1.
Eurovision Song Contest 1992
–
The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the 37th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1992 in Malmö, Sweden. The presenters were Lydia Cappolicchio and Harald Treutiger, Linda Martin, representing Ireland, was the winner of this Eurovision with the song Why Me. The song was written by Johnny Logan, who had won the 1980 contest as singer and the 1987 contest as singer/songwriter. The contest took place at the ice arena of Malmö where the stage set was in the shape of a Viking ships bow with a dragon in the centre. The opening sequence included women dressed in the Swedish colours of yellow and blue, the filmic postcard tradition was continued with clips based on each country. Last years winner, Carola, appeared on stage in a dress with sheer sleeves. However, the Irish sent Linda Martin, who had the past experience of coming in 2nd place in the 1984 contest, but also paired up again with Johnny Logan. In the end, Ireland won the contest with a 16-point lead over the United Kingdom, malta with Little Child, performed by Mary Spiteri, also scored very well coming in 3rd place with 123 points. This was the first time that the three highest-placed songs had all been in English, Sweden, the host country, finished 2nd last. Switzerland had to replace its original choice of entry, Soleil, soleil which was to have performed by Géraldine Olivier. The song did not comply with some of the rules of the selection contest and so, despite having won. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs
Eurovision Song Contest 1992
2.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
3.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since its debut in 1974, missing six contests in that time. Greece won for the first time in 2005 with My Number One, the national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcast the event each year and organised the process for the selection of the Greek entry. Greece has never finished last in the contest, in the 21st century, Greece has been more successful, with ten top-ten results, including third-place finishes for Antique in 2001, Sakis Rouvas in 2004 and Kalomira in 2008. Greece was disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 after it was revealed that Themis Adamantidis was to sing Sarantapente Kopelies, a previously released song. A known Greek folk song had been revised for the competition, Greece was forced to pay a fine, and was allowed to return the following year. Had Adamantidis been allowed to perform Sarantapente Kopelies, he would have appeared second at Harrogate, after returning in 1983, ERT decided that all of the possible songs were of low quality and decided not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984. Had she performed, she would have appeared eighteenth and she would have performed the song Wagon-lit, the following year ERT announced that it would not return at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 due to financial reasons. The song also made Greece the first country not a member of Big Four to win the contest without going through a semifinal. Before Greeces win, the highest score was third place, achieved by duo Antique in 2001 with Die for You and then again by Sakis Rouvas in 2004 with Shake It. Greeces least successful result was at 20th place in 1998 with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, with 12 points, all from Cyprus, riskyKidd, with 35 points, but this time Cyprus was out of the contest. In 2006, the 51st Eurovision Song Contest was held in Athens, Greece, the two hosts were popular singer, and former contestant, Sakis Rouvas and Greek American presenter Maria Menounos. The singer representing Greece in their own country was popular Greek Cypriot artist Anna Vissi, for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, ERT was able to secure a high-profile artist once again and planned a national final to choose the song. Greece has been one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 21st century, including ninth in 2006, seventh in 2007, third in 2008, seventh in 2009, eighth in 2010 and seventh in 2011. In 2014, Greece finished in 20th place, which, along with 1998, is the countries worst result in the contest, Greece was one of only three countries to have never failed to qualify from the semifinals since their 2004 introduction. In addition, Greece also qualified from the 1996 audio-only pre-qualifying round, in 2015, Greece failed to reach the top-ten for the third time in four years, finishing 19th. Since 2013, the music channel MAD produces the Greek national final, for 2016, ERT selected the Eurovision entry internally. They selected the band Argo with the song Utopian Land For the first time since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004 and they finished 16th in the first semi-final. Greece is famous for, especially in recent years, always giving twelve points to Cyprus and this is one of many examples of the bloc voting seen in contest which also occurs between Iberian, Balkan, Scandinavian, ex-Soviet and Baltic countries
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Sakis Rouvas in
Istanbul (
2004)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Helena Paparizou receiving her prize after her win in
Kiev (
2005)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Sarbel in
Helsinki (
2007)
4.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
Sweden
–
A
Vendel-era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden
–
Flag
Sweden
–
A
romantic nationalist interpretation of
Valdemar IV taking control over
Gotland. The final battle outside the walls of Visby in 1361 ended with a massacre of 1,800 defenders of the city.
Sweden
–
Stockholm in mid-17th century
5.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
6.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
7.
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
–
The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and was held in London, United Kingdom on 7 May 1977. The contest was won by Marie Myriam, representing France, with the song Loiseau et lenfant and this was Frances fifth victory, a record at the time. It was also Frances second victory on English soil, as well as its most recent victory to date, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Wembley Conference Centre, which opened in 1977, was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom, the centre was chosen as host venue for the song contest, which was presented by Angela Rippon. The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced. At one point before the contest Tunisia was going to participate, had Tunisia gone ahead they would have appeared fourth on stage. Yugoslavia also withdrew, and did not return until 1981, the Belgian act Dream Express had created some controversy in the press with reports that the three female members would wear transparent tops, this did not materialise for the actual event. The British conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst used an umbrella and wore a hat during the UK entry. Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra, several artists returned to the 1977 Contest. Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher from the group Schmetterlinge both represented Austria in 1972 as part of the band The Milestones, irelands participant The Swarbriggs returned after their previous appearance back in 1975. Ilanit from Israel returned after previously representing the nation in 1973, michèle Torr, Luxembourgs 1966 entrant participated for Monaco. And finally Fernando Tordo and Paulo de Carvalho returned once more after they previously represented the nation as solo acts back in 1973 and 1974 respectively, ^ Contains some words in English. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
8.
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
–
The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the Olsen Brothers win at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, the hosting marked only the second time the contest was held on Danish soil, after the 1964 contest -37 years earlier. 23 countries took part in the contest, which was held on 12 May 2001, the host venue was the Parken Stadium - the largest venue to ever host the contest. A total of 35,000 spectators saw the live from within the stadium. The presenters were Danish journalist and TV-show presenter Natasja Crone Back, france, Greece and Slovenia were the heavy favourites to win the contest, however, as the voting progressed it became a two-horse race between Estonia and the host country Denmark. The contest was won by Estonia, represented by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL with the song Everybody, the host nation, Denmark, finished in 2nd place with 177 points - beaten by 21 points. Coming 3rd were Greece with 147 points - giving the country their best result up till this point, france came 4th with 142 points, and in 5th place were Sweden with 100 points. Dave Benton, who was born and raised in Aruba, was the first black person and, at the age of 50 years and 101 days, Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark was the host city for the 46th edition of Eurovision. The venue choice for the contest was Parken Stadium, a stadium in the Indre Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The logo of the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest was made out of four circles, the four circles were also present in the stage design, with the light construction was made of the same four rings. The Danish national broadcaster faced some problems whilst organising the contest such as the lack of funds, the event was eventually located in the football stadium Parken, after the company running the stadium agreed to add a retractable roof to the building. Changes occurred in the process for the 2002 Contest, along with the Big 4 countries. The other spots for 2002 would be filled by countries that were excluded from the 2001 contest because of their low point average for the years 1996–2000, the Danes were so offended that the BBC was obliged to issue an apology on Wogans comments. Controversy also surrounded the Swedish song, Listen To Your Heartbeat, eventually the EBU decided for the matter to be settled in court, with the song allowed to compete as long as the courts did not declare the song as plagiarism. During the voting the Danish band Aqua performed with a medley of their singles, Although enjoyable, people complained about it being a little bit rude as there was some swearing during the performance, both at the beginning and end of Barbie Girl. This brought the number of participating countries to twenty-three. Tanel Padar was a backing vocalist for Ines in 2000, the majority of participating countries held a televote, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 points. This year the EBU introduced for the first time a mix of voting systems for those countries that didnt want to use 100% televoting, only three votes were allowed per household
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
–
Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
Eurovision Song Contest 2001
–
Eurovision Song Contest: Copenhagen 2001
9.
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 33 times since making its debut in 1981. Cyprus first entry was the group Island, who finished sixth, the countrys best result in the contest is three fifth-place finishes, in 1982 with Anna Vissi,1997 with Hara & Andreas Constantinou and 2004 with Lisa Andreas. Since 2006, Cyprus failed to qualify from the round for six out of eight years. On 14 July 2014, Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015, since its first entry, Cyprus has participated every year except 1988,2001 and 2014. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, in 2014, the broadcaster decided to withdraw from the contest and cited public indifference and the economic crisis for not taking part. On 3 October 2013, the Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation withdrew from the 2014 contest, reasons that were cited are public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and budget restrictions as factors that influenced this decision. Cyprus is famous for always exchanging 12 points with Greece in the Semi Final and Final, the last time Cyprus gave Greece less than 12 points was in 2015. Cyprus and Turkey never voted for each other until 2004, a taboo attributed to the ongoing Cyprus dispute, since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of good and bad results. The best result achieved so far is a place, reached by Anna Vissi in 1982, Hara and Andreas Constantinou in 1997. The lowest result was a last place in 1986, with the song Tora Zo sung by Elpida, in the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus had managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest become popular in the Cypriot public. Since the last best result of the country in 2004, Cyprus performance has dropped notably, from 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 &2013, the country didnt manage to reach the final. At the same time when Cyprus performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greeces performance improved very fast by one win and this created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. In May 2014, the radio station London Greek Radio announced that Cyprus were planning a return to the contest after a one-year break. A few weeks later Eurovision website Wiwibloggs announced that Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation had confirmed their return, on 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015. Cyprus hosted the Eurovision Song Project, which included 2 semi-finals,1 second chance round, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year. As of 2016, Cyprus voting history is as follows, Composer Award In addition, since 2009, British writer and TV presenter Nathan Morley has provided the CyBC Radio commentary. Cyprus in the Eurovision Young Musicians Cyprus in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest National Final Cyprus Points to and from Cyprus eurovisioncovers. co. uk Music. net. cy - Cyprus National Finals 2010
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Alex Panayi at
Dublin (
1995)
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Lisa Andreas at
Istanbul (
2004)
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Evridiki at
Helsinki (
2007)
10.
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 42 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. It was one of seven countries that competed at the very first contest. Italy competed at the contest frequently until 1997, after a fourteen-year absence, the country competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Italy has won the contest twice, in 1958, Domenico Modugno finished third with the song Nel blu, dipinto di blu. Renamed Volare, the became a huge international hit, reaching the US number one spot. Emilio Pericoli also finished third in 1963, before Italy won for the first time in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti, Cinquetti returned to the contest in 1974 and finished second with the song Si, losing to ABBA. Italy then finished third in 1975 with Wess and Dori Ghezzi, the countrys best result of the 1980s was Umberto Tozzi and Raf finishing third in 1987. Italys second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno, other good 1990s results were Mia Martini in 1992 and Jalisse in 1997, who both finished fourth. After 1997, Italy withdrew from the competition, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Italy back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Austria, but again Italy did not participate in the contest. Italys return to the contest proved to be successful, with Raphael Gualazzi finishing second, Italy has finished in the top ten in four of the last six contests. In 2015, Il Volo won the televoting receiving votes from all countries, since the introduction of the 50/50 voting system in 2009, this was the first time that the winner of the viewers vote did not win the contest. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times, the first withdrawal was in 1981, when RAI stated that interest had diminished in the country. This absence continued through the year, before Italy returned in 1983. Italy again withdrew in 1986 when RAI decided not to enter the contest, from 1994 to 1996 Italy withdrew again, with RAI citing a lack of interest in participating. Italy returned in 1997, before withdrawing again without explanation, none of the Eurovision winning songs were particularly successful in the Italian charts. Despite the Eurovision contests taking place more than a month before the vote, Italian censors refused to allow the contest. The song thus remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month, at the contest in Brighton, Cinquetti finished second, losing to ABBA. Sì went on to be a UK top ten hit, peaking at number eight and it also reached the German top 20
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Bobby Solo in Naples (
1965)
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Italy
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Marco Mengoni in Malmö (
2013)
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Il Volo in Vienna (
2015)
11.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956, and won it themselves, Switzerland won the contest again in 1988. Lys Assia won the very first contest in Lugano in 1956 with the song Refrain and she returned to place second in 1958. In 1993, Annie Cotton gave the country its eighth top three result, when she placed third, in the 21st century, Switzerland has only once reached the top ten, in 2005 with the girl band Vanilla Ninja finishing eighth. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to qualify for the final nine times. At the 2014 contest, Sebalter gave the country its second best result of the century, Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest, Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language. Out of their 55 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs,24 of which were in French,12 in German, nine in Italian, nine in English, both of Switzerlands winning songs have been sung in French. ^ The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, the official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, as of 2016, Switzerlands voting history is as follows, Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF, RTS and RSI. Table key Points to and from Switzerland eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Jean Philippe at Luxembourg (
1962)
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Switzerland
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Yovanna at Naples (
1965)
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Henri Dès at Amsterdam (
1970)
12.
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since making its debut in 1960 and has only been absent twice since then. In 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, Norway has won the contest three times. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norways national selection competition, Norways first entrant in the contest in 1960 was Nora Brockstedt, who finished fourth. Åse Kleveland then finished third in 1966 and these would remain Norways only top five results until 1985, when Bobbysocks gave the country its first victory with the song La det swinge. The country achieved two top five results over the next ten years, with both Karoline Krüger in 1988 and Silje Vige in 1993, finishing fifth. Norways second victory came in 1995 with Secret Gardens mainly instrumental, in 1996, Elisabeth Andreassen, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to finish second. In 2003, Jostein Hasselgård was fourth, Norway won for the third time in 2009, with Alexander Rybaks smash hit Fairytale. The 2009 winning score of 387 points being the highest ever winning total and it also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory. Norway also has the two distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country. The country has finished last eleven times, failing to score a point four times, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times. In 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett finished eighth with A Monster Like Me, Norway has a total of 11 top five and 22 top ten results in the contest. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become a tradition for the OGAE fan clubs. Melodi Grand Prix Norway in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Norway in the Eurovision Young Musicians Melodi Grand Prix Points to and from Norway eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Maria Haukaas Storeng performing "
Hold On Be Strong " at Belgrade (
2008)
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Alexander Rybak, performing "
Fairytale " at Moscow (
2009)
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Margaret Berger performing "
I Feed You My Love " at Malmö (
2013)
13.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Turkey participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times from their debut in 1975 with the song Seninle Bir Dakika performed by Semiha Yankı, to their withdrawal in 2013. Turkey has always qualified for the final, except the 2011 Contest. Since their debut in the two years Turkey finished last, they scored nul points, before 1997, the countrys only top ten result was achieved by Klips ve Onlar, who placed ninth in 1986. Turkey achieved six top five results between 1997 and 2010, winning once in 2003 with the song Everyway That I Can by Sertab Erener, in 2004, the home entry in Istanbul, For Real by Athena, placed fourth. In 2007, Shake It Up Şekerim by Kenan Doğulu also finished fourth, in 2008, the band Mor ve Ötesi placed seventh. In 2009, Hadise achieved another impressive result for Turkey, finishing in fourth place, in 2010, the nu metal band maNga, achieved Turkeys second best result in the contest, finishing second. Since the introduction of the free language rule as well as televoting, in 1997, Turkey finished third with the song Dinle by Şebnem Paker, who sung all the song in Turkish. The country sent a song partially in English for the first time in 2000 and completely in English in 2003, since 2000, Turkey has had seven entries completely sung in English and four bilingual songs. TRT announced on 14 December 2012 that they would not attend the 2013 competition in Malmö, in September 2013, Turkeys state broadcaster stated a return is unlikely for the 2014 competition, citing the same reasons. Also there was no television broadcast on TRT in 2013 and 2014, test transmissions started on TRT1 on 31 January 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union starting on 26 August 1972 with Turkeys first Eurovision Network event, a football match, on 13 January 1973. Turkish national broadcaster televised the Eurovision Song Contest between 1973 and 2012 incessantly, even in the years that they werent participating, Turkey debuted to the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1975 Contest, which is the 20th edition of the Contest and held in Stockholm, Sweden. Greece did not participate in the 1975 Contest for unknown reasons according to the EBU, TRT organized a national final for select the first ever Turkish entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. The final took place on 9 February 1975 in the studios of TRT, the winning song was picked by averaging the ranks from the professional jury and peoples jury as Seninle Bir Dakika by Semiha Yankı. At the close of voting the song had received only 3 points from Monaco, in 1976, Greek entry aroused controversy as it was about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This time Turkey withdrew from the Contest to protest the political background of the entry of Greece, Panagia Mou, Turkey didnt take part in the Contest until 1978. The 1979 Contest was held in the Israeli capital, Jerusalem, Turkish entry selected as Seviyorum by Maria Rita Epik but Arab countries compelled the Turkish government to withdraw from the Contest because of Arabs state of war with the host country, Israel. So Turkey withdrew from the Contest for the time in 1979
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Kenan Doğulu in
2007.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Turkey
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sertab in the opening of
the 2004 Contest.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Mor ve Ötesi in
2008.
14.
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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France has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since its debut at the very first contest in 1956. France is one of seven countries to be present at the first contest. France first won the contest in 1958 with Dors, mon amour performed by André Claveau, frances fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song Loiseau et lenfant. France have also finished four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990 and Amina in 1991. France finished last for the first time in 2014, when Twin Twin received only two points. France have failed to reach the top 10 in 12 of the last 14 contests, the exceptions being Patricia Kaas, who was eighth in 2009, and Amir, several French broadcasters have been used to present Eurovision in the country, formerly RTF, ORTF and TF1. The first semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast, from 2015, France 2 resumed the responsibility of organising an entry and broadcasting the final and from 2016, both semi-finals will be broadcast by France 4. The change is an attempt to better ratings and results in forthcoming contests. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year, by France Inter from 1971 to 1998 and since 2001, in 1982, RTL Radio transmitted the contest due to the countrys absence that year. France has often changed the process used in order to find the countrys entry for the contest. France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision, winning the contest five times, coming second four times, France was ranked first in number of victories without interruptions from 1960 to 1993. Moreover, Amina was close to victory with the song Le Dernier qui a parlé. in 1991, therefore, the countback rule applied, but both countries had an equal number of twelve points, but the victory went to Sweden, when France had fewer 10-point scores. Today, with the new rules, France would have won the competition, one year before, France was also close to winning with Joëlle Ursull performing Serge Gainsbourgs song White and Black Blues. The song finished in second place with Irelands entry. However, in recent years, the French results have been somewhat disappointing, since 1998, when the televoting was invented, France has almost always been in the bottom-10 countries in the final, coming 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th. France finished in last place, for the first time in their Eurovision history, yet, France have had some good results during the 21st century. In 2001, Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came 4th for France with her song Je nai que mon âme, being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the 2002 contest, when Sandrine François came 5th with Il faut du temps, with these ambitions, the French superstar Patricia Kaas represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Guy Mardel in Naples (
1965)
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dan Ar Braz in Oslo (
1996)
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Les Fatals Picards in Helsinki (
2007)
15.
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 39 times since making its debut in 1973. Israel is able to enter the contest as a Israel Broadcasting Authority member organisation of the European Broadcasting Union, Israel has won the contest three times. Israels first appearance at the contest in 1973 was successful, with Ilanit finishing fourth, Israel then achieved back to back victories in 1978 and 1979, with wins for Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta, with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi and Gali Atari and Milk and Honey, with Hallelujah. The countrys best results in the 1980s were the second-place finishes for Avi Toledano in 1982, former winner Izhar Cohen returned to place fifth in 1985. Duo Datz finished third in 1991, before Israel achieved its third victory in 1998, with Dana International, Eden then finished fifth in 1999. Israel has hosted the contest twice, in 1979 and 1999, in 1980, the IBA declined to host the contest for a second successive year for financial reasons. Instead the contest was held in The Hague, as the date set for the 1980 contest conflicted with Yom Hazikaron – Israeli Memorial Day – Israel did not participate. This is the time that the winning country did not compete the following year. As of 2014, Israel has the record for most participations in the contest without ever coming last, since the Introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Israel has failed to reach the final six times. In 2014, the failed to qualify for the fourth consecutive year. In 2015, Israel reached the final for the first time in five years, the only Israeli entrant to achieve a better result in the 21st century is Shiri Maimon in 2005, who gave the country its tenth top five result in the contest, finishing fourth. To date there have been three Israeli victories in the contest, Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta won in Paris in 1978 with the uptempo A-Ba-Ni-Bi. On home ground in Jerusalem the following year, Israel won again, unusually, Israel did not defend the title in 1980. The third victory came almost 20 years later in Birmingham in 1998, singer Dana International took top honours with the song Diva, setting off widespread celebrations in Israel. Israels earliest selections were picked by the Israel Broadcasting Authority, the first singer to represent the country in 1973 was Ilanit, who finished 4th. Criticism increased after she was sent again four years later, leading to a rule that the winner of the already established Hebrew Song, the Eurovision Song Contest winners of 1978 and 1979 were selected by this method. From 1981 the selection process was handled by the Kdam Eurovision with the exceptions of 1990,1998,1999,2000, 2002–2004, 2006–2007 and 2010 where the selections were again picked by the IBA. The winner of the 1980 Hebrew Song and Chorus Festival, a band called The Brothers & the Sisters with the song Pizmon Chozer, after winning the contest in 1978 and 1979, the IBA was financially and logistically unable to organise the event for the second consecutive year
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Gali Atari and
Milk and Honey at Jerusalem (
1979)
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Israel
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
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David D'Or at Istanbul (
2004)
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Teapacks at Helsinki (
2007)
16.
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times, debuting in 1961 and competing every year until its last appearance in 1992, with the exceptions of 1977–1980 and 1985. Yugoslavia won the 1989 contest and hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, ljiljana Petrović was Yugoslavias first entrant in the contest in 1961 and placed eighth. In 1962, Lola Novaković gave the country its first top five result and this would remain Yugoslavias only top five result until 1983, when Danijel finished fourth with the song Džuli. Novi Fosili also finished fourth in 1987 with Ja sam za ples, in 1989, the country achieved its only victory in the contest, when Riva won with the song Rock Me. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, the first to compete in 1961 were Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb, while the others joined in the following years. During its existence, SFR Yugoslavia was represented by a variety of artists from five of the eight Yugoslav federal units and these artists were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with Macedonia, Vojvodina, and Kosovo never passing the national pre-selection. Croatia was the most successful constituent republic, as its performers won the national contest 13 out of the 26 times SFR Yugoslavia took part in the contest, from 1977 to 1980, and in 1985, Yugoslavia didnt participate in the contest. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song Rock Me by the group Riva, following the rules of the contest, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 took place in Zagreb, as the entry came from Croatia. On 28 March 1992, the countries that still constituted the fading and it included artists not only from Serbia and Montenegro, but also from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the latter declared independence on 1 March of that year, among it candidates was Alma Čardžić. The winner of that pre-selection was Ljubim te pesmama performed by Extra Nena from Serbia, Yugoslavia was banned from participating in the Song Contest until 2004 due to UN sanctions during the Yugoslav Wars and the Croatian War of Independence. After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia its former constituent republics proclaimed independence, the once subnational public radio and TV stations changed to national but under new names, including, RTV Slovenia, HRT, RTS, MKRTV and so on. Since joining the EBU respectively, all of the countries have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro. The following lists the 27 contestants that won the local competition, note that the selected entries of 1978–1980 and 1985 did not actually compete at the contest, as Yugoslavia did not participate during those years because of internal political reasons. Yugoslavia is one of the few countries that have sent all the songs in one of the official languages, despite this Yugoslavia have had organized national finale for 1978,1979,1980 as part of Opatija music festival. Opatija was not held in 1977, points to and from Yugoslavia eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Vice Vukov performing "
Čežnja " in Naples
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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(1961–1991)
Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eva Sršen performing "
Pridi, dala ti bom cvet " in Amsterdam
17.
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordis Hard Rock Hallelujah, previously, its best showing was Marion Rung’s song Tom Tom Tom in 1973, which was placed 6th. Finland has finished last in the contest ten times, receiving nul points in 1963,1965 and 1982, since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final six times. In 2014, the country had its best result for eight years when Softengine finished 11th, in 2015 Finland finished last in Semi Final One with the shortest ever Eurovision entry Aina mun pitää that only lasts 1 minute and 25 seconds by PKN. Before the 2006 victory, Finland was considered by many as the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision, prior to its triumph, it had placed last a total of eight times, once with nul points after the introduction of the current scoring method. Finlands entry in 1982, Nuku pommiin by Kojo, was one of fifteen songs since the modern scoring system was instituted in 1975 to earn no points. Due to low results, Finland was excluded from the contest in 1995,1997,1999,2001 and 2003, in 2006, Finland won with The band Lordi and its song Hard Rock Hallelujah, an entry different from the mainstream Europop that dominated the competition. The song broke records scoring the highest number of points in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was broken by Norway in 2009. All of Finlands entries were in English between 1973 and 1976 and again since 2000, both of these periods allowed submissions in any language, two entries,1990 and 2012, were in Swedish, which is an official language in Finland alongside Finnish. All of Finlands other songs have been in Finnish, in voting patterns, Finland has traditionally supported and been supported by the other Nordic countries. In recent years also the Baltic nations, such as Estonia and Latvia have been favoured by Finland, and the other way around. In 2004, Finlands first-place vote went to Sweden, in 2005, it contributed 12 points to Norway, in 2006, it was Russias turn to get the 12 points, but it was Serbia who got their top score in 2007. The first time in Eurovision history that Sweden gave Finland 12 points was in 2006 for Lordis song Hard Rock Hallelujah, in 2007, they repeated this, giving 12 points to Hanna Pakarinen with Leave Me Alone. Finland has also given notably high points to Italy, a country that had not competed in various periods, especially from 1998 to 2010, ^ In 2009, Finland qualified through the back-up jury selection. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Viktor Klimenko at
Naples (
1965)
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hanna Pakarinen at
Helsinki (
2007)
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Teräsbetoni at
Belgrade (
2008)
18.
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since its debut in the 1964 contest. Since then it has missed five contests,1970,2000,2002,2013 and 2016, Portugal has yet to win the contest and holds the record for most appearances in the contest without a win. In fact, the country has yet to reach the top five of any contest, the contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Portugals debut entry was António Calvário with Oração, it was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then Portugal has come last on two occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang E depois do adeus. Prior to Moniz finishing sixth in 1996, Portugals best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980,1996 remains the last time that Portugal reached the top ten. Despite having some really weak results the 90s were the most successful decade for the country reaching the top 10 four times, Portugal had admission to take part in the 2000 and 2002 contest but refused. Its place was taken by Latvia both times, which ended up winning the contest in the latter year, since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. The country did reach the final from 2008 to 2010, in 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song Senhora do Mar, Portugals best outcome since 1998. As of 2016,2010 remains the last time Portugal participated in the Eurovision final, having failed to qualify from the four more times. Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation, the countrys first absence was in 1970 where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner. Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, the fourth absence was in 2013, when Portugal didnt participate for financial reasons. The fifth absence was in 2016, Festival da Canção is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods, previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however recently the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009 and 2010, a 50-50 system between district juries and televote has been used. In the years when Portugal was absent from the contest, the Festival da Canção hasnt been held and it is worth noticing that three out of five times that Portugal was absent the contest was held in Sweden. Table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, in addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Simone de Oliveira at Naples (
1965)
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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José Cid at The Hague (
1980)
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sofia Vitória at Istanbul (
2004)
19.
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens, Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with 48 years between victories. Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958, having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austrias only top three result of 20th century, the countrys best result over the next 46 years would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, the country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011, because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests, the first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest, the following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place. From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well, the exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor. The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved high placings in the five previous years. They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final, despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF. ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy. It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Oslo, in July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany. In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004, ^ Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria. ^ Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria, ^ While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing ahead of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order. Therefore, Germany finished in 27th place, with Austria in 26th, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Udo Jürgens performing "
Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen " at
Naples (
1965)
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Tie Break performing "
Du bist " at
Istanbul (
2004)
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eric Papilaya performing "
Get a Life – Get Alive " at
Helsinki (
2007)
20.
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The Netherlands has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries competing in the very first contest in 1956. It has missed only four contests so far, the preselection process was often done through the Nationaal Songfestival, with the winner qualifying to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Netherlands has won the contest four times, with four victories, the Netherlands ranks in the top 10 most successful Eurovision countries. The countrys first two came in the 1950s, with Corry Brokken in 1957 and Teddy Scholten in 1959. Sandra & Andres finished fourth in 1972 and Mouth & MacNeal were third in 1974, the Netherlands best result of the 1980s was fifth, achieved by both Maggie MacNeal in 1980 and Marcha in 1987. In the 1990s, Ruth Jacott, with sixth place in 1993 and Edsilia Rombley, with fourth in 1998, the Netherlands have finished last in the contest final on four occasions, in 1958,1962,1963 and 1968. They also finished last in the semi-final in 2011, since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004, the Netherlands has reached the final on only four occasions, failing to reach the final for eight years in a row, from 2005–2012. Opting for a selection has fared well for the Netherlands since 2013, when Anouk became the first Dutch entry in nine years to qualify for the final. In 2016, the Netherlands once again qualified for the final, the Netherlands has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest four times, in 1958,1970,1976 and 1980. The first three times were after winning the year, while the 1980 contest was staged in the Netherlands. Similarly, the Netherlands had declined the right to organise the 1960 contest, the Netherlands has missed only four contests in its Eurovision history. The first of these was at the 1985 contest, held in Gothenburg, the contest, held on 4 May conflicted with the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead and as such the Netherlands withdrew. In 1991 the contest was held on 4 May. There was no Dutch participation in the 1995 and 2002 contests, the Netherlands did compete in 2000. But at 22,00 on Saturday 13 May, the broadcast was cancelled because of the Enschede fireworks disaster which happened a few hours before. The points awarded by the Netherlands were taken from the jury vote. Table key NOTE, The full results for the first contest are unknown, the official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. Willem van Beusekom provided NOS TV commentary every year from 1987 until 2005, however, on November 7,2005 it was announced that Van Beusekom would quit his role as Dutch commentator saying Its good to step back
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Conny Vandenbos at Naples (
1965)
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Netherlands
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Edsilia Rombley at Helsinki (
2007)
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hind at Belgrade (
2008)
21.
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since making its debut in 1958, missing only three contests since then. Sweden is one of the most successful competing nations at the Eurovision, with a total of six victories in the contest, Sweden is also the contests most successful country of the 21st century, with two wins from nine top five results. In total, Sweden has achieved 23 top five results in the contest, since 1959, the Swedish entry has been chosen through an annual televised competition, known since 1967 as Melodifestivalen. At the 1997 contest, Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting, Swedens first entrant in the contest was Alice Babs in 1958, who was placed fourth. This remained the countrys best result until 1966, when Lill Lindfors, Swedens first Eurovision victory was in 1974 with the song Waterloo, performed by ABBA. Thanks to their victory in Brighton, ABBA went on to worldwide success. In the 1980s, Sweden achieved three top three results. After Carola finished third in 1983, the Herreys gave Sweden its second victory in 1984 with Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley, kikki Danielsson then finished third in 1985. Carola returned to the contest in 1991, to give the Swedes their third win with Fångad av en stormvind, charlotte Nilsson gave the country a second win of the decade in 1999, with Take Me to Your Heaven. The 1990s also saw two third-place results, for Jan Johansen in 1995 and One More Time in 1996, in 2010, Anna Bergendahl became the first Swedish entrant to fail to make it to the final, finishing 11th in the semifinal, only five points from qualification. They also finished third in 2011 with Eric Saade and Popular, third in 2014 with Sanna Nielsen and Undo, and fifth with Frans and the song If I Were Sorry in 2016. Sweden has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest six times and is the country to have hosted the event in five different decades. Together with Croatia and Malta it was the country to never be relegated, under the previous rules of the contest. Melodifestivalen is a music competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television. It has chosen the representative for the Eurovision Song Contest since 1959. It is Swedens most popular shows, and it has been estimated that more than 4 million Swedes watch the show annually. Almost every Swedish entry for Eurovision has been selected through Melodifestivalen, only Swedens first entry in 1958, was not selected through Melodifestivalen, having been selected internally by the Swedish broadcaster at the time, Swedish Radio Service. ^ In 2008, Sweden qualified through the back-up jury selection, If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ingvar Wixell at
Naples (
1965)
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The Ark at
Helsinki (
2007)
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Charlotte Perrelli at
Belgrade (
2008)
22.
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
The countrys best result is two second-place finishes, with Selma in 1999 and Yohanna in 2009. As of 2016, Iceland is the only Northern European country that has yet to win the Eurovision Song Contest, with the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Iceland automatically qualified for the final that year thanks to Birgittas 8th place the previous year. In 2008, Iceland reached the final for the first time since then, since the two semi-final system was introduced in 2008, Iceland has qualified for the final in seven straight contests, however, it failed to qualify for the final in 2015 and in 2016. Despite these mixed fortunes, Iceland is the second most successful country never to win the contest, sigríður Beinteinsdóttir has participated four times. Hera Björk has participated four times, stefán Hilmarsson has participated twice, as have Selma Björnsdóttir, Eiríkur Hauksson, Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson and Gréta Salóme Stefánsdóttir. The Icelandic broadcaster for the contest is Ríkisútvarpið, table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, as of 2016, Icelands voting history is as follows, Iceland has broadcast the show since 1970. The first to be broadcast live was the 1983 edition after the plan to broadcast the 1982 contest failed, since 1985, RÚV has broadcast the contest on the radio using same commentator for TV and radio and the Internet broadcast since early 2000s. Points to and from Iceland eurovisioncovers. co. uk Iceland 2011 Tirydou Finales Nationales
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eiríkur Hauksson at Helsinki (
2007)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Iceland
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Euroband at Belgrade (
2008)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eythor Ingi at Malmö (
2013)
23.
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since making its debut at the 1965 Contest in Naples. Since then, they have missed only two contests, in 1983 in Munich and 2002 in Tallinn, Ireland is the most successful country in the contest, with a total of seven wins. Raidió Teilifís Éireann is Irelands representative broadcaster at the contest, the semi-finals are broadcast on RTÉ Two, All of the Irish entries have been performed in English with the exception of the 1972 entry, Ceol an Ghrá, which was sung in Irish. Sean Dunphy finished second at the 1967 contest, behind Sandie Shaw, before Dana gave Ireland its first victory in 1970, the countrys next best result of the 1970s was in 1977, when The Swarbriggs plus two finished third. Johnny Logan gave Ireland a second victory in 1980, with Whats Another Year, Logan then wrote the 1984 entry Terminal 3, which finished second, performed by Linda Martin. In 1987, Logan became the first and only performer to win the contest twice, Irelands most successful decade to date in the contest is the 1990s, which began with Liam Reilly finishing joint second in 1990. Ireland then achieved a three consecutive victories in the contest. In 1992,1984 runner-up Linda Martin returned to win with another Johnny Logan composition and this was followed up by Niamh Kavanaghs victory over Sonia in 1993 with In Your Eyes and Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan winning in 1994 with Rock n Roll Kids. The decade saw yet another victory in 1996 when Eimear Quinn won with The Voice, Ireland also finished second in 1997 with Marc Roberts. In the 21st century, Ireland has fared well, only reaching the top 10 on three occasions, with Eamonn Toal sixth in 2000, Brian Kennedy tenth in 2006 and Jedward eighth in 2011. Ireland finished last in the final for the first time in 2007, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ireland has failed to reach the final six times, in 2005,2008,2009,2014,2015 and 2016. 2016 marked the first time that Ireland failed to qualify in three consecutive years, Ireland has competed in the Contest almost continuously since the countrys debut in 1965. In 1983 a strike at the national broadcaster RTÉ meant that the station lacked the resources to send a participant so RTÉ broadcast the Contest with the BBC commentary feed. In 2002 Ireland was relegated from the Contest, in keeping with the EBU rules, RTÉ broadcast that years event as they intended to return in 2003, and a TV commentator was sent to the host city, Tallinn. Ireland has sent 50 entries to the Eurovision Song Contest, of these seven have won, Ireland has been relegated once, in 2001 Gary OShaughnessy finished twenty-first with Without Your Love. In addition, six Irish entries have featured in the semi-final of the Contest, in 2005, Donna & Joe finished fourteenth in the pre-qualifier, failing to qualify for the final. In 2006, Brian Kennedy finished ninth in the semi-final, ensuring an Irish presence in the Athens final, Kennedy finished tenth in the final. Ireland also featured in the first semi-final in 2008 and in the second semi-final in 2009, Irelands recent results in the Contest have been poor in comparison to the 1990s, coming last in 2007 and 2013
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Butch Moore at Naples (
1965)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ireland
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dana at Amsterdam (
1970)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Red Hurley At The Hague (
1976)
24.
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Malta has never won the contest, although it has twice finished second and twice finished third. Maltas two seconds and two thirds, make it the most successful country not to win the contest, in the last 10 contests, Malta has only once reached the top 10, when Gianluca Bezzina finished eighth in 2013. Together with France, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the only use of the Maltese language was three lines in the 2000 entry Desire, performed by Claudette Pace. The Maltese broadcasters of the show are the Public Broadcasting Services, all shows are transmitted live on TVM and Radio Malta. Also, along with Croatia and Sweden it was the country to never be relegated, under the previous rules of the contest. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Julie and Ludwig at Istanbul (
2004)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Olivia Lewis at Helsinki (
2007)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Morena at Belgrade (
2008)
25.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Spain has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since making its debut in 1961, where they finished ninth. Spain has competed in the contest continuously since the debut in 1961. The only country with a run of uninterrupted Eurovision appearances is the United Kingdom. The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969s four way tie and the 1970 contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Spain has also finished second in the contest four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995, and third in 1984 with Bravo. The country finished last with Nul points in 1962,1965 and 1983, Spain has had less success in recent years, failing to reach the top 10 in 10 of the last 12 contests. The exceptions being 10th-place finishes for Pastora Soler in 2012 and Ruth Lorenzo in 2014, Spain has regularly changed the selection process used in order to find the countrys entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection has been held by the broadcaster at the time. Between 1977 and 1999, Spains entries were selected internally by TVE, before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín in 1971, were alternated. From 2000, Spain has used various formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a final called Eurocanción. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, in 2007, Spains entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again. From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the used by TVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Salvemos Eurovisión, a website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much, nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again, for 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Eurovisión 2009, El retorno, although some changes were introduced in the format. The result was the worst in the 2000s, 24th place, in 2010, a similar format, Eurovisión, Destino Oslo, selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004. In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Destino Eurovisión, after a further disappointing result, for 2012, TVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song. A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004, in 2014, TVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called Mira quién va a Eurovisión, five artists were invited to participate by TVE. A top ten result was achieved for the time in three years
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Conchita Bautista at Naples (
1965)
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Spain
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Julio Iglesias at Amsterdam (
1970)
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ramón at Istanbul (
2004)
26.
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the contest hosted by SR and held in Stockholm, Sweden. The arena for the event was the newly built Stockholmsmässan in Älvsjö in southern Stockholm, aBBAs victory in Brighton the previous year gave Sweden the right to host the contest for the first time. The Contest was won by Teach-In, who sang Ding-a-dong in English, the venue for the contest was Stockholmsmässan. The main building is in Älvsjö – a southern suburb of Stockholm Municipality for which the building got its nickname and it was constructed in 1971 and holds 4,000 people. This year a new scoring system was implemented, each country would be represented by a jury of 11 members, at least half of whom had to be under the age of 26. Each jury member had to every song a mark of between 1 and 5 points, but could not vote for their own nations entry. The votes were cast immediately after the song was performed and collected by the straight away. The jury spokesperson then announced the ten scores in the order the songs were presented when called upon by the hostess, the hostess Karin Falck several times confused the new system with questions like How much is seven in France. Unlike today, the points were not given in order, the current procedure of announcing the scores in ascending order, beginning with 1 point, was not established until 1980. This scoring system remained in use until 1996, although the number of jurors varied, in from 1997, some juries were replaced by televotes and from 1998, all countries were encouraged to televote when possible. In the 2009 final and the 2010 semi-finals, the juries were reintroduced to provide 50% of the scores, despite these changes in how the points were decided, the douze points scoring system remained in place from 1975-2015. In 2016 it was altered to each country providing two separate sets of points, however, modelled after the former model, greece withdrew from this contest in response to the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, in protest of Turkeys participation. Despite this, a record of nineteen countries took part, turkey made their début, while France and Malta returned to the contest. The Portuguese entry Madrugada was a celebration of the Carnation Revolution. Some competitors opted to perform their songs in English for the rehearsals heard by the judges, others, such as Belgium and Germany, opted for a mix of their own language and English. Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra, norways Ellen Nikolaysen was the only participant to return to the contest this year. Ellens previous participations where with the band Bendik Singers in 1973, each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
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Stockholm International Fairs in Älvsjö, Stockholm. Host venue of the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Eurovision Song Contest 1975
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Teach-In leaving from Amsterdam Airport for the European Song Contest 1975
27.
Eurovision Song Contest 1982
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 24 April 1982 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, the German entrant, Nicole, was winner with the song Ein bißchen Frieden. Germany received 1.61 times as many points as runner-up Israel, which was a record under the current scoring system until 2009 and this was the first time that Germany won the contest. They have competed in the every year since the contests inception. The opening of the contest showed a map of Europe, with the translation Where is Harrogate, popping up on-screen from the languages of the various countries. The question was always in the language in which the countrys song was performed. The Irish entry was sung in English, but the translation of the question in the map was in Irish, then the map zoomed into Harrogates location in Yorkshire, followed by an introduction video spotlighting the town. Greece was due to participate in the contest with the song Sarantapente Kopelies performed by Themis Adamantidis, although drawn to perform in second place, ERT withdrew the entry a few weeks before the contest. Antenne 2 became the new broadcaster for Eurovision after public outcry, the tradition of previous years winners handing over the prize to current winners was not followed by Bucks Fizz, winners in 1981. Irish band Chips lost out in their national finals, which would, had they been successful, have led to the situation of two bands in the same Eurovision with the same name. Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England, historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB, Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. The town became known as The English Spa in the Georgian Era, in the 17th and 18th centuries its chalybeate waters were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town. The Harrogate International Centre was chosen as the host venue for the contest, the grand convention and exhibition centre opened short time prior to the contest, and was the first big event held in the main 2000-seat auditorium. There were 18 competitors in this years final, No year since has had this few competitors in the final of the competition. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs, Germany had the advantage of performing last. After coming second in 1980 and second in Dublin the year previously, Ralph Siegel, the winner, Nicole, beat the nearest competition by 61 points and over 13 million West Germans watched her victory on television. Germany was the leader for nearly the entire voting process
Eurovision Song Contest 1982
28.
Eurovision Song Contest 1984
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1984, the 29th event of its kind, was held on 5 May 1984 in Luxembourg. The presenter, Désirée Nosbusch, only 19 years old at the time, hosted the show in a lax manner, which was quite unusual for the show at the time. She manifested her fluency in four languages by switching between a strong transatlantic English, French, German and Luxembourgish in the course of talking, swedens the Herreys were the winners of this contest with the song, Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley. This was the Nordic countrys second win, and the first song performed in Swedish, the previous Swedish winner, ABBA, ten years ago had performed their song Waterloo in English. Israel withdrew from the contest due to Yom Hazikaron being commemorated on the same date, iceland was going to participate but withdrew due to lack of financial support. 1984 is also a notable for the audible booing that could be heard from the audience and it was said that the booing was due to English football hooligans having rioted in Luxembourg in November 1983 after being knocked out of the UEFA European Football Championship. However, the song managed a pretty good showing, reaching seventh place. The city of Luxembourg, also known as Luxembourg City, is a commune with city status, and it is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg, became the venue for the 1984 contest. It is the major venue for drama, opera and ballet. It also hosted the 1973 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, host conductor in bold Notes 1. ^ Contains some words in English. 2. ^ Contains some words in Italian,3. ^ Contains some words in German. Before the contest, Sweden was not expected to win or even achieve a high placing, in the run-up to the Contest, bookmakers Ladbrokes had the lowest odds on songs from Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Sweden was considered a dark horse entry with high odds, each country had a jury that awarded one to eight,10 and 12 points for their top ten songs. At the close of the jurys votes, there was only a difference of six points between Sweden and Ireland, at 141 and 135 respectively. However, Yugoslavia was the country who had not given any points to Ireland, and Portugal. Portugals voting also cost Denmark, who had been holding at a third position, even leading the scoreboard for a short time, in that place. Portugal at the time had only given Denmark one point making Denmarks total 101 points
Eurovision Song Contest 1984
29.
Eurovision Song Contest 1986
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 3 May 1986 in Grieghallen in Bergen, Norway. It was the first occasion on which Norway played host to the contest, the presenter was Åse Kleveland, a well-known folk guitarist who was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians. The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests—Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise, Sandra Kim was the winner of this Eurovision with the song Jaime la vie, representing Belgium. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner, current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kims record will never be broken. In the lyrics of her song, Kim claimed to be 15 years of age, switzerland, who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but this was to no avail. By 1985, Norway had received the distinction of being the nul points country. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the years contest at the Grieghallen in Bergen, turning down other bids from capital Oslo. In addition, NRK also had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenter Åse Kleveland for her opening number, the prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 pounds, is still available for viewing at NRKs costuming department at Marienlyst in Oslo. Kleveland sang the multilingual Welcome to Music as the act, incorporating English and French primarily. BBC commentator Terry Wogan, at the close of Klevelands number, dryly remarked, Katie Boyle never sang, did she. So, imagine our joy when last year we won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway. One of the interval acts presented featured Norwegian musicians Sissel Kyrkjebø and Steinar Ofsdal, accompanied by Norwegian national broadcasting orchestra, Kringkastingsorkesteret. They opened with the song of the city of Bergen, Udsikter fra Ulriken. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such as accordion, recorder, the presentation launched Kyrkjebø into a career as an internationally recognized artist. Iceland competed for the first time, as the national broadcaster RÚV finally cemented their satellite television connections with the rest of Europe, greece withdrew, having been drawn eighteenth in order of presentation. The reason behind the withdrawal, was that the Eurovision contest coincided with Holy Saturday and their entry would have been Wagon-lit performed by Polina. The Italian broadcaster, RAI, simply decided not to send any delegation to Bergen, host conductor in bold The winning song, Belgiums Jaime la vie, received points from every jury. Belgium was the winner in the voting from the results of the jury out of twenty
Eurovision Song Contest 1986
30.
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th Eurovision Song Contest, held on 29 May 1999 in Jerusalem, Israel after Dana International won the contest the previous year in the United Kingdom. The venue for the contest was the International Convention Center, the place that hosted the 1979 contest. Israels two previous winners, Izhar Cohen, who won in 1978 with A-Ba-Ni-Bi and Milk and Honeys Gali Atari who won it the year with Hallelujah attended as spectators. The winner of the Contest was Charlotte Nilsson, representing Sweden with Take Me to Your Heaven and this was Swedens fourth win in the Contest and the second in the 1990s. In the run-up to the Contest, many speculated that it would not be held in Israel, long-standing rules in place for decades were abolished during this Contest, rules that each country had to sing in one of their national languages was abolished for the first time since 1977. Furthermore, live music became optional for the first time in the Contests history, IBA took advantage of this and decided to drop the orchestra from the Contest as a way to conserve money for the show. This meant that for the first time all entries used backing track during their performances and this caused controversy for Eurovision traditionalists, with three-time winner Johnny Logan criticising the move, describing the event now as karaoke. Latvia had attempted to participate in the Contest for the first time and this gave Hungary a chance to enter the Contest, however, Magyar Televízió decided not to take part. This allowed Portugal to compete as the 23rd country, austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark and Iceland returned to the Contest after being relegated from competing in 1998. Lithuania also returned to the Contest for the first time in five years, the Lithuanian delegation had had budget problems to contend with, and so the EBU allowed the Lithuanians to arrive in Israel a day later than everyone else. The first delegation on the hand to walk the Holy Land were Estonia. After being relegated from the 1998 Contest, Russias Channel One had decided not to broadcast that years contest, however, as only countries which had broadcast the previous years contest were allowed to enter the next years contest, Russia was forced to miss another year. They were joined by Finland, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland, the favourites to win the Contest came from Icelands Selma with All Out of Luck, and Cypruss Marlain with Tha Ne Erotas, after an internet poll by fans. But, while Iceland finished second to Sweden, Cyprus failed to inspire televotes, a number of controversies occurred before the Contest. Both artists would eventually represent their countries in Eurovision, in 2006 and 2002 respectively, croatias entry attracted objections from the Norwegian delegation, due to synthesised male vocals being used on the backing track of Doris Dragovićs entry. The interval act was provided by Dana International, who performed a cover of the Stevie Wonder song Free, Dana International also appeared at the end of the show, handing the winning trophy to Nilsson. After pretending that the trophy was too heavy to lift, she fell to the stage, below is a summary of all 12 point in the final
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
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Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
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The venue of the contest,
International Convention Center in Jerusalem
31.
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
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It was the first time since 1996 that the contest was held on mainland Europe. The contest was the second to be held in Stockholm, the presenters were Kattis Ahlström and Anders Lundin, and the contest was won by the Olsen Brothers who represented Denmark with the song Fly on the Wings of Love. The song was written by one of the brothers, Jørgen Olsen, the Globe Arena was, at the time, the largest venue chosen to host the contest with a capacity of 16,000 spectators. The postcards used to each country participating involved Swedish themes that incorporated each nation in some respect. All the postcards are filmed in Stockholm, Sweden, however, the exception is the postcard for Sweden. The favourite in this years contest was Estonia, who was also a fan favourite, however, as the voting results came in, Denmark immediately took control of the scoreboard, beating Russia into second place and Latvia into 3rd place. Slovakia, Greece and Hungary decided not to compete for financial reasons and these countries were, Finland, Macedonia, Romania, Russia and Switzerland. Latvia also joined contest as the country to debut. For the first time, an official CD compilation was released, such a disc was attempted in the previous year, however it lacked four of the competing songs. SVT announced on July 7,1999 that the contest would be hosted by the Globe Arena in Stockholm, other possible candidates had been Scandinavium in Gothenburg and Malmömässan in Malmö. They had previously hosted Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 1992 respectively, the Globe was said to be chosen because Stockholm hadnt hosted the contest since 1975 and that it would be somewhat cheaper than the other options. The graphic design programme for this years contest was developed by Stockholm Design Lab and was centred around a stylised mouth symbol and it was given the Excellent Swedish Design award later that year. The softness of the mouth was contrasted with a pointy typeface, the intermission during the finale of the ESC was Once Upon a Time Europe Was Covered With Ice, a movie/song directed, composed and edited by Johan Söderberg and produced by John Nordling. For the film Söderberg had traveled all over Europe to record children performing the score, on stage were violinist Caroline Lundgren, drummer Strängnäs Trumkorps plus street musicians from Stockholm and dancers from the Bounce Street Dance Company. There were some controversies concerning some participating countries, israel, who opened the contest, entered a group who waved Israeli and Syrian flags advocating peace between the two nations. The two male singers in the also ran up to each other and kissed for a brief moment. This issue was rejected by the European Broadcasting Union, later, NOS declared that it was both for practical reasons as well as because they found it inappropriate to broadcast a light entertainment programme on the night of such a catastrophic event. As a result, televoting had to be suspended and the Dutch votes were given by a jury instead
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
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Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2000
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
32.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi originally chose to host a National Selection, but then decided on an Internal Selection. Sakis Rouvas was chosen with Shake It and placed 3rd at Eurovision, at first, ERT organized a National Final that consisted of a Pop Idol style TV show called Eurostar which started on December 5,2003. 36 people were selected to compete and were divided into three groups of twelve, the contestants of each group had to compete against each other over two heats. The six contestants with the highest score of each group proceeded to the following round, the winner and the two finalists from Eurostar were then given the opportunity of performing back-up vocals in Istanbul, Turkey. As Greece had not finished in the top 10 at the 2003 Contest and it was performed tenth following Monacos Märyon with Notre Planète and preceding Ukraines Ruslana with Wild Dances. At the close of voting, it had received 238 points, placing 3rd in the 22-strong field, in the final, it was performed sixteenth following Macedonias Toše Proeski with Life and preceding Icelands Jónsi with Heaven. Sakis Rouvas performed with two dancers with his vocals to the side. During the performance Sakis ripped off the white suits his dancers were wearing to reveal sparkling tassel attire, the dancers later ripped off Sakis jacket. At the close of voting, it had received 252 points and it was succeeded as Greek representative at the 2005 Contest by Elena Paparizou with My Number One. Rouvas entry Shake It broke and still maintains a number of records, with 252 points, Shake It is the highest-scoring third place entrant in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. This record was held by Maltas 1998 performance by Chiara Siracusa with The One That I Love that earned 166 points. Although there were only 25 countries voting in 1998 and 36 in 2004, the current runner-up is Bosnia and Herzegovinas 2006 Lejla by Hari Mata Hari with 229 points. Meanwhile, it received 238 points in the semi-final, becoming the third place in the semi-final as well. Shake It is by far Greeces most successful entrant in cumulative points and it received 252 points from 35 other countries, making it the highest-scoring Greek entrant to date. Both of these records were held by Antique with Die For You in 2001, having scored 147 from 22 countries. Rouvas effort is only the second entrant of Greece that was awarded points by other country in a single contest. However, in 2001, only 23 countries voted, while in 2004,36 countries voted, however, the record was broken the following year. Finally, Shake It is by far the most successful Greek Eurovision entrant in charts and it peaked at number 1 for an extended amount of weeks in both Greece and Cyprus
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Rouvas speaking at a press conference after the
Eurovision 2004 Semi-Final. Also featured are
Macedonia's Toše Proeski and
Cyprus' Lisa Andreas.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Rouvas representing Greece at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in
Istanbul on May 15, 2004.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Rouvas and his dancers performed a traditional Greek
syrtaki combining Greek and Western culture.
33.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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Greece participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, its first Eurovision Song Contest victory. Greek national broadcaster Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi internally selected Helena Paparizou who sang My Number One in Kiev, the song is written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou, and composed by Christos Dantis. My Number One was selected through a final on March 2,2005, where the public. The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 marked Greeces twenty-sixth entry in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 1974. Prior to the contest, its best result was third place which was achieved twice, in 2001 with the song Die for You performed by the duo Antique and in 2004 with Shake It performed by Sakis Rouvas. Greeces least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, the Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. Its selection techniques have varied from national finals where the public selects the entry, to internal selections like used in 2004, for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, ERT decided to hold a televised national final after internally selecting an artist. Throughout the months preceding the national selection, rumors flooded Eurovision news websites about which artist would be representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. There was a selection for the artist, being chosen by the broadcaster, while there would be a national final for the song. The first artist given a proposal to represent Greece in the 2005 contest was Sakis Rouvas. During a press conference on 15 June 2004 discussing plans for the 50th contest, ERT was expecting an answer by mid-July but Rouvas response did not come until the 22nd of the month. He considered it, but ultimately felt that another artist should receive the opportunity, eSCToday mentioned that Rouvas decision is expected to sadden Greek fans, who generally supported the idea of him competing again. ERT would continue to ask Rouvas to represent them every year until he finally accepted again in 2009, meanwhile, in June 2004, Anna Vissi stated that she would go to Eurovision if she was asked to. The network kept the format, seeking high-profile acts. A few months later on November 27,2004, it was reported that Despina Vandi was ready to sign the necessary contracts though nothing was announced by ERT. The rumored contract, brokered between Vandis record label Heaven Music and ERT would have included a term that all of Vandis songs to be written by popular Greek songwriter Phoebus. The next day, November 28,2004, ERTs Eurovision spokeswoman Daphne Bokota stated that Despina Vandi and ERT were close to a deal and she also said that Vandi was worried about participating in the Eurovision Song Contest while her international career was going well. Here at ERT, we dont understand Greek artists are so insecure to participate, Bokota ended by saying that they would announce the artist within the next five to ten days and that a possible backup was Helena Paparizou
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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Greek-Swedish journalist
Alexandra Pascalidou who hosted the national final replaced long-running commentator
Dafni Bokota.
34.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi chose to hold a national final this year after efforts to find a big name artist for an internal selection failed. The artists involved were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta, the national final took place February 28,2007, and was called Eurovision 2007. Each artist choose a song, and performed it in their own way, the winner was Sarbel with the song Yassou Maria which was chosen via 50% Tele-voting/SMS Messaging and 50% internal jury. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year, Greeces least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus. The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcasts the event in Greece each year, as every other year since his first participation in the 2004 contest, ERT asked Sakis Rouvas to represent Greece but he did not accept. The national final took place on February 28,2007 at the Athinon Arena, at 9,00 PM CET with hosts Fotis Sergoulopoulos, the artists involved in the national final were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta. The winner was chosen via 50% Tele-voting/SMS Messaging and 50% internal jury, similar to the previous years show, there was also entertainment in the show. Greek entertainment included Natasa Theodoridou, Michalis Hatzigiannis, and Despina Olympiou, Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas were also guest at the show but did not sing. The hosts also provided comedy skits, a show to past entries. It was broadcast live by ERT, ERT World, and a webcast via their site www. ERT. gr and it was also broadcast live by 8 other countries. The winner of the selection was Sarbel with the song Yassou Maria, Sarbel described the song as a whole new style within itself because of its Pop, Latin, and touch of ethnic Greek sounds. Sarbel was accompanied on stage by four female dancers and he wore black leather pants, and a silver shirt. There were blue lights and fire in the background, the choreography was complex which led to some problems with his microphone. Tamta chose to sing the ballad With Love composed by Eurovision veteran Nikos Terzis, the ballad included ethnic Balkan sounds in addition to the main melody and a part of the song was in Greek. Tamta went on stage with 2 male dancers and had an act with pyrotechnics. She wore a dress with while glove and a white hood. The male dancers used red ribbon-flags on stage, the video wall in the background showed the words love and happiness in different languages. The song had a glitch in it mid-way when one of the dancers stepped on a wire
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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Sarbel at Eurovision 2007 Final in Helsinki, Finland
35.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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Greece entered the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song Secret Combination, written by Konstantinos Pantzis with lyrics by Poseidonas Giannopoulos. The song was performed by Kalomoira, an American singer of Greek descent who had won a Greek talent show. Secret Combination was selected to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest by a combination of a public televote and panel of judges. Following a promotional tour of many European cities, Secret Combination came first in the first of the Eurovision semi-finals at Belgrade in May, in Greeces twenty-ninth Eurovision appearance on May 24, Secret Combination initially led the voting with full marks from six countries. However, the song finished third, behind Russia and Ukraine. Greece had previously won the competition in 2005, after the show, the song went on to chart in several European countries, reaching number one in Greece and Cyprus. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year, Greeces least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus. The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcasts the event in Greece each year, ERT officials had also approached Elli Kokkinou to represent Greece, but she declined the offer as she was pregnant. Greek singers Martakis and Chrispa, though young and fairly new, had album releases at the time of the contest, Kostas Martakis had emerged from the reality talent show Dream Show in 2006, releasing the album Anatropi in 2007 which reached #9 in the Greek chart. Chrispa started her career in 2003 and had released four studio albums. Kalomoira, born in the United States but of Greek descent, had gained popularity in Greece after winning the Greek talent show Fame Story in 2004, before her Eurovision appearance, she had released three studio albums, the first of which was certified gold. The participants songs had to be submitted to ERT by January 25,2008 in order to be accepted. On February 3,2008, Kalomoira and Kostas Martakis songs for the final were leaked via the internet. At the February 6 press conference at the Athens Hilton Hotel, ERT officially revealed the songs to the media, the national final would take place on February 27,2008 at the Athinon Arena with the winner being chosen via 60% Televoting/SMS Messaging and 40% internal jury. Chrispas record label, Minos EMI, chose a song composed by Marios Psimopoulos with lyrics by Antonis Papas, Antonis Papas had previously written lyrics for Elina Konstantopoulous Pia Prosefhi in 1995 and Antiques Die for You in 2001 which both represented Greece. The provisional title of the song was SOS for Love, the song has an ethnic style, described as a Dance Oriental, with lyrics in both Greek and English. Kostas Martakis and his label, Sony BMG Greece, chose Always and Forever. Kontopoulos is known for his songs and had previously submitted songs to past national finals including Welcome To The Party for Anna Vissi in 2006
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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Kalomoira and Cyprus'
Evdokia Kadi at a Eurovision Party on May 16, 2008.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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Kalomoira singing at the Eurovision Semi-final
36.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song This Is Our Night sung by Sakis Rouvas. After choosing the artist, ERT set up a final held on February 18,2009 to select the song. Rouvas sang three songs, all with music written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, and This Is Our Night was declared the winner. Following the selection of the song, Rouvas began a tour around Europe and appeared on many shows. At the second semi-final of the Contest on May 14, Greece qualified for the final after coming in place with 110 points. At the May 16 final, Rouvas presented This Is Our Night eighth out of 25 and at the end of voting, was awarded seventh place, following the introduction of the semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. Greeces least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, the Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. For the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, ERT was able to secure a high-profile artist once again, announced in July 2008, Sakis Rouvas represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. This was Rouvas second appearance at Eurovision as a performer, in 2004, he represented Greece with Shake It, placing third, and in 2006, he hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens alongside Maria Menounos. On October 14,2008, ERT held a conference to officially present Rouvas as the entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. It was also announced that Dimitris Kontopoulos will be the composer to submit songs. Another press conference followed on February 12,2009 where ERT presented the three entries to the media. The public along with a jury had three songs to choose from, all composed by Dimitris Kontopoulos. All three songs were choreographed by Fokas Evagelinos, on February 10,2009, two days ahead of the song press conference, song titles and lyricists were revealed to the media. Alexandra Zakka is a young upcoming lyricist who speaks English, French, German, the national final took place on February 18,2009 at the Athinon Arena. Betty and Mathildi Maggira presented the show, and will also be the Greek commentators at the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The show had a concept of Eurovision history and included a flashback to the Eurovision world from 1956 when the contest was broadcast on radio to the present. The show was directed by Giorgos Kapoutzidis, along with televoting, a seven-member expert jury picked the entry
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Sakis Rouvas, as seen at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was once again selected as the singer for Greece.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Ani Lorak and
Philipp Kirkorov were frequent collaborators of Rouvas during his promo tour. Controversy of the nature of Rouvas and Kirkorov's friendship later led to Kirkorov withdrawing as head of the Russian jury.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Rouvas in Moscow.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
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Rouvas –as seen here raising the
Greek flag – was given full support by Greek media after his result.
37.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Greece, in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, selected the song Opa sung by Giorgos Alkaios & Friends as their entry, by a national selection on 12 March 2010. The songs that each singer and ERT picked were first heard by the public through ERTs website on 26 February, following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. The least successful result was in 1998 when with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa placing twentieth, receiving only twelve points in total, the Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, is in charge of Greeces participation each year, including the selection process for its entry. A departure from this method was a reality talent competition format inspired by the Idol series that ran for many months in 2004. The notability of the participants has also varied, from previously unsigned acts to established music superstars, since the 2010s ERT has used national finals with generally less-established acts. On 12 January it was decided that the final would be pushed back from to 10 February March 2010. By late January, ERT once again chose to move the date of the final, the participating songs were scheduled to be revealed the week before the final on 5 March during a two-hour televised program as opposed to the press conference used in previous years. The artistic direction of the final was headed by Fokas Evangelinos. The winning act was chosen via 50% televoting and 50% jury voting, after an open call to record labels to submit proposals, ERT officially announced on 18 December 2009 the ten participants for the Greek national final. The majority of the performers are newcomers in the Greek music scene. On 12 January 2010, Despina Ricci announced her withdrawal from the national final citing a busy schedule, her spot was not filled leaving nine participants for the final. Later on 25 February 2010, Eleftheria Eleftheriou was disqualified as well, after her song Tables Are Turning was leaked onto the internet, the 5 March presentation show was still broadcast the following week, with the public viewing each participants song in the form of a video. It was broadcast on NET and ERT World and was hosted by Dimitra Agkriotou, the national final took place on 12 March 2010 and was hosted by Rika Vaggiani and Jenny Balatsinou. The winner was decided through televoting and jury, each weighted equally, the winner was Giorgos Alkaios & Friends with the song Opa. The placings of the participants were not revealed. On 15 March 2010, ERT revealed the jury and televoting results of the top three songs, songs were awarded points as they would in the Eurovision Song Contest. As the top three songs were all tied in points, the public vote prevailed with Giorgos Alkaios winning. Due to financial constraints facing ERT, the entry had a limited budget compared to past years, with ERT only paying for the music video
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Disqualified participant
Katerine Avgoustakis appeared as a special guest in the show
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Alkaios attending an event for the contest in Oslo.
38.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, held between 6 and 10 May 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their entry was selected through Eurosong 2014 - a MAD show, following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. Its least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus. The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, was in charge of Greeces participation each year, one of the more unusual methods was a reality television talent competition format inspired by the Idol series that ran for many months in 2004, ultimately being scrapped. The notability of the participants has also varied, from previously unsigned acts to established music superstars, since the 2010s, ERT has used national finals with generally less-established acts. In August 2013, the Greek government shut down the radio and TV services of the state broadcaster ERT, the event supervisor of the Contest said regarding Greeces participation, EBU will do its best to have Greece on board, given the fact of the special occasion. It was also said that the Greek government has to form the new broadcaster, NERIT, on 5 November 2013, NERIT confirmed the participation of the country. Eurosong 2014 – a MAD show was the Greek national final, dimosia Tileorasi officially confirmed in February 2014 that it would collaborate with the private music channel MAD TV to take on the organization and production of a national final. On 11 February 2014, DT and MAD TV officially announced the four acts that would take part in a national final, all four acts were signed to the record label Panik Records or its imprint Platinum Records. The four competing acts were, Freaky Fortune feat, riskyKidd Crystallia Kostas Martakis Mark F. Angelo feat. Josephine Promotional videos of the songs were presented during a public news programme on 5 March 2014. The national final took place on 11 March 2014 at the Acro Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Despina Vandi and Giorgos Kapoutzidis. The guests included Paschalis Arvanitidis, Marianna Toli, Robert Williams, Bessy Argyraki, Melisses, Elpida, Tamta, Sophia Vossou, Demy, Katy Garbi, Vegas, Kalomira, the winner was selected via 50% public televoting/SMS and 50% internal jury. The internal jury consisted of Dimitris Kontopoulos, Elpida, Themis Georgantas, Areti Kalesaki, during the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Greece was drawn to compete in the second half of the second semi-final on 8 May 2014. In the second semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Greece would perform 13th, following Switzerland, Greece qualified from the second semi-final to compete in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winners press conference for the second semi-final qualifiers, Greece was allocated to compete in the first half of the final, the result was the 20th place for the Greek delegation, which equalled their worst placing in the history of the country in the Contest. The Greek votes in the final were based on 50% jury voting. Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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The Eurosong 2014 logo.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Freaky Fortune and Riskykidd at the second semi-final dress rehearsal
39.
Marinella
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Marinella is one of the most popular Greek singers whose career has spanned several decades. She has sung professionally since 1957, since the beginning of her career, she has released 66 solo albums and has been featured on albums by other musicians. She was born Kyriaki Papadopoulou, in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece and her parents were Greek refugees from Istanbul. She is the fourth and last child of a large family, the whole family gathered around the turntable and sang, while her father tried to teach children the steps of the waltz and the tango. From the age of four years singing on the radio broadcast in Pediki Ora and later did ads for shops such as Melka in Thessaloniki and she participated in many performances of childrens theatre. One day, the singer fell sick and sought Marinella as a replacement. At that moment, the Greek music world found one of its best representatives, Marinella became the lead singer of the troupe. She later joined the Military Theatre because the remuneration was better, at the same time she started her career as a singer at the Panorama centre of Thessaloniki, where Tolis Harmas coined the name Marinella for her, inspired by his song. She released her first song in 1957, Nitsa, Elenitsa and her early career was marked by her collaboration with singer Stelios Kazantzidis. Together they managed to become the greatest duet of Greece, unsurpassed even today, starting at the night club Luxembourg in Thessaloniki where they enjoyed great success, they later moved to Athens, the capital, where they became widely known. Marinella married Stelios Kazantzidis on 7 May 1964 and they toured together in Germany, Marinella then began a solo career and eventually in 1974 married singer Tolis Voskopoulos. This second marriage ended in divorce in 1981. On October 24,1970, the Billboard wrote Marinella from Greece, knows audiences in Athens clubs, carries enchantment in her songs and she also performed in several Greek musicals, both as singer and actress. Her popularity rose in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with a string of successful albums and she developed a new standard for shows in the Greek night clubs, introducing costumes, dancing, and special lighting effects. On 27 April 1998, Marinella performed in the Athens Concert Hall and her concert at the small Olympic Stadium of Athens on 1 October 1999 was a great success with more than 25,000 people. In November 2002, she collaborated with George Dalaras and they performed concerts in Athens and Thessaloniki as well as abroad. The tour was titled Mazi and the live album from these performances reached platinum status in 2003. On 10 April 2003, the New York Times wrote about Marinella Her voice was earthy and strong, in March 2004, she released a brand new album with new songs by Nikos Antypas and Lina Nikolakopoulou, entitled Ammos Itane
Marinella
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Marinella Μαρινέλλα
40.
Mariza Koch
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Mariza Koch is a Greek folk music singer who has recorded many albums since starting her career in 1971. On the wider stage she is best remembered for representing her homeland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song Panayia Mou, Mariza Koch was born in Athens in 1944 but lived in her mothers hometown in Santorini from a young age. In an off-beat but original way Mariza Koch began her career in 1971 with an album titled Arabas. It consisted of a collection of traditional Greek folk songs blended with unusual beats from traditional, one could even term the sound as folk rock. On the other hand, Marizas unique vocals became the center piece of the music which on more than one occasion needed no accompaniment, no matter what one called it, the album was a resounding success. More albums followed with the sound eventually mellowing back into the original sounds of the past. Kochs most recent album included elements of traditional Greek music and Jazz Fusion, on 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked Koch the 29th top-certified female artist in the nations phonographic era. 1971 «Αραμπάς» Arabas, the first Golden Disc in history of music in Greece
Mariza Koch
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Mariza Koch in 2011 (photo by Nikos Kokkas).
Mariza Koch
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Mariza Koch at the
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
41.
Katy Garbi
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Katerina Katy Garbi is a Greek singer active in Greece and Cyprus, with some popularity in Turkey. Her career has spanned over 20 years and is marked by several multi-platinum releases, Garbi participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 for Greece with the song Ellada, Hora Tou Fotos, taking ninth place. She struck her biggest commercial success with To Kati in terms of unit sales, Garbi has won 11 Pop Corn Music Awards, including three for Album of the Year, and one Arion Music Award. On 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked her among the female artists in the nations phonographic era. Garbi began her career with her younger sister, Liana, as the Garbi Sisters when she was just 15 years old. Due to their age, their father was against their work as singers and they are most remembered for the backup vocals they provided at Yannis Floriniotiss performances in the early eighties. Breaking away from the duo with her sister Liana, Garbi recorded her first solo song Sain Trope that quickly became a hit, in addition to Sain Trope, contribution also included a duet with Kostas Haritodiplomenos titled Glyka. With the success of the first album, the volume was released in 1989 which featured Garbi in two new songs titled Ah, Afto Mou Aresei and Zo Na SAgapo. These early songs grabbed the attention of Greek music executives, and led her to her first record contract with CBS Records Greece, two years after her recorded music debut, Garbi released her debut personal album titled Prova in 1989. In 1990 and 1991 she released her second and third albums, Gyalia Karfia and Entalma Silepseos. Both albums fared well and allowed her to rise in the ranks of the Greek music scene, by 1992, Garbi released her fourth album Tou Feggariou Anapnoes. Garbi took on a pop approach to her music, faring well with audience as she would gain her first certification when the album went gold. She was placed 9th with 64 points, in 1996, Garbi released Arhizo Polemo, which was eventually certified 3× platinum. In 1997, Garbi followed up her success by releasing her studio album titled Evaisthisies which very soon reached 3× platinum status as well. The album included a duet with rising singer Antonis Remos on the song Asimfonia Haraktiron and that same year, Garbi also performed at Radio City Music Hall on May 9,1997. From 1994 to 1997, Garbi won eight Pop Corn Greek Music Awards and her 1994,1996, and 1997 releases were awarded as the best albums in each year at the Pop Corn Greek Music Awards. For Christmas 1998, Garbi created a Christmas album of famous Christmas carols titled Hristougenna Me Tin Katy all adapted with Greek lyrics by Eleni Giannatsoulia, the album had been a wish by Garbi for many years. Hristouyenna Me Tin Katy is a collaboration with well-known Greek childrens choir of Spiros Labros, since its release in 1998, sales of the album have increased with the coming of each Christmas season
Katy Garbi
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Katy Garbi
Katy Garbi
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www.kaitigarbi.com.gr Katy Garbi's signature
Katy Garbi
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Garbi holding the 4x platinum certification of
To Kati in 2003 with producer Yannis Doulamis and Sony Music Greece president
Dimitris Giarmenitis.
42.
Antique (duo)
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Antique was a Swedish-Greek singing duo consisting of Elena Paparizou and Nikos Panagiotidis originating from Sweden which combined Greek popular music and lyrics with a Nordic dance pop beat. Both Paparizou and Panagiotidis were born and raised in Sweden by Greek parents and they were the first ever to be nominated for a Swedish Grammis in the category modern dance with a Greek song. In 1999, some DJ friends of Elena Paparizous brother asked her to make a demo of the Notis Sfakianakis hit Opa Opa and their later singles Dinata Dinata, Follow Me, and Moro Mou also charted well. The song went on to become their biggest hit in Greece, reaching Platinum status, antiques success in the contest led to them earning recognition in Greece and working there for the rest of their career. In continuation, they recorded four albums that achieved mild success, performed a small European tour. In 2002, they recorded the song V-Power in both English and Greek versions, the songs were included on the 14-track promotional album released for Royal Dutch Shell by V2 Records to promote the premium unleaded gasoline product known as V-Power. Antique disbanded in late 2003 on good terms with members pursuing solo careers. Elena Paparizou won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 representing Greece with My Number One, there are currently no intentions of reuniting the group, although they have both expressed to want to reunite in the future
Antique (duo)
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Elena Paparizou
Antique (duo)
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Nikos Panagiotidis
43.
Sakis Rouvas
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Anastasios Sakis Rouvas, known mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek recording, film and television artist, model, businessman and former pole vaulter. Born in Corfu, he won medals on the athletics team during the 1980s. Rouvas began a career in 1991 as one of Greeces first dance-pop performers. His tenor vocals, complex choreography, costumes, and technological advancements have been credited with transforming music videos and live performances. Rouvas is noted for avoiding domestic music, attaining success for a non-laïko or -éntekhno artist, and for breaking cultural, social, artistic, during the early 1990s, Rouvas signed with PolyGram Records and won the Thessaloniki Song Festival. Despite five commercially successful albums, his life has been publicized. Rouvas signed with Minos EMI in 1997, returning to the charts with Kati Apo Mena and 21os Akatallilos, one of the few Greek entertainers to gain recognition abroad, he has been popular in the Balkans since the 1990s. By the 2010s, Rouvas had expanded his career to film, television, theatre, since 2003 Rouvas has been in a relationship with model Katia Zygouli, with whom he has four children. He is involved in issues, and has been praised for his dedication to philanthropic organizations. Rouvas has won six Arion Music Awards,15 Pop Corn Music Awards,22 MAD Video Music Awards, four Status Man of the Year Awards, an MTV Europe Music Award and a World Music Award. Several number-one albums and singles which have been certified gold or higher have made him one of Greeces most popular musical artists, known for his independence, Rouvas musical, fashion and performance styles have influenced other artists for over two decades. In 2009 Down Town named him its Entertainer of the Decade, in 2010, Forbes listed him as the celebrity in Greece. Rouvas was born on January 5,1972 in the village of Mandoukion, near Corfu City on the island of Corfu, the eldest of four sons of Konstantinos Kostas Rouvas and he has three brothers, Billy, Tolis and Nikos. The family was poor, and Rouvas began taking care of his brothers at age five, at age four, he exhibited athletic ability and took ballet classes as a child. His parents had a background, and at age ten Rouvas starred in his first theatrical production. His older co-stars were impressed with his talent, soon afterwards Rouvas discovered music, which he enjoyed nearly as much as athletics. He taught himself guitar, inspired by artists such as Elvis Presley. In 1984 his parents divorced, Rouvas and his brother Tolis moved to their paternal grandparents home in the village of Potamos when their father remarried
Sakis Rouvas
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Rouvas at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in
Moscow, Russia.
Sakis Rouvas
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Rouvas representing Greece at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in
Istanbul, 15 May 2004
Sakis Rouvas
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Rouvas at Club STARZ in
Athens, December 2008
Sakis Rouvas
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Rouvas backstage at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, where he represented Greece
44.
Elena Paparizou
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Eleni Elena Paparizou, usually referred to abroad as Helena Paparizou, is a Greek-Swedish singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2005, she represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song My Number One and it was the first Greek win in the contests history and significantly transformed her career. Her album was certified double platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Greece. Paparizou briefly attempted a career beyond Greece with English-language material, charting in a few countries abroad and her three subsequent albums Iparhi Logos, The Game of Love and Vrisko To Logo Na Zo all peaked at number one in Greece and reached platinum sales. Her fifth studio album Giro Apo T Oneiro was also certified platinum, Paparizous final release before she left Sony Music, Greatest Hits & More, was released in 2011 and included Baby Its Over, her biggest airplay hit to date. Paparizou established herself as a teen idol, particularly young girls. She has endorsed the brands Nokia and Ivi, for the period 2013-2015 Helena advertised hair colour products for Koleston company in Greece. In the 2010s she tried to move into television as a judge on Dancing on Ice and as a contestant on Lets Dance, Paparizou lived with her fiancé and manager Toni Mavridis from 1999 until their separation in 2011. Paparizou has been awarded three Arion Music Awards, a European Border Breakers Award,23 MAD Video Music Awards—more than any other artist—and an MTV Europe Music Award. On 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked her as the 14th top-certified domestic female artist since 1960, having won seven platinum, Paparizou was the most successful debuting female artist of the 2000s and established herself as one of the top acts of the latter half of the decade. In 2010, Forbes listed Paparizou as the 21st most powerful and she has more than 144 million views on YouTube—more than any other artist in the Greek music industry. She is the first female artist to reach 600.000 likes at Facebook in Greece, Elena Paparizou was born on 31 January 1982 in Borås, Västergötland, Sweden, she was the youngest child of Greek parents Georgios Paparizos and Efrosynë Froso Paparizou. Elenas parents were from the Karditsa region, she has a sister Aretë, known as Rita, Paparizous parents met and married in her mothers hometown and moved to Borås in 1970. In 1985, the family moved back to Greece to live in Volos with relatives because Elena had contracted asthma, after two years, she was well enough for the family to return to live in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a result of the trip to Greece, Paparizou spoke Greek as a first language and did not make friends with many Swedish children, Paparizou continues to suffer from breathing problems and often carries an inhaler on-stage. Paparizou became interested in the arts at an age, attending singing, dancing and acting classes alongside her academic studies. She began lessons in piano, ballet and Greek dance at seven years of age, two years later, Paparizou had decided she wanted to be a singer and began to study Greek music. By the age of fourteen, Elena Paparizou had formed her first group and they played hip hop music while saving money to record songs, they disbanded two years later
Elena Paparizou
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Elena Paparizou Έλενα Παπαρίζου
Elena Paparizou
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Paparizou performing in
Chicago in September 2005
Elena Paparizou
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Paparizou performing with
Paschalis Terzis at Iera Odos in 2006.
Elena Paparizou
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Paparizou receiving the platinum certification for
Vrisko To Logo Na Zo.
45.
Sarbel
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Sarbel Michael known professionally as Sarbel, is a Greek Cypriot pop singer of partial Greek Cypriot and Lebanese ancestry. He is well known in Cyprus, Greece and parts of the Arab world for his single, Se Pira Sovara. Ηe represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with Yassou Maria which peaked at one in Cyprus and Greece. Sarbel Michael was born and raised in Southgate, London, England, to a Cypriot father, Elias, himself a singer and bouzouki player, and a Lebanese Maronite mother, Sarbels family made frequent summer trips to Greece and Cyprus. He received a Jesuit education at St Ignatius College in Enfield, Sarbel studied music, drama, art, and performing arts. From the age of 5 to 16 he performed at the English National Opera and he was named after the Maronite Saint Charbel and his name is correctly pronounced Sharbel, but since standard Greek lacks a sh sound, it is pronounced Sarbel according to the Greek transliteration. Sarbel sang yearly at St Ignatius and other talent shows, at the age of 18 Sarbel went to Crete, where he sang at the Heraklion Palladium. At the age of 21, still living on the Greek island of Crete, the song is based on an Arabic song called Sidi Mansour by Saber Rebaï. On the same CD he released a duet with Merkouri called Agapi Mou Esi. In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled Parakseno sinesthima and this album went Gold and was re-released with the Wella-sponsored song Thelo na Petaxo and a bonus track of Boro Boro, which he made famous during his MAD Award Ceremony appearance. The songs Se Pira Sovara, Sokolata, and Thelo Na Petakso are some of his notable songs, in July 2006, he released his second album, Sahara. That same year he recorded a duet with Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou called Na Soun Thalassa which was included as a bonus song on the album. Some of his songs are Taxe Mou, Sahara and Enas Apo Mas. Seeing his growing popularity, Greek television ERT asked Sarbel to compete for a ticket to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Sarbel had to compete against established singer Christos Dantis and fellow newcomer singer Tamta. They wrote the song Yassou Maria, which is performed in English with only the word ya sou being Greek, there is also a version released in a mix of Greek and English. On 28 February 2007, Sarbel performed the song live against the two singers for the ticket, although the performance had some sound problems, he went on to receive 39. 69% of the combined televotes and jury votes, winning the contest. In an interview in March 2007, Sarbel made it clear that he doesnt want an international career by saying I dont care either being famous abroad or starting an international career, I grew up abroad but choose to live in Greece. I cant tell you whether Eurovision helps my career or not, however, it is an experience I want to live
Sarbel
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Sarbel
Sarbel
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Sarbel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
46.
Kalomoira
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Kalomira Sarantis, is a Greek pop and dance musician who is noted for winning in the Greek talent show Fame Story. She has released four albums, represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Kalomira, was born Maria Kalomira Carol Sarantis on January 31,1985 in West Hempstead, New York, known as Carol in America, her parents are Greek restaurant owners Nikos and Eleni Sarantis. Since childhood, she had the ambition to become a pop star and she played the viola, which she studied for nine years and played in the school orchestra. She was also Miss West Hempstead at her school in 2003. In 2008, she entered and won second place at a music contest organized by WBLI Radio. Following her appearance, she opened up several shows with famous American artists, such as Jessica Simpson, LL Cool J, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Branch. Kalomira entered the New York City auditions for Antennas reality singing competition Fame Story 2 and she was one of two selected from over 200 auditions in New York. Kalomira placed first and her singing career began. Kalomira won the contest, earned 200,000 Euros and a contract with Heaven Music Kalomira performed in Thessaloniki’s FOCUS from July 8 to August 14. While entertaining audiences by night, she was recording her first album by day, on September 1,2004, Kalomira released her 15-track first album Kalomira, which went gold. She then toured Greece accompanied by the rest of the Fame Story participants with appearances in Athens’s Thalassa, in the same year, she closed her season at the REX studio with Despina Vandi and Thanos Petrelis. Kalomira received good reviews from critics and was awarded Woman of the Year – Best Newcomer by Life and Style magazine. Also in 2004, she had a credited role in the Greek TV drama series I Lampsi, playing the part of Jennifer. Also, Kalomira performed twice in Herodium theatre like a cake for Dionysis Savvopouloss birthday and she sang Marilyn Monroes song. In 2005, Kalomira released her album titled Paizeis. With 12 songs, of two were written and composed by her. She also agreed to appear with Elli Kokkinou, Andreas Stamos and Constantinos Christoforou at the Piraeus 130 music club
Kalomoira
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Kalomira performing at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in
Belgrade
Kalomoira
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Kalomira in Belgrade, 2008
Kalomoira
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Evdokia Kadi,
Vlad Miriţă and Kalomira at a
Eurovision party in Belgrade, May 16, 2008
47.
Giorgos Alkaios
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Giorgos Alkaios is a Greek recording artist. His career began in 1989 after appearing on a Greek reality show, following a brief period of stage acting, Alkaios dedicated himself to music. His first single, Ti Ti, made him popular in Greece and his distinctive musical style fuses Greek and Oriental elements with modern pop music. To date he has been certified with 5 platinum and 9 gold albums, Alkaios represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song OPA. Giorgos Alkaios was born in Athens, Greece to Greek and Portuguese parents and he is the son of Yiannis Vasileiou, a successful Greek elafro-laiko singer. His mother, Maria Griggs lives in Pembroke, Maine after moving from the Boston Area, immediately after his birth, Alkaios moved to Boston, Massachusetts, United States where he lived for three years. Shortly after his parents divorced, he moved back to Greece with his father at age three, raised primarily by his grandmother Anna, he lived in Halandri and spent his summers in Salamina with friends and relatives during his childhood. He got his first job at the age of twelve, from a young age Alkaios showed his love for music and sports. His first experience with music and theatre came at a camp in Varimpompi. At the age of sixteen Alkaios dropped out of school to become an electrician by attending Delta school where he obtained a degree. Alkaios first television appearance came in September 1989 at the age of seventeen on one of the first reality shows in Greece, Ela Sto Fos, on ET2. The show featured 1,500 new actors, singers, and dancers, while on the show, he studied dance with Daniel Lomel, acting with Niki Triantafilidou, and music with Giorgos Hatzinasios, among others. During the summer of that year, he auditioned for and won a part in Minoa Vouonakis play Sofoklis Antigone. Rehearsals lasted over two months and the premiered at the ancient theater Epidavros. At the time, Alkaios became the youngest actor to be cast in a historic play, during the same summer, Alkaios decided to change his focus from theatre to music. He was then introduced by fellow singer Christos Dantis to BMG A&R Director Vangelis Yannopoulos, while recording his album for BMG. Vangelis Yannopoulos auditioned Alkaios and decided to sign him with the record company, together, they found Alkaios future sound and style. In the summer of 1991 Alkaios went on all over Greece along with his fellow Christos Dantis
Giorgos Alkaios
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Alkaios attending an event for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in
Oslo,
Norway.
48.
Stereo Mike
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Mihalis Exarchos, known professionally by his stage name Stereo Mike, is a Greek hip hop artist. He is the first MTV EMA Award winner in the Best Greek Act category, Stereo Mike represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 alongside singer Loucas Yiorkas with the song Watch My Dance, placing seventh with 120 points. Exarchos was born in 1978 in Piraeus, Greece to a Greek father, at the age of 18, his musical interest brought him to the UK for education in the field at the universities Leeds Metropolitan and University of Westminster. In the next four years, he obtained two degrees, Bachelor of Music Technology and Master on Sound Production, Exarchos also worked as a producer at AMG Records, which led him to his first recording contract as Stereo Mike with AMGs hip-hop sub-label, Mo Money Recording$. Within two years, he composed and produced his album, while accepting a post-graduate lecturing position at Londons University of Westminster in music production. He released his album in Greece titled Satirical Nomads by Mo Money Recording$ under license to Universal Music Greece. The albums singles included the anti-racism anthem O Allos Babis and the remix I Polis, Stereo Mike was nominated at the Mad Video Music Awards in 2005 for Best Hip-Hop Video Clip and in 2008 for Best Hip-Hop Video Clip and for Video Clip of the Year. Stereo Mike subsequently signed to Minos EMI for his album titled XLI3H. He is concurrently doing research work toward a PhD in music, Stereo Mike is the first MTV EMA Award winner in the Best Greek Act category, which came into effect with MTVs 2008 regional launch in Greece. He was also nominated for Greece in the category of Europes Favourite Act for 2008, Stereo Mike with Loucas Yiorkas represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany with the song Watch My Dance
Stereo Mike
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Stereo Mike
49.
Eleftheria Eleftheriou
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Eleftheria Eleftheriou is a Greek Cypriot singer, musician, and actress. She came to prominence through her participation in the season of the Greek version of The X Factor. Shortly after her elimination, Sony Music Greece signed her and submitted her as a candidate to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and she was later disqualified from the national final, following the leak of her song onto the internet by an unknown party. Eleftheriou had previously participated in the Cypriot national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song Play That Melody To Me featuring Maria Zorli, Eleftheriou represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, with the song Aphrodisiac, where she placed 17th. Eleftheriou was born and raised in Frenaros, growing up, she enjoyed drawing and dancing, and was an athlete with a passion for singing. At the age of nine, she started courses at a conservatory, from a young age, she started learning piano, theory, harmony, and history of music. At the age of 15, she started voice lessons, and at age 16 and that same year, Eleftheriou was a candidate to represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song Play That Melody to Me featuring Maria Zorli. Although she passed the first semi-final, she finished seventh in the national final, despite not winning the national final, Eleftheriou decided to continue studying music and performance, enrolling at the University of Surrey. She started singing solo in the Cypriot music scenes at the age of 18, in 2008, Eleftheriou auditioned for the first season of new talent show The X Factor Greece. Although she received three out of four yeses from the judges and was granted a spot in boot-camp, she decided not to participate in the show, a year later in 2009, Eleftheriou once again tried out for the show, and received four out of four yeses. Despite being a favourite to win, Eleftheriou was voted off the show during the live episode. The host and singer Sakis Rouvas offered her a spot to sing with him at the Club he was appearing for the season live on the show. A week before the presentation of the songs by Greek broadcast ERT. Despite the disqualification, she released the song in Greek as Kentro Tou Kosmou as the first single off her debut album, a music video was shot and released shortly after. Both Greek and English versions of the song were released as downloads on 5 March 2010. Eleftheriou started appearing with Sakis Rouvas and Tamta at S-Club on 11 December 2009, on 19 August 2010, she started appearing with Nikos Vertis at club Orama in Thessaloniki. Initially scheduled to end by the beginning of October, the proved to be a success and have been extended throughout October. On 6 October 2010, Eleftheriou released her new single titled Otan Hamilonoume To Fos with music by Giannis Iermias, in March 2011, Eleftheria was featured on DJ duo HouseTwins track Never, credited under the name Elle
Eleftheria Eleftheriou
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Eleftheriou performing in August 2012.
50.
Koza Mostra
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Koza Mostra is a music band formed in Greece. It consists of Elias Kozas, Alexis Archontis, Stelios Siomos, Dimitris Christonis, Christos Kalaintzopoulos, the band fuses ska, punk, and rock music together with the style of Balkan folk music such as Macedonian Greek music and rebetiko. They are also known for performing in kilts or fustanella and they represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with Agathonas Iakovidis and the song Alcohol Is Free, coming 6th in the final. Their maiden album Keep Up The Rhythm reached triple Platinum certification from Greek music industry authority IFPI, Koza Mostra on Twitter Koza Mostra on Facebook
Koza Mostra
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Koza Mostra at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Koza Mostra
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Lead singer Elias Kozas at a
Eurovision Song Contest 2013 press conference.
Greece
