Björk (1966– )

Icelandic pop singer and songwriter with a highly distinctive soprano vocal style. Her solo albums are Debut (1993), Post (1995), a remix collection Telegram (1996), Homogenic (1997), Vespertine (2001), Live Box (2003), and Medúlla (2004). In 2000 she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Danish director Lars von Trier's film Dancer in the Dark.

Björk was born in Reykjavik. She released her first album at the age of 11 and sang with local bands, most notably Tappi Tíkarrass (1982–84) and Kukl (1983–86), throughout her teens. She became known internationally as lead singer with Sykurmolar/Sugarcubes 1986–92. Her skittish vocal swoops and shrieks made indie stars of the Sugarcubes with the release of the single ‘Birthday’ and their first album, Life's Too Good (1988). Their subsequent releases Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week (1989), Stick Around for Joy (1992), and It's It (1992) covered little new ground and the group disbanded in 1992. She has written film scores and experimental music for Icelandic release. In her solo work Björk abandoned the guitar-pop of the Sugarcubes in favour of jazz, house, techno, and world-music influences.