An Xtra Happy Birthday; July 28th

Today we are celebrating two Icelandic birthday girls! They were born only a few years apart, and only a few years separate their Eurovision participations too. They have both been lead singers in popular bands in Iceland, and they are both very popular in their home country. At Eurovision, however, they didn’t exactly achieve similar results…

Birgitta Haukdal, 38

Birgitta Haukdal represented Iceland in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. She finished in a very respectable 8th place with “Open Your Heart”. She has also taken part in Söngvakeppnin after then; in 2006 and 2008 and most recently in 2013 with “Meðal andanna“. Outside of Söngvakeppnin/Eurovision Birgitta is best known as lead singer of the band Írafár. She also played Sandy to Jónsi’s Danny in the musical Grease back in 2003.

Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, 35

Some of you might say; “Hey! No one called Ágústa Eva has ever represented Iceland at Eurovision!” And you would be right. Kind of. Ágústa Eva was definitely there, but she was in the character of Silvia Night. Ring a bell? This was in 2006 in Athens, and the persona Silvia Night managed to make herself unpopular among fans, press, stage workers and televoters alike. She performed “Congratulations”, finishing 13th in the semi-final, thereby not qualifying for the grand final.

All of us here at escXtra hope that Birgitta and Ágústa Eva both have Xtra super lovely birthdays today!!