Emilíana Torrini (born 16 May 1977) is an Icelandic singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2009 single "

Jungle Drum "Jungle Drum" is the third single released from Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini's third album, ''Me and Armini''. It was released as a digital download on 9 March 2009

", her 1999 album '' Love in the Time of Science'', and her performance of " Gollum's Song" for the 2002 film '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers''.

Early life

Emilíana was born in Iceland, where she grew up in

Kópavogur Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second largest municipality by population. It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. The town seal contains t ...

. At the age of seven, she joined a choir as a soprano, until she went to opera school at the age of 15. Her father, Salvatore Torrini, is

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

), while her mother, Anna Stella Snorradóttir, is Icelandic. Because of name regulations in Iceland at the time, her father had to change his name to "Davíð Eiríksson", which also meant that Emilíana had to use the surname after her father in the traditional way. A few years later, the name regulations were changed, and she was again allowed to use her original surname. After being discovered singing in a restaurant in Iceland by Derek Birkett, the owner of

One Little Indian Records One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In th ...

, Emilíana was asked to visit London to record a song. She decided to stay in London.

Career

Emiliana Torrini Orange Music Haifa 2005 03

Emilíana has been a member of Icelandic artist group

GusGus GusGus is an electronic music band from Reykjavík, Iceland. Although initially a film and acting collective, the group is mostly known for its electronic music. The group's discography consists of eleven studio albums. History GusGus was ...

, and contributed vocals to several songs on their debut ''

Polydistortion ''Polydistortion'' is the second studio album by Icelandic electronic music band GusGus. The album was released on 7 April 1997 on 4AD, serving as their first release on the label. The songs "Why?" and the band's cover of Slowblow's "Is Jesus Y ...

'' (1997), most notably "Why". She co-wrote

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

's "

Slow In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of the change of its Position (vector), position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per ...

" and "Someday" from her ''

Body Language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...

'' album in 2003. She also produced "Slow" along with Dan Carey; the two were nominated for a Best Dance Recording Grammy Award in 2005 for their work on the track. Prior to these, Emilíana contributed vocals to songs on

Thievery Corporation Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and Brazilian music, including bo ...

's 2002 album ''

The Richest Man in Babylon ''The Richest Man in Babylon'' is a 1926 book by George S. Clason that dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set 4,097 years ago in ancient Babylon. The book remains in print almost a century after the parables were origin ...

'' and was credited with composing the songs "Resolution", "Until The Morning", and "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes" from that album. Also in 2002, she sang vocals on

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...

's song "Hold Your Hand" taken from his '' Bunkka'' album. Her version of Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "

White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

" was used in multiple action and fight scenes in the

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

Sucker Punch A sucker punch (American English), also known as a dog shot, coward punch, king hit or one-punch attack (Australian and New Zealand English) or cold-cock (American English), is a punch made without warning or while the recipient is distracted, ...

'' directed by

Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since t ...

. On 3 June 2013, Emilíana revealed to fans that she would release her new album on 9 September 2013 in the UK. The album was released in Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on 6 September 2013. The new LP is titled '' Tookah''. Emilíana played a number of music festivals in the lead up to the album's release in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. On 29 July 2013, Emilíana revealed the radio edition of a new track "Speed of Dark". Three additional tracks were also revealed allowing fans to stream, including "Autumn Sun", "Animal Games", and "Tookah". Emilíana was featured on

Kid Koala Eric San (born December 5, 1974), aka Kid Koala, is a Canadian scratch DJ, music producer, theatre producer, film composer, multimedia-performer and visual artist. His career began as a scratch DJ in 1994. Kid Koala works with genres as eclectic ...

's 2017 album ''Music to Draw To: Satellite'', where she sang on seven tracks.

Discography

*'' Crouçie d'où là'' (1995) *''

Merman Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other ...

'' (1996) *'' Love in the Time of Science'' (1999) *'' Fisherman's Woman'' (2005) *'' Me and Armini'' (2008) *'' Tookah'' (2013)

References

External links

*
Unofficial Emilíana Torrini video archive

in the

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrini, Emiliana 1977 births

Emiliana Torrini Emiliana is a feminine name of Italian origin. It can refer to: As a given name * Emiliana of Trasilla and Emiliana, Catholic saints * Emilíana Torrini Emilíana Torrini (born 16 May 1977) is an Icelandic singer and songwriter. She is bes ...

Virgin Records artists

Living people One Little Independent Records artists

People of Campanian descent Rough Trade Records artists Folk-pop singers Icelandic women in electronic music 21st-century Icelandic singers Trip hop musicians 20th-century Icelandic women singers 21st-century Icelandic women singers Icelandic people with family names Indie pop musicians