Ragnar Bjarnason

Ragnar Bjarnason, also called Raggi Bjarna, (born 22 September 1934) is an Icelandic singer.He was born in a small attic apartment at Lækjargata 12a in Reykjavík.He is the son of Bjarni Böðvarsson, a conductor of a renowned orchestra and Lára Magnúsdóttir a famous singer and also long-time singer in a church choir. Ragnar started as a drummer.At 16 he sang with Sigurður Ólafsson and by the age of 20 had his own albums.In 1955-1956, he became vocalist of Hljómsveit Svavars Gests (a relation that would go on until 1960) and in 1956, became a singer with KK sextet that continued until 1959.At the time, he released albums of his own. After spending two years abroad, he returned in 1964, he rejoined Svavar briefly, before forming his own band in 1965 when Svavar's orchestra stopped performing.The band played for 19 consecutive years at Hótel Saga.In 1972, he also founded Sumargleðin that toured the country and gained great fame.