A Friend in London
Encyclopedia
A Friend in London is a Danish
indie pop
and rock
band that represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
in Düsseldorf
, Germany
in the second semi-final with the song "New Tomorrow
" and took a 5th place in the final with 134 points.
.
The lead singer Tim Schou won the contest Danish Young Talent 2005 which led to the recording of the band's first single, "Thoughts of a Boheme".
The Danish national radio station P3 picked up on the sounds of the band, providing airplay for the single "Shoot Me". Danish TV station TV2
used the band's track "Dead Beat" in a TV-commercial contest.
The band started touring Denmark extensively with more than 100 different gigs. Their break came in 2008 with the Bodog Million Dollar Battle of the Bands where they won the European leg of the competition reaching the final 10 qualifying round in the United States. The band refused to continue further with the competition, because of complexity of contractual aspects the organizers wanted to impose on them and other participants.
Following that, they toured Canada and the United States. The band became very popular in Canada, where since 2009 they have made three successful tours, the last being in 2011. The tour included shows in June 2009 at NXNE (North by NorthEast) and Canadian Music Week
as well as a performance at Breakfast TV, a major morning show in Toronto
. They ended up signing a management agreement with a Canadian music group.
The band is in the wake of finalizing their debut album due for release in 2011, and have released the single "Calling a Friend".
of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with their song "New Tomorrow
" written by Lise Cabble
and Jakob Glæsner, winning the Danish preselection show and to go to represent Denmark in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. There was controversy and allegations that chorus of the song was plagiarized from a Chinese folk song "Silk Road" and big similarities with three other songs named: Andreas Johnson
’s "Sing for Me
" that participated in Melodifestivalen 2006
, the German group Future Trance United's song "Face 2 Face", which itself was a cover from the song "Herz an Herz" from the German band Paso Doble
from the year 1986, and Take That
’s "Shine
". One of the co-writers Jacob Glæsner commented that "the song is very popular in its expression and consist basically only of five tones. It is unavoidable that it doesn’t remind of a song one have already heard". Partly because of the criticism, the band has confirmed in interviews they will make changes to the song prior to presenting it in the Düsseldorf
2011 finals.
A Friend in London performed the song at the Eurovision 2011 and finished fifth, but caused controversy when lead singer Tim Schou said in front of a live audience "You know baby, I want to...I want to fuck you!" after Dutch
singer Mandy Hudts announced that The Netherlands had awarded the song "New Tomorrow" twelve points. Schou later stated: "When the camera came and we got the first points I was so excited. I apologise, Europe! I apologise! We got the fifth place, baby!". Hudts has since claimed that she had found the incident hilarious.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
indie pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band that represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year...
in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in the second semi-final with the song "New Tomorrow
New Tomorrow
"New Tomorrow" is a 2011 English language song by Danish pop/rock band A Friend in London. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. On 26 February 2011, the song won the Danish preselection contest Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2011...
" and took a 5th place in the final with 134 points.
Members
The band consists of four male members:- Tim Schou - lead vocals, guitar
- Sebastian Vinther Olsen - guitar, vocals
- Aske Damm Bramming - bass, vocals
- Esben Svane - drums, vocals
Career
A Friend in London (also known by its acronym AFIL) was formed in 2005 when the band members were at a boarding school in Vostrup, DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
The lead singer Tim Schou won the contest Danish Young Talent 2005 which led to the recording of the band's first single, "Thoughts of a Boheme".
The Danish national radio station P3 picked up on the sounds of the band, providing airplay for the single "Shoot Me". Danish TV station TV2
TV 2 (Denmark)
TV 2 is a publicly owned television station in Denmark based in Odense. The station began broadcasting on 1 October 1988, thereby ending the television monopoly previously exercised by the Danmarks Radio ....
used the band's track "Dead Beat" in a TV-commercial contest.
The band started touring Denmark extensively with more than 100 different gigs. Their break came in 2008 with the Bodog Million Dollar Battle of the Bands where they won the European leg of the competition reaching the final 10 qualifying round in the United States. The band refused to continue further with the competition, because of complexity of contractual aspects the organizers wanted to impose on them and other participants.
Following that, they toured Canada and the United States. The band became very popular in Canada, where since 2009 they have made three successful tours, the last being in 2011. The tour included shows in June 2009 at NXNE (North by NorthEast) and Canadian Music Week
Canadian Music Week
Canadian Music Week is an industry conference and music festival held over four days in various venues throughout Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History:...
as well as a performance at Breakfast TV, a major morning show in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. They ended up signing a management agreement with a Canadian music group.
The band is in the wake of finalizing their debut album due for release in 2011, and have released the single "Calling a Friend".
2011 Eurovision Song Contest
A Friend in London took part in 2011 versionDenmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2011, organised by Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio .-Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2011:...
of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with their song "New Tomorrow
New Tomorrow
"New Tomorrow" is a 2011 English language song by Danish pop/rock band A Friend in London. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. On 26 February 2011, the song won the Danish preselection contest Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2011...
" written by Lise Cabble
Lise Cabble
Lise Cabble is a Danish singer and songwriter.1986 to 1997 she was the front singer in the rock band Miss B. Haven. In 1995 the song "Fra Mols til Skagen" by Lise Cabble and Mette Mathiesen Lise Cabble (born 10 January 1958, Amager) is a Danish singer and songwriter.1986 to 1997 she was the front...
and Jakob Glæsner, winning the Danish preselection show and to go to represent Denmark in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. There was controversy and allegations that chorus of the song was plagiarized from a Chinese folk song "Silk Road" and big similarities with three other songs named: Andreas Johnson
Andreas Johnson
Andreas Johnson is a Swedish pop/rock singer-songwriter and musician.-Career:...
’s "Sing for Me
Sing for Me
"Sing for Me" is an English language song by Swedish singer Andreas Johnson that he presented in Melodifestivalen 2006 in a bid to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest...
" that participated in Melodifestivalen 2006
Melodifestivalen 2006
Melodifestivalen 2006 was the selection for the 46th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 45th time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five semifinals had taken place to select the ten songs for the final, in Leksand, Karlstad, Karlskrona, Gothenburg...
, the German group Future Trance United's song "Face 2 Face", which itself was a cover from the song "Herz an Herz" from the German band Paso Doble
Paso Doble (band)
Paso Doble is a German NDW band that formed in 1983. Very popular in Germany, their songs Computerliebe, Herz An Herz and Fantasie have appeared on several Best of NDW/New Wave compilations...
from the year 1986, and Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
’s "Shine
Shine (Take That song)
"Shine" is the second single taken from Take That's comeback album Beautiful World.-Song information:"Shine" was released on 26 February 2007 and features lead vocals by Mark Owen....
". One of the co-writers Jacob Glæsner commented that "the song is very popular in its expression and consist basically only of five tones. It is unavoidable that it doesn’t remind of a song one have already heard". Partly because of the criticism, the band has confirmed in interviews they will make changes to the song prior to presenting it in the Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
2011 finals.
A Friend in London performed the song at the Eurovision 2011 and finished fifth, but caused controversy when lead singer Tim Schou said in front of a live audience "You know baby, I want to...I want to fuck you!" after Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
singer Mandy Hudts announced that The Netherlands had awarded the song "New Tomorrow" twelve points. Schou later stated: "When the camera came and we got the first points I was so excited. I apologise, Europe! I apologise! We got the fifth place, baby!". Hudts has since claimed that she had found the incident hilarious.
Albums
| Year | Album details | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| DEN Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
||
| 2011 | TBA
|
— |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
BEL (FLA) Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... |
IRE Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
NL MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
SWI Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 2011 | "New Tomorrow New Tomorrow "New Tomorrow" is a 2011 English language song by Danish pop/rock band A Friend in London. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. On 26 February 2011, the song won the Danish preselection contest Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2011... " |
2 | 94 | 9 | 58 | 39 | 78 | TBA |
Other songs
- "Thoughts of a Boheme"
- "Dead Beat"
- "Shoot Me"
- "What a Way"
- "Freddie"
- "Break and Fall"
Videography
The band released music videos for various songs via Guineapig Productions. Directors included Ib Christian Henricson, Marie Louise Henricson and Lena Nyhus- 2010: "The Light" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRcTjqyYbhk
- 2010: "Now You're Here" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzvV8DmgKOI
- 2010: "What a Way" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZg8ABF4www
External links
- Official website
- YouTube page
- DanishCharts.com
- A Friend in London on urArtist Network