Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir OTF (/bjɜːrk/ BYURK, Icelandic: [pjœr̥k ˈkvʏðmʏntsˌtouhtɪr̥] ⓘ; born 21 November 1965) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and sometimes eccentric public persona, she has developed an eclectic musical style over a career spanning four decades, drawing on electronic, pop, experimental, trip hop, classical, and avant-garde music.[2]
This article is about the singer. For her self-titled album, see Björk (album). For other uses, see Björk (disambiguation).
Björk
- Singer
- songwriter
- composer
- record producer
- actress
- activist
1977–present
Matthew Barney
(2002–2013)[1]
2
- Guðmundur Gunnarsson (father)
- Vocals
- flute
- piano
Born and raised in Reykjavík, Björk began her music career at the age of 11 and gained international recognition as the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Sugarcubes by the age of 21.[3] After the Sugarcubes disbanded in 1992, Björk gained prominence as a solo artist with her albums Debut (1993), Post (1995), and Homogenic (1997), collaborating with artists from a range of disciplines and genres, and exploring a variety of multimedia projects. Her later, post-nineties, albums consist of Vespertine (2001), Medúlla (2004), Volta (2007), Biophilia (2011), Vulnicura (2015), Utopia (2017) and Fossora (2022).
Several of Björk's albums have reached the top 20 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Thirty-one of her singles have reached the top 40 on pop charts around the world, with 22 top 40 hits in the UK, including the top-10 singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", and "Hyperballad" and the top-20 singles "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality", and "Violently Happy".[4][5] Her accolades and awards include the Order of the Falcon, five BRIT Awards, and 16 Grammy nominations. In 2015, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[6][7] Rolling Stone named her the 64th-greatest singer[8] and the 81st-greatest songwriter[9] of all time in 2023.
Björk 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,[10] and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I've Seen It All". Björk has also been an advocate for environmental causes in Iceland. A retrospective exhibition dedicated to Björk was held at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2015.[11]
Life and career[edit]
1965–1984: Early life and career beginnings[edit]
Björk was born on 21 November 1965 in Reykjavík.[12] She was raised by her mother, activist Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir (7 October 1946 – 25 October 2018[13]), who protested against the development of Iceland's Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant,[14] after having divorced from her father, Guðmundur Gunnarsson, a union leader and electrician, after Björk was born. She and her mother moved to a commune.[15][16] Her stepfather is Sævar Árnason, a former guitarist in the band Pops.[16] At six, Björk enrolled at Reykjavík school Barnamúsíkskóli, where she studied classical piano and flute.[12] After a school recital in which Björk sang Tina Charles's 1976 hit "I Love to Love", her teachers sent a recording of her singing the song to the RÚV radio station, which at that time was Iceland's only radio station. The recording was broadcast nationally and, after hearing it, a representative of the Fálkinn record label offered Björk a recording contract. Her début, Björk, was recorded when she was 11 years old and was released in Iceland in December 1977.[17]
During her teens, after the diffusion of punk rock music in Iceland, Björk formed the all-girl punk band Spit and Snot. In 1980, she formed a jazz fusion group, Exodus, collaborated in another group, JAM80, and graduated from music school.[12] In 1982, she and bassist Jakob Magnússon formed another group, Tappi Tíkarrass ("Cork the Bitch's Ass" in Icelandic), and released the EP Bitið fast í vitið ("Bite Hard Into the Mind" in Icelandic), in August 1982. Their album Miranda was released in December 1983. The group was featured in the documentary Rokk í Reykjavík, with Björk being featured on the cover of the VHS release.[12][18] Around this time, Björk met guitarist Þór Eldon and surrealist group Medusa, which also included poet Sjón, with whom she started a lifelong collaboration and formed a group, Rokka Rokka Drum.[19] She described her time as part of Medusa as "a gorgeous D.I.Y. organic university: extreme fertility!"[20] Björk appeared as a featured artist on "Afi", a track from the Björgvin Gíslason 1983 record Örugglega.[16]
Due to the imminent discontinuance of radio show Áfangar, two radio personalities, Ásmundur Jónsson and Guðni Rúnar, requested musicians to play on a last live radio show. Björk joined with Einar Melax (from the group Fan Houtens Kókó), Einar Örn Benediktsson (from Purrkur Pillnikk), Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson and Sigtryggur Baldursson (from Þeyr), and Birgir Mogensen (from Spilafífl) to perform in the concert.[21] The group developed a gothic rock sound. During this experience, Björk began to develop her vocalisation – punctuated by howls and shrieks.[12] The project performed as Gott kvöld during the concert. When they later decided to keep playing together as a group, they used the name Kukl ("Sorcery" in Icelandic).[21] Björk's acquaintance gave the group their studio to record in and released their first single in 1983.[21] Their first big performance at a festival in Iceland was headlined by English anarchist punk band Crass, whose record label, Crass Records offered the band a record deal. The Eye was released in 1984, followed by a two-month tour in Europe, which also included a performance at Roskilde Festival in Denmark. This made Kukl the first Icelandic band to play at the festival.[15][21] During this period Björk published a hand-coloured book of poems. Um Úrnat frá Björk was distributed in 1984.[12]
Other ventures[edit]
Charitable work[edit]
After the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in late 2004, Björk began work on a new project titled Army of Me: Remixes and Covers to help raise money for a relief fund. This project recruited fans and musicians from around the world to either cover or remix the 1995 track "Army of Me". From over 600 responses, Björk and her co-writer Graham Massey picked the best 20 versions to appear on the album. The album was released in April in the UK and in late May 2005 in the US. By January 2006, the album had raised about £250,000 to help UNICEF's work in the southeast Asian region.[259] Björk visited Banda Aceh in February 2006 to view some of UNICEF's work with the children who were affected by the tsunami.[260]
On 2 July 2005, Björk took part in the Live 8 series of concerts, headlining the Japan show with Do As Infinity, Good Charlotte and McFly. She performed eight songs with Matmos, a Japanese string octet, and Zeena Parkins.[261][262]
Political activity[edit]
Björk's years in Kukl aligned her with the anarchist Crass Collective.[263] While she has since been hesitant to be seen as an overtly political figure, and has said so on her website,[264] she is supportive of numerous liberation movements, including independence for Kosovo.[265]
She dedicated her song "Declare Independence" to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which caused a minor controversy in the Faroes. After Björk twice dedicated "Declare Independence" to the people of Kosovo during a concert in Japan,[266] her upcoming performance at Serbia's Exit Festival was cancelled, reportedly for safety concerns. In 2008, Björk created international controversy after she dedicated "Declare Independence" to the International Tibet Independence Movement during a Shanghai concert, chanting "Tibet! Tibet!" during the song. China's Ministry of Culture issued a denunciation through state news agency Xinhua, stating that Björk "broke Chinese law" and "hurt Chinese people's feelings" and pledged to further tighten control over foreign artists performing in China. A later statement accused Björk of "whipping up ethnic hatred."[267] In 2014, Björk created a Facebook post dedicating the song to the people of Scotland as they neared the referendum on their independence.[268] In October 2017, she posted a tweet dedicating the song to Catalonia on the occasion of the Catalan independence referendum.[269] In November 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, in which Israel was accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, she posted to her social media accounts questioning the Israeli occupation of Palestine.[270]
Björk has also taken an interest in environmental issues in Iceland. In 2004, she took part in the Hætta concert in Reykjavík, organised in protest against the building of Alcoa aluminium smelters in the country, which would make Iceland the biggest smelter in Europe.[271][272] She founded the organisation Náttúra, which aims to promote Icelandic nature and grassroots industries.[273] In October 2008, Björk wrote an article for The Times about the Icelandic economy and provided her opinion on the proposed use of natural resources to rescue the country from debt.[274] In collaboration with Audur Capital, she set up a venture capital fund titled BJÖRK to support the creation of sustainable industries in Iceland.[275]
In 2008, Björk wrote the foreword to the English translation of Andri Snær Magnason's bestseller book titled Dreamland – A Self Help Manual For A Frightened Nation.[276]
On 21 May 2010, Björk wrote an open letter in The Reykjavík Grapevine calling on the Icelandic government to "do everything in its power to revoke the contracts with Magma Energy", the Canadian company that owns Icelandic geothermal company HS Orka.[277][278]
In 2014, Björk helped to organise Stopp, Let's Protect the Park, an event organised to raise money and awareness for the preservation of Icelandic nature. This included a show at Harpa Concert Hall, at which she performed three songs. The concert initially raised $310,000[279] and went on to raise £3 million overall, with plans to use the money to establish a national park.[280]
Protégés[edit]
Over her extensive career, Björk has frequently used her position and influence to help launch new acts or mentor them as they establish themselves as recording artists.
The first example was the Iranian-born electronica producer Leila Arab, who was initially recruited to play keyboards and provide backing vocals on Björk's first international solo tour in 1993 in support of Debut. In 1995, Björk recalled Arab for her second touring band for tour in support of Post. This time, Arab was given her first opportunity to experiment with live output mixing from the stage rather than playing keyboards. This would later form the basis of Arab's own solo music career, in which she has integrated live mixing into her own compositions and live shows. Arab went on to release three international solo albums throughout the 1990s and appears on the influential electronica labels Rephlex Records, XL Recordings and Warp Records.[281]
In 1998, Björk established her own short-lived record label, Ear Records, which operated under the One Little Indian Records umbrella. Her only signee that received a release was her longtime friend Magga Stína, who recorded her debut solo album under the production of Björk's longtime collaborator Graham Massey (of the British electronica act 808 State). The album was simply titled An Album and featured just one single release, "Naturally". In 1998, Björk invited Magga to perform as her support act on the Homogenic tour, and in 2004 Magga contributed to the production of Medúlla. Magga still performs and records in Iceland.
In 2001, Björk became aware of Canadian Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and invited her to perform on several dates of Björk's Vespertine world tour as a special guest. In 2004, Tagaq was invited to collaborate on the a cappella album Medúlla, in which the duet "Ancestors" was recorded. "Ancestors" was later featured on Tagaq's first solo album, Sinaa, in 2005.
In 2004, Arab discovered the work of Finnish multimedia artist Heidi Kilpeläinen, who had taken her combination of lo-fi, homemade electro pop with her own self-produced music videos and combined them under the alter ego character HK119. Leila soon referred HK119's work to Björk, who started mentioning HK119 in various press and interviews. In 2004, Arab announced HK119 as her favourite act of 2004. HK119 was soon signed to Björk's parent label One Little Indian Records, which released her debut album in 2006. HK119 and Björk appeared in a joint interview in Dazed & Confused magazine in 2006, in which Björk stated about HK119's work: "It's unique. Even if I gave you $3 million, you couldn't improve on it... [Its] simplicity is [its] strength."[282] HK119 later released her albums Fast, Cheap and Out of Control in 2008 and Imaginature in 2013, both on One Little Indian Records.
In 2009, Björk used her website and various radio interviews to promote two more new acts. The first was fellow Icelandic musician Ólöf Arnalds, who is also a member of the Icelandic folktronica band múm. In 2006, Arnalds released her debut solo album Við Og Við in Iceland. Björk mentioned Arnalds among her favourite recent new acts during a radio interview, and encouraged One Little Indian Records to reissue the album in the UK and Europe in 2009. Björk also praised the works of English artist Micachu and Syrian vocalist Omar Souleyman. She later used her website to host the premiere of Micachu's debut video for Rough Trade Records, "Turn Me Well".[283]
