Selma Björnsdóttir

Eurovision

Her first Eurovision experience occurred when she took her highly fancied entry All Out of Luck to the 1999 contest in Jerusalem, placing Iceland in the unaccustomed position of being the pre-contest favourites with many bookmakers. Following a vibrant vocal and visual display on the night—with choreography that appeared to be somewhat influenced by Carola's famous routine from the 1991 contest—Selma shot into an early lead in the voting, but was gradually pegged back by Sweden, represented by Charlotte Nilsson. Despite trailing Nilsson only very narrowly before the penultimate set of votes were announced, Selma's hopes of victory came to an abrupt end when Bosnia and Herzegovina awarded maximum points to Sweden and nothing at all to Iceland. However, Selma's second place in Jerusalem still ranks as Iceland's best showing in the contest to date. In 2009, Yohanna managed to get Iceland in second place again.

Such a fine pedigree ensured she was a hugely popular choice to represent Iceland for a second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, to be held in Kiev. However, despite its being one of the favourites to go on to win the contest, her song If I Had Your Love did not make it to the final. Iceland's early exit at the semi-final stage was one of the biggest upsets of the 2005 contest. Ironically, this also means that Selma's 16th place in the semi-final ranks as Iceland's worst result in the contest.

Selma also was one of the main attractions at the Eurovision gala concert during Europride 2005 in Oslo, performing both of her Eurovision entries. Other celebrities included Baccara, Nanne, Bobbysocks and Nora Brockstedt. Later the same night she held an intimate concert at the popular nearby nightclub Smuget, where another Icelandic Eurovision participant, Paul Oscar and the Norwegian Eurovision commentator, Jostein Pedersen, showed up.

Other work

In 2009, Selma became a jury member on Idol Stjörnuleit, the Icelandic version of Pop Idol.