Jónsi

When Jónsi was 13 years old, he learned his first song, "Wrathchild" by Iron Maiden, on guitar. Iron Maiden remains one of his favorite bands to this day.[8] In 1995, Jónsi fronted a band called Bee Spiders, under the alias 'Jonny B'. He wore sunglasses on stage throughout their concerts. Bee Spiders received the 'most interesting band' award in 1995 in a contest for unknown bands called Músíktilraunir (Music Experimentations). The band played long rock songs and was compared to The Smashing Pumpkins.[8] Jónsi also fronted a grunge band called Stoned around 1992–1993. He also uses the alias Frakkur to release his solo material, e.g. the contribution to Kitchen Motors Family Album, which marks the first release under this name.

Since 1994, Jónsi has been the singer and guitarist for Sigur Rós. To date, they have released seven studio albums.

Aside from his many years with Sigur Rós, Jónsi has collaborated with his partner Alex Somers[9] on their album Riceboy Sleeps under the moniker Jónsi & Alex, which was released in 2009. In April 2010, Jónsi released his first solo album, Go, and began a multi-nation tour to promote the album from March – September across North America and Europe.

Jónsi's song "Around Us" was used for the American promotional trailer for Studio Ghibli's film, The Secret World of Arriety and was also included in FIFA 11, the soundtrack by EA Sports.

His song "Tornado" was featured in Henry Alex Rubin's 2012 film Disconnect

Jónsi also wrote the score for the 2012 Cameron Crowe film We Bought a Zoo.

"Boy Lilikoi", and instrumental versions of "Tornado", "Sinking Friendships", and "Around Us" were all included in the 2012 documentary This Is What Love in Action Looks Like.

Jónsi's song "Grow Till Tall" was used by the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps in their 2017 competitive program Jagged Line. It was also featured in the trailer for the third installment of the Divergent series, Allegiant.

In 2018, Jonsi contributed an original song titled "Who Are You Thinking Of?" to the soundtrack of the feature film Boy Erased. He also collaborated with Troye Sivan on the song "Revelation", also included on the soundtrack.

Jónsi makes a guest appearance under the alias 'Frakkur' on track 13, "Skyscraper Heart", on Hi-Camp Meets Lo-Fi – Explosion Picture Score by Dip (1999)
Jónsi provides vocal material on three collaborations with The Hafler Trio:
Exactly As I Say (2004 CD; a separate limited edition of 111 copies also exists containing DVD and 5.1 surround sound)
Exactly As I Am (2005 Double CD)
Exactly As I Do (2005 Double CD)
Jónsi makes a guest appearance on Tiësto's track "Kaleidoscope"[22] on his album of the same name, which was released on 6 October 2009.
Jónsi appears on the album In a Safe Place by The Album Leaf, on the song "Over the Pond".

In 2018, Jónsi collaborated with Troye Sivan on the song "Revelation" from the Boy Erased soundtrack.[23]

Jónsi at UCLA, playing to promote Heima

Jónsi's first language is Icelandic. He also speaks English, according to the official Sigur Rós web site:[24]

On the first three Sigur Rós albums (Von, Von Brigði, Ágætis Byrjun), Jónsi sang most songs in Icelandic but two of them ("Von" and "Olsen Olsen") were sung in 'Hopelandic'. All of the vocals on ( ) are in Hopelandic. Hopelandic (Vonlenska in Icelandic) is the 'invented language' in which Jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. It is not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), but rather a form of gibberish vocals that fit to the music and act as another instrument. Jónsi likens it to what singers sometimes do when they've decided on the melody, but haven't written the lyrics yet. Many languages were considered to be used on ( ), including English, but they decided on Hopelandic. Hopelandic (Vonlenska) got its name (from a journalist, not Jónsi himself) from the first song which Jónsi sang on, "Hope" (Von).[25]

Like a few other players of the bowed guitar, Jónsi plays mainly variations of the Les Paul.[26] He also plays Ibanez Les Paul copies, model PF200. The first Ibanez used to be his main instrument during the Bee Spiders era all through Ágætis Byrjun. It was largely refinished and decorated (as can be seen in Ágúst Jakobsson's documentary Popp í Reykjavík[27]). That particular instrument got stolen and broken but was on display in the Reykjavík Art Museum in the summer of 2003.[28] During the recordings of Takk..., Jónsi bought another PF200 to replace the Les Paul. Since the summer of 2006, Jónsi has been using a guitar that was made on the road by his then guitar tech Dan Johnson. The guitar is usually referred to as "The Bird," after the band's bird designs seen on previous album artwork that adorn the neck and frets of the guitar. "The Bird" is based on the body of the Ibanez PF200. The artists has also been seen playing a variety of other instruments such as the piano, acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, harmonium, mellotron, baritone ukulele, and the banjo.

In 2003, he was escorted off the premises while protesting against Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant in Iceland.[29]

Jónsi is a vegetarian. He states that he "didn't go vegetarian because of the animals" but became gradually more concerned for their welfare.[30] Jónsi elaborated that he would find it difficult to date someone who eats meat, saying "I just love animals and I do not want to kill them, cook them or eat them so it’d be hard for me to watch anyone do that."[30] He briefly followed a raw food diet, although he no longer practices this as he felt it hindered his social life and he was "getting antisocial" when on tour.[31]

Alongside his visual art collaboration with Alex Somers, he has also exhibited his own work. He had an installation at the Los Angeles branch of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in late 2019.[32]

• Official site