1959 births

Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and has won five times. In June 2023, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that Fleming would be one of the five artists recognized at the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors, which she received in December 2023. Other notable honors won by Fleming have included the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the French government, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Music Prize and honorary membership in England's Royal Academy of Music. Unusual among artists whose careers began in opera, Fleming has achieved name recognition beyond the classical music world. In May, 2023, Fleming was appointed by the World Health Organization as a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health.Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice. She has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano operatic roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. A significant portion of her career has been the performance of new music, including world premieres of operas, concert pieces, and songs composed for her by André Previn, Caroline Shaw, Kevin Puts, Anders Hillborg, Nico Muhly, Henri Dutilleux, Brad Mehldau, and Wayne Shorter. In 2008, Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline a season opening night gala. Conductor Sir Georg Solti said of Fleming: "In my long life, I have met maybe two sopranos with this quality of singing; the other was Renata Tebaldi."Beyond opera, Fleming has sung and recorded lieder, chansons, jazz, musical theatre, and indie rock, and she has performed with a wide range of artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Lou Reed, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Andrea Bocelli, Sting and John Prine. A 2018 Tony Award nominee, Fleming has acted on Broadway and in theatrical productions in London, Los Angeles and Chicago. Fleming has also recorded songs for the soundtracks of several major films, two of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture (The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). Fleming has made numerous television appearances, and she is the only classical singer to have performed the U.S. National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
Fleming has also become a frequent public speaker about the impact of music on health and neuroscience, winning a Research!America Award for her advocacy in this field.

James Michael Eisenreich ( EYE-zin-ryke; born April 18, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball player with a 15-year career from 1982 to 1984 and 1987 to 1998. He played for the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals of the American League, and the Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League. He played first base, outfield and designated hitter.

Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwriting unit for the band. He has also released three solo albums: Stranger in This Town in 1991, Undiscovered Soul in 1998, and Aftermath of the Lowdown released in September 2012.In 2018, Sambora was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bon Jovi, and reunited with his former bandmates for a performance at the induction ceremony. That year, he formed the duo RSO alongside Orianthi. After two EPs, the pair released their debut album Radio Free America in May.

Andrea de Cesaris (Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛ.a de ˈt͡ʃɛ.za.ris]; 31 May 1959 – 5 October 2014) was an Italian racing driver. He started 208 Formula One Grands Prix but never won. As a result, he holds the record for the most races started without a race victory. A string of accidents early in his career earned him a reputation for being a fast but wild driver.In 2005 and 2006, de Cesaris competed in the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He died on 5 October 2014 after losing control of his motorcycle on Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway.

Tore Sagvolden (born 27 February 1959) is a Norwegian orienteering competitor. He is four times Relay World Champion, in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987. He obtained silver in the Individual World Orienteering Championships 1981, 1985 and 1987, and bronze in 1979.

Stein-Erik Mattsson (born January 26, 1959) is a Norwegian lawyer, journalist, and comedian, and formerly the editor of Aktuell Rapport and chief editor of Alle Menn.Mattsson was born in Oslo. He worked for a while as a lawyer and had many high-profile clients, such as Varg Vikernes. He was the chairman of the Oslo and Akershus District of Curling from 1989 to 2001 and the director of the Norwegian Curling Association from 1992 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2003. Mattsson served as chief editor of the pornographic magazine Alle Menn from 1994 to 1997, and then as the editor of Aktuell Rapport, Gullrapport, and Cats Magazine from 2000 to 2003.Mattsson started the Censor-Bar Scandal (Norwegian: Pornosladd-saken) in the summer of 2002 when he handed out a free porn magazine without a censor bar in downtown Oslo and was prosecuted by the politician Lena Jensen. The result of this was that pornographic magazines and films no longer needed to be censored in Norway, and that porn movies can easily be imported and distributed.Mattsson has also worked as a comedian. Among other appearances, he performed with the comedians Herodes Falsk and Tom Mathisen in their show at Oslo Spektrum in 2001.

Øyvind Berg (born 14 January 1959 is a Norwegian lyric poet, playwright, actor and translator.
Berg was born in Oslo. He studied to the intermediate level in philosophy, literature and egyptology at the University of Bergen and the University of Tromsø. He was a member of the Norwegian Authors' Union from 1987 to 1988 and 1993 to 1996. He was selected to serve on the Arts Council Norway's appeal committee for recognition of new Norwegian literature. In 1997, he was artistic director for Norwegian Festival of Literature. Berg's poetry has been translated into German, English and Danish.

Jørn Holme (born 16 August 1959) is a Norwegian judge and civil servant.
He grew up at Nordberg, and originally wanted to become a priest. He was active in the Norwegian Christian Student Association while studying. He graduated with the cand.jur. degree from the University of Oslo in 1986. He left a job as research assistant there to do his compulsory military service, then work in the police. In 1988 he was hired as a police inspector for Senja, and from 1990 to 1991 he was an acting judge at Trondenes and Oslo District Courts. From 1991 to 2001 he was a public prosecutor in the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim). His work mainly concerned environmental crime. He edited and wrote books during this period, and launched the periodical Miljøkrim. He had short interruptions from this position to be acting presiding judge in Eidsivating in 1993, acting assisting director in the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage in 1997 and acting general prosecutor in the Norwegian Army in 2001.In 2001, when Bondevik's Second Cabinet assumed office, Holme was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the Police. He represented the Liberal Party of Norway. He was recruited by Odd Einar Dørum without any partisan political background. He left politics in 2004 to become the new head of the Norwegian Police Security Service. He succeeded the acting police security director Arnstein Øverkil, who had held office temporarily since Per Sefland resigned the previous year. Holme was the first active politician to be appointed as police security director. The task of the Police Security Service is to conduct domestic intelligence gathering, whereas foreign operations are reserved for the Norwegian Intelligence Service. An amount of coordination between these two bodies as well as the National Security Authority is also involved.In 2006 became a board member of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments. In June 2009 Holme was announced as the new director of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. The previous director Nils Marstein had been appointed while Holme was acting assisting director in 1997, but now withdrew after two six-year terms. It became clear that Holme could not leave the Police Security Service before 22 October; after Nils Marstein left in August Sjur Helseth became acting director. In the Police Security Service, Roger Berg was acting director from 23 October to 10 November, when Janne Kristiansen took over.Holme is married and has three children. They reside in Frogner, Oslo. He has cited his "ideal" as being Johs. Andenæs.

Hans Petter Ødegård (born 16 June 1959) is a Norwegian former cyclist. He competed in the individual road race and the team time trial events at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Charlotte Haug (born 21 May 1959) is a Norwegian physician and editor, former editor of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.
Haug graduated as dr.med. in infection immunology from the University of Oslo in 1999, and eventually as Master of Science in health research from Stanford University. She edited the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association from 2002 to 2015.