Henný Eldey Vilhjálmsdóttir (28 December 1935 – 16 November 1995), known professionally as Elly Vilhjálms, was an Icelandic singer, regarded as one of the most popular female vocalists in Iceland in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] She also performed with her brother Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson and with Ragnar Bjarnason.
Elly started off her career in 1956 as a member of the band Orion, founded by her first husband Eyþór Þorláksson. It was the only Icelandic band to ever join a show of the United Service Organizations and to tour military bases, before disbanding in 1958.[1]
In 1962, Elly recorded the song "Icelandic: Vegir liggja til allra átta|i=no" as part of the soundtrack of the film Icelandic: {{ill|79 af stöðinni|is||da|Pigen Gogo (internationally released as The Girl Gogo), written by Indriði G. Þorsteinsson and directed by Erik Balling, achieving her breakthrough. Until the 1970s, she recorded numerous other hitsincluding "Icelandic: Sveitin milli sanda|i=no", "Icelandic: {{ill|Ég vil fara upp í sveit|is", "Icelandic: {{ill|Ég veit þú kemur|is", "Icelandic: Í grænum mó|i=no" and the English-language song "Almost like Being in Love"as well as two solo LPs. Many of her successes were covers of foreign songs, as in the case of "Icelandic: {{ill|Heyr mína bæn|is", a 1965 recording of "Italian: [[Non ho l'età]]|i=no", the Italian winning song for the Eurovision Song Contest 1964.[1]