Paul Oscar
Encyclopedia
Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson known internationally as Páll Óskar and Paul Oscar, is an Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic pop singer
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

. He had a musical childhood, singing at private functions, with choirs and for media advertisements, but was affected by bullying in school and tension between his parents at home. He came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 as gay to his family at the age of 16 years.

Paul Oscar's musical range spans traditional Icelandic songs
Icelandic folk music
Icelandic folk music includes a number of styles that are together a prominent part of the music of Iceland. When speaking of traditional Icelandic music, there are two very important vocal performance styles, one using the term kveða and the other syngja. The first a performance practice...

, ballads, love songs
Love Songs
Love Songs, Lovesongs or The Love Songs may refer to:*Love song, a song about love-Albums:*Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs...

, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

, house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

. He released his first album, Stuð (Groove), in 1993 while in New York City, and also sang with Icelandic groups Milljónamæringarnir (The Millionaires) and Casino while establishing a career as a solo artiste. His album of ballads, Palli, was the best-selling Icelandic album of 1995. Paul Oscar came to international attention when he performed "Minn hinsti dans
Minn Hinsti Dans
"Minn hinsti dans" was the Icelandic entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, performed in Icelandic by Paul Oscar, a former drag queen who raised many eyebrows in Iceland with his artistic creations before...

" ("My Final Dance"), Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Boyzone member Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley were the presenters of the show....

. His most recent album is Silfursafnið (The Silver Collection, 2008). In Reykjavík, Paul Oscar performs regularly as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 in clubs and appears on radio and TV shows.

Early life

The youngest of seven children of Hjálmtýr E. Hjálmtýsson, a bank clerk, and Margrét Matthíasdóttir, a writer, Paul Oscar was born on 16 March 1970 in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

. As a child he displayed artistic talent in drawing, writing fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s and singing – his mother had him sing for the women in her sewing club and at family birthday parties. He also spent much time singing in choirs and in media commercials, and recorded his first album at the age of seven. His first leading role in a professional theatre production was at 12 years of age in the musical version of Rubber Tarzan, a popular Danish children's novel
Danish literature
Danish literature, a subset of Scandinavian literature, stretches back to the Middle Ages. Of special note across the centuries are the historian Saxo Grammaticus, the playwright Ludvig Holberg, the storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and Karen Blixen who...

 by Ole Lund Kirkegaard
Ole Lund Kirkegaard
Ole Lund Kirkegaard was a Danish writer of children's literature and youth literature. He mainly wrote about the interaction between adult and child. The main character in his books is usually an anti-hero....

 (1940–1979). His voice broke two weeks after the musical's last performance, and he did not sing for the next few years.

Although Paul Oscar's family encouraged his musical talent, his parents did not get along with each other, and he was bullied by his schoolmates. Paul Oscar recalled: "My nickname was Little Palli, and Palli was chubby, nerdy, someone who never got jokes right, who was afraid of other men." At 13 he realized that he found men attractive, and came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 to his family at 16. "For the first day, there was nice talk of acceptance, though my father did raise his voice. On the second day, and the third, and the fourth, there was this terrible silence. They treated me like an alien." However, his mother was supportive. She said: "If Páll has the talent to fall in love, he should nurture that talent. And he has as much a right to sit down at my table with his partner as anybody else does with their partner."

Paul Oscar rediscovered his voice at the age of 18, singing bass with the Hamrahlíð college choir for two years. In 1990 he won a talent contest
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...

 for his college; later that year at the time of his graduation, he played Frank-N-Furter to great success in the college's production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...

. Around the same time, he began appearing in drag shows
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...

 at a notorious Reykjavík nightclub. After the club closed, he became a radio jockey
Radio jockey
A radio jockey is a person who hosts a radio talk show where the RJ selects the music to be played, or topic of discussion, by interacting with the audience; the interaction is often via telephone, but may also be online, or via email....

 on independent radio station FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

 90,9. He also appeared in a film, Svo á jörðu sem á himni
As in Heaven
As in Heaven is a 1992 Icelandic drama film directed by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir. It was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir - Mother* Pierre Vaneck - Dr...

(As in Heaven, 1992).

Professional career

In the summer of 1993, Paul Oscar left Iceland for New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, where he met fellow Icelanders Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic musician, composer and producer. He is a co-founder of Kitchen Motors in Reykjavík, the art organization/think tank/record label which specializes in initiating collaborations, promoting concerts and exhibitions, performances, chamber operas, producing films,...

 and Sigurjón Kjartansson
Sigurjón Kjartansson
Sigurjón Kjartansson is an Icelandic comedian, writer and producer. He is best known for his role in the radio duo Tvíhöfði with Jón Gnarr and for his part in the popular Icelandic television sketch comedy Fóstbræður...

 who were then on tour with heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band HAM
HAM (band)
HAM is an Icelandic rock band which was active in the years 1988 to 1994. They are often listed as a heavy metal band but have never categorized themselves as such. They did not attain significant popularity while active, but have gradually come to be acknowledged as an important part of...

. Paul Oscar became their groupie
Groupie
A groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....

, and about the same time released his first album, Stuð (Groove). In October 1993, Paul Oscar started singing with a band called Milljónamæringarnir (The Millionaires), which released the albums Milljón á mann (A Million for Each, 1994), Allur pakkinn (The Whole Lot, 1999) and Þetta er nú meiri vitleysan (This is Completely Foolish, 2001).

1995 saw Paul Oscar make his début as a solo artiste. In that year he formed his own recording company, Paul Oscar Productions (P.O.P.) and released an album of ballads entitled Palli which he personally arranged, performed and produced. It was the best-selling Icelandic album of 1995. This was followed by his album Seif in 1996.

Paul Oscar was Iceland's entrant in the annual Eurovision Song Contest in 1997
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Boyzone member Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley were the presenters of the show....

. He performed the song "Minn hinsti dans
Minn Hinsti Dans
"Minn hinsti dans" was the Icelandic entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, performed in Icelandic by Paul Oscar, a former drag queen who raised many eyebrows in Iceland with his artistic creations before...

" ("My Final Dance"), which he co-wrote, backed by four women dressed in latex playing suggestively on a sofa behind him. Although the song only reached 20th place in a field of 25, the daring presentation attracted wide attention, especially amongst gay audiences, and made him known internationally. In 1998 he was invited to appear in A Song for Eurotrash, a one-off special of the British Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 TV series Eurotrash
Eurotrash (TV series)
Eurotrash is a 30-minute magazine-format programme in English produced by Rapido Television. It was shown in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 from 1993 and was a late-night comical review of weird and wonderful topics from around the world...

that was based on the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

. He also presented a musical feature Popp i Reykjavík (Pop in Reykjavík).

Paul Oscar worked with easy-listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...

 group Casino on their album Stereo (1998). He followed this with three albums: the English-language album Deep Inside (1999); and two collaborations with harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

ist Monika Abendroth, Ef ég sofna ekki (If I Won't Sleep Tonight, 2001) and Ljósin heima (The Lights at Home, 2003) (his sister Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir (Diddú) also appeared on the latter album). His musical range spans traditional Icelandic songs
Icelandic folk music
Icelandic folk music includes a number of styles that are together a prominent part of the music of Iceland. When speaking of traditional Icelandic music, there are two very important vocal performance styles, one using the term kveða and the other syngja. The first a performance practice...

, ballads, love songs
Love Songs
Love Songs, Lovesongs or The Love Songs may refer to:*Love song, a song about love-Albums:*Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs...

 in the style of Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

, house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

.

At home in Reykjavík, Paul Oscar performs regularly as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 in clubs and appears on radio and TV shows. He was a judge in the third season of Idol stjörnuleit
Idol Stjörnuleit
Idol stjörnuleit is Iceland's version of the British reality series Pop Idol. The show allows the people of Iceland—through telephone voting—to select the winner of several televised singing contests, following the same format as Pop Idol...

(Idol Starsearch, 2005), Iceland's version of the UK reality TV series Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...

; and in The X Factor
The X Factor (Iceland)
X Factor, the Icelandic version of the popular British television show The X Factor premiered Reykjavik on November 17, 2006. The host is actress Halla Vilhjálmsdóttir and the judges are talent agent and businessman Einar Bárðarson, rock musician Elínborg Halldórsdóttir and pop singer Paul Oscar...

(2006), also modelled on the UK's The X Factor
The X Factor (TV series)
The X Factor is a television talent show franchise originating in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. It is a singing competition, now held in various countries, which pits contestants against each other. These contestants are aspiring pop singers drawn from...

. In 2002 he appeared as Dr. Love in the teenage movie Gemsar (Made in Iceland).

He has a reputation for being brash, even rude, when it comes to discussing gay concerns, especially gay sex. Matthías Matthíasson, Director of Samtökin '78
Samtökin '78
Samtökin '78 is the Icelandic Lesbian and Gay organisation. It provides counselling, social gatherings, holds dances and is an important member of the Reykjavík Pride parade committee. It has been a key factor in the struggle for gaining more rights ever since its foundation in 1978 , with...

, Iceland's gay and lesbian rights group, has commented: "He says things I could never say. But he is an exquisite addition to the gay voice in Iceland." As a gay activist, Paul Oscar helped to organize a Gay Pride Festival
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...

 in Reykjavík in 2005.

Paul Oscar has said he realizes that "as a working place Iceland will be too small for me. Actually, it already is. But I am an Icelander. I will always keep a home here. My roots are so valuable to me. I wouldn't change them for a sack of gold."

Personal life

Regarding his personal life, Paul Oscar has said: "I have a lot of work still to do. I have had three relationships that, from the outside, looked picture perfect, I suppose. But they were actually quite rotten and false, abusive to me. What I am doing now is learning to fall in love with myself."

Paul Oscar's father Hjálmtýr E. Hjálmtýsson (5 July 1933 – 12 September 2002), with whom he had a difficult relationship, had roles in the Icelandic comedies Með allt á hreinu (On Top, 1982), Löggulíf (A Policeman's Life, 1985), and Karlakórinn Hekla (The Men's Choir, 1992). His older sister, Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir (Diddú), is an opera singer
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

.

Albums

  • Stuð (Groove, 1993)
  • Palli (1995)
  • Seif (1996)
  • Deep Inside (1999)
  • Ef ég sofna ekki (If I Won't Sleep Tonight, 2001) (in collaboration with harp
    Harp
    The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

    ist Monika Abendroth)
  • Ljósin heima (The Lights at Home, 2003) (with Monika Abendroth and Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir (Diddú))
  • Allt fyrir ástina
    Allt fyrir ástina
    “Allt fyrir ástina” is an album by Icelandic pop singer and disc jockey Páll Óskar, released on November 7, 2007.-Track listing:- Singles :...

    (All in the Name of Love, 2007)
  • Silfursafnið (The Silver Collection, 2008)

Singles

  • Minn hinsti dans (My Final Dance, 1997) (Iceland's Eurovision Song Contest 1997
    Eurovision Song Contest 1997
    The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Boyzone member Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley were the presenters of the show....

     entry)
  • Allt fyrir ástina (2007)
  • Silfursafnið (The Silver Collection, 2008)
    • Sama hvar þú ert (2008)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK