Bjork began her music career as the lead singer for the group Sugarcubes out of Iceland. However, when the group disbanded in 1992, Bjork found herself with a career far more successful than she’d enjoyed with the band. She shifted her musical style to reflect a more club and dance sound, and the new formula was an instant success. Not only did her first album, Debut, establish her solo career in 1993, but it also made her one of the 1990’s most notable stars and iconic celebrities. A string of hit singles followed, including “Big Time Sensuality” and “Venus as a Boy,” and by the end of the year Debut had gone platinum in the UK.
Her first single off her next album, “Army of Me,” was released in 1995, shortly before the album itself dropped. Post was equally successful and earned Bjork gold status in the United States, and yielded her additional BRIT awards. “Isobel,” “Hyperballad,” and “It’s Oh So Quiet” were notable singles released from Post. Telegram (1997) and Homogenic (1997) followed, and in the new millennium Bjork also expanded her endeavors to include acting. She earned the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for Dancer in the Dark, and the critics equally acclaimed her score for the film.
Bjork followed up with Vespertine (2001), a Greatest Hits collection (2002), Medulla (2004), and the soundtrack to the film Drawing Restraint 9 (2005) before releasing Volta in 2007. Volta, which was created with the assistance of notable producer Timbaland and artists such as the poet Sjon, kora master Toumani Diabate, and singer Antony Hegarty, features far more cross-cultural elements than Bjork’s previous albums. Both Volta and its first single, “Earth Intruders,” became Bjork’s highest charting works to date, reaching into the Top Ten. “Innocence, “”Declare Independence,” and “Wanderlust” fared equally well.
Bjork continues to perform, record, tour, and perform. So far in her career, she has had thirty top forty singles and sold approximately thirty million records worldwide. Bjork ranks on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music and Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Her awards this far include five BRIT Awards and multiple award nominations, including fourteen Grammy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination. Bjork released her latest album, Utopia, in 2017.
