Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. She spent much of her childhood traveling between Reykjavík and Washington, DC, where she learned to speak English with barely a trace of an accent. Inspired in part by her mother, a classical violinist, she took up piano and cello early on, but it was her father’s collection of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday albums that spoke to her on a deeper level. “I’m definitely very influenced by composers like Ravel and Chopin,” Laufey explains, “but when I discovered the Great American Songbook and the music of George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers, it felt like this middle ground between jazz and classical that suited me perfectly.” Laufey dove into the music headfirst, captivated by the lush arrangements and dreamy vocals, and by her teenage years, she was already turning heads with a mesmerizing style that belied her young age. After landing a prestigious Presidential Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, Laufey moved to Boston, where she began writing her own songs blending sophisticated jazz melodies and slow-burning R&B grooves. Unable to tour due to COVID-19, she began performing a mix of originals and vintage classics on Instagram and TikTok, and within a year, she would find herself racking up millions of likes, topping the Icelandic radio charts with her debut single, “Street By Street,” and earning support from Billie Eilish and Willow Smith. She earned her first Grammy on February 4th, 2024 and won the category for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
