Music:
About Magni:
Magni Ãsgeirsson is an Icelandic singer/musician/songwriter. His album, Magni, is his first solo album, his first full-length English-language album, and his first release outside of his native Iceland. In addition to his solo work, Magni has been the lead singer for the popular Icelandic band à Móti Sól for the past eight years, recording five albums with them and touring extensively all over Iceland and abroad to Norway, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, a place made legendary by The Beatles.
The third of four children, Magni grew up on a farm in the village of Borgarfjörður Eystri. He was infatuated with music and performing at an early age, and started a band with his friends and cousins at the age of 11. By the time he was 15 years old, he was already performing on stage. As a teenager at the Eidar Boarding School, he used the school's musical facilities to hone his skills as a musician. During his years at the school he participated twice in the Icelandic High School Music Competition.
Later, Magni joined the band SHAPE, which stands for "Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe." The band played in eastern Iceland and released an English-language EP in 1998. In 1999, while with SHAPE and working as a baker, à Móti Sól recruited Magni to be their new lead singer and he moved to Reykjavik to be with the band. In addition to his work with à Móti Sól, Magni is a much sought-after vocalist, performing duets with other Icelandic pop and rock stars and contributing to various other projects.
Magni was virtually unknown outside of Iceland until he competed on the U.S.-produced, internationally televised music series, Rock Star: Supernova, in the summer of 2006. He was just settling into being a stay-at-home dad to his young son, Marinó, when the call for auditions went out in Iceland. Out of many hundreds of rock singers trying out at selective auditions around the world, Magni was one of just fifteen selected to compete on the show. He distinguished himself on the show with outstanding vocal performances, his musicianship and his rapport with the show's House Band. His fellow contestants dubbed him “the Human Jukebox,†for instantly knowing how to play and sing just about every song thrown at him. Out of those initial fifteen contestants, Magni was one of four finalists who made it to the show’s finale. Although he didn’t win on the show, his performances and personality won over viewers around the world and has given him a devoted global fanbase, as evidenced on his MySpace ( www.myspace.com/magnirocks ) and on his official fan forum ( www.magni-ficent.com ). Fans have traveled across the U.S. and overseas to Iceland for his performances, and when Magni premiered songs from his new album at performances in his hometown in July, fans from as far away as New York and Victoria, British Columbia tuned in on the internet to the Icelandic national radio broadcast.
Magni has returned to North America to perform several times in the past year, primarily in a duo with fellow Rock Star contestant, Dilana, performing several acoustic shows that showcased his skills as a guitarist as well as a singer. In addition, he sang and played guitar for Dilana as an opening act on the January/February 2007 Rock Star Supernova North American tour and opening for Aerosmith at a benefit concert at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Magni continues to perform with à Móti Sól at shows throughout Iceland. à Móti Sól was recently a headliner at one of Iceland's most popular music festivals in Vestmannaeyjar, and performed before a crowd of nearly 50,000 - one-sixth of the entire population of Iceland - during the annual Reykjavik Culture Night festival. In November 2006, the band released à Móti Sól à 10 Ãr, a look back at their greatest hits of the past ten years. The album featured two new songs, most notably the Icelandic hit "Hvar sem ég fer," as well as new versions of some of their older songs. On November 30 and December 1, 2006, coinciding with his 28th birthday, Magni presented and performed with the Rock Star House Band and several of his fellow Rock Star show performers at two sold-out concerts in Reykjavik’s Laugardalshöll arena. The shows were attended by over 10,000 people. The concerts were named Best Concert of 2006 at the FM957 Listener's Awards in Iceland (the “Icelandic Grammysâ€); Magni himself also won the Best Male Singer 2006 award.
