Jón Þór Birgisson
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Jón Þór Birgisson or Jónsi (April 23, 1975) is a guitar player and lead singer of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. His trademark is the bowed guitar, that is, playing his electric guitar with a cello bow to create a high-feedback (previously used by Eddie Phillips and Jimmy Page), yet melodic sound. He sings mainly in falsetto.
Musical History
In 1995, Jónsi fronted a band called 'Bee Spiders', under the alias 'Jonny B' (a hidden reference to 'Jón Birgisson'). He wore sunglasses onstage throughout the whole concert. Bee Spiders received the 'most interesting band' award in 1995 in a contest for unknown bands called 'Musiktilraunir' (Music Experimentations). The band played long rock songs and was compared to the Smashing Pumpkins. Jónsi also fronted a grunge rock band called 'stoned' around '92-'93.
Ágúst (the former drummer) got a cello bow for his birthday, Georg started "torturing" his bass with it (it sounded horrible) and then Jónsi tried it on his guitar (which sounded better). Jónsi has used the bow since at every concert. He became the singer because no one else could sing.
The first song Jónsi learned how to play on guitar was Wrathchild by Iron Maiden, at the age of 13. Iron Maiden remains one of Jónsi's favorite bands today.
Trivia
- He is 5' 7".
- He is gay.
- He was born blind in one eye; regarding this, he once remarked, "If I saw in stereo I'd go mad."
- The name Sigur Rós is actually the name of Jónsi's little sister, except it's spelled Sigurrós. It was also the name of his late grandmother (a fairly well known if eccentric figure in her native Skagaströnd at the time), whom the little one was presumably named after. Jónsi's sister was born at the same time as the band formed. Sigur Rós translates to 'Victory Rose' and is a fairly common female Icelandic name.
Languages
Jónsi's first language is Icelandic. He also speaks English, and he has a thick Icelandic accent. Jónsi and the other members of Sigur Rós speak in [this official interview]. According to [the official Sigur Rós web site]:
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 ( ) are in Hopelandic. Hopelandic (Vonlenska in Icelandic) is the 'invented language' in which Jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. It's of course not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), it's rather a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument. Jónsi likens it with 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 first song which Jónsi sang it on, Hope (Von).
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