There will be a long shadow over this year's Icelandic national final as one of the participants, Sigurjón Brink, died unexpectedly at the age of 36.
Apart from the obvious personal tragedy, it creates a delicate dilemma for the Icelandic television who needs to relate to the situation in the best of taste and find a solution that will still look tasteful and fair once the shock fades away and more critical eyes start analysing what you have done and what you haven't done.
I'm not claiming to know everything about Eurovision (is there any such person - and what would he/she look like?) but I can't remember any other situation like this, that a main performer would have passed away right before their planned Eurovision performance.
The closest I can come to think of is Sammy Babitzin (brother of Kirka), who competed in the 1973 Euroviisut and then died in a car crash later than a month after the international final.
Sammy Babitzin & Koivistolaiset - Riviera (Finland NF 1973)
Death did play a part in the 1974 ESC, though. Four days before the final, held on April 6, the French President George Pompidou dies due to an illness largely unknown to the public. France was in shock and, obviously, withdrew from the contest. The French delegation, already on location in Brighton, never performed.
Dani - La vie à 25 ans (France 1974 preview)
However, the grim realities of life were perhaps never more present than in 1993, when Bosnia-Herzegovina debuted under their own flag in Millstreet and produced a preview clip from Sarajevo at war. At that time, we were used to seeing images of civil war from former Yugoslavia on the news, but here they were, singing a song, on our favourite entertainment show. There was no way we could ignore them this time.
Fazla - Sva bol svijeta (Bosnia-Herzegovina 1993 preview)
