Andrea Gylfadóttir

Andrea Gylfadóttir came to the blues through classical singing and Icelandic rock, and has been one of the country's most versatile voices for four decades.

Born in Reykjavík on 13 September 1962, she studied cello at various music schools and took classical voice at the Reykjavík School of Singing, graduating in 1987 with the highest marks the school had then awarded. Her break came in 1986, when she replaced Helgi Björnsson as lead singer of the rock band Grafík. After Grafík dissolved in 1988 she moved between jazz and pop-rock, becoming a founding member of Todmobile that year and later forming the duo Tweety with Þorvaldur Bjarna, which ran from 1993 to 1995.

Blúsmenn Andreu

In 1989 she founded Blúsmenn Andreu — Andrea's Bluesmen — an ensemble built around blues, jazz and soul standards. Its long-standing line-up has included Guðmundur Pétursson on guitar, Einar Rúnarsson on Hammond organ, Haraldur Þorsteinsson on bass and Jóhann Hjörleifsson on drums. The band released Andrea og Blúsmenn in 1998 and, after a thirteen-year gap, Rain on me rain in 2011, both well received for their straightforward blues feel and for her interpretations of standards associated with Billie Holiday.

Stage and screen

She has acted in the films Í takt við tímann and Stella í framboði, played Evita in the Icelandic Opera's 1997 production, and in 2010 was musical director for The Rocky Horror Show in Akureyri while also performing as Columbia. She won the Icelandic Music Awards Songwriter of the Year prize in 1993 and 1994.

Icelandic Music Awards Songwriter of the Year 1993 and 1994