View source for Hafdís Huld

{{Short description|Icelandic singer and actress (born 1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Icelandic name|Hafdís}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Hafdís Huld
| image             = Hafdis Huld singing.jpg
| alt               =
| caption           = Hafdís at [[the Glee Club]], [[Birmingham]], in 2007
| birth_name        = Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir
| alias             =
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1979|05|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Reykjavík]], Iceland
| origin            =
| genre             = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| occupations       = {{hlist|Singer|actress}}
| instrument        =
| years_active      = 1995–present
| label             = Red Grape
| current_member_of =
| past_member_of    = [[GusGus]]
| spouse            =
| partner           =
| website           = {{URL|hafdishuld.com}}
| background        = solo_singer
}}
'''Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir''' ({{IPA-is|ˈhavti:s ˈhʏlt ˈθrastartouhtɪr|lang}}; born 22 May 1979), known simply as '''Hafdís Huld''', is an Icelandic singer and actress. She began her musical career as a member of the [[electronic music|electronic]] band [[GusGus]] in 1995 and left the group in 1999. Hafdís made her solo debut with her 2006 album ''[[Dirty Paper Cup]]''.
==Career==
===1995–1999: Debut with GusGus===
Hafdís joined the Icelandic [[electronic music|electronic]] band [[GusGus]] at its inception in 1995 at the age of 15.<ref name=bearded>{{cite web |url=http://www.beardedmagazine.com/features/article/interview-hafdis-huld |title=Interview: Hafdis Huld |author=Ben Wood |date=8 November 2010 |work=Bearded Magazine |accessdate=5 July 2012}}</ref> During this time, she participated in two world tours.<ref name=mazurss>{{cite web |url=http://www.mazurpr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87:quirky-icelandic-pop-princess-hafdis-huld-releases-sophomore-album&catid=31:hafdis-huld&Itemid=26 |title=Quirky Icelandic Pop Princess Hafdis Huld Releases Sophomore Album |author= |date= |work=Mazur PR |accessdate=5 July 2012}}</ref>
===2000–2005: Collaborations and other activities===
After leaving the band she started writing her own songs, and collaborated with [[FC Kahuna]], co-writing their singles "Hayling" and "Machine Says Yes", which were included in the 2002 album ''[[Machine Says Yes]]''. Elsewhere she sang with dance producers [[Ewan Pearson]] and [[Tom Middleton]]. During the same period, she made two feature films and modelled clothing for Extreme Sports. She later studied at the [[London Centre of Contemporary Music]], graduating with a Distinction in 2006. Hafdís was featured on the track "The News (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Microsoft Inc.)" on the conceptual rap album ''[[Deltron 3030 (album)|Deltron 3030]]'' in 2000.
===2006–present: Solo debut===
Her official debut album ''[[Dirty Paper Cup]]'' was released in 2006 on MVine/Red Grape Records and won the award of best pop album at the Icelandic music awards. She was also nominated for best video with "Tomoko". The result of productive collaborations with a number of highly respected{{according to whom|date=May 2016}} co-writers including [[Jim Abbiss]], [[Boo Hewerdine]], [[Pascal Gabriel]] and [[Chris Corner]]. The album was universally acclaimed{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} by the press in the UK and Europe and received national radio play on BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} and also won the Icelandic Music Award in early 2007 for Best Pop Album.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} The album features a cover of [[The Velvet Underground]]'s "[[Loaded (The Velvet Underground album)#Track listing|Who Loves the Sun]]" with a [[ukulele]] accompaniment. This was one of four singles released from the album. The b-sides of all the singles were tracks from the album.
Shortly after releasing the album in October 2006, Hafdís and her band were asked to go on tour with [[Paolo Nutini]] on an 8-date sold-out tour of the UK. On these dates and her headline shows Hafdís performs with a three-piece band of Sarah Croft, Alisdair Wright and Steve Ling. The band use guitars, keyboards, ukulele, xylophone and banjo. Hafdís also toured venues and festivals across the UK and Europe, taking in [[Glastonbury Festival|The Glastonbury Festival]], [[Secret Garden Party|The Secret Garden Party]], [[The Big Chill (music festival)|The Big Chill]] and [[Camden Crawl]] in the UK, [[Hultsfred Festival]] in Sweden, [[Iceland Airwaves|Airwaves]] in Iceland, [[Spot (music festival)|Spot Festival]] in Denmark, Les Femmes S'en Melent and Europavox in France and the Midnight Sun Festival in the Czech Republic. In 2007 she supported [[Mika (singer)|Mika]] in London and performed at In the City in Manchester and [[South by Southwest]] in Texas, United States.
In February 2007, a headline UK tour was cancelled due to a serious lung infection, from which she took 6 weeks to recover.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visir.is/hafdis-huld-med-lungnasykingu/article/2007102070113 |title=Hafdís Huld með lungnasýkingu |author= |date=7 February 2007 |work=[[Vísir]] |accessdate=5 July 2012}}</ref> The dates were rescheduled to May 2007. On the rescheduled dates she performed "Boys and Perfume", a song from her (then unreleased) second album.
Hafdís was one of the guest vocalists on [[Tricky (musician)|Tricky]]'s 2008 album ''[[Knowle West Boy]]'', performing on the track "Cross to Bear".
Hafdís recorded an a cappella version of the [[Sam Brown (singer)|Sam Brown]] classic "[[Stop! (Sam Brown song)|Stop!]]", which was used on a pan-European TV ad campaign for [[Mercedes-Benz]]. A fully instrumented version of the track charted in Iceland on 8 October 2008 and had a worldwide release on 24 November 2008.
In 2009, Hafdís recorded a second solo album, ''[[Synchronised Swimmers]]''. Two singles from the album went to No.1 in the Icelandic singles chart: "Kongulo" (which means "spider" in Icelandic and was written about the urban climber [[Alain Robert]]) reached No.1 in July 2009 and the title track from the album reached the top spot in October 2009. The album was released in Iceland in October 2009 and went straight into the chart at No.2. The album is available outside of Iceland, since July 2010.
==Personal life==
Hafdís Huld is in a relationship with musician Alisdair Wright. In February 2012, Hafdís revealed that she was four months pregnant with their first child and was expecting in early July.<ref name=pregnant>{{cite web |url=http://www.visir.is/hafdis-med-plotu-og-barn-i-maganum/article/2012702109971 |title=Hafdís með plötu og barn í maganum |author= |date=10 February 2012 |work=[[Vísir]] |accessdate=5 July 2012}}</ref> In the summer of 2012, Hafdís gave birth to a daughter. Just before spring 2019, Hafdis announced they are expecting another child.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
* ''[[Dirty Paper Cup]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Synchronised Swimmers]]'' (2009)
* ''Vögguvísur'' (2012)
* ''Home'' (2014)
* ''Barnavísur'' (2015)
* ''Dare to Dream Small'' (2017)
* ''Variations'' (2019)
* ''Darkest Night'' (2024)
=== Singles ===
* "Who Loves the Sun"
* "Diamonds on My Belly"
* "Ski Jumper"
* "Tomoko"
* "Stop!"
* "Kónguló"
* "Synchronised Swimmers"
* "Action Man"
* "Queen Bee"
==Filmography==
===Film===
* ''[[The Icelandic Dream]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Dramarama (film)|Dramarama]]'' (''Villiljós'') (2001)
===TV===
* ''A Legend to Ride'' (1997)
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.hafdishuld.com}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/hafdishuld YouTube channel]
* [http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/hafdis-huld_0607.htm Hafdís Huld interview at musicOMH.com]
* [http://www.phoenixfm.com/story/2611.php Hafdís Huld interview at Phoenix FM]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{IMDb name|0401338}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huld, Hafdis}}
[[Category:1979 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Icelandic electronic musicians|Hafdis Huld]]
[[Category:21st-century Icelandic women singers]]
[[Category:Icelandic women in electronic music]]