Bjork

There are few artists in music today as innovative and unconventional as Bjork. After achieving cult status in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the front of The Sugarcubes, Bjork’s solo career went on to be one of the most colourful and influential of the 1990s with a series of hit albums.

Born in Iceland in 1965, Bjork began classical piano lessons at an early age and recorded her first album in 1977. Though she involved herself with various musical projects during her teens, including Spit and Snot, Exodus, Tappi Tíkarrass and KUKL, it wasn’t until the formation of The Sugarcubes in 1986 that Bjork’s amazing vocal talents began to make waves. Though they disbanded in 1992, they released three critically acclaimed albums; Life’s Too Good, Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week! and Stick Around for Joy over that time.

Already boasting enough credits to put most musicians to shame, Bjork’s second solo career began when she took some unfinished material into the studio with Massive Attack producer Nellee Hooper, who helped complete what was to become Debut. With singles in the form of Human Behaviour, Big Time Sensuality and Venus as a Boy, Debut went on to hit number three on the UK albums chart and go platinum on both sides of the Atlantic. Her fusion of electronic and experimental sounds with classical and jazz made her a hit not only with the public but with musicians and critics, with NME naming Debut as album of the year.

Bjork became a household name in 1995 with Post, which featured the surprise hit It’s Oh So Quiet, as well as the breathtaking opening double of Army of Me and Hyper-Ballad. Thanks largely to the production team of Hooper, along with Tricky and Howie B, Bjork consolidated her trademark sound and achieved her highest chart position yet, reaching number two in the UK. Her profile took its toll, though, as she famously assaulted a paparazzi photographer in 1996 in Thailand after he had approach her 10-year-old son.

Homogenic, her third album on the One Little Indian label, marked a change in direction, toning down the heavy beats and replacing them with epic soundscapes and eerie ambiance, something countrymen Sigur Ros would later become known for. Though the electronic influence is still present on Homogenic, it is Bjork’s emotionally charged lyrics and more expansive vocal range, accompanied by delicate and subtle instrumentation, that shines through on tracks like Joga, Bachelorette and All is Full of Love.

After a relative hiatus, Bjork was back in 2001 with Vespertine, which took her move towards the subtle to greater extremes. 2001 also marked one of Bjork’s most controversial moments, appearing dressed in a swan dress at the Academy Awards. The dress remains a talking point and propelled the songstress to the top of both best and worst-dressed lists that year.

A greatest hits record appeared in 2002, shortly before Bjork returned to the studio for her next album release, Medulla. Medulla featured very few instruments at all, using vocal samples, choirs and guest vocalists, including beatboxer Rahzel andMike Patton, in their place. Volta, her 2007 follow-up, marked a return to a more typical Bjork sound referencing Debut and Post, aided by a production team headed by Bjork herself and Timbaland.

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