Gunnar Þórðarson was born in Hólamvík in 1945 and has been playing music from an early age.
He has been one of Iceland's most popular song composers for the past 30 years. He was one of the founders of the Icelandic "Beatle" band "Hljómar" from Keflavík.
This band was the leading light of Icelandic pop music in the sixties.

In recent years Gunnar has turned more and more to the classical stream and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra has performed some of his compositions.

Gunnar has composed over 400 songs which have been recorded, besides composing music for films and musicals, overseeing recording sessions and arranging music for countless records.