Björkish. Björkoholic.

(Björk Guðmundsdóttir) Björk Guðmundsdóttir,...(Your My Hero My Idol)...."I Love Your Eye's My Dear There Splendid Sparkling Fire"-Oh Lady Björk Your A Magic Fairy Pixie, Elf-Faced, Nordic, Pagan, Elfin, Icelandic Flameing Lip's, Unique, High Optic Vocal Range, With A Pure Lovely Personality And A Unique Body And Face Movement, Lovely Bone Structure And Soul Her Eye's Her Make-Up, One Of The Few Great Artsy Artistic Poetic Artists Of The Modern World. Truly Inspirational. An Image Of The Beautiful, Creative, Ideal, Graceful, Imaginative Side Of The Human Mind, Björk The Volcano Of Iceland, A Screaming Masterpiece, Tiny Artistic Whirlwind, Infectus To Watch, High Pure Voice Optics, Björk's Famous Screech, The Techno Goddess, Lady Of The Ocean, Ice-Queen, True Master Of Music And Sound, The Very Cute Beautiful Little Elfin Princess, With Lovely Dramatic Hand Gestures, Sexy, Lovely Pure Unique Hazel Greenish Orangeish Yellowish Eye's, Gems Or Bindi Indian Dots Under Her Eye's And Over Her Forehead, Her Jeweled Face Mask, Björk's Meny Facial Masks, Björk The Girl With Natural Eyebrows, Geometric Hairdos, Her ™ (1993-1994) Knots In Her Hair, I Am Grateful Grapefruit, The Icelandic Girl Who Rolls Her R's When She Talk's, Lovely Pixie Nose, The Girl With A Pronounced Groove Her Philtrum, Lovely Mouth, Lovely Shaped Leg's, Gorgeous Sexy Chunky Shaped Thighs, Gorgeous Knobbly Knees, Lovely Hands & Fingers, The Girl With Little Bit Finger-Nails, Björk's Dipped Colured Tiped Fingers, Her Colured Painted Forehead Make-Up, Cute Lovely Tiny Pop-Belly, Mysic, Pure, Quirky, Iconic, Icelandic Pop Warrior,-Björk!-Your Voice Is A Firework Of Pure Emotions, And Your Music Is A Raw Thunderstorm Of A Unique True Tribal Beat From An Astral World!....Björk Is Pure Electricity!....(Björkish. Administrator Of Björk Guðmundsdóttir Fan Site™ © ® (This Is The Life Story Of My Hero My Idol Björk) (How it all started)...(Björk Guðmundsdóttir Was Born In Reykjavik, Iceland, The 21st Of November 1965. (Born On A Sunday) FAMILY: Father: Guðmundur Gunnarsón Mother: Hildur Runa Hauksdóttir Son: Sindri, born 8th June 1986. Daughter: Isadora, born 3th October 2002. Grandmother: Hallfridur Gudmundsdóttir Grandfather: Gunnar Gudmundssón Sisters/Brothers: According to the biography at UI, she has 3 half-brothers and 3 half-sisters, from later marriages and relationships, after her parents divorced when Björk was about 2. One of her half-brother's is named Arnar (born in 1970, same mother). Her sister Inga Hrönn sings in a band called Hundslappadrifa. She also sang backups with Björk at a Megas album. She has a sister Inga, who is her half sister by her father. Religion: Björk said: "I'm Very Religious, Yes. But I Have My Own Religion. In Iceland It Doesn't Makes Sense Two People Be In The Same Religion. It's Like Have The Same Fingerprint"...(Björk Guðmundsdóttir) She Got The Last Name "Guđmundsdóttir" Cause Her Father's first Name Was Gudmundur. Her Parents Knew Each Other Since The Age Of 14 But They Divorced When Björk Was Born Cause The Marriage forced Her Mother To Become A Home-Wife Against Her Own Will. Björk's Mother Hildur, Moved Into A Hippie-Collective With Her Daughter And Re-Married A Guitar-Player, Considered The Jimi Hendrix Of Iceland. Björk Learned Very Quickly To Take Her Own Responsibility. She Had To Take Care About Things Such As Electric Bills And Cooking Since Her Parents Weren't Very Handy. Björk Had A Lot Of Freedom And Her Favorite Hobby Was To "Run With Her Eye's Closed In The Middle Of The Road" "She Ran Into A Lamp-Lighter Once And She's Still Got A Scar Since Then" "Björk Was Born Musical At The Age Of 1 She Got Goose-Pimples When She Heard A Beautiul Melody" She Started To Sing And Write Her Own Songs Very Early. At The Age Of 6 She Went To Reykjavik's Musical College Where She Learned To Play The Piano And the Flute. One Day, When Björk was 10 Years Old, The Kids' Parents Were Invinted To The School And All The Children Had To Sing A Song Or Tell A Poem. Björk Sang "I Love To Love" A Song That Reached No 1 In The Icelandic Charts In 1976. A Radio-Theme Was At The School And They Recorded Björk Singing. A Person From "Falkinn" (Once An Icelandic Record-Company)-(Today A Bicycle-Factory) Heard The Radio-Show And Was So Impressed By Björk's Voice. The Record-Company Asked Björk To Make A Record And So She Did. The Album Was Named "Björk" And Entered The Icelandic Record-Stores In 1977, When Björk Was 11 Years. "Björk" Contained A Song Named "Litli Arabadenngurinn" Written By Björk's Stepfather, Icelandic Versions Of "Beatles" "The Fool On The Hill" Stevie Wonder's "Your Kiss Is Sweet" Pop-Versions Of Old Icelandic Children's Rhymes, Folk-Songs And An Instrumental Track Named "Johannes Kjárval" Written By Björk Herself And Dedicated To An Icelandic Artist. The Album Sold About "6000 Copies" "Thats Like Gold In Iceland" And Made Björk A Domestic Child-Star. Many Children Came Up To Her And Wanted To Play With Her When The Album Entered The Icelandic Charts But She Realized Very Quickly It Was The Girl On The Album-Cover They Wanted. Everyone At School Hated Her When She Faced Stardom And The Only People She Kept Company With Was Musicans, Three Times Her Age, Who Wanted Her To Record A Second Album. She Left The Music-Scene Until 1979, When Punk Hit Iceland. Björk Fell In Love With Discharge, "Shaved Of Her Eye-Browns" And Played In Many Different Punk-Bands As A Teenager. She Started As A Drummer In A Militant Hardcore-Feminist Riot-Grrrl-Combo Named "Spit And Snot" Who Wrote Songs About How Much They Hated Men, But They Soon Split Up Because Of "Attitude-Problems". Two Years Later She Got Her Second Glimpse Of Domestic Stardom As The Lead-Singer In Iceland's Most Popular Punk-Pop-Band "Tappi Tikarrass" (The Name Can Be Translated As "Cork The Bitch's Ass") The Band Played Light-Weight Melody-Oriented Punk-Music Often Remiscent Of The Early "Cure" And Was Hailed "One Of The Country's Most Promising Bands". "Tappi Tikarras" Released Their Debut-Mini-Album "Bitid Fast I Hvitid" The Title Can Be Translated As "Stuck On The Mind" In 1982. In 1983 Björk Was Introduced To The Weird Surrealist-Collective Medusa, Consisting Of Adventourous Icelandic Poets And Perfomers. They Arranged Live-Performances Were They Threw Raw Meat On The Audience At The Same Time As They Were Reading Their Poetry. One Of The Members Was "Thor Eldon" Who Later Became Björk's First Love. The Same Year, "Gramm" (Icelandic Record-Company) Wanted To Put Together An Icelandic All-Stars-Punk-Band. Björk Was Involved In The Project And So Was "Einar Örn Benediktsson" (Singer In A Band Named "Purkurr Pilnikk" And "Siggtryggur Baldursson" (Drummer In A Band Named "Theyr" To Name A Few. The Band Appeared First Time On A "We Demand The Future"-Concert In Reykjavik In 1983, But They Came Together Again In December The Same Year And Released The Single "Söngull". Björk Recorded One More Album With "Tappi Tikarrass"-"Miranda" Before They Split Up. K.U.K.L's frontman Einar Örn, Studied Media At Polytechs In London. He Rubbed Shoulders With Many Underground-London-Punks For Example "Flux Of Pink Indians" And "Left-Wing-Activists" Crass (The Band Who Invented Anarchy). K.U.K.L Released Their First Full-Lenght Album "The Eye" On Crass' Own Label Crass Records. The Band Also Directed A Spooky, Mysterious Video For The Song "Anna" K.U.K.L Didn't Sound A Thing Like Any Other Bands On Crass Records. Their mMsic Was A Complex Cross Between "Gothic Punk" "Jazz" And "Rhytmic Music". The Band Used Many Different Kinds Of Drums, Bells And Even Trumpets When They Recorded "The Eye" And The Critics Categorized It As A Cross Between "Siouxsie And The Banshees" "Killing Joke" And "Einstürende Neubauten". "The Eye" Was Only Released In London, And Though Many People Thought The Band Could Get A Worldwide Breakthrough If They Switched Label, They Never Got Very Popular Anywhere, Not Even Back In Iceland. The K.U.K.L-Members Had To Have Ordinary Full-Time-Jobs When They Didn't Make Music. Björk Worked In A Fish-Factory And A Coca-Cola-Bottling-Plant Back In Iceland. She Also Used To Work As A Background-Singer On Mega's (Icelandic Rock's "Grand Old Man" Albums. In 1985 The Band Started To Tour Around In Europe. They Visited Holland During The Pandora's Box-Festival And Denmark During The Roskilde-Festival. Like Many Other Icelandic Bands They Toured Around In Europe Dreaming Of A Breakthrough Outside Their Own Native Country. Beside The Music, Björk Was Also A Great Literature-Lover. She Read "The Story Of The Eye" At The Age Of 17 And It Changed Her Life Completely. It's An Erotic Story About Two Youths Exploring Sex. But The Message In The Book Is That You Should Always Do What You Want And Only Trust Your Intuition, Even If That Means You Have To Hurt Someone Else Sometime. It Was About This Time Björk Stopped To Believe In Moral And Only Did What She Wanted To Do In Her Intuition. "The Story Of The Eye" Has Had Quite A Heavy Influence On Her Lyrics Ever Since. It's A Recommended Read If You Want To Fully Understand Her "Life-Philosophy". K.U.K.L Visited France In 1985 And Released The Live-MC "K.U.K.L à Paris" On The French Label Flux Rebel. In 1986 The Band Released Their Second Album "Holidays In Europe" And They've Been Remembered As The Only Band To Release More Than One Album On Crass Records (Except From Crass Themselves). "Holidays In Europe" Carries Some Influences from Early "Industrial" Bands Such As "Einstürzende Neubauten" And "SPK". The Band Split Up The Same Year And Björk Married Her First Teenage Crush "Thor Eldon". Their Marriage Resulted In Their Son "Síndri Eldon Thorsson", But The Young Couple Divorced Only A Year Later And Síndri Was Raised By His Musically Pure Gifted Mother. During Her Pregnancy, "Icelandic T.V" Wanted To Make A Special T.V-Show About K.U.K.L. Björk Turned Up At The T.V-Studio Dressed In Nothing But A "Bra And A Skirt", At 7-Months-Pregnancy. Icelandic T.V-Viewers Got Very Shocked At The Sight Of It And Many People Called In And Complained. There Was Even One Woman Who Had A "Heart-Attack". But Björk Has Made Sure She Didn't Die. When K.U.K.L Went Their Seperate Ways, Einar Örn, Wanted To Start A New Band. He Gathered Up Björk, Her Then-Husband Thor Eldon, And Some Ex-K.U.K.L-Members And Formed "Syklarmanjo" (The Name Can Be Translated As "Sugarcubes". The Band-Members Thought They'd Just Play With Syklarmanjo, For A Couple Of Months, And Then They'd Go Back To K.U.K.L. Thor And Einar, Put Up A Label Named "Smekkleysa" (The Name Can Be Translated As "Bad taste"). Syklarmanjo, Released Their First Single "Einn Moll'á Mann" On Smekkleysa, In 1986. They Described Their Music As Pop-Clishés, Distorted In A Grotesque And Tasteless Way. Syklarmanjo's Music Was A Lot More Humourous And Standard-Pop-Oriented Than K.U.K.L. "Einn Moll'á Mann" Contained The Song "Ammaeli" Later Re-Realesed With English Lyrics, As "Birthday". The Single Became A Big Hit In England And It Was The First Icelandic Song To Enter The Charts Outside There Native Country. Syklarmanjo, Changed Their Name To "The Sugarcubes". Suddenly Representants From Diverse Multi-National Record-Companies, Who Were Attracted By The Atmospherical Beauty Of "Birthday" (And Björk's Elfin Eskimo Looks), Were Offering The Band Millions Of Dollars For A Record-Deal. The Sugarcubes Signed With "One Little Indian" And Became The First Icelandic Rock-Band To Face "International Stardom". In 1988 They Released Their Million-Selling Debut-Album "Life's Too Good". Everything you have always wanted to know about Björk and even more... 1965-1977 (childhood) Soon after Björk was born her parents realized they weren't meant to be together and so they divorced. Björk lived with her mother but she also spent time with her father and her grandparents. Björk's mom has told Björk could sing before she learnt to speak. At the age of five Björk went to a music school where she learnt to play the flute (her parents couldn't afford to buy the oboe). Björk has said her childhood home was a hippie commune but her mother says Björk exaggerates as she exaggerates many other things. Because Björk spent her childhood in several homes she was able to listen to all kinds of music, for example she heard Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at her home and jazz at her grandparent's house and classical music in the music school and pop music from NATO's radio station. 1977-1979 (first album) At the age of eleven Björk made her first album with her mom's musician friends. The album included mostly popular Icelandic songs but also some cover songs such as the Beatles' Fool On The Hill and Stevie Wonder's Your Kiss Is Sweet. Björk wrote one song for the album. Jóhannes Kjarval was a tribute to famous Icelandic painter Jóhannes Kjarval. Björk's first album sold gold in Iceland and after that all Icelanders knew Björk but Björk didn't like it at all and so she refused to do another album. 1979-1986 (teenage years) Sex Pistols and punk culture were the hottest thing in England in the 70's and soon in Iceland too. In no time there were more punk bands per inhabitants than in any other country in the world. Björk and her friends were also keen on punk and Björk was involved in many short-lived punk influenced bands like Exodus, Tappi Tíkarrass and Kukl. Kukl was the first serious band and maybe too serious because according to the band it split because the whole thing was getting too serious. Kukl made two albums and toured around Europe. 1986-1993 (Sugarcubes) On the 8th of June 1986 Björk gave birth to a boy named Sindri. It's said that a group of young artists and musicians founded a company called Bad Taste (Smekkleysa) in the same day. Bad Taste was founded to fight against "good taste" which is the main enemy of creativity. Bad Taste planned to start a radio station and a club and release books and albums etc. The first release of Bad Taste was a postcard of Reagan and Gorbachev in peace summit in Reykjavik. The postcard was so popular that Bad Taste got enough money to release the first single of recently formed band called The Sugarcubes (Sykurmolarnir). Behind Bad Taste and Sugarcubes were mostly the same people: Björk Guðmundsdóttir (singer), Einar Örn Benediktsson (singer, trumpet), Thor Eldon (guitars), Bragi Ólafsson (bass guitar), Sigtryggur Baldursson (drums, percussion) and Margrét Örnólfsdóttir (keyboards). Sugarcubes wasn't meant to be a serious band and its main aim was to have fun and travel all around the world. Sugarcubes' first single wasn't very popular in Iceland but as soon as the reviewer of the English music paper Melody Maker praised the single and chose it "The Single Of The Week", Sugarcubes was the hottest thing in pop. All major record companies went to Iceland and offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to Sugarcubes but the band chose a small independent British record label One Little Indian because they wanted to kept the control themselves. Sugarcubes' first album Life's Too Good got good reviews and it sold over a million copies. The second album Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! got much colder reception than its predecessor and didn't sold as much even Sugarcubes toured all over the world. The end was in sight and the members of the band concentrated on their own projects. Björk e.g. recorded a jazz influenced album Gling-Gló with trio Guðmundar Ingólfssonar and wrote and sang two songs for 808 State's album ex:el. To fulfil their contracts Sugarcubes made yet one album Stick Around For Joy which was released in 1992. On their last tour Sugarcubes supported U2 and played in big stadiums for tens of thousands of people. 1993-1995 (Debut) Björk had already began to make her own songs before Sugarcubes split and after the band was gone Björk had to make the decision of her life, now or never. Björk had prepared the songs for many years in her head and at last she would be able to record them. Björk moved to London with her son and started to make an album with people like Nellee Hooper and Graham Massey. The album was named Debut because it was the first real album Björk had made herself. After Debut was released it was quite clear it was one of the most important albums of the 90's. Debut got great reviews and it sold almost three million copies although One Little Indian had expected it would sell 30 000 copies. World tour and huge success followed the album. The most popular female artist of all time also heard that Björk had conquered the world and she asked if Björk would sing on her next album. Björk said no to Madonna's offer but she wrote a song called Bedtime Story for her friend Nellee Hooper which ended up on Madonna's Bedtime Stories album. 1995-1997 (Post) After Björk had toured all around the world she began to record a new album. This time she worked with Tricky, Howie Bernstein and Graham Massey, just to name a few people. The album was named Post and it was recorded mostly on the beaches of Bahamas. World tour followed the album again. Björk won her third BRIT Award in February 1996. The award was handed to Björk by Goldie, who was her boyfriend of that time, in Hong Kong. The tour continued and just a couple days later Björk showed in Bangkok how to handle too eager reporters and attacked a reporter in front of TV crews. Björk explained that she had protected her son with whom she had just arrived at the airport. Later Björk apologized and sent flowers to the unlucky reporter. Just when Björk had started to record her third solo album in September 1996 American man sent a letter bomb to Björk's London home. The maker of the bomb shot himself after mailing the bomb. British police located the bomb at a post office in London and the incident was safely over. Björk was naturally very upset about the whole incident but continued to record her next album in Spain. 1997-1999 (Homogenic) A year after the bomb incident Björk's third solo album Homogenic was released. Homogenic was mostly produced by Björk but e.g. Mark Bell of LFO and Eumir Deodato had worked with her. As the name implies Homogenic is homogeneous. Three essential elements on Homogenic are strings (Icelandic String Octet), beats (Mark Bell) and of course Björk. These three elements form an album which is darker and braver than Björk's previous albums. The influence of the year 1996 can be clearly heard on Homogenic. After releasing Homogenic Björk was supposed to tour North America but she got kidney infection in November and the tour was postponed till spring. 1999-2001 (Dancer in the Dark) Björk continued to tour after Homogenic till January 1999. After the tour Björk didn't began to record a new album but film a movie. Danish writer and director Lars von Trier had seen one of Björk's music videos and he liked it so much that he wanted Björk to act in his next movie. The movie would be a musical and the last film in his A Heart of Gold trilogy. The first two movies in the trilogy were Breaking the Waves and The Idiots. Björk didn't want to act but she agreed to write music for the movie. Lars was at least as stubborn as Björk and finally she agreed to act too. The cast also included Catherine Deneuve and Peter Stormare. Dancer in the Dark premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May 2000. It got mixed reviews but won the Golden Palm which is given to the best movie and Björk was also named best actress. The movie divided audiences around the world and it was nominated for numerous awards (e.g. Oscar and Golden Globe) and it also won many (e.g. best film and best actress by European Film Academy). Björk said that she liked her character Selma so much that one of the reasons to agree to act was the opportunity to defend her. Björk also said that she didn't really act but that she became Selma. Music from the movie was released on album called Selmasongs. Lars co-wrote the lyrics with Björk's long-time friend Sjón and Björk recorder the music mostly with Mark Bell, Vincent Mendoza and Guy Sigsworth. Sounds recorded on location were used heavily on many songs on the album. Björk didn't want the CD to pretend that it's a film and some songs on the album differ from those heard in the movie. For example, Thom Yorke from Radiohead sings one song with Björk on Selmasongs. 2001-2004 (Vespertine) Björk's affair with movies didn't last long. Her fourth solo album Vespertine was mainly recorded in New York and it was released in August 2001. In many ways it continues where Homegenic's last song left off. Vespertine feels tender and intimate. It's more intuitive and open for interpretation than Björk's earlier albums. Vespertine can be heard as a reaction to the harshness of the filming of Dancer in the Dark but even more influential is Björk's new boyfriend Matthew Barney who is an acclaimed American artist. Sonically important elements on Vespertine include Matmos, harpist Zeena Parkins, laptops and the Internet. After releasing the album Björk toured in the greatest opera houses and concert halls around the world till the end of the year. Nine months after the tour, on the 3rd of October 2002 Björk gave birth to a daughter named Ísadóra. Two compilations were released in November. Greatest Hits was compiled based on an Internet vote and Family Tree was compiled by Björk herself. Björk toured the next summer performing mostly at festivals. Live Box containing four discs and covering Björk's solo career was released in August 2003. 2004- (Medúlla) And The Rest Is History...Björkish. Administrator Of Björk Guðmundsdóttir Fan Site™ © ® ..http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq276/bjorkgudmundsdottir/BjorkVoltaBig.jpg "It's In Our Hands" Björk Guðmundsdóttir Fan Site™ © ® To All Björk Fan's From All Over The Planet Earth...."Takk Fyrir"...Björk Guðmundsdóttir Fan Site™ © ®