In late 2005, there were over 80 versions available in US alone, and it has been nominated for Gospel Music Awards four times, including “Song of the Year.” In 2004, the song was played more than 500,000 times on American radio. The song has also found success as part of a three-song EP entitled “George Best – A Tribute” by Peter Corry and the song’s original vocalist Brian Kennedy, which reached #4 in the UK. A demo version of this recording was released in 2010, on Danielsen’s posthumous compilation album One More Time – The Very Best Of, which included several previously unpublished recordings.Īlthough the original version did not chart internationally, the song has now been covered more than 125 times, with the most successful covers being by Josh Groban (#73 in the US and #1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart), Christian group Selah (#1 on Billboard’s Christian charts), Westlife (#1 in the UK), Daniel O’Donnell (#22 in the UK) and Dutch Popstars winner Wesley Klein (#4 in the Netherlands). He was replaced by Norwegian singer Jan Werner Danielsen, who also later recorded the song together with Secret Garden. Originally, Brian Kennedy was supposed to follow Secret Garden on their Asian tour in 2002, but Curb records couldn’t come to an agreement with Universal to release Brian, and he reluctantly could not attend the tour. In 2002, it was released on the Secret Garden album Once in a Red Moon, with the vocals sung by Irish singer Brian Kennedy, and sold well in both Ireland and Norway. However, a desire to distance the album from the Eurovision Song Contest led to a change in vocalist. The original designated vocalist was Johnny Logan, who recorded a demo with an orchestra. Løvland stated the song was made by and for Løvland himself and performed for the very first time at the funeral of Løvland’s mother. In 2018 Helgason filed a lawsuit against Universal stating that the melody has been lifted from him without his permission. It’s been told that Løvland, who supposedly created the piece, later approached Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham to write the lyrics to his melody, after reading Graham’s novels. Later, singer Edgar Smári performed “Söknuður” in English to outline the similarities. He then admitted that the two songs were similar and he didn’t know where the inspiration came from. It was disclosed at a press conference that Groban had “Söknuður” played for him in 2007, who reacted in an ‘alarmed’ fashion. They stated that the songs are ‘musically identical’ except for just two notes.
The Performing Rights Society of Iceland analyzed both songs and found a 97% similarity between them. However, Söknuður was a moderate success, and it is claimed that Løvland had heard the song while living in Iceland.
Løvland composed an instrumental piece in 2002 and titled it “Silent Story”. Jóhann Helgason claimed the song was originally composed and released in 1977 under the title “Söknuður,” meaning Into the light.
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