Erla Þorsteinsdóttir (22 January 1933 – 25 September 2022) was an Icelandic singer who had considerable success in Iceland and Denmark in the 1950s. She first performed in Iceland in 1954 in the nightclub ''Jaðri''. She sang one of the first Icelandic
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
songs called ''Vagg og velta'' which was controversially banned from playing in the state owned
RÚV
Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization.
Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...
. In 1956, her
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
with the songs ''Heimþrá'' and ''Hljóðaklettur'' was the most sold record in Iceland.
Personal life
Erla was born in
Sauðárkrókur
Sauðárkrókur () is a Localities of Iceland, town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Skagafjörður (municipality), Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Re ...
to Ingibjörg Konráðsdóttir and Þorsteinn Sigurðsson. She married Paul Eduard Danchell, the founder of the Danish electronic company ''Paul E. Danchell A / S'', in 1955. Erla died on 25 September 2022 in a nursing home in