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Björk (born 21 November 1965), is an Icelandic singer-songwriter, occasional actress, music composer and music producer, whose influential solo work includes seven solo albums and two original film soundtracks.
Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk. Her voice has been acclaimed for its distinctive qualities.
Björk's 1990s singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad" charted in the UK Top 10. Her record label, One Little Indian, reported that by 2003 s
Björk (born 21 November 1965), is an Icelandic singer-songwriter, occasional actress, music composer and music producer, whose influential solo work includes seven solo albums and two original film soundtracks.
Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk. Her voice has been acclaimed for its distinctive qualities.
Björk's 1990s singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad" charted in the UK Top 10. Her record label, One Little Indian, reported that by 2003 she had sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. She has acquired a high level of critical acclaim. She has won four BRIT Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, one MOJO Award, three UK Music Video Awards and in particular, she received, in 2010, the Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, in recognition for her "deeply personal music and lyrics, her precise arrangements and her unique voice".
Additionally, Björk has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, one Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. For her performance in Dancer in the Dark, Björk won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. She was ranked #36 on VH1's "The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll" and #8 on MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music".
Her music is influenced by acts such as Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Black Dog Productions, Olivier Messiaen, ABBA, Jeff Mills, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nico, LFO, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Tricky, PJ Harvey, Elis Regina, Tori Amos, Aphex Twin and Michael Jackson.
Debut is the overall second studio album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. The album was released in July 1993 on One Little Indian Records in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States. Björk worked on the album with producer Nellee Hooper who co-wrote five of Debut's songs with her. The album mostly consists of love songs relating to subjects such as her boyfriend Dominic Thrupp, her producer Nellee Hooper and to love of life itself. Musically, the songs on this album took a different direction from her previous albums with her former band The Sugarcubes, with the backing music ranging from house, jazz and trip hop styles.
Most of the songs from Debut were written years prior to the production of the album. As well as working with Graham Massey, Björk wanted to work with jazz musicians and contacted Oliver Lake and Corky Hale to record jazz arrangements to some of the songs. After meeting producer Nellee Hooper, the two completed production on the album in 1993. On Debut's initial release, the album sold far greater than her label predicted, charting at number three in the United Kingdom and sixty-one in the United States. The album was certified gold in Canada and platinum in the United States. Debut received widespread critical acclaim from British critics who praised Björk's vocals and the choice of a wide range of musical styles on the album. In the United States, the album received more mixed reviews, with some critics complaining about the lack of rock music on Debut.
Five singles were released from Debut: "Human Behaviour", "Venus as a Boy", "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy". "Play Dead" was recorded after the album's release and was later issued as a bonus track in a few regions. All five singles charted in the United Kingdom with only "Human Behaviour", "Violently Happy" and "Big Time Sensuality" charting on dance and modern rock charts in the United States. Despite the continued praise from critics, Björk did not find Debut to be one of her best albums stating that she will and has made better music on later works.
Post is the third studio album by Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician Björk, released in June 1995. Met with critical and commercial success, Post built on the electronic-pop of previous release Debut and flirted with various other musical styles including big band and trip hop, and featured numerous producers. Post went on to be certified Platinum in various regions including the UK, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia, and produced three UK Top 10 singles.
"Army of Me" was released as Post's leading single on 21 April 1995. It debuted at No.10 on the UK Singles Charts, becoming her first UK Top 10 single. Although it dropped out of the Top 20 the next week, "Army of Me" remained in the Top 75 for five weeks. "Isobel" was released as the album's second single on the 14 August of the same year. Less commercially successful than "Army of Me", it debuted at No.23 on the UK Singles Charts, remaining in the Top 75 for three weeks. "It's Oh So Quiet" was released as a novelty Christmas single on the 13 November 1995. Spending a total of fifteen weeks in the UK Top 75, it peaked at No.4 and spent eight weeks in the Top 10. It became her biggest worldwide hit, peaking at No.6 in Australia and No.109 in the US. "Hyper-Ballad" was released as the album's fourth single on the 12 February 1996. Some regions also included a double A-side single with the song "Enjoy" although it only received a number of promo remixes. Building on the success of "It's Oh So Quiet", the single debuted at No.8 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her third and last UK Top 10 single. While "Hyper-Ballad" dropped out of the Top 20 the next week, it remained in the Top 75 for a month. "Possibly Maybe" was released as Post's fifth single on the 28 October 1996. It debuted at No.12 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks in the UK Top 75. "I Miss You" was released as Post's sixth and final single on 24 February 1997. Although it hit No.1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, it debuted at No.34 on the UK Singles Chart, spending two weeks in the Top 75.
Homogenic is the fourth studio album by Icelandic musician Björk, released in September 1997. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B and Markus Dravs, it was released on One Little Indian Records. The music of Homogenic was a new style for Björk, focusing on similar sounding music combining electronic beats and string instruments with songs in tribute to her native country Iceland. Homogenic was originally to be produced in her home in London, but was later recorded in Spain to avoid interruption from the press after the suicide of Björk's stalker Ricardo López.
Homogenic marked the first of several production collaborations between Mark Bell and Björk, whom Björk would cite as a major influence on her musical career. The album peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard 200, and at number four on the UK Albums Chart. Five singles were released from Homogenic: "Jóga", "Bachelorette", "Hunter", "Alarm Call" and "All Is Full of Love". Homogenic was highly acclaimed on its initial release and continues to be praised by critics, with Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine stating that "if not the greatest electronic album of all time, it's certainly the greatest of its decade".
Vespertine, is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk, released on 27 August 2001. It sees Björk creating a quiet, introverted world of swirling microbeats and personal lyrics. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress (designed by Marjan Pejoski) that caused a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards.
Björk uses an array of sampled objects to create beats and soundscapes in a number of songs on Vespertine, including shuffling cards on "Cocoon" and "Hidden Place"; snow being walked upon on "Aurora", and ice being cracked and smashed on "Frosti".
"Hidden Place", "Pagan Poetry" and "Cocoon" were released as singles from the album. "It's Not Up to You" may have been meant to be the fourth single a sticker on the CD case proclaims "features ‹Hidden place› and ‹It's Not Up to You›" but never made it to release, presumably because of the birth of Björk's daughter Isadora.
The lyrics to "An Echo, a Stain" are based on Sarah Kane's play Crave.
Björk adapted the lyrics of "Sun in My Mouth" from the poem "i will wade out" by E. E. Cummings. The word "sea-girls" is changed to "seagulls", and the last few lines of the poem are omitted.
The instrumentals in "Heirloom" is a song by Console entitled "Crabcraft". Several CD track naming programs, such as Gracenote, label the song "Heirloom" as "Crabcraft" when the album is placed inside a computer.
The lyrics of "Harm of Will" were written by Harmony Korine and are allegedly about Will Oldham.
The last track on the album, "Unison", uses a sample of St Paul's Cathedral Choir singing a segment of Patrick Gowers' Viri Galilaei recorded in 1994.
The initial title for the album was Domestika. A song titled "Domestica" (originally titled "Lost Keys") was included as a B-side on the "Pagan Poetry" single. Björk has stated that she decided to call the album "Vespertine" instead of "Domestika" because the new title dealt with the prayer aspect of the album, which she wanted to note, while she felt that "Domestika" dealt too literally with the domestic element.
On 22 August 2008, Björk wrote an open letter on her official website correcting a long-standing mistake that Valgeir Sigurðsson has over the years been credited with writing the instrumentals for the album. She explained that, in fact, he had been only an engineer and programmer on some of the tracks on the album and speculated that the reason for the mistake was either due to sexism in the music industry, ignorance between the roles of engineers and programmers or because herself nor Sigurðsson had ever bothered to correct it.
Medúlla is the fifth English-language album (sixth overall) by Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician Björk, released on August 30, 2004. The title derives from the Latin word for "marrow". The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals. Medúlla received two Grammy Award nominations and reached number one in several record charts.
The album consists almost entirely of human vocals and a cappella arrangements; only a few musical instruments are featured: a bass synthesizer on "Who Is It", piano on "Ancestors", a gong on "Pleasure Is All Mine" and a synthesizer on "Mouth's Cradle". However, the vocals are sometimes processed or sampled: for example, the atmospheric haze that dominates "Desired Constellation" was created from a sample of Björk singing the phrase "I'm not sure what to do with it" from "Hidden Place" on her previous album, Vespertine. The album features beatboxing, choral arrangements and throat singing, as well as guest appearances by such artists as Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt, Tagaq, Rahzel (formerly of The Roots), Shlomo and Dokaka.
Volta is the seventh studio album by Icelandic musician Björk, released in May 2007. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Timbaland and Danja, it was released through One Little Indian Records, Elektra, Atlantic, Warner, Polydor and Universal Music. The music of "Volta" was a new style for Björk, focusing on similar sounding music combining African beats and other instruments with songs in tribute to Africa. The full album was accidentally made available on the UK iTunes Store at midnight on April 23, 2007 for a total of six hours, two weeks before the album's official release date. This led to the album being leaked online the following day. It has been certified Silver in the United Kingdom.
The album attracted attention due to the inclusion of three tracks co-produced by R&B record producer Timbaland. "Volta" marked the first of several production collaborations between Timbaland and Björk, whom Björk would cite as a major influence on her musical career. The album was highly acclaimed on its initial release and continues to be praised by critics. Volta spent nine weeks at number one on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart and in the first three months of release sold over half a million copies worldwide. The lead single, "Earth Intruders", reached number 67 on the UK Official Download Chart, and number 78 on the main UK Singles Chart, while the remix EP later released charted on its own at #150. In the United States, the song debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 84 in the issue dated April 28, 2007. Björk went on an 18 month tour in support of the album, which was her first tour in four years.
The album was re-released in June 2009 under the name "Voltaïc". It refers to five separate releases of related material from "Volta". The full version of the release will include a CD of 11 songs performed live at the Olympic Studios, a DVD of Björk's live performances in Paris and Reykjavík during the Volta tour, a second DVD of the Volta music videos as well as videos of the top ten runners-up from the "Innocence" video contest, and a second CD of remixes from Volta's singles. The official worldwide release date of all editions was June 23, 2009. The artwork was nominated for an award at the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards.
Biophilia is the musical project and forthcoming eighth full-length studio album from Icelandic singer Björk. The album is expected to be released on September 26, 2011, four years after her last original studio album Volta (2007).
Björk has described the project as a multimedia collection "encompassing music, apps, internet, installations, and live shows". Material from the album will debut during a concert series to be held this summer at the Manchester International Festival.
"Crystalline" is the lead single from the album, released on June 27, 2011. The release of "Crystalline" was preceded by three teasers: on the first one, entitled "Road to Crystalline" we can see Björk driving on her van through a road in Iceland while playing an excerpt of the song; on the second one, we could see one of the new instruments developed for the Manchester performances, that also plays on the track: the 'gameleste', a celesta which was modified so that it could be played remotely by an iPad; and on the third teaser, recording sessions of the remix featuring Omar Souleyman were shown. The Serban Ghenea mix of the song leaked onto the internet on June 25, 2011 although it was thought that the leaked version was either a pre-mastered version or remix of the song. Confirmation was made available that the leaked version was in fact the single mix, when the Serban Ghenea mix of Crystalline was released on iTunes.
All the songs on Biophilia will be released in iTunes as solo singles beside the expansion app. The second single-app released was 'Cosmogony' on July 19. 'Virus' and 'Moon' will come out on August 9 and September 6 respectively.
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Tags: Singer (27), Icelandic (13), Iceland (9), Electronic (8), Born 1965 (7), Female (6), Experimental (5), Alternative (4), Electronica (3), Quirky (3), Oscar Nominee (3), Artist (3), Female Singer (3), Scorpio (3), Gave Birth Out Of Wedlock (3), Gave Birth To A Child Out Of Wedlock (3), Progressive (2), Electro (2), Trip Hop (2), European (2)
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