Rósa Gudmundsdóttir

“Throughout my career, I have performed with many of the most accomplished singers, songwriters and musicians of our time. I consider Rosa Gudmundsdóttir to be an exceptionally talented performer who falls into this elite category of singers, songwriters and musicians” - LIONEL RICHIE

Rósa Gudmundsdóttir was born in the Westman Islands off the coast of Iceland to parents Gudmundur, a classically trained organist and headmaster of the prestigious Music School of the Westman Islands, and Ubonwan Paruksa, nicknamed Deng, originally from Thailand and Iceland’s first Thai-born citizen by marriage, thereby explaining both Rósa’s incredible musical talent and exotic beauty. She began 14 years of classical piano training at the age of four both at the Music School of the Westman Islands, Iceland, and abroad in Germany, immediately displaying great passion and skill. By age 15 she was performing on Icelandic national television. Her classical influences, Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff nourished her heart and mind. Her pop heroes, Madonna and The Carpenters, challenged her imagination and confidence to soar. “My room was covered in Madonna posters, I admired her as a truth-teller and performer, but I swooned over The Carpenters for their musical integrity and melodies. I was also a sucker for a good rock ballad.. Skid Row, Guns & roses, and Steel Heart had a few good ones.” Rósa’s musical style evolved a she participated in various techno and rock groups. Still in her teens, she played keyboards and sang back-up vocals in the techno group Dancin Mania. The group had a song on a compliation cd in Iceland in 1994 (Trans Dans); the same year Dancin Mania was a warm-up act for The Prodigy the first time they performed in Iceland. In 1997 Rósa played keyboards in the original stages of a rock group now called Ensimi, founded by members of Jet Black Joe, one of Iceland’s greatest rock bands ever.

In addition to her musical skills, Rósa is a creative force to be reckoned with. Not content to simply compose and perform beautiful music, she got her first taste of fame as a promoter/entertainment director for Spotlight Nightclub from 1998 to 2000. There she produced jaw-dropping events and ignited a flame in the country’s nightlife scene by bringing in some of the top musical acts from around the world. During that time she also made history as a pioneer and activist producing the first AIDS Awareness Benefit in Icelandic history. In 2000 she turned her attention to television, and mindfully stirred up social controversy in Iceland, challenging politicians, artists, scholars, and celebrities alike as producer and host of her own live, self-titled television series. Known for speaking her mind and for being ahead of her time, Rósa easily became a national cultural phenomenon. Her notorious personality, exotic beauty and sense of style have kept her in regular demand of photographers, journalists and fashionistas everywhere. She has graced the pages of nearly every prominent Icelandic magazine and newspaper, and been a frequent guest on various Icelandic news and entertainment television/radio programs.

By late 2001, she decided it was time for her own music and began composing melodies on guitar, and instrument she had never focused on before, to the lyrics she had been scribbling on pieces of paper. “When I look back, I see I was meant to be a songwriter.. I feel I have a message to share”.

In fall of 2004 she took on new York theatre serving as the musical director and performer in the first all-Icelandic NYC Off-Broadway Play, Plums In New York.

“…She performs her music live and it is more than an underscore, it is the script, the life source, the action. Gudmundsdóttir’s fingers make sounds that expose and heal the confusions, angst’s, sadnesses, and hopes that live in a human journey. Through her keyboard, violin, guitar, drum, and singing voice, Gudmundsdóttir reveals the abilities of a profound artist and immensely intuitive woman.”
- Kevin Connell, nytheatre.com

Rósa’s music has been described as Pop/Rock/Soul/Contemporary, perhaps a cross between Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette & Madonna. Her songs grab the listener with simple but infectious hooks wrapped up in a groovy pop rock package, and then she’ll break your heart with big emotional ballads, playing the piano backed up by beautiful string melodies. Now residing in New York City and under the management of John Doumanian Productions, Rósa is writing, recording & performing with her newly formed all-star, all-female band. Brooklyn-born Drummer Vett Scott is a veteran in the New York Music scene, most recently playing & opening with Erika Rose for Alicia Keys at Madison Square Garden this past June, 2008. Bassist Anne Lieberwirth, originally from Leipzig East Germany, graduated from the “Hanns Eisler Conservatory” for Music in Berlin, specializing in double bass, and continued her studies at Queens College