Vibeke Stene

Vibeke Stene (born 17 August 1978) is a Norwegian Soprano. She is best known as the former vocalist in the gothic metal band, Tristania.

In 2013, Stene came out of retirement with the announcement of a future guest appearance in God of Atheists and a new band project.

Stene was born in Sokndal, Rogaland, Norway to Steinar Stene and Sissel Bø Stene, and has two sisters named Ingvild and Maiken. She first performed for people outside her family at the age of three. She began taking singing lessons at the age of thirteen, and became more interested in classical singing. She took lessons until the age of twenty-three because she wanted to become her own teacher.

Stene grew up in a home filled with music. In an interview, she stated that her influences were the people with whom she had performed personally. Before Tristania, Stene mostly performed classical vocals at various music schools. She also sang in choirs and performed in jazz, folk, and classical concerts as a solo artist with varying musicians, and admitted that "all the traveling with the band makes it impossible to let a serious choir depend on you". Stene has cited Tori Amos, Björk, David Bowie, Tom Waits and Diamanda Galás as "only a few of many singers that I think are very good".

Tristania's keyboardist, Einar Moen, stated in an interview that Stene "has a classical education actually – sort of an opera school or university degree. And she has also taken singing lessons since she was a little girl, so she's always sung." He also mentioned that when he met Vibeke, she wasn't into gothic metal, but more into rock and heavy metal.

Around the age of 17, Stene was studying music in high school when she was beginning "to know my inner melancholy". She was taken by the concept when Stene heard about Theater of Tragedy. She saw them live for the first time in Stavanger and thought to herself that she could do it much better. After seeing them live, she was inspired and hoped to do it professionally.

1996–2007: Tristania

Stene met the band members through a friend and saw them again at a music contest. She joined them at the age of 18 while still in school. At that time, Tristania was planning to record their first demo. At first she was meant to be a guest singer but became a permanent member later on. According to her, she did not know she was in the band until she read an interview after Widows Weeds was released.On 27 February 2007, Stene left Tristania to finish her university degree which she started but did not finish in 2000, and also because she did not like the direction the music was going into.

In the spring 2007, around the same time Stene left Tristania, the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish were going to announce the name of their new female vocalist. Due to Stene's recent departure from Tristania, it was widely discussed in the musical circles whether Vibeke would be inducted into Nightwish to replace Tarja Turunen. The rumor was quickly denied when Stene said in an interview, "I am not the new singer in Nightwish."

While in Tristania, Stene released one demo, 5 albums, and 2 singles. The band became one of the leading acts in the late 1990s. They toured throughout the American continent and Europe. They also participated in some of the biggest European festivals.

2007–2012: Retirement

In 2011, the electronic band Plutho released a song called "Queen of Broken Hearts" which Stene was featured in. According to the band members, the song was recorded back in 1999, indicating that she had not come out of retirement.In a 2010 interview, Stene was asked if she would sing professionally again. She declared that when given a good offer, she would take it.

2013–present: Comeback

On 7 June, Stene announced through her official Facebook page that she was returning to the music scene. While an unknown album is on the way, it was announced that she was also participating in an Asgeir Mickelson extreme metal project called God of Atheists, which includes musicians such as Vortex from Dimmu Borgir, Ihsahn from Emperor, Trym Torson from Zyklon, among others.

On 17 August 2015, Stene announced through her page that she will not be going solo but is working on a new band project that would start recording in the Fall.

Theater

Stene worked on a play called "Skammens Gissel" translated "Hostage of Shame" with friend and screenwriter Kai Erland. She played the title role of Silja. Her theater debut was on 13 October 2015.

Silja made the choice to move away from her husband and her children to a collective of German soldiers. By the war's end, she traveled with one of the soldiers back to his homeland. After a few years her son decided to track down his mother. He found her in Germany and brought her home to Norway in secret. In the south of Norway Silja becomes hostage, caught in her own home by shame. Her son have to bear the secret alone. The drama plays out in the home between mother and son and those out on the street, the free – or unfree.

Stene has two children. She gave birth to a boy in 2007, and a few years later gave birth to a girl.