Herbert Guðmundsson
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Herbert Guðmundsson is a famous Icelandic singer. His most famous song is Can't Walk Away but he released the song in 1986. The song became a big hit in the world and was included in the Superhits of the 80's hitbox.
Herbert was born 15. december 1953 and when he was 12 years old he began his music career by joining the band "Raflost". Only 17 years old he was the singer of "Tilvera". Herbert played with many bands over the next years for example "Eik", "Pelican" and "Sólskin". Herbert also took part in the play Jesus Christ Superstar.
Herbert began working as a chef in Icelandic fishing ships. He worked at the sea for 8 years but along with cooking for the sailors he had his guitar and wrote some songs.
When he had had enough at working at the sea he moved to Bolungarvík in Vestfirðir and joined the band "Kan". With "Kan" Herbert made the album "Í ræktinni" (in the gym) and the band was a big hit in Iceland. "Kan" only sang in Icelandic and was therefore only well known in Iceland.
Herbert left "Kan" and moved to Reykjavík (capital of Iceland). There he began his solocareer. He decided to sing in English because he had high hopes of becoming a big star outside of Iceland. In december 1985 he made the song Can't Walk Away. The song became a huge hit but it was released in the album The Dawn Of The Human Revolution, but it was released in 1986.
The success of Can't Walk Away was amazing and Herbert became well known in the world. Later the song was included in the Superhits of the 80's hitbox. Herbert kept on going and made some new songs and the song Hollywood became popular but not as popular as Can't Walk Away. The song Hollywood says the story of how hard it is to become a success in the big world when you come from a small place like Iceland. Hollywood was released in the album Being Human in 1993.
Herbert shot the video for Hollywood in Hollywood and because of that some Icelanders became angry with Herbert and said that he was trying to be a big shot by going to Hollywood and shoot a video there. Herbert answered them by saying that the video wouldn't be the same if he would do a bluescreen video home in Iceland.
After releasing Being Human album he stepped out of the spotlight and was not very active for a few years. He moved to Sweden and learned how to be a ice cream master in Italy.
In 1997 Herbert became again a very popular singer in Iceland when a new radiostation FM957 began playing Can't Walk Away. Herbert came back to Iceland and was again a big star. He decided to release all his biggest hits in a Best Of CD which he called Faith. Faith was released in 1998 and contained Can't Walk Away, Hollywood, I Believe In Love and many other hits. He also included two remixes of Can't Walk Away.
He made his first soloalbum in Icelandic in 2001 "Ný Spor Á Íslenskri Tungu" (new steps in Icelandic). There was a song that became a big hit called "Svaraðu" (Answer), the song was about a guy who couldn't find the girl that he loves. In "Ný Spor Á Íslenskri Tungu" was "Svaraðu" in three versions. The normal one, original mix and Dance Superfly Guy Mix (remix).
Herbert started his own ice cream shop in Reykjavík but he had earlier opened an ice cream shop in Sweden. The shop was called "Stikkfrí" and had the biggest and the cheapest ice cream in Reykjavík.
Herbert is a buddhist but he like most Icelanders was a part of the Icelandic national church. He decided to leave the church and join the world of Buddha. He is an ambassador for buddhists in Iceland.
Herbert owns his own record company, "HG Hljómplötur" (HG Records), Faith and "Ný Spor Á Íslenskri Tungu" was released by "HG Hljómplötur".
Herbert is still popular in Iceland and sometimes he makes some new songs that are played in the radio but he hasn't found the great touch that he had when he made Can't Walk Away, Hollywood or other of his classics. It's popular to get Herbert to sing for you and your friends and Herbert is always up for the task.
[edit] References
1. About Herbert in Icelandic 2. Herbert's own personal website
