Írafár was formed in Febuary 1998. Viggi and Steini contacted bass player Siggi and he was happy to join them. Then they hired keyboard player Helgi . They advertised an audition for a singer in the newspapers and a lot of different people turned up. The band members enjoyed the auditions and decided to hire singer Íris Kristinsdóttir.
They still weren’t happy with the line up and decided to hire Hjörtur, Viggi’s eldest brother to take care of percussion and singing. They started playing as much as they could and were well received. Time passed and in the fall of 1999 Hjörtur and Íris left the band.

Írafár needed another singer and they surely hit the jackpot when they hired the talented and beautiful Birgitta Haukdal. In 2000 they released their first song Hvar er ég? which was a big hit that summer. Helgi left the band to become a principle at a grade school and was replaced by keyboard and guitar player Tobbi. In 2001 the band was voted best newcomer by the listeners of radio station FM 957 which made the band members very proud of themselves.

In April 2001, they released the song Fingur which became extremely popular that summer. The songs Fingur and Eldur í mér were both released on the compilation album Svona er sumarið 2001 (Summer Hits 2001). In the fall of 2001, drummer Steini and keyboard player Tobbi left the band. Írafár hired Birgitta’s boyfriend, drummer Jóhann Bachman, who used to play with popular band Skítamórall. It took longer to find the keyboard player Andri Guðmundsson, he hadn´t played much at clubs because he was barely old enough to be allowed to enter a bar. Jóhann and Andri clicked well with the other band members and the band continued playing like nothing had happened. They started recording songs and finished 12 demos before Christmas. 2002 got off to a great start when Birgitta was voted the sexiest female artist and best female singer by listeners of FM957 and was nominated as the best female singer at the Icelandic Music Awards.
In February the band signed on with record label Skífan and released the album Allt sem ég sé (Everything I See) which sold more than 15.000 copies. In 2003 Birgitta represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest and the Icelandic people were very proud of her. Írafár are working on their new album and have already released the song Fáum aldrei nóg.