Helgi Valur

Musician from Iceland. Born in 1979 Helgi Valur witnessed the magic of a Bob Dylan Concert while in the womb. Raised by a single mother in the small town of Hveragerði in Iceland Helgi Valur's only connection to the outside world was the music of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. Teaching himself to play guitar he never dreamt of being a real musician. Actually he did dream of standing on stage commending the attention of a crowd but it was never a realistic vision. In 2001 Helgi Valur performed Jeff Buckley´s "Hallelujah" on live television in a national highschool song contest. Although he didn't win the reception he got for 3rd place felt like winning. Helgi was now confident about singing his own songs and 4 years later after having traveled around the world as a troubadour he won a Troubadour contest. The Troubadour contest of Rás 2 (Channel 2) led to him getting signed to a record label after meeting producer Jón Ólafsson. "Demise of Faith" was released in 2005 and although reception wasn't bad the album was raw and stripped down. The songs were slow and emotional prompting the question "isn't he too young to be depressed". Helgi Valur became a name in the, rapidly growing, Icelandic music industry. In 2006 Helgi Valur started working on "Electric Ladyboyland" and founded The Shemales which included the cream of Icelands musicians. Although life seemed perfect in 2007 making 2 albums, graduating as a journalist and getting married, trouble was brewing. Helgi had started smoking weed and with increased pressure from many fronts he started to worry that is albums would never be released. After 4 years in the making Helgi Valur released the cover album "The black man is God the White man is the Devil" and a year later in 2010 he released "Electric Ladyboyland". To the outside world Helgi Valur was a productive musician when in truth he had hardly written anything since 2006. Worried about the promotion of "Electric Ladyboy Land" he landed hard. Totally manic and exhausted Helgi Valur was admitted to a mental institution. After 3 dark years of drug use, homelessness and wandering Helgi became sober. And in 2013 having achieve balance he started working on his most personal and honest recording. In 2015 "Notes From The Underground are released". The album could have the under title "Of madness and love". The last song was written in the mental institution in 2010 after borrowing an Ipod from a fellow inmate. The song is called "Love Love Love Love" . This album is filled with feelings of loneliness, isolation and the burning desire to love all.