and continued her moody, cinematic style, with singles like Chasing Rivers, Spellbound and The Harbour. In 2020 she released Sørgekåpe, her first Norwegian album since Spindelsinn, with the title track issued as a single on International Women’s Day and filmed in the mountains of Dovrefjell.

Kari has also contributed to other artists’ tracks, including works with Rawthang and Art of Fighters.