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 English 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.