Vilhjálmur Vihjálmsson was born on April 11th 1945. His sister Ellý was musically gifted and became a famous singer in Iceland long before her brother. When Vilhjálmur was in college the members of the band Busabandið (The Freshmen Band) thought Vilhjálmur would be a perfect singer in their band since he was Ellý’s brother. He decided to give it a try and he also learned to play contrabass which he did fairly quickly.

When band member Þorvaldur Halldórsson left to join Ingimar Eydal’s Band, which was famous in the north of Iceland, Vilhjálmur followed him in 1965. The band released an album that year and played in Reykjavík for the first time to much acclaim. A few of the songs Vihjálmur sings on the album have became classic and favourites of Icelanders everywhere; Litla sæta ljúfan góða, Raunasaga and Vor í Vaglaskóg.

In 1966, Vilhjálmur left the band to study law and later medicine at  the University of Iceland. When Magnús Ingimarsson formed a band, Vilhjálmur was hired to sing with them.

They played every night at the restaurant Röðull and appeared regularly in a variety show on Icelandic National Television hosted by Svavar Gests. The band mostly played country music by foreign bands with Icelandic lyrics. A few of the songs were released on singles, but after Vilhjálmur died an album containing some of the songs that the band played on the variety show was released. Magnús Ingimundarson’s Band appeared a few times on Icelandic National Television after it began broadcasting in 1966.

Vilhjálmur gave up on his studies after two years and became a full-time musician in 1967. Vilhjálmur appealed to an older audience than his peers Gunnar Þórðarson and Rúnar Júlíusson who played rock n’roll. He captivated his older fanbase even more when he released an album with his sister called Siblings Ellý and Vilhjálmur Sing Together, in 1969.

They made three other albums together that were released in the next three years. One contained songs by Sigfús Halldórsson, the other songs by Freymóður Jóhannsson and the third was a Christmas album.

These albums all became very popular. In 1970 Vilhjálmur moved to Luxemburg after graduating as a pilot. He lived there for the next few years but went to Iceland a few times and recorded two LP’s, Glugginn hennar Kötu (Kate’s Window) and two singles. In 1974 he moved back to Iceland. He made a guest appearance on an album with the band Mannakorn.

Vilhjálmur was fascinated by the new recording technology and decided to record an album and got a few songwriters to write music to the lyrics of poet Kristján frá Djúpalæk. The album Hver með sínu nefi (Each in his own way) was released in 1976 by record label Fálkinn.

He released another album Hana nú (That’s it) that year and he wrote all the lyrics himself for the first time. On March 28th in 1978, Vilhjálmur died in a tragic accident in Luxemburg. Vilhjálmur is remembered as one of Iceland’s most beloved singers.