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11 unusual facts about Eurovision song contest


1FLTV

The people of Liechtenstein have always had an interest in participating in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Brendan O'Reilly

Between 1966 and 1968, O'Reilly had the honour of commentating for Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as presenting the National Song Contest (to select Ireland's Eurovision entry) from 1966 to 1970.

Delfins

The group made various appearances in the Portuguese National Finals for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Disco Romancing

It is her sixth single to be released and the first since her Eurovision Song Contest entry, in 2009.

FLY FM 89,7

In 1998 the station started collaborations with radio stations and TV networks around Europe to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest.

Hör den Kindern einfach zu

It was the breakthrough song for singer Corinna May when she performed it in the German 1999 preselections for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Idool 2003

Several of the Idool 2003 contestants tried out on the Flemish-Belgian Pre-Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest to represent their country and although some of them came quite close, none of them really made it.

However Hadise Açıkgöz, who did not made the top 50 but failed to advance to the final 10, will represent Turkey in 2009 making her the second contestant from a very successful Idol show to do so, after Jessica Garlick who represented the United Kingdom after appearing in Pop Idol.

Idool 2004

However, second runner-up Sandrine Van Handenhoven, who was a longtime favorite throughout the season above the winner and the runner-up, enjoyed an ongoing success as a singer as well as the host of the Flemish Big Brother programme and therefore is now considered as the unofficial winner of Idool 2005 as she almost represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, coming in close 2nd in the national final.

Music of Andorra

Andorra (through national broadcaster RTVA) has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest on only six occasions, each year from 2004 until 2009.

Timur Selçuk

He twice participated in the Eurovision Song Contest; in 1975, he conducted the first ever Turkish entry, "Seninle Bir Dakika", that had been composed and arranged by others.


André Popp

In the 1960s, he co-wrote (with Pierre Cour) two songs for the Eurovision Song Contest — Tom Pillibi, which won the competition for France in 1960, and L'amour est bleu (Love is Blue) which came fourth for Luxembourg in 1967, but which later became a Number one hit in the US for Paul Mauriat.

Ary dos Santos

Meanwhile, Ary participated, under a pseudonym, in the RTP Song Contest, writing the lyrics of two songs to be performed by Simone de Oliveira and Fernando Tordo.

Bailando Con Lola

Shortly before the release of the album in the Spring of 2006, Spanish TV station RTVE revealed that Azúcar Moreno were considered one of the top artists to represent Spain in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, held in Athens, Greece, sixteen years after the duo had their international breakthrough with "Bandido" in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, which finished fifth.

Bobby G

Along with other members Mike Nolan, Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston the group went on to win the contest and on 4 April 1981 took part in the Eurovision Song Contest representing the United Kingdom.

Boris Novković

In 1990 he narrowly missed out on the chance to represent Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dajana", but his second-place finish in the national pre-selection instead secured him a place at the International festival in Kuala Lumpur.

Brighton Dome

It staged the Eurovision Song Contest on 6 April 1974, when ABBA won for Sweden with "Waterloo".

Carol Rich

Carol Rich (born Anne-Lyse Caille, 15 February 1962, Villorsonnens, Fribourg) is a Swiss singer, best known for her participation in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest.

Casinò Lugano

On 24 May 1956, Kursaal was the host venue of the very first Eurovision Song Contest.

Catarina Pereira

Catarina was invited by Carlos Coelho and Andrej Babic (the same duo responsible for the big hit Senhora do mar) to perform their song Canta Por Mim (In English: Sing For Me) for the Portuguese contest Festival da Canção 2010, the national selection method for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Corry Brokken

In 1957, she was the first Dutch winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, one of the high points in a long career as a singer and entertainer in the 1950s and 1960s, during which she scored a number of hits and sang in the popular Sleeswijk Revue with Snip en Snap, and had her own television show.

Dea Norberg

Andrea Heléne "Dea" Norberg (born 3 March 1974, Bräkne-Hoby, Sweden) is a Swedish singer and choirgirl who sang in most of Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest entries during the 2000s.

Duilio

Duilio (born Lorenzo di Ciccio, 23 February 1973, Frenkendorf) is an Italian language Swiss singer, best known for his participation in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.

Dva Puti, Dva Shliakhy

Ruslana, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine in 2004 on the country's second ever attempt, met Varvara at one of the Eurovision parties during the Kiev contest of 2005, and the two became firm friends.

Erkki Pohjanheimo

Over the years Pohjanheimo has been associated with the European Broadcasting Union and the Eurovision Network he also provided the Finnish television commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest on ten occasions between 1973 and 1996 he also hosted the Finnish heat for the 1981 Contest.

Gaudete

Irish choral group Anúna performed Gaudete on their 1996 CD, "Omnis" with a solo by Eurovision Song Contest (1996) winner Eimear Quinn.

Georgian Public Broadcaster

Georgia's entry in the 2009 Eurovision song contest — "We Don't Wanna Put In" — was deemed to be a political statement against Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, and the song was disqualified from the competition.

Gerard James Borg

Borg has penned five of the Maltese entries for the annual Eurovision Song Contest with Philip Vella, besides several Eurovision national final entries.

Gitte Hænning

In 1962 she attempted to compete for Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Jeg Snakker med mig Selv" but was disqualified because the composer Sejr Volmer-Sørensen had whistled the song in the canteen of the DR.

Gladys del Pilar

In 1994, Gladys was in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish pre-selection for Eurovision Song Contest and came in second with The most beautiful thing I know.

Gracia Baur

Gracia was selected to represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Run & Hide", produced and composed by David Brandes.

Grup Gündoğarken

In 1988, they participated in the Turkish under-contest for the Eurovision song contest by their song "Resimler Resimler", but they couldn't win the contest.

Jacques Deschenaux

In 1989 he co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest with Lolita Morena.

Jacques Navadic

He was the regular Luxembourgian commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest from 1956 until 1964 and from 1966 until 1981 and again in 1984.

Jean-Paul Mauric

Jean-Paul Mauric (17 June 1933, Hyères, Var – 5 January 1971, Marseille) was a French singer, best known for his participation in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest.

Jon Ola Sand

Sand has produced and directed a variety of programmes, such as the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, the Norwegian Film Awards and the Norwegian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Melodi Grand Prix.

Kursadžije

The students are also part of the Jugovizija, where they sing for their respective republic, a parody of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Liam Devally

Devally has been known for hosting various programmes for Ireland, he was a radio host on RTÉ Radio 1, he also was best known for Irish listeners between 1972 and 1979 when he commentated for RTÉ Radio listeners at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Lulu's Album

Despite promotion from her TV show, Lulu Comes to Town and recently winning the Eurovision Song Contest (although the winning song was not included), this album failed to chart.

Mandi Lampi

Mandi appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest episode of Laulava Sydän ("Singing Heart"), performing the Eurovision song Pump Pump by Fredi.

Marco Mengoni discography

In 2013, Mengoni released the single "L'essenziale", which won the 63rd Sanremo Music Festival and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Marcos Llunas

In 1997, Llunas was chosen internally by broadcaster TVE as the Spanish representative for the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest with his self-penned song "Sin rencor" ("No Hard Feelings").

Marija l-Maltija

This was Malta's debut Eurovision entry and consequently the first time that the Maltese language or any other Semitic language was heard at the Contest.

Not a Sinner Nor a Saint

In spring 2003, Alcazar entered the Swedish pre-selections for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Olivia Lewis

At her 11th attempt she finally won the 2007 festival, held in Ta'Qali on 3 February 2007, with the song "Vertigo" and represented Malta at the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, on 10 May 2007.

Orgesa Zaimi

In 2009, she was the back vocalist to singer Kejsi Tola, who represented Albania on Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, and won Best Rock Video on "Netet e Klipit Shqiptar" festival.

Sarah Kuttner

She also co-hosted (with Jörg Pilawa) the show "Germany 12 Points", the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest on publicly owned channel ARD on 19 March 2004.

Spidercam

Its initial uses were for live events such as concerts—Kylie Minogue in Australia, Robbie Williams in Great Britain and The Police in Argentina—television programs such as the Eurovision Song Contest in Greece and Finland, and major sporting events such as the European Swimming Cup in Hungary, Red Bull X-Fighters in Mexico and Spain and international football matches.

Stefan Örn

He was one of the composers of the songs which represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 (Drip Drop), 2011 (Running Scared), and 2012 (When the Music Dies).

Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010

On 1 October SVT revealed their entry for Minsk: 13 year old Josefine Ridell was selected to represent Sweden with the song "Allt jag vill ha" (Everything I want), written by Josefine, four-time Eurovision songwriter Thomas G:son, 2009 Azeri contestant Arash, Robert Uhlmann and Johan Bejerholm.

Vincent Pontare

His father is a Swedish musician who took part in Eurovision Song Contest twice representing Sweden with "Stjärnorna" (1994, in a duet with Marie Bergman) and "When Spirits Are Calling My Name" (2000), placing 13th and 7th, respectively in the competition.