"For years, singer and musician Laufey knew she wanted to be a performer but struggled to find an audience. The child of an Icelandic father and a Chinese immigrant mother, Laufey sometimes felt out of place in Iceland. She tried out for local versions of singing competition TV shows -- The Voice Iceland and Island Got Talent -- but it wasn't until COVID-19 lockdown that things started to click."
"That's when Laufey began posting videos of herself singing jazz standards while also playing cello, guitar or piano. "I was ready to do anything to get my voice to be heard," she says. "I knew that the first step to that was trying to get out of Iceland and see if ... perhaps my voice would resonate more in the big world where I wasn't an odd fish." Laufey's 2020 renditions of "It Could Happen to You" and "I Wish You Love" became viral hits."
"A classically trained pianist and cellist, Laufey grew up in a musical family. Her twin sister plays the violin, her maternal grandparents are both music professors and her mother is a violinist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. All of which gave her an appreciation for different kinds of music and a respect for daily practice."
Laufey pursued performance work for years while feeling culturally out of place in Iceland as the child of an Icelandic father and Chinese immigrant mother. Early attempts at local TV singing competitions did not produce a breakthrough. During the COVID-19 lockdown she began posting videos of jazz standards while accompanying herself on cello, guitar, or piano, and her 2020 renditions went viral. Raised in a musical family with rigorous daily practice, she blends classical, jazz, pop, and musical-theater influences. Her 2023 album Bewitched topped jazz charts and won a Grammy, leading to orchestral festival performances.
Read at www.npr.org
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