Jón Þór Birgisson

Birgisson 2006

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Riceboy Sleeps (Jónsi & Alex)   UK 66 08/01/2009 (1 week) Go (Jónsi)   DE 100 04/16/2010 (1 week)   CH 31 04/18/2010 (1 week)   UK 20th 04/17/2010 (2 weeks)   US 23 04/24/2010 (5 weeks)

Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (born April 23, 1975 in Iceland ) is the guitarist and singer of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós .

biography

Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson was born blind in one eye. Once he said: "If I saw in stereo I'd go mad." ("If I saw in both eyes, I would go crazy.") He lives with his friend Alex Somers . His sister Ingibjörg works as a visual artist and has contributed music videos to several songs by Sigur Rós; she is married to the musician Sindri Már Sigfússon , who is Jónsi's brother-in-law.

Musical career

Jónsi was the front man of the grunge rock band "stoned" under the name Frakkur from 1992 to 1993 . In 1995 he won the “Most Interesting Band” award as the lead singer of the band Bee Spiders under the name Jonny B.

In 1994 Jónsi founded the band Sigur Rós together with Georg Hólm and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson , which is named after Jónsi's little sister, who was born on the day the band was founded.

Jónsi has a falsetto-like singing style which he supports with the sounds of an electric guitar played with a cello bow.

Since 2006 he has been working on a solo project with his partner. The first publication took place under the name Riceboy Sleeps on the Dark-Was-the-Night compilation. In July 2009 they released their first album under Jónsi & Alex with the former band name Riceboy Sleeps as the title.

In 2010 Jón released his first solo album Go under the name Jónsi . The album was awarded the Nordic Music Prize . The single Around Us from this album is featured on the soundtrack of EA Sports ' FIFA 11 . He also contributed the song Sticks & Stones for the soundtrack of the movie How To Train Your Dragon (in the film the song can be heard during the credits), as well as the song Where No One Goes for the second part .

In 2011 he wrote the songs for Cameron Crowe's film We Buy a Zoo .

languages

Jónsi's mother tongue is Icelandic, but like most Icelanders, he also speaks English. Sigur Rós' first three albums (Von, Von brigði, Ágætis byrjun ) are sung in Icelandic with two exceptions (Von, Olsen Olsen). All of the lyrics on the album " () " are in hoffnungslandisch ( Icelandic vonlenska ), a self-invented language that Jónsi used to compose vocal melodies without having to finish the associated text. Jónsi also partly uses this language on newer albums.

Discography

Albums

• 2009: Riceboy Sleeps (Jónsi & Alex)
• 2010: Go (Jónsi)
• 2011: We bought a Zoo (Soundtrack) (Jónsi)

Singles

• 2010: Go Do

Awards

• 2010: Nordic Music Prize

Web links

• Official website

swell

1. ↑ Chart sources: DE CH UK US
2. ↑ Entry on Gay-For-Today
3. ↑ grapevine.is: Jónsi From Sigur Rós & Family Open Icelandic Art & Design Space - The Reykjavik Grapevine . In: The Reykjavik Grapevine . December 15, 2017 ( grapevine.is [accessed April 23, 2018]).
4. ↑ Ekki Mukk. Retrieved April 23, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Varúð. Retrieved April 23, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Tune in to a Nordic Playlist from Sigur Rós! - yes yes yes . In: Yes Yes Yes . ( jajajamusic.com [accessed April 23, 2018]).
7. ↑ Nordic Music Prize - Previous Winners ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 4, 2014  

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .