Red was born Haraldur Sveinbjörnsson, but as only 156 people in the world can pronounce that properly, he goes by Red Barnett. He began his music career studying the piano at the age of 8, and soon started recording his music on cassettes. He's still at it, though less and less on cassettes.

 

Every testosterone-infested young man dreams of becoming a rock guitarist. Red's dream came true in the form of Dead Sea Apple, the critically acclaimed grunge-based band which still has a lot of respect in the undergrounds of the Icelandic rock industry. The band released the album 'Crush' in Iceland and Japan, to good reviews and moderate success. Dead Sea Apple is still around and they are currently working on a new album.

Along with playing rock music, Red stumbled back into the world of contemporary music – he went on to study classical composition at Reykjavik Music College and got his Masters diploma in composition at Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden back in 2004.

Red’s contemporary music has been played widely around the world. The orchestral piece “Seven Songs of the Insomniac” earned him the “Composer of Tomorrow” award in Helsingborg, Sweden and an Icelandic Music Awards nomination as best contemporary piece in 2005.

His arrangement talents have been put to good use – He has worked several times for The Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, recently arranging Pink Floyd’s The Wall for the Orchestra and super rock group Dúndurfréttir.

Red Barnett is currently working on his solo material which will see the light of day in 2008. (Well, some of it is in his media player, enjoy :-)

In short, Red Barnett’s wide diversity of music genres and styles has put him in a unique spot as a composer and songwriter... He's ready for it.