Support Women Artists Sunday: Agnes Carlsson

Carlsson was born in Vänersborg, Sweden on March 6, 1988, and began singing at a very young age. She sang solo in front of a live audience for the first time whilst still at school. She also sang in the Vänersborg choir named 'Voice', citing legendary American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder as her inspiration.

In the spring of 2005, 17-year-old Carlsson auditioned for the second season of popular Swedish singing competition Idol in Göteborg, singing "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by Lisa Nilsson. The four judges were all hugely impressed by the strong power of her voice and she successfully passed through to the theatre rounds of the contest. Her vocals continued to impress, and she made it to the semi-finals.

To the dismay of the judges however, Carlsson did not get a place in the final eleven contestants through public voting, and when she again failed to grab a place through the special 'wildcard' round, they decided to pass her through to the finals as the judges' choice contestant. Despite the lack of early public support, Carlsson went on to wow both the judges and the public during every week of the finals, and as a result made it into the grand finale without ever falling into the bottom two or three contestants. With 57% of the one million public votes cast during the final, she defeated Sebastian Karlsson and was crowned as the second Swedish Idol, and the first female to win the competition.

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