Róisín Murphy

Róisín Murphy is a dance-music visionary whose far-reaching ambition has resulted in some of the 21st century’s most vital floor-fillers. Born in 1973 in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, Murphy moved to England at 12, staying behind when her parents went back three years later. In her twenties she met Sunderland-born musician Mark Brydon, and they formed Moloko, whose fusion of trip-hop and funk made them an alt-pop sensation in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Moloko went on hiatus in 2003 after the release of their fourth album, Statues, and Murphy’s solo debut, Ruby Blue—which took a more experimental approach to electronic music, including the incorporation of everyday objects’ noises into its sound—came out in 2005. Overpowered, released two years later, was a top-to-bottom collection of groove-heavy disco smashes like the glittery title track. Murphy released the Italian-language EP Mi senti in 2014 and followed that up with the genre-melding, spiky Hairless Toys the following year. Her albums that followed, like 2016’s complex Take Her Up to Monto and 2020’s banger-stuffed Róisín Machine, have further displayed the scope of her disco ball's crystal visions.