HEAVEN

A Heaven Biography
What would eventually metamorphose into Heaven , began in 1985. Kenneth Pedersen, Tomi Pedersen and Arnfinn Knutsen all played in a group called “Norsemen”, and under this monicker, they wrote and performed original material. Heavier and more rock ‘n’ roll based initially, Norsemenband recorded a few demotapes and were a going concern until 1988. In 1988, the band renamed itself Heaven, now featuring the line-up of: Kenneth Pedersen (lead vocals), Roger Pedersen (guitar), Vidar Stakkestad (keyboards/synthesizer), Tomi Pedersen (bass) and Arnfinn Knutsen (drums).
Self financing their firsts recording as Heaven in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in 1988, the result was the vinyl single “Take me back / I’m in Love”. 1,500 copies sold locally, ensured that the single was a great success, and this prompted the band to present a demo tape to Gudvin Selsås of the booking agency NAMA. Selsås passed the tape on to Norwegian record label Slagerfabrikken a/s. A further trip to Oslo saw the band venture into Slager Studio to commit two tracks to tape, namely “Angelina” and a re-recorded “Take me back”, coupled and released as a single in 1989. The latter, a ballad, would provide the band with a big hit in 1989, remaining 10 weeks in the top spot of the Norwegian chart “Norsktoppen”. This, in turn, inspired Slagerfabrikken to sign Heaven to a record deal. A full 10 track album, also called “Take Me Back”, was unleashed upon the Norwegian public in the autumn of the same year, again recorded at Slager Studio. A single, featuring the slightly heavier songs “Let Go” and “Lonely Rider”, coincided with this.
The band toured to promote the album, in the company of well known artists like “Jahn Teigen” and “Jørn Hoel”, to name just two. Later, in 1991, the band were involved in a nationwide campaign against drugs. Recording the track “Children of Our Time” at Slager Studio for this cause, a music video was also made for this particular song. Used in schools around the country to promote the campaign, the “Children of Our Time” video was financed through the backing and support of various organizations and others affiliated with the cause. The track was released as a single by Slagerfabrikken, also featuring the song “Another Way”. Over the course of 1991, Heaven eventually disbanded due to disagreements over what musical direction to pursue, choice of producers and other calamities. Prior to this, the band recorded several new songs that remain unreleased.
The album “Take Me Back” is estimated to have shifted 7 - 8,000 copies, of witch a 1,000 were pressed on CD. When the label Heaven were signed to, Slagerfabrikken, was bought and taken over by a bigger record label, this resulted in the album never getting pressed again, once the initial were sold out. Getting harder and harder to track down for collectors over the years, original CD editions of “Take Me Back”, have gone for as much as 500 US dollars at Ebay.com, an online auction website.
Having mercy on their fans and others seeking to find “Take Me Back”, 2003 sees the long overdue remastering and re-release of “Take Me Back”. Two bonus tracks can be found on this CD, namely “Children of Our Time” from 1991, as well as a new video for the album’s title track. The latter came about through Tomi Pedersen pitching an idea to Eirik Davidsen, photographer and producer at TV Haugaland.

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