Sjonni's Friends

Sjonni's Friends are an Icelandic tribute band. The band formed in early 2011 when the Icelandic singer Sjonni Brink died days before he was to perform his entry "Aftur heim" in the Icelandic national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The band members were all friends of Sjonni Brink, and decided to form the band and perform his entry together as a tribute. In the end they won the national final and will represent the country in the song contest in Germany. Gunnar Ólason from the band represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 as part of the band Two Tricky. On 12 February 2011, the group won the Icelandic national selection; Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2011 with the song "Aftur heim". The original artist was meant to be Sjonni Brink himself, however on 17 January 2011 before he was set to compete in the third semi-final, Sjonni unexpectedly died, due to natural causes, at his home in Garðabær. Sjonni's family decided, on reflection that they would like for the song to remain in the competition, and that it should be performed by Sjonni's friends a tribute band consisting of Sjonni's real life musician friends the band formed after his death. The group made it past the first semi-final into the final, where the group won the right to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany in May 2011. It placed 20th in the finals. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.