Agnete Kristin Johnsen (born 4 July 1994), also known as Agnete Saba, or simply Agnete, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Johnsen is best known for being the lead singer of the Norwegian teen punk band The BlackSheeps. She represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

as a solo artist with the song "

Icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to sma ...

Life and career

Early life and career

Johnsen was born on 4 July 1994 in

Varangerbotn Varangerbotn ( sme, Vuonnabahta) is the administrative centre of Nesseby Municipality, Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located at the innermost part of the large Varangerfjorden. The village is located at the intersection of the Europea ...

Nesseby or (also unofficially ''Uuniemi'' in Kven) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varangerbotn. Other villages in Nesseby include Gandvik, Karlebotn, Nesseby, ...

, located in

Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...

. She is an ethnic Sami and the daughter of Sami children's author

Signe Iversen Signe Iversen (born 22 December 1956 in Nesseby, Norway) is a Sami language consultant and author of children's literature. Iversen is best known for her first book, published in 2011 in North Sami as ''Mánugánda ja Heike'' ("The Moon Boy and He ...

. The BlackSheeps were formed in 2008 while its members were attending school in their hometown of Nesseby. They later won ''

Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2008 The Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2008 was Norway's seventh national Melodi Grand Prix Junior for young singers aged 8 to 15. It was held on September 5, 2008 at the Oslo Spektrum, courtesy of NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rik ...

'' with their song "

Oro jaska, beana "Oro jaska, beana" is a song by Norwegian group The BlackSheeps. It won both the Norwegian MGP jr contest in September 2008 and went on to win MGP Nordic 2008, beating songs from Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The song reached #1 in the official No ...

" ("Be quiet, dog") which was performed in both Norwegian and

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

. The band later performed at MGP Nordic 2008 and won the competition. "Oro jaska, beana" went on to win Song of the Year at the

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizati ...

Awards and peaked at number-one on the Norwegian singles chart. In 2011, the band were announced as one of the competing acts in ''Melodi Grand Prix 2011'' with the song "Dance Tonight", where they placed second. They later split up the same year. In 2013, Agnete competed in the second season of the Norwegian music TV-competition ', where she placed second in the finale against Silya Nymoen. The same year she also performed as an interval act during ''

Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2013 The Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2013 was Norway's twelfth national Melodi Grand Prix Junior for young singers aged 8 to 15. It was held in Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway and was hosted by Tooji and Margrethe Røed. The show was broadcast live Norwegian ...

''.

2014–present: ''Skal vi danse?''

In 2014, Johnsen was announced as one of the competing celebrities in the tenth season of the Norwegian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'', called ''

Skal vi danse? ''Skal vi danse'' is the Norwegian edition of the British television series, ''Strictly Come Dancing''. It is produced by Monster Entertainment and broadcast on TV 2 Jon Peder Olrud and Geir Bie were producers in the first season. The second and ...

'' (Shall we dance?). She went on to win the competition. In 2015, she participated in the Norwegian reality television series ', but withdrew early in the season because of mental health problems. Her debut Album is set to be called NATURE due to the topics of its tracks.

Eurovision Song Contest 2016

On 19 January 2016, Johnsen was announced as one of the ten competing acts in ''Melodi Grand Prix 2016'' with the song "

". In the final, held on 27 February, she was declared the winner after receiving 166,728 votes from the Norwegian public. She represented Norway in the

performing on May 12, 2016, during the second semi-final held in Stockholm, but failed to qualify to the May 14 final.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnsen, Agnete 1994 births Living people Norwegian pop singers Norwegian women singers Melodi Grand Prix winners People from Nesseby Norwegian Sámi people Norwegian Sámi musicians Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2016 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers