Friends was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

dansband (; "dance band"), or in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish language, Swedish term for a band that plays (; "dance band music"). ' is often danced to in partner dance, pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. T ...

'' or

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

group formed in 1999 and made up of

Stefan Brunzell Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

, Tony Haglund, Kristian Hermanson, Nina Inhammar,

Kim Kärnfalk Kim Charlott Kärnfalk Löwstedt (born 1 November 1974 in Uddevalla, Sweden) is a Swedish singer. As part of the group Friends (Swedish band), Friends she won Melodifestivalen 2001 and represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, 2001 ...

and Peter Strandberg. They were put together from auditions on the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show ''Friends på turne'' (''Friends on Tour''), made by

Bert Karlsson Bert Willis Karlsson (born 21 June 1945) is a Swedish record company manager, entrepreneur, and former politician ( Member of Parliament 1991–1994) and front figure of the New Democracy () party. As the owner and manager of the record company ...

for

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Polish TV channel), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Swedish TV channel), a Swedish television network **TV4 AB, owners of the Swedish television station *SABC TV4, a channel operated by the South African st ...

. The show was a success and Friends competed on

Melodifestivalen 2000 Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song " When Spirits Are Calling My Name", written by Peter Dahl, Linda Jansson, and Thomas Holmstrand, and performed by Roger Pontare. The Swedish participating broadcaster, (S ...

, reaching second place. They won

Melodifestivalen 2001 Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song " Listen to Your Heartbeat", written by Thomas G:son and Henrik Sethson, and performed by the group Friends. The Swedish participating broadcaster, (SVT), selected its en ...

with "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" and represented Sweden at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song " Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the Eur ...

with the English version of the song, "

Listen to Your Heartbeat "Listen to Your Heartbeat" (originally released as "Lyssna till ditt hjärta"; ) is a 2001 song by Swedish pop band Friends. The song represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 after winning Melodifestivalen 2001, the Swedish nation ...

.” Following their Eurovision participation, the Swedish delegation was forced to pay royalties to the team behind "

Liefde is een kaartspel "Liefde is een kaartspel" (; "Love is a Card Game") was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, performed in Dutch by Lisa del Bo. The song was performed seventeenth on the night, following the ' Maxine & Franklin Brown with " De eer ...

", the 1996 Belgian entry, making the song the first admitted case of plagiarism in Eurovision history. The band split in 2002, with Inhammar and Kärnfalk forming their own duo ''

Nina & Kim Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms * National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology * No incom ...

''. In 2004, they attempted to represent Sweden with their song “En Gång För Alla” but came 7th in the second pre-selection round. After 2006, Kärnfalk continued as a solo artist.

Discography

Albums

Charting singles

References

Sources

"Friends firade hela natten"
''Aftonbladet'', Feb. 24, 2001.

''Aftonbladet'', May 11, 2001.

''Aftonbladet'', February 27, 2002.

''Aftonbladet'', February 11, 2002.

''Aftonbladet'', February 23, 2001.

''Aftonbladet'', December 17, 2006.

External links

Melodifestivalen winners Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 Dansbands Swedish pop music groups 1999 establishments in Sweden 2002 disestablishments in Sweden English-language musical groups from Sweden Eurovision Song Contest entrants {{Sweden-band-stub