She was born in Gran to farmer Iver Paulsen Jorstad and Dagny Franziska Aleksandra Pedersen, and grew up in a family with thirteen siblings.

She moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she married papermaster Georg Gulbrandsen Langbo around 1930, and the couple eventually settled in Drammen.

[1] Appearing in the children's radio show Barnetimen for de minste [no] from the mid 1950s, she performed her own songs and told stories from her rural childhood.

[2] Her signature tune was a vocal imitation of a trombone solo (a version of "Bavarian polka" played with her lips).

[1] Her first record, an EP from 1956, contained the songs "Jenta som ikke ville ha mat", "Mamma-e-a-e-a", "Loftsmusene", and "Musene leker gjemsel".