Svendsen was born in
Fosnes Municipality in
Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. In 1910, he left home and settled in
Fredrikstad Municipality, where he first worked as a hairdresser and barber. In 1911, he wrote his first revue for the
Fredrikstad Arbeiderforening, followed by five new revues annually until 1920. From 1921, Svendsen was associated with
Chat Noir, a cabaret and revue theatre in Oslo. He wrote the revue,
Midt i planeten together with
Per Kvist in 1922. He also collaborated with songwriter
Finn Bo (1927–36). From 1937 he worked with teams of various revue writers including
Bias Bernhoft,
Arild Feldborg and
Erik Diesen. They wrote music for revues which appeared at
Det Nye Teater,
Carl Johan Theater, and
Edderkoppen Theatre, and with more irregular intervals for Chat Noir. He was for many years chairman of the Norwegian Comedy Writers' Association. Svendsen wrote more than 2,500 songs during his career, in addition to more than one hundred revues. Among his notable songs were
Svigermor og Evensen og kjerringa og jeg (1927), first performed by
Einar Rose,
En liten gylden ring (1936), sung by
Jens Book Jensen, and ''E'hel ei, e'halv ei
(1955), introduced by Lalla Carlsen in the Chat Noir revue Kjør Storgata''. ==Personal life==