Jón Ragnar Jónsson (born 30 October 1985) is an Icelandic singer. He was signed by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

and has released three albums, ''Wait for Fate'' (2011), ''Heim'' (2014), and ''Lengi lifum við'' (2021).

Life and career

Jón has been a performer since the age of 10. He is a native of Iceland. His brother is pop singer

Friðrik Dór Friðrik Dór Jónsson (born 7 October 1988) is an Icelandic R&B and pop singer-songwriter. He began his career forming the band Fendrix with his schoolmates while in grade 8. He played drums in the band. The band took part in Músíktilrauni ...

. He started music in his local music school in Iceland and took part in productions in high school and college. He studied in

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

on a soccer scholarship. While in college, he pursued acting while writing, recording, and performing his own music at local venues. After graduating in 2009, Jón returned to Iceland and became a professional musician. He cooperates with Kristján Bjarnason who takes part in arrangements and recording of Jón Jónsson's music in their studio. His first singles "Lately" and "Kiss in the Morning" had considerable radio play and his third single "When You're Around" reached number 2 in Lagalistinn Top 30 followed by "Sooner or Later". Debut album was released on 4 July 2011 called ''Wait for Fate'' and was certified gold. "Get In" his fifth single reached number 2 on "Lagalistinn". Another single "All, You, I" was a non-album release. He took part in a number of festivals including Icelandic Culture Night, the Icelandic Independence Day, and the Þjóðhátíð Music Festival. In August 2012, Jón traveled to New York with his friend, Kristján Bjarnason, and after an audition with

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer who served as president and CEO of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004, as well as chairman and CEO of the Island Def Jam Mus ...

was signed to Reid's Epic Records label. Jón's first four singles were in the top 30 on Iceland music charts and he also received a People's Choice Award as the ''Best New Artist'' from Iceland's FM 957. His songs are heard in regular rotation on radio and some have reached top 10 on Bylgjan and

Rás 2 Rás 2 (''Channel 2'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service, RÚV. Launched on 1 December 1983, it is currently the highest-rated radio station in Iceland, with a schedule composed chiefly of news ...

radio as well as the Icelandic Billboard. He was signed by

after he was said to impress record producer

. In addition to his music career, Jón is the editor-in-chief of ''Monitor'', a youth weekly for Monitor. He is active in awareness campaigns for various causes. He lent his voice to the main character in the Icelandic voice-over for the animated feature, ''

The Lorax ''The Lorax'' is a children's literature, children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the Biophysical environment, environment and the Lorax, the main character, who "speaks for the trees" and confront ...

''.

Music style

Jón has been referred to as the European version of Jack Johnson,

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

, and

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album ''Chariot (album), Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB/The CW, ...

. His music contains a mix of pop and R&B with undertones of R&B. His songs range from romantic lyric ballads to piano and guitar driven pop.

Band

*Kristján Bjarnason - piano, keyboards, arrangements *Steini Gudjonsson - electric guitar *Brynjar Unnsteinsson - bass *Andri Bjartur Jakobsson - drums

Awards and nominations

*Won "Best Newcomer" in People's Choice Awards in Iceland by popular vote. *February 2012: Nomination for "Most promising Icelandic act" during the Icelandic Music Awards. The award was won by

Of Monsters and Men Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic indie folk/Folk rock, rock band formed in Garðabær in 2010. It consists of lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer and guitarist Ragnar Þórhallsson, Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, ...

Discography

(From Tónlist official Icelandic Music Charts) *2011: ''Wait for Fate'' Tracklist #"Wanna Get In" (2:54) #"Kiss in the Morning" (3:42) #"Sooner or Later" (3:48) #"Always Gonna Be There" (3:51) #"Sunny Day in June" (2:41) #"Little Tree" (4:06) #"When You're Around" (3:43) #"Lately" (3:56) #"Wait for Fate" (4:32) #"To Her" (4:26) #"Ocean Girl" (4:10) #"Miss You So" (5:06) *2014: ''Heim'' Tracklist #"Heim" (4:23) #"Ykkar koma" (3:11) #"Heltekur minn hug" (3:27) #"Gefðu allt sem þú átt" (3:27) #"Dag eftir dag" (3:28) #"Saman" (3:46) #"Sátt" (4:32) #"Engin eftirsjá" (3:56) #"Lífsins lausnir" (3:34) #"Endurgjaldslaust" (5:26) #"Gæti þín" (3:00) #"Segðu já" (2:56) #"Feel For You" (4:00) #"Ljúft að vera til" (3:34) #"All, You, I" (3:51) *2021: ''Lengi lifum við''

Singles

*2010: "Lately" *2010: "Aron, Axel og Alex" *2010: "Kiss in the Morning" *2011: "When You're Around" *2011: "Sooner or Later" *2012: "All, You, I" *2013: "Feel for You" *2014: "Kæri vinur" (duet with

Björgvin Halldórsson Björgvin Helgi Halldórsson (alternate names: Bo Halldórsson, Björgvin Halldórsson or Bo Hall) (born 16 April 1951) is an Icelandic pop singer from Hafnarfjörður. He represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song '' ...

) *2014: "Ljúft að vera til" *2014: "Gefðu allt sem þú átt" *2015: "Ykkar koma"

Football career

Jón came up through the junior teams of FH. He played his first match in the Icelandic top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla in 2008 for

Þróttur Reykjavík Þróttur may refer to: * Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur (, ), also referred to as Þróttur Reykjavík or Throttur, is a professional sports club from Reykjavík in Iceland. The club runs a association football, f ...

. He rejoined FH in 2009 and played there, with the exception of 2016, until 2017. He won the Icelandic championship with the team in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. He announced his retirement from football in January 2018.

References

External links

*
YouTube
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsson, Jon 21st-century Icelandic male singers Boston University alumni Icelandic composers Living people Epic Records artists Year of birth missing (living people) Icelandic men's footballers Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar players Men's association football defenders