Musicians - Bubbi Morthens

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	Musicians - Bubbi Morthens

Bubbi Morthens (date and place of birth: June 6, 1956 in Reykjavík, Iceland), is one of the most popular singers and songwriters in Iceland. His name of birth is Ásbjörn Kristinsson Morthens, Bubbi being the affectionate form of Ásbjörn.

Bubbi Morthens, recorded his first solo album in 1979, a blend of rock, blues and reggae, and published it the following year with the title of Ísbjarnarblús which led him to popularity in Iceland due to influences of Iggy Pop and other artists, the changes of music styles during the recording sessions, but particularly due to the lyrics as their content was embedded in the social struggle, especially of the lower classes from the fishing industry to migrant workers.

His first important band was Utangarðsmenn (The Outsiders), a punk band that led the new wave movement in Iceland and was formed by guitarists Michael D. Pollock (Mickey Dean) and Daniel Pollock (Dirty Dan), drummer Magnús Stefánsson (mad Dog Magoo), and finally bassist Rúnar Erlingsson (Rooney the Ripper).
Utangarsðmenn gained renown in Iceland by means of extensive press coverage and several gigs, including three at Laugarðashöll, Iceland’s sport arena, where one of the gigs they performed was as supporting band for Clash. Bubbi left the band right after the fourth album, Í Upphafi Skyldi Endinn Skoða in 1981, and the other band members continued playing, but under the name of Bodies, which was a tribute to one of Utangarðsmenn’s songs.

At that time, Bubbi and his brother, Bergþór were joined by bassist Þorleifur Guðjónsson and formed the band Egó, a name that some claimed it was a reference of Bubbi’s great ego. They played for a while and the original group was extended when Jóhann Ridar (aka “Motorhead”) entered as the drummer, next to guitarist Ragnar Sigurðsson.
The band had their first tour in Reykjavík, but when they started to record Jóhann and Ragnar had dropped the band and were replaced by Magnús Stefánsson and Tómas Magnús Tómasson who joined as a session musician and producer. With these internal changes, the band improved their music releasing their debut album, Breyttir Tímar on April 1, 1982 becoming into one of the most selling album in Icelandic music history, climbing to the second place on the Icelandic album chart where it remained within the ten most important albums for 19 weeks on a row. When being on the album promotional tour in Iceland, Þorleifur left the band and was replaced by Rúnar Erlingsson.

Egó followed up with Í Mynd the same year and it was considered better than the previous album. With this release, Egó toured Scandinavia where Magnús Stefánsson decided to leave the band and was replaced by Jökull Úlfsson and the band was extended once more with the addition of Gunnar Rafnsson in keyboards. After achieving success, internal conflicts undermined the relationship with the record label and even though the band had decided to break up, they had signed a contract by which they were obliged to release another album. Egó released their final work in 1984 with its name. The band split up, Bubbi left Iceland and the musicians continued different paths. In 2001 Egó members were reunited to release a compilation under the title of Í Upphafi Skyldi Endinn Skoða.

Later in 1984, Bubbi returned to Iceland and formed a rock and roll band called Das Kapital and released an album called Lili Marlene, but the band broke up afterwards.
In 1985 he signed with Swedish record label Mistlur and released Frelsi til Sölu (Freedom for Sale) which helped bring further commercial success, until Dögun (Dawning), was released in 1987 and became into a smash success in Bubbi’s music career. His popularity was finally established in 1990 with the release of Sögur af Landi, which received good critics reviews.

Towards 1987 Bubbi joined guitarist Þorsteinn Magnússon (former member of Þeyr), Jakob Smári Magnússon (former bassist of Tappi Tíkarrass), drummer Halldór Larússon and keyboardist Tómas Magnús Tómasson to form a new group called Bubbi & MX-21. The band released an album titled Skapar Fegurðin Hamingjuna? and collaborated next to Megas and Sykurmolarnir (later to be known as The Sugarcubes) on Skytturnar, the soundtrack to the film directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson.

By the early 1990’s Bubbi was planning to record a Spanish or South-American style album; this work was consolidated with the release of Von (Hope), which was recorded in Cuba with the band Sierra Maestra. It was an album that marked a change in his music style; with elaborated arrangements and performances, the lyrics are about loss and regret along the usual protest lyrics.
In 1993 Bubbi moved towards a mellow country music style with the release of Lífið er Ljúft (Life is Good), and in 1994 experimented with rap music in the album 3 Heimar (3 Worlds). Also in the ‘90s Bubbi joined Rúnar Júlíusson to form a rock band called G.C.D.. He also recorded a tribute album for his beloved crooner uncle, Haukur Morthens and a spoken word album of original poetry in 1996.
In 1998 appeared Arfur (Heritage), an album for which he drew from traditional Icelandic rhymes and ballads.

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