This week many of us will tune in to watch Firelight represent Malta at the fifty-ninth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, hoping for the best. After all, despite our mixed fortunes in recent years, we remain the most successful country never to have won the contest, having placed second twice and third twice. The Eurovision was originally an attempt to unite Europe and create a platform for upcoming artists. However, many of us now think of the Eurovision as being a political contest, a gimmick competition, or just a plain waste of money. Few of us know that the Eurovision was the birthplace for some great artists, and songs that we often find ourselves singing along to…
"Nel blu dipinto di blu’, popularly known as "Volare’, was sung by Domenico Modugno, who contested the third edition of the Eurovision Song Contest for Italy way back in 1958. This song was performed twice during the contest due to technical faults. Surprisingly enough it did not win and placed third.
Olivia Newton John, famous for her role as Sandy in the blockbuster "Grease’, performed during the Eurovision song contest in 1974. Her song was called "Long Live Love’ and she represented her home country, the UK. She placed fourth tied with Luxembourg and Monaco. The same edition saw the timeless band ABBA emerge victorious with their song "Waterloo’. It must have been one great year to have been in the audience! Speaking of this, Sandie Shaw, winner of the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest with "Puppet on a String’, was seated in the audience that year. Let’s hope she wasn’t barefoot that night!
For all the theatre lovers out there, the great composer of Broadway shows Andrew Lloyd Weber, wrote the song "My Time’ for Jade, representing the UK, in 2009. Jade disappointingly placed fifth. Theatre stars never really shine in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1994, West End star Frances Ruffelle ended in tenth place with her song "We Will Be Free’. She currently features as Èponine in "Les Miserablès’. She even appeared in the 2012 film version of the play.
2009 was not only an interesting year in terms of Weber’s musical career. Rita Ora applied to represent the UK that year but was not selected. At least Cascada, who placed twenty-first for Germany in 2013, can find solace in this! These were not the only stars who failed to impress. 2013 also saw Bonnie Tyler, artist of massive hits including "I Need a Hero’, placing nineteenth. English boy band Blue (who you might have drooled over in the early 2000s) hit number one in the charts three times, but only placed twenty-second in 2011 after reuniting for the contest.
Besides these stars, Celine Dion also finds her roots in the Eurovision Song Contest, winning the contest for Switzerland in 1988 by just one point, two years after Switzerland placed second in the contest in 1986. The 1986 Eurovision Song Contest was won by 13-year-old Sandra Kim for Belgium. When Kim revealed that she had deceived the audience about her age, Swiss TV petitioned to have the song disqualified, but to no avail. Ireland earned the title of Eurovision winners for the second time the next year in Brussels. This would be followed by another five wins for Ireland over the years, making them the country to have won the contest most frequently.
