1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
2.
Eurovision Song Contest 1959
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 in Cannes, France, the contest was won by the Netherlands with the song Een beetje, performed by Teddy Scholten. This was their second and the first time a country had won the contest twice, willy van Hemert was also the lyricist of Net als toen, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Van Hemert was the first person to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice, the original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes. A new rule was created for this Eurovision, ensuring that no professional publishers or composers were allowed in the national juries, Italy gave one point to France, no points to the UK and seven points to the Netherlands placing them just three points ahead of the UK. Something that occurred this year, but never again, was more than the winning entry was performed once again. The second and third placed songs, United Kingdom and France, were allowed to sing again at the end of the show, together with eventual winner, luxembourg withdrew from the contest for the first time. The United Kingdom returned after missing the previous contest and finished second for the first time, the UK would have 15 second-place finishes in the countrys history in the contest. Monaco made its debut in the contest, but came last, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Birthe Wilke for Denmark, and Domenico Modugno for Italy, the table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1959 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster 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
3.
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
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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
4.
Domenico Modugno
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Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, guitarist, and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song Nel blu dipinto di blu and he is considered the first Italian cantautore. The youngest of four children, Modugno was born at Polignano a Mare, in the province of Bari and his father, Vito Cosimo Modugno, was a municipal police commander, while his mother, Pasqua Lorusso, was a housewife. At the age of 9, his family moved to San Pietro Vernotico, in the Province of Brindisi, here Domenico attended primary school and learned San Pietro Vernoticos dialect, which belongs to the linguistic area of Lecces dialect, similar to Sicilian. He attended secondary school in Lecce, from a young age he wanted to become an actor and in 1951, after his military service, he enrolled in an acting school. While still studying, he had a role in a version of Filumena Marturano by Eduardo De Filippo as well as some other films. In 1957, his song Lazzarella, sung by Aurelio Fierro, came second in the Festival della Canzone Napoletana, in 1958, Modugno took part in Antonio Aniantes comedy La Rosa di Zolfo at the Festival della Prosa in Venice. Also in 1958, he discovered the Italian comedy duo of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia, became their manager and got them into a long running film career. The turning point of his career came in year, when he also participated in the Sanremo Music Festival, presenting, together with Johnny Dorelli. Co-authored by Modugno and Franco Migliacci, the won the contest and became an enormous success worldwide. It received two Grammy Awards with sales above 22 million copies, and represented Italy in the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, where it came in third. Modugno used the money gained with Nel blu dipinto di blu to purchase a Ferrari, however, his car was totaled in an accident and this was mentioned in the Alan Sherman song That is why Americas a nice Italian Name. In 1959, Modugno won the Sanremo Music Festival for the time in a row, with Piove. This was a period of time for Modugno who again represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1959. Later his hit song Io was sung by Elvis Presley in English with the title Ask Me, in 1962, Modugno won the Sanremo Music Festival a third time with Addio. Four years later, he again represented Italy at Eurovision with Dio, sergio Franchi recorded it in Italian on his 1967 RCA Victor album, From Sergio-with Love. Jack Jones recorded it in English for his 1967 album, Our Song, Modugno was an actor in 44 movies, and was a film producer of two. In the 1970, Modugno focused on classic music genres and profiles, as a singer and as a musician, adapting poetry, acting on television
5.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
6.
Volare (song)
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Nel blu dipinto di blu, popularly known as Volare, is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Franco Migliacci and Domenico Modugno, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958. Winning the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 and it spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboards number-one single for the year. Modugnos recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year, the song was later translated in several languages and it was recorded by a wide range of performers. Franco Migliacci started working on the lyrics of the song in June 1957 and he had planned to go to the sea with Domenico Modugno, but while waiting for Modugno to show up, Migliacci started drinking wine and eventually fell asleep. He had vivid dreams, and when he woke up, he looked at the Chagall paintings on the wall, in Le coq rouge was a yellow man suspended in midair, while in Le peintre et la modelle, half the painters face was coloured blue. So he started penning a song about a man who dreams of painting himself blue, later that same night, Migliacci discussed his lyrics with Modugno, and for several days they worked on the song, tentatively entitled Sogno in blu. The song is a ballad in a dramatic style, in which Modugno describes the feeling he has. The song opens with a prelude which the cover versions often left out. Mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu, poi dimprovviso venivo dal vento rapito, the English lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish. Alternative English lyrics were written in 1958 by Dame Gracie Fields and she often changed the words to suit her performance and age. In 1958, the participated in the selection process for the eighth Sanremo Music Festival. The jury charged with selecting the entries to the competition was going to reject Nel blu dipinto di blu, on 31 January 1958, the song was performed for the first time, during the second night of the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, by Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli. It was Dorellis first appearance on the Sanremo Music Festival, according to his team-partner, Dorelli was so nervous that he had to be punched by Modugno to be persuaded to perform on the stage. Dorellis performance didnt have a big impact on the audience, while Modugnos is now considered to be the event which changed the history of Italian music, during his performance, Modugno opened his arms, as if he was going to fly. Following the first place at the Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958, Domenico Modugno was chosen as the singer. The song was performed first on the night, preceding the Netherlands Corry Brokken with Heel de wereld. Due to a fault, the song was not heard in all countries transmitting the event, so it was performed at the end as well
7.
Romantica (song)
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Romantica is a song written by Italian singer-songwriter Renato Rascel with Dino Verde. It was performed for the first time during the tenth Sanremo Music Festival in January 1960, the song placed first in the competition. The song was chosen as the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960. It was performed twelfth on the night, following Germanys Wyn Hoop with Bonne nuit ma chérie, at the close of voting, it had received 5 points, placing it 8th in a field of 13. The song span three foreign versions in 1960, dalidas version topped the French charts for a week. The Estonian version by the Estonian Radio Male Quartet entitled Romantika altered the original by skipping the introduction, for two seasons of the Estonian hit comedy talk show Rahva Oma Kaitse, the Estonian version was featured as the end title piece. One of the editors, Mart Juur commented, Honestly, meanwhile we havent heard anything of the worth of Ringo Starrs No No Song and Romantika by the Male Quartet of the Estonian Radio. Look, there was a time when we used the so-called bozo songs, jane Morgan recorded an English version of the song just after the contest, in 1960. In the late 80s, early 90s, the Norwegian vintage band Lollipop performed and released a version of Romantica, the song was performed by the Norwegian singer, Tor Endresen in Italian. Lollipop was a band that was constructed by Norwegian singer Rune Larsen for a vintage musicshow in Norway and it became very successful with 30 episodes on TV and two tours and also CD rekleases of music from the period 1955 to 1965. As the Italian representative, Romantica was succeeded at the 1961 Contest by Betty Curtis with Al di là
8.
Sanremo Music Festival
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Usually referred to as Festival di Sanremo, or outside Italy as Sanremo Music Festival or Sanremo Music Festival Award, it was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest. Starting from 1955 all the editions of the Festival have been broadcast live by the Italian TV station Rai 1. During this era of the festival, it was custom that one version of the song was performed by a native Italian artist while the version was performed by an international guest artist. The Festival airs annually in Australia on the multicultural broadcaster SBS One, in the aftermath of World War II, one of the proposals to revitalize the economy and the reputation of Sanremo was to create an annual music festival to be held in the city. Officially titled Festival della Canzone Italiana, the first edition of the show was held at the Sanremo Casino on 29,30 and 31 January 1951, the final of the competition was broadcast by Rete Rossa, the second most important RAI radio station. Twenty songs took part in the competition, performed by three artists only–Nilla Pizzi, Duo Fasano and Achille Togliani, starting from the third edition of the festival, held in 1953, each song was performed by two different artists with different orchestras and arrangements. Two years later, in 1955, the festival made its first appearance on television, the last night of the show was also broadcast in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The same rule was applied in the years contest. Between 1967 and 1971, entries were not forced to be interpreted by foreign artists, starting from 1972, each entry was sung by one artist only. The competing artists were split for the first time into Big artists, the competition had one winner only, but the entries in the Young artists category had to go through an elimination round, while Big artists were directly admitted to the final. In 1977, the Sanremo Casino, which hosted all the editions of the contest, was not available for renovations. The theater later became the location for the annual contest, hosting it every year except in 1990. In 1980, pre-recorded backing tracks replaced the orchestra, while playback performances were allowed in 1983 during the final, in 1984 and 1985, all the artists were forced to perform in playback, while live performances with the orchestra were reintroduced in 1986. During the same years, several changes were introduced in the contest. In 1982, accredited music journalists decided to create an award to recognise the best song competing in the festival, starting from 1983, the prize was officially awarded during the event. The critics prize was later entitled to Mia Martini, who was the first artist receiving it in 1982 for her entry E non finisce mica il cielo, moreover, starting from 1984, the separation between newcomers and established artists was marked introducing two different competitions with separate winners. In 1989 a third category, the Upcoming Artists Section, was introduced, only in 1998 the top three artists in the newcomers section were allowed to compete in the main competition. This led to the victory of the debuting Annalisa Minetti, which generated several controversy, the distinction among different categories was abolished again in 2004
9.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
10.
Birthe Wilke
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Birthe Wilke is a popular Danish singer. She grew up in a family in Copenhagens Vesterbro area. They ranked 3rd of out 10 at the end of the voting and she also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 where she sang solo ’’Uh-Jeg Ville Ønske Jeg Var Dig’’. She was ranked 5th place at the end of voting, in the late 1950s she toured Poland, West Germany and United States. In 1961 she played a singer in the Danish film Reptilicus. In the same year, she won the award for best singer at the first international festival in the Gdansk shipyard hall. In 1966 she retired from life, but made a short-lived return in 1973. In addition to her successes, she participated in radio, television, advertising. Top-Pop, Navne i dansk pop 1950–2000
11.
Monaco
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Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 and a population of about 38,400 according to the last census of 2015. With 19,009 inhabitants per km², it is the second smallest, Monaco has a land border of 5.47 km, a coastline of 3.83 km, and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m. The highest point in the country is a pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires Ward. Monacos most populous Quartier is Monte Carlo and the most populous Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins, through land reclamation, Monacos land mass has expanded by twenty percent, in 2005, it had an area of only 1.974 km2. Monaco is known as a playground for the rich and famous, in 2014, it was noted about 30% of the population was made up of millionaires, more than in Zürich or Geneva. Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, although Prince Albert II is a constitutional monarch, he wields immense political power. The House of Grimaldi have ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, the official language is French, but Monégasque, Italian, and English are widely spoken and understood. The states sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite Monacos independence and separate foreign policy, its defense is the responsibility of France, however, Monaco does maintain two small military units. Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with the opening of the countrys first casino, Monte Carlo, since then, Monacos mild climate, scenery, and gambling facilities have contributed to the principalitys status as a tourist destination and recreation center for the rich. In more recent years, Monaco has become a major banking center and has sought to diversify its economy into services and small, high-value-added, the state has no income tax, low business taxes, and is well known for being a tax haven. It is also the host of the street circuit motor race Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is not formally a part of the European Union, but it participates in certain EU policies, including customs, through its relationship with France, Monaco uses the euro as its sole currency. Monaco joined the Council of Europe in 2004 and it is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Monacos name comes from the nearby 6th-century BC Phocaean Greek colony, according to an ancient myth, Hercules passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods. As a result, a temple was constructed there, the temple of Hercules Monoikos, because the only temple of this area was the House of Hercules, the city was called Monoikos. It ended up in the hands of the Holy Roman Empire, an ousted branch of a Genoese family, the Grimaldi, contested it for a hundred years before actually gaining control
12.
Eurovision Song Contest 1960
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 in London, although the Netherlands had won the contest in 1959, the Netherlands Television Foundation declined to host another contest so soon after staging the event in 1958. The honour of hosting the contest therefore passed to the United Kingdom, therefore, the BBC chose Catherine Boyle to be the mistress of ceremonies at the contest for the first time. Frances win this year was their second in the contest, the contest was won by France with the song Tom Pillibi, performed by Jacqueline Boyer. The 1960 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in London, the Royal Festival Hall, the venue for the 1960 contest, is a 2, 900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, the result was a win for France, however Germany, Monaco and the UK led in the early stages of voting. The UK came second with 25 points, four more points than the song in 1959. Interest in the contest started to grow across Europe, with the number of participating nations increasing to 13 this year, norway made its debut with one of their leading jazz singers. Luxembourg returned to the contest after a break with a song in native Luxembourgish language. The Netherlands were mistakenly announced as Holland, each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song. The table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1960 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster 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. ^ The song was performed in Norwegian, but the title of the song is in the North Sami dialect of the Sami languages, translating as the expression Hey Hey
13.
Renato Rascel
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Renato Ranucci, in art Renato Rascel was an Italian film actor, singer, and songwriter. He appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972 and he represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 with the song Romantica which was placed equal eighth out of thirteen entries. He was born to Cesare and Paola Ranucci in Turin where his parents, Renato could really say that he was born in the back stage of the theater and that’s where he spent all of his life. At the age of 14 Renato started to play drums in ballrooms around Rome. Soon after, he joined the Di Fiorenza Sisters as an actor, dancer and clown, in 1935, he joined Elena Gray for his first foreign tour in Africa. In this time he created some of his most famous such as “Napoleon”. In 1942 he shoots the first of a series of films Pazzo d’amore developing and establishing his very peculiar kind of humor. Among the sixty plus films he worked in one of the most relevant was Il Cappotto by Gogol, in 1977, he appeared in the Zeffirelli film Jesus of Nazareth as the blind man. His post second World War success is due mainly to his roles in the musicals by Garinei & Giovannini. The artistic trio is responsible for the existence of the “Musical” in Italy with Attanasio cavallo vanesio in 1952, Il giorno della tartaruga and Alleluja, in his career, Rascel had established himself as a comic and dramatic actor, dancer, singer and songwriter. His most famous song, Arrivederci Roma, is among the three most famous Italian songs of all time. He also wrote a number of famous songs such as Venticello de Roma, Con un po di fantasia, Vogliamoci tanto bene, Romantica. With the arrival of the set in the Italian household. Among his most memorable performances are “Rascel la nuit“ in 1956 and his performance in “Father Brown” in 1970, where he interprets a priest that solves crimes in his community, was one of the biggest television successes of the decade. He represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with the song Romantica, Renato Rascel at the Internet Movie Database Renato Rascel at AllMovie Renato Rascel official site
14.
Dalida
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In 1961, she acquired French citizenship upon marriage, while maintaining her original Italian one. Twice honoured with the Oscar mondial du succès du disque, she is the only European singer to have won this more than once. Her 30-year career began in 1956 and ended with her last album in 1986 and her suicide led to an iconic image as a tragic diva and renowned singer. Dalida ranks abong 7 most popular singers of all time and she received more than 70 gold records and was the first singer to receive a platinum and a diamond disc. She sold more than 170 million albums Worldwide, in 1988, Dalida was posthumously honoured by the International Star Registry, with the issuance of a diploma, awarded one year after her death. Yolanda Cristina Gigliotti was born in Cairo, Egypt and she was the middle child between two brothers, Orlando and Bruno. Dalidas early life was spent in the district of Shoubra, where she attended the Scuola Tecnica Commerciale Maria Ausiliatrice, an Italian Catholic school. In 1950, Dalida participated in the Miss Ondine beauty pageant and won the title, and shortly after working as a model for Donna. In 1954, at the age of 20, Dalida competed in and won the Miss Egypt pageant and it was about this time she adopted the name Dalila, which was soon changed to the more familiar Dalida. She learned Egyptian Arabic and French growing up in Cairo, and she later added English, plus conversational-level German and Spanish. When she became a pop and music icon in Japan, she also acquired enough basic Japanese to greet her fans in their own language and she promised to hold the concert again, a promise which she soon fulfilled. Dalidas singing career started in Egypt, when she was discovered by Cherif Kamel, Dalidas quest for a career in French cinema proved to be of limited success. Instead, she began taking singing lessons, and was booked as an act on the Champs-Élysées. Morisse was artistic producer of the popular Radio Europe 1, after signing a recording contract with Barclay, Dalidas debut single Madona was promoted heavily by Morisse, and was a moderate success. The song Bambino echoed everywhere in France and was an even beyond the French frontiers. In the same year, she would also support Charles Aznavour at the Olympia and these classical songs mark the first phase of Dalidas album and maintain their charm even today. Dalida toured extensively from 1958 through the early 1960s, playing dates in France, Egypt, Italy, and her tours of Egypt and Italy spread her fame outside France and Dalida soon became well known throughout Europe. However, she waited too long before entering Americas music scene, in 1961, Dalida performed a month of shows at the Olympia in Paris, with each selling out completely
15.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
16.
Sergio Franchi
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Sergio Franchi, born Sergio Franci Galli, was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962 RCA Victor signed him to a contract and in October of that year Franchi appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sol Hurok managed Franchis initial American concert tour, Franchi became a headliner in Las Vegas, and starred in concerts and cabarets on several continents. His earliest ambitions and studies had been directed toward an operatic career, Franchi performed musical comedies on stage, appeared on numerous television variety shows, and starred in a major motion picture. He became an American citizen in 1972, after gaining success, Franchi was a benefactor and philanthropist, donating his time and talent to many causes. For his longtime support of Boys and Girls Towns of Italy, Sergio was one of three children born to a Neapolitan father and Ligurian mother, Sergio, Mirella, and Fausta were all born in the Lombardy District. This includes Milan, Cremona, and the village of Codogno - where he was born. Some geographical over-simplifications resulted in listing Sergios birthplace as Cremona, because the family also lived in Cremona, Franchi called both Codogno and Cremona his hometown at different periods in his life. As a child, Sergio would sing for the family with his father, at age ten, he sang a comic role as a hunchback in a school play. Young Franchi formed a band at age sixteen to earn pocket money. But, in spite of his talents, he soon followed his fathers wishes that he pursue a career in engineering. Franchi pursued, but did not finish this training, the senior Galli had been a successful businessman who owned several shops, but lost all of his assets during World War II and the German occupation. After the war, he became friendly with a Captain in the South African medical corps who was stationed nearby and he soon followed the officers suggestion that South Africa would be a land of more opportunity, and he immigrated to Johannesburg. The family followed in 1947 when Sergio completed his military service at age twenty-one. When the family arrived in Johannesburg, they found that the senior Galli had established a furniture factory. Young Sergio Franci Galli began using his skills as an architectural draftsman and he also began singing in informal concerts of Italian music. Speaking little English at the time, he learned the role phonetically, Franchis enthusiastically received debut was followed by leading roles in Pink Champagne, The New Moon, and The Vagabond King. Johannesburgs once-thriving local opera season had collapsed after WWII, and it was not possible at this time to earn a wage as a singer
17.
Il Volo
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Il Volo is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of singers, the baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and two tenors, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as popera, having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, they represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. They reached third place, but managed to secure a solid victory in the televoting. During the first episodes, they performed several songs as solo artists, director and creator of the show, Roberto Cenci, had the idea to put them together, with the purpose to create a trio similar to The Three Tenors. During the fourth episode of the show, they performed together for the first time, while in Los Angeles, Italian singer-songwriter and music producer Tony Renis, casually discovered their performance through Rai International. Impressed by the trio, he decided to call Cenci to arrange a meeting with them, since they were under the age of 18, Cenci talked with the singers families, and they decided to trust Renis proposal to work with them. Producer Michele Torpedine started to work them as a manager. The group was initially named I Tre Tenorini, but their name was changed to The Tryo. With this name, in 2010 the group participated in the charity single We Are the World 25 for Haiti, in February of the same year, they also performed the songs Granada and Un amore così grande for Queen Rania of Jordan during the 60th Sanremo Music Festival. Released in Italy on 30 November 2010, it peaked at number 6 on the Italian Albums Chart, the lead single from the album in the United States was ’O sole mio. During its first week, Il Volo reached the spot of Billboard 200 and topped the Classical Albums chart. The album also entered the top ten in countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands. In June 2011, a Spanish version of the album was released, with the title Il Volo. This also allowed the group to two nominations at the 12th Latin Grammy Awards, in the categories Best New Artist and Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The trio performed for the TV show The Talk in February 2011, on 31 July 2011, the trio performed ’O sole mio and This Time for the Presidents Star Charity show in Singapore to help raise funds for the handicapped. On 4 September 2011, the trio performed ’O sole mio, on 11 September 2011, the trio made a cameo appearance on the series finale of Entourage. On 27 October 2011, Il Volo performed live at the Detroit Opera House to tape their first concert DVD titled Il Volo – Takes Flight – Live from the Detroit Opera House and this concert premiered on 7 December 2011, in Detroit and 1,000 cities across Canada. On 21 November 2011, Il Volo released, only in format, their first EP called Christmas Favourites
18.
GfK Entertainment Charts
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The GfK Entertainment Charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment GmbH on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Following a lawsuit in March 2014 by Media Control AG, Media Control® GfK International had to change its name, dissemination of the charts is conducted by various media outlets, some of which include VIVA music channel, and the Swiss charts website. Other entities that present the charts are MusicLoad and MIX1, furthermore, GfK Entertainment also runs a dedicated website providing chart-related news and access to most of the charts. Charts have been published in Germany since 1959, in a magazine called Der Musikmarkt, since 1959, the growing desire to have a well-developed music program has made Bundesverband Musikindustrie work together with charts providers to improve the way the charts are determined. For this purpose, different research institutes were tested, out of which Media Control, hence, the first official charts were made available in the magazine Der Musikmarkt in September 1977. Initially, there used to be 50 positions only, which later in January 1980, was extended to 75 slots, since 1989, however, GfK Entertainment has adapted the international standards providing 100 positions, now called Offizielle Top 100 Charts. In 2001, the Top-100 singles charts was modified to reflect the sales of the singles, Media Control developed Music Video charts in 2001, which later, in 2004, was renamed as DVD charts. While music-videos have their own charts, in 2001, GfK Entertainment made it possible for the music-video singles to have the ability to enter the Top-100 singles chart. Similarly, in 2002, it was available for music-video albums to chart on the Top-100 album chart. If not, then, the DVD album could qualify for the DVD chart only, in the same vein, if an audio CD contains at least 50% of video recording, then, it could qualify to chart on the DVD chart. In 2003, Media Control joined forces with GfK, thus the name officially being changed to Media Control GfK International GmbH. In 2004, Germany became one of the first music markets wherein sales charts were reflected by online digital downloads, digital-only releases came into existence on 13 July 2007, for online downloads only, which also altered the way the sales figures were conducted up to that point. Consequently, chart positions would no longer be affected by the number of music downloads as before. Thus, the albums would not necessarily be the ones ending up in the number-one position on the charts. In March 2014, GfK announced that the official chart providers name in Germany will change from Media Control GfK International GmbH to GfK Entertainment, there are currently 3,000 outlets that report their sales on weekly bases in Germany. The weekly sales data is transmitted to GfK Entertainment via communication network channel and this is the list of categories, for each of which charts are provided by GfK Entertainment
19.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
20.
Official Charts Company
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The OCC is operated jointly by the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association. Since 1 July 1997, CIN and then the OCC have compiled the official charts, prior to this date, the charts were produced by a succession of market research companies, beginning with the British Market Research Bureau in 1969, and later by Gallup. All of the OCCs charts are published weekly on Friday nights, from 3 August 1969 until 5 July 2015, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday. Genre-specific charts include UK Dance Chart, UK Indie Chart, UK R&B Chart, UK Rock Chart, the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts ― and the former Welsh Singles and Albums Chart ― appears in listings within the Official Charts Company. It is a regional listing reflecting how sales towards the UK Singles Chart, the Welsh Singles and Album Chart served the same purpose in Wales. It also charts the UK DVD Chart and UK Budget Album Chart, while their music charts are now Friday to Thursday, their video charts remain Sunday to Saturday. On 5 September 2008, the Official UK Charts Company rebranded itself as the Official Charts Company and it later dropped the word Company and became just Official Charts. From May 2012, a new chart was launched – the Official Streaming Chart and this counts audio streams from streaming services Spotify, Deezer, Blinkbox Music, Napster, amongst others. In April 2015, the UKs first vinyl record chart was launched by the Official Charts Company due to the surge of interest in the sector. The chart was launched following the growth of the sector in the UK for the year in a row. Beginning in 2017 the Official Charts Company changed its methodology for calculating the Top 40, prior to January 2017,100 streams counted as one sale of a song. From January onward, the ratio became 150,1, UK Albums Chart UK Singles Chart UK Video Charts UK Singles Downloads Chart UK Album Downloads Chart British Phonographic Industry Official Charts Company website
21.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
22.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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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
23.
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
24.
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in 1959. The countrys only win in the contest came in 1971 when Séverine performed Un banc, un arbre, in 1972, Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined. Monaco is still today, the only microstate which has won the Eurovision Song Contest, Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved by François Deguelt, who finished third in 1960, romuald also finished third in 1964. Severines victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years, the others were achieved by Romauld, Mary Christy who was third in 1976, Michèle Torr, fourth in 1977 and Caline & Olivier Toussaint who were fourth in 1978. After participating in 1979, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years, Monaco returned to the contest for three years from 2004 to 2006 but failed to qualify from the semi-finals. The Monegasque broadcaster then withdrew from the contest saying that regional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final, Monaco participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and 1979. Afterwards the country withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and it only returned in 2004,25 years after its last participation. It withdrew again in 2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years, Monaco won the contest in 1971, with the song Un banc, un arbre, une rue, performed by Séverine. The Monegasque victory is rather particular in the history of Eurovision because the songwriter, the singer and the director were not from the country they represented, Séverine even declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the video-clip was filmed there. Séverines producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest. Monacos next best placing has been second which it has achieved once at the 1962 and it has been third three times, in 1960,1964 and 1976, and last twice, in 1959 and 1966. Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Austria, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and San Marino. After winning in 1971, the decided to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show. However, because of a lack of funds and material, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, because TMC wanted the show to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never succeeded. Monaco left it up to the EBU, the EBU asked Spain and Germany, who respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but the countries were not interested in organising the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh, Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004–2006, but Maryon, Lise Darly and Séverine Ferrer all failed to progress from the semi-finals. TMC broadcast the 2007 contest opening the way for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009
25.
Teddy Scholten
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Dorothea Margaretha Teddy Scholten was a Dutch singer from Rijswijk, close to The Hague, Netherlands. In 1950, she was invited by the Coca-Cola company to perform at a show in the United States and she was one of the first Dutch popular music artists to perform in the United States. In 1959, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the Netherlands singing n Beetje, with music composed by Dick Schallies, with her husband, Henk Scholten, she recorded several albums, many of them containing songs for children. In the 1950s and 1960s she appeared in television shows in The Netherlands. In 1965 and 1966, she presented the National Song Festival, Teddy Scholten died on 8 April 2010, aged 83
26.
Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson
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Pearl Lavinia Carr and Edward Victor Teddy Johnson are an English husband-and-wife team of entertainers, popular during the 1950s and early 1960s. Carr was born in Exmouth, Devon, while Johnson was born in Surbiton and they were both successful solo singers before their marriage in 1955. Carr had been lead singer with the Keynotes, who had two British hits in 1956 with Dave King, Memories Are Made of This and You Cant Be True To Two and she also was a popular radio singer and comedian on Bernard Bradens Bedtime With Braden radio show. Johnson had led his own band, was a professional drummer. He also was a DJ on Radio Luxembourg and later on BBC Radio 2, pearl Carr, now 95, and Teddy Johnson, now 97, both live in Brinsworth House, a home for retired entertainers. Carr and Johnson were frequently on British television light entertainment programmes, such as The Winifred Atwell Show as well as Big Night Out and they represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 and finished second with the song Sing, Little Birdie. This peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart and they also tried to represent the United Kingdom again in 1960 entering two songs into the pre-selection, Pickin Petals and When The Tide Turns, the latter making the final. It was up against Johnsons own brother, Bryan, in the end Bryan won and went on to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960. He also came second, with the song Looking High, High, High, Carr and Johnson released another single the following year entitled, How Wonderful To Know, which charted at #23 in the UK. In 1986, the two were the subject of an edition of This Is Your Life, after this success they appeared in a West End revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies
27.
Jean Philippe
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Jean Philippe is a French singer who represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959. He returned to the contest in 1962 representing Switzerland and he was the first artist to compete representing two different countries in Eurovision. Jean Philippe with the song Oui, oui, oui, oui came third receiving 15 points, jean Philippe appeared in the 1960 film Jazz Boat in which he sang Oui, oui, oui, oui
28.
Kessler Twins
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Alice and Ellen Kessler are popular twins in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, from the 1950s and 1960s and until today for their singing, dancing, and acting. They are usually credited as the Kessler Twins, and remain popular today, in the USA, they were not as popular but appeared in the 1963 film Sodom and Gomorrah as dancers and appeared on the cover of Life Magazine in that year. Their parents, Paul and Elsa, sent them to ballet classes at the age of six, when they were 18, their parents used a visitors visa to escape to West Germany, where they performed at the Palladium in Düsseldorf. They performed at The Lido in Paris between 1955 and 1960, and represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in 8th place with Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen gehn and they moved to Italy in 1960 and gradually moved to more serious roles. At the age of 40, they agreed to pose on the cover of the Italian edition of Playboy and that issue became the fastest-selling Italian Playboy up until that point. They moved back to Germany in 1986 and currently live in Grünwald and they have received two awards from both the German and Italian governments for promoting German-Italian cooperation through their work in show business
29.
Brita Borg
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Brita Borg, full name Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg, was a Swedish singer, actress, and variety show artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s, however, she was still an active actress in the 1980s. Borg represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 in Cannes, Borg was born on Södermalm in Stockholm and began her career in the Södermalm-based variety show group Vårat gäng after having won a song competition organised by the magazine Vecko-Revyn in 1943. In 1945, she formed the quartet Flickery Flies with Allan Johansson, in 1947, she began her long collaboration with famous Swedish variety performer and writer Povel Ramel. She participated in his radio program Fyra kring en flygel and was the prima donna of several versions of the Knäppupp variety show between 1952 and 1962. In 1962, she reached the peak of her career as a variety show artist with the number Die Borg, from 1964 onwards Borg performed in several variety shows with Hagge Geigert in Uddevalla and Gothenburg, and a sojourn at Folkan with Kar de Mumma. In the 1970s, she moved to Arvidsjaur with her new husband, policeman Stig Salomonsson and she played in the musical Call Me Madam in 1967, and gave a celebrated performance as Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun in 1973. Henceforth she toured with Riksteatern in performances of Christina Alexandra, Fiddler on the Roof, Ramel riket runt, among her more important dramatic performances was her turn alongside Halvar Björk in Richard Hoberts televised play Polskan och puckelryggen from 1983. In the 1950s, Borg was a Swedish pop-queen and she made many recordings, first for Sonora, then for Knäppupp. In 1959, it was decided that whichever song won in the Melodifestivalen she would travel to sing in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 in Cannes, in the final she reached a respectable 9th place. In 1961, an LP recording was made where she interpreted Århundradets melodier, including Hässelbysteppen, Min soldat and her genre was traditional pop songs, with the, at the time, common leaning towards Italian. She had attempted a modern style with Frankenstein rock in 1957 but was eventually surpassed by younger. Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson gave her a hit with the song Ljuva sextiotal. Borg was musical, humorous, and conscientious, but ended up becoming an actress instead of a pop star. She has barely even become camp or a gay icon, as Git Gay, maybe because she, Borg died on 4 May 2010 at the age of 83 in Borgholm
"Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)"
