Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

The 1999 Eurovision Song Contest runner-up Selma was internally selected to represent Iceland, and performed the song "If I Had Your Love" in Kiev. The song is written by Linda Thompson and composed by Þorvaldur Bjarni Þorvaldsson and Vignir Snær Vigfússon.

Selma Björnsdóttir was born in Reykjavik on 13 June 1974. Selma was just 10 years old when she debuted in an Icelandic children’s opera production, which led to different roles in stage productions. After winning a song contest at the Commercial College of Iceland she received an offer to front the dance music group Fantasia, spending two years with the band. In 1995 Selma landed the part of Rosalia in "West Side Story", staged at the National Theatre of Iceland. She has also participated in other theatre production, acting and singing in "The Rocky Horror Show", "Grease", "Little Shop of Horrors", "Singing in the Rain", "Romeo and Juliet", "Hair" and most recently the popular Icelandic children’s musical "The Fruitbasket". She has also been busy teaching and training artists for, for instance, the Icelandic version of ‘Pop Idol’ as well as providing choreography for music videos and the main professional theatres. Selma represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 in Jerusalem, where she finished second with the song ‘All Out Of Luck’. The single was featured on her bestselling solo album ‘I Am’ in 1999, followed up by her second album ‘Life Won’t Wait’ a year later.

At Eurovision, Selma delivered a strong performance, but it did not live up to the expectations of most viewers. Many people believe that her performance suffered mostly because of the bad camera angles, which did not capture her performance very well and the poor choice of costume. Overall, Selma went from being a favorite to not even qualifying for the final.