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Elly Vilhjálms

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Henný Eldey Vilhjálmsdóttir (28 December 1935 – 16 November 1995), known professionally as Elly Vilhjálms, was an Icelandic singer, regarded as one of the most popular female vocalists in Iceland in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] She also performed with her brother Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson and with Ragnar Bjarnason.

Career

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Elly started off her career in 1956 as a member of the band Orion, founded by her first husband Eyþór Þorláksson. It was the only Icelandic band to ever join a show of the United Service Organizations and to tour military bases, before disbanding in 1958.[1]

In 1962, Elly recorded the song "Vegir liggja til allra átta" as part of the soundtrack of the film 79 af stöðinni [is; da] (internationally released as The Girl Gogo), written by Indriði G. Þorsteinsson and directed by Erik Balling, achieving her breakthrough. Until the 1970s, she recorded numerous other hits – including "Sveitin milli sanda", "Ég vil fara upp í sveit [is]", "Ég veit þú kemur [is]", "Í grænum mó" and the English-language song "Almost like Being in Love" – as well as two solo LPs. Many of her successes were covers of foreign songs, as in the case of "Heyr mína bæn [is]", a 1965 recording of "Non ho l'età", the Italian winning song for the Eurovision Song Contest 1964.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Þórsson, Elías (5 September 2017). "Elly Vilhjálms: Iceland's Original Diva". The Reykjavík Grapevine. Retrieved 22 April 2024.