Björk | Artist
Björk Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, actress, record producer, and DJ born 1965 in Reykjavic, Iceland. Before her solo career she sang in several local post-punk bands, then in 1986 became the lead singer for Indie band The Sugarcubes, which disbanded in 1992. In her teens Björk formed the all-girl punk band Spit and Snot. With her distinctive three-octave range voice, Björk blends pop, experimental, electronic, hip-hop, classical and dance music styles to produce some of the most creative and influential pop music of the 21st Century. As a child, Bjork was a musical prodigy. At six she was enrolled at Reykjavík music school where she studied classical piano and flute. After a school recital her teachers sent a recording of her singing to Iceland's only radio station RUV and the recording was nationally broadcast. Upon hearing it, a representative of the Falkinn record label offered Björk a recording contract. Her self-titled debut album was recorded when she was only 11 years old. She has since gone on to record many studio albums and 60 hit singles, to-date, selling over 50 million records worldwide. Bjork is also artistically adventurous, always exploring new musical styles in her own work and in collaboration with other artists. Outstanding albums include Debut (1993), Post (1995), Homogenic (1997), Vespertine (2001), Medúlla (2004), Vulnicura (2015), Fossora (2022), and the excellent Livebox (2003) compilation. Over her three-decade long solo career, Björk has developed an eclectic and avant-garde musical style that incorporates aspects of electronic, dance, trip hop, glitch, jazz, alternative rock and modern classical music styles. Her album Debut, which incorporated electronic, house, jazz, and trip hop, has been credited as one of the first albums to introduce electronic music into mainstream pop. Her work, which is willfully experimental, working with various producers, photographers, fashion designers and music video directors, constantly explores the relationship between nature and technology. Although she often calls herself a pop artist, she is considered a restlessly experimental creative force. As an actress she starred in the 2000 Lars von Trier film Dancer in the Dark, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. According to The New Yorker's Taylor Ho Bynum, "no contemporary artist so gracefully bridges the divide between music experimentalist and pop celebrity as Björk".
Artist Website: bjork.com
Featured Albums: Björk
Related Artists: Bjork, The Sugarcubes
Collections: Women of Note, Music Visionaries
