The Luckberries were a popular Dutch music duo and consisted of Berry Kluft and Lucas Dekker. The duo was founded in 1962 and participated in several talent shows. In 1966 the Luckberries participated in the Dutch national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. In a semi-final they sang three songs of which a jury picked their favorite. In the final they came 2nd with the song Dromen Zijn Bedrog. The duo married in 1968 and they stopped their singing career in 1970. In 2003 Berry died. Lucas sometimes appears in a radio show.
Roy Black (January 25, 1943 – October 9, 1991) was a German schlager singer and actor, who appeared in several musical comedies and starred in the 1989 TV series, Ein Schloß am Wörthersee.
Born Gerhard Höllerich in Bobingen, Bavarian Swabia, Germany, Roy Black attended the gymnasium in Augsburg and, aged 20, founded the rock and roll band Roy Black and His Cannons. His stage name derived from his black hair and his idol, Roy Orbison.
Roy Black and His Cannons achieved some local fame and were offered a recording contract with Polydor Records. However, his record producer Hans Bertram decided on a solo career for Black, and a switch to romantic songs for his protégé, a decision which soon led to nationwide fame. In 1966, his single Ganz in Weiß — a romantic song about marrying in white — sold in excess of one million copies by the end of 1967. His 1969 song Dein schönstes Geschenk, sold one million copies by May 1970, having spent nine weeks at number one in the German chart.
From 1967, Roy Black also took on roles in several musical comedy films, for example in the 1969 movie Hilfe, ich liebe Zwillinge (Help, I Love Twins) opposite Uschi Glas.
In 1974 Black announced his engagement to model Silke Vagts (1945-2002), and the couple got married in Munich the same year. In 1976 their son Torsten was born. They divorced in 1985.
Six years later in 1991, Black died of heart failure, in Heldenstein near Mühldorf am Inn, which was assumed to be a result of his addiction to alcohol and pharmaceuticals. The punk band Wizo wrote a song disparaging Black after his death, changing the lyrics of a children's song to Roy Black ist tot (Roy Black is dead).
For one of his albums Roy recorded Schenk' Mir Eine Nacht which came 7th in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest of 1982 and was originally sung by Mel Jersey.
Guy Bonnet is a French author, composer and singer, born in Avignon in 1945.
Guy is especially known for his Eurovision songs. In 1968 he wrote the french entry La Source which came 3rd and was sung by Isabelle Aubret. In 1970 Guy won the French pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Marie-Blanche which came 4th in Amsterdam and in 1983 Guy won the French national final with the song Vivre which came 8th at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Guy wrote and composed songs for many artists including Mireille Mathieu, Sylvie Vartan, Franck Fernandel and Massilia Sound System.
Katra is a Finnish Symphonic metal band founded in 2006 by vocalist Katra Solopuro.
Katra Solopuro has been studying piano, since the age of 6. At 14 she switched to voice lessons. Today she studies singing and theatre music in Tampere University of Applied Sciences. She also has a background in dance and gymnastics. She has a daughter, Illusia, whose father is the guitarist Risto Katajisto. In her former bands, Lovex and Essentia, she played keyboard and sang background vocals. In the band Coverstone she is a vocalist. Other current members of Katra include Guitarist Kristian Kangasniemi (Sonicmind), bassist Johannes Tolonen (When the Empire Falls, Alcoholica), drummer Matti Auerkallio (Avenie, Soulfallen, Duality, Animal House, Mistreaters and Four Hoarsemen), and guitarist Teemu Mätäsjärvi (Alcoholica).
Katra Solopuro released a single Sahara in September 2006. Then she formed the band Katra and published the self-titled album Katra through Edel Records in Spring 2007. The Sahara single received lots of radio play and while on tour, the band started writing new material.
In 2007 Katra participated in he Finnish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the songs Tietäjä and Vaaratar. Tietäjä was chosen into the final and finished 8th. The song was accused of plagiarism, it was said the song resembled a song of the Dutch metal band Within Temptation.
In November 2007 it was announced that Napalm Records signed Katra and asked for an international version of their 2007 album Katra. The band recorded the 2007 album Katra in English, along with two new songs and named the English language release Beast Within. The album was produced by Risto Asikainen (Stratovarious) at Jean Records Studio. Beast Within was published in late August/early September 2008. The band played a couple of gigs in Germany, including Summer Breeze Open Air 2009 and received a good response. Katra also released a video for the title track Beast Within. On June 19, 2010 Katra opened for Theatre of Tragedy at Circo Volador in Mexico, a career highlight for all of the members.
Out of the Ashes was released in October 2010 internationally through Napalm Records and in Finland through Bullhead Music. Although it is their third album, Katra considers it their first creation as a band. A video was released for the song One Wish Away that features an appearance by Flamma, the biggest and most versatile fire performance group in Finland. The German Orkus magazine reviewed it as darker, more melancholic and more determined than the previous album.
Katra have been featured in Germany's Orkus magazine, where they won Best International Newcomer in the 2009 fan poll, and China's X music magazine. Katra have also been nominated in the Best Atmospheric/Symphonic Metal category for the album Beast Within on the Estonian webzine Metal Storm.
Tuula-Ritta Eskelinen Amberla, born in Turku, is a Finnish singer. Tuula released a couple of quite successful albums.
In the 80's Tuula was one of the most successful Finnish female singers.
In 1992 Tuula recorded Kuun Poika for one of her albums which was also called Kuun Poika. The song is a cover of Hijo De La Luna which came 2nd in the Spanish internal selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1986.
Dollar are a pop vocal duo from the UK, consisting of David Van Day and Thereza Bazar. The duo were successful in the late 1970s and 1980s in the UK and Japan.
Thereza Bazar and David Van Day met at 17 when they successfully auditioned for the Guys 'n' Dolls. The group enjoyed a number of hit singles in the mid 1970s and during this time David Van Day became romantically involved with Thereza Bazar. By 1977 the group was in decline and the pair complained about the choice of material and musical direction. David decided to quit the band to embark on a solo career while Thereza would continue with Guys n' Dolls to earn a living for them both. The group's management were unhappy with the situation and sacked Thereza with the reasoning that a six-piece group consisting of three couples would now look odd with five members. With the change in circumstances, the pair decided to begin a career as a duo. They were picked up by French label Carrere Records, going under the name Dollar.
Dollar's first single, Shooting Star, was released in late 1978 and, after a slow climb, reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up, Who Were You With In The Moonlight?, was released in early 1979 and also reached number 14. After two hit singles featuring David on lead vocals their third, the ballad Love's Gotta Hold On Me was sung by Thereza. It became Dollar's first self-penned hit as it entered the Top Ten and was one of their biggest, climbing to number 4 in the UK chart. Encouraged by this steady run of success, the group released their debut album, Shooting Stars, which made the top 40. In a change of pace, the band released a cover of The Beatles' song I Want to Hold Your Hand, which reached number 9. At the same time, Dollar had their first (and only) US hit with Shooting Star, which made No.74. By February 1980, the group had scored four UK Top 20 hits, but this was not to last.
In 1980 Dollar moved to WEA Records. Buoyed by the success of Love's Gotta Hold On Me, the pair decided to write and produce all the songs for their second album. Attempting a move towards a rockier sound, the album, along with its singles, failed to sell well. In a bid to generate sales, Van Day and Bazar announced their engagement, but this was later revealed to be a publicity stunt.
In 1981, Thereza approached record producer, Trevor Horn, whom she had met during her days in Guys n' Dolls, and asked if he would work with them. He agreed, and produced their 1981 and 1982 material. Horn's production work gave Dollar a more distinctive sound, and their four Horn-produced singles represented the high point in the band's career. It gave them another two Top Ten singles (Mirror Mirror and Give Me Back My Heart) and two more Top Twenty hits (Videotheque and Hand Held in Black and White). The production on these four hit singles had brought Horn to the attention of other bands, notably ABC, and it was not long before he was too busy to continue working with the duo.
Give Me Some Kinda Magic, a Top 40 hit Dollar had written and produced themselves was the lead-in single to their final studio album, The Dollar Album, which was a mixture of Horn's and the duo's own efforts. It became the biggest of their three albums, peaking at No. 18 in the UK and was certified Silver by the BPI.
In 1982 they represented the UK at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the song Two Hearts which didn't reach the final. Originally Dollar want to sing the song Give Me Some Kinda Magic at the Festival but the song was released too early and was disqualified. They had to write the new song in only one day.
During a promotional trip to Japan in February 1983, relations between the duo had become increasingly tempestuous and David Van Day quit the band. Their latest single (Two Hearts) went unreleased in the UK and Dollar split.
David had ambitions to be a solo artist after he and Thereza split. He released the single Young Americans Talking, which was written and produced by the people behind Bucks Fizz. Meanwhile Thereza recorded an album, The Big Kiss, with producer Arif Mardin, and a theme song for the US film Gotcha! with composer Bill Conti. This was released as a single. But neither of them enjoyed the same kind of success as solo artists as they had had as Dollar.
By 1986 they had reformed, and released the singles We Walked In Love and Haven't We Said Goodbye Before. Neither of these met with much success and soon the group were looking for another record contract. In late 1987, the group covered the hi-NRG-style Erasure song O L'amour. In early 1988 the song became one of their biggest hits and peaked at No.7. The group then hit a stumbling block in deciding on a follow-up and past ill-feeling between the pair was rising again. Six months later they finally released another single, It's Nature's Way, but it was to be their last release as the single flopped and work on a possible album had been long delayed. In late 1988, Dollar disbanded again.
David Van Day again attempted to launch a solo career, but to no avail. Thereza Bazar decided to finish with the music industry and moved to Australia where she concentrated on raising her family. During the 1990s David Van Day teamed up with a succession of female singers for a touring version of Dollar. In the latter half of the decade he joined a rival variation of the group Bucks Fizz with original member Mike Nolan. Two versions of Bucks Fizz were touring the UK and another Bucks Fizz original member, Bobby G brought a case in the High Court against Van Day. In 2001, a judge refused to grant a court injunction against Van Day as he had been operating in Bucks Fizz for five years at the time, while also famously running a burger van in Brighton.
In the early 2000s David Van Day persuaded Thereza Bazar to rejoin him in Dollar for a reunion tour. In 2002 they took part in the Here And Now tour, a series of arena-sized concerts featuring other singers and bands from the 1980s. They followed this up by appearing on the reality television show Reborn in the USA in 2003. This show involved a number of formerly successful chart acts touring together in America with the public voting off a different act each week. They quickly became the centre of attention when they were involved in an argument with pop star Sonia, which was televised and reported in the newspapers. Dollar were the first act to be voted off and they returned to the UK.[14] Dollar made another live appearance in 2004, in a show celebrating the career of Trevor Horn. It took place at Wembley Arena and Dollar appeared alongside ABC and Pet Shop Boys, amongst other acts who had worked with Horn over the years.
In July 2008 Dollar reformed again to take part in a UK reality television programme entitled Pop Goes the Band, in which a number of former pop stars were remodelled and restyled to try to recapture their former glory. The programme aired on Living TV on 23 February 2009. In December 2008 Van Day came fourth in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! on ITV1. The show saw Van Day co-write a new song, Biff Baff Boff, with 1980s television presenter and broadcaster Timmy Mallett. It was released as a download only single in December 2008 but failed to chart. His appearance on this show angered Bazar, who subsequently refused to work with him again.
On 15 February 2010 Cherry Red Records re-issued remastered and expanded editions of The Dollar Album and The Paris Collection for the first time on CD.
The Guys 'n' Dolls were formed in 1974, after Ammo Productions held auditions for three girls and three boys to start the band. The six members of the group Paul Griggs, David Van Day, Thereza Bazar, Dominic Grant, Martine Howard, and Julie Forsyth (daughter of Bruce Forsyth), first met in November 1974. They released their first hit single, There's a Whole Lot of Loving in January 1975. In the following years, the group released several more hits, including Here I Go Again (1975) and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (1976) which is a cover of the 1965 Sanremo song Io Che Non Vivo. In 1977 the group had a record chart No.1 with You're My World, formerly made famous by Cilla Black.
After that big success David Van Day and Thereza Bazar had left the band, but went on to have success as Dollar.
In 1978 the Guys'n' Dolls represented the UK in Japan at the World Popular Song Festival with the song Same Old Way which came 4th and won the Outstanding Song Award. Same Old Way was a big hit in Japan.
In 1979 they participated in A Song For Europe, the UK pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song How Do You Mend A Broken Heart which ended 10th.
After a less successful period the band stopped in 1985 but Dominic Grant and Julie Forsyth went on as a duo. In 1988 Julie wrote the UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The original line up of Guys 'n' Dolls reunited for the first time in thirty one years for a major television show in the Netherlands on 22 March 2008.
Tina Charles (born Tina Hoskins, 10 March 1954, Whitechapel, London) is an English singer, who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid to late 1970s. She is best known for her 1976 no. 1 hit I Love to Love . Her chosen stage name of Charles was a tribute to her father, Charles Hoskins.
Tina began her career as a backing singer and session musician and recorded her first solo single in 1969 with Elton John as a backing singer. During the early 70's she supplied vocals for Top Of The Pops album series. In 1971 she made appearances in the very popular serie The Two Ronnies, a BBC sketch show.
Tina's big break came in 1975 when record producer Biddu, who had a world wide hit with the song Kung Fu Fighting, produced the single I Love To Love which became a major hit around the world. Biddu's collaboration continued on an album and another huge hit for Tina: Dance Little Lady Dance.
In 1978 Tina Charles represented the United Kingdom in Japan at the World Popular Song Festival with the by Biddu produced song Love Rocks. Tina came first and won the Grand Prix International. Love Rocks was only released in Japan where it reached no. 1 in the charts.
By 1980 Tina's career was in decline and disco music was losing some of its public appeal. Tina attempted to change her disco style for her 1980 album Just One Smile for a more rock style but the album was ignored and unsuccessful. Tina stopped singing and became a house wife and a mum. In the late 80's Tina had a hit with a remix of I Love To Love.
Since 2000 Tina has performed throughout Europe where disco music and her hits have been reappraised and she has become a popular live performer.
María Dolores Amaya Vega, better known as Remedios Amaya, is a popular Spanish flamenco singer born in the Triana district of Seville in 1962. In 1978 Remedios released her first album under the title Remedios Amaya.
In 1983 Remedios was chosen to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ¿Quién maneja mi barca? (Who is sailing my boat?) which finished last with no points at all. Years later Remedios said in an interview she was still very proud of her representation.
Since the Eurovision Song Contest Remedios has devoted to Flamenco and Rumba. She released several successful albums and is still very respected.
Hidrogenesse is a Spanish pop band consists of Carlos Ballesteros (singer) and Genís Segarra (keyboards). They've been together since 1997 but released their first album in 2000.Since 2000 they released one single and three albums which are quite successful in Spain.
On one of their albums Hidrogenesse covered ¿Quién Maneja Mi Barca?, the Spanish entry of 1983.
Erzsébet Csézi (October 9 1979), better known as Csézy, is a Hungarian singer.
In 2008 she won the Hungarian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Szívverés. The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury (50%) and televoting (50%). As there was a tie at the end of the voting, the televoting (which Csézy won) took precedence.
The song Szívverés was written by Viktor Rakonczai who was a member of the band V.I.P. At the contest Csézy sung the English version, Candlelight, which came 19th in the 2nd semi-final.
Rui Bandeira, born as Rui Pedro Neto de Melo Bandeira in Mozambique on July 25, 1973, is a Portugese singer.
By the age of fifteen Rui joined a gospel choir, playing the piano and composing songs. Until 1997 he recorded 4 quite successful albums in Portugal.
In 1999 Rui participated in the 36th Festival RTP da Canção, the Portugese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song Como Tudo Começou which won the Portugese pre-selection and came 21st in Jerusalem. In that same year Rui came 4th at a Song Festival in Cairo, Egypt with the song Make This World. In the following years Rui released several successful albums in Portugal.
Kylie Ann Minogue, born in 1968, is an Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the soap opera Neighbours. Her first single Locomotion spent seven weeks at no. 1 on the Australian charts. Her debut album in 1988 was a great success in Australia and parts of Europe. In 1988 Kylie was chosen to represent Australia at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the song Got To Be Certain but the Festival was cancelled due the illness of emperor Hirohito. After that she released the single I Should Be So Lucky which reached no. 1 in Australia and the UK. Her following 10 singles were big hits all over the world and Kylies but movie was a success in Australia and the Uk despite negative reviews.
Initially presented as a girl next door, Kylie attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her success was declining and she left her producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer which she still is.
Adriano Celentano (born 6 January 1938) is an Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, film director and TV host.
Celentano is the best-selling artist in Italy with Mina, and the best-selling male italian singer with more than 150 million records to date.
Celentano was born in Milan at 14 Via Gluck, about which he later wrote the famous song Il ragazzo della via Gluck. His parents were from Foggia, in Apulia, and had moved north for work.
According to urban legend, before beginning his singing career, Celentano was a student of Ghigo Agosti during Agosti's 1955-1956 Northern Italian tour, which was also guitarist Giorgio Gaber's debut.
Heavily influenced by his idol Elvis Presley and the 1950s rock revolution and by the American actor Jerry Lewis, he has retained his popularity in Italy for the last 40 years, selling millions of records and appearing in numerous TV shows and movies. In the latter respect, he has also been a creator of a comic genre, with his characteristic walking and his facial expressions. For the most part, his films were commercially successful; indeed in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, he was the king of the Italian box office in low budget movies. As an actor, critics point to Serafino (1968), directed by Pietro Germi, as his best performance.
As a director he frequently casts Ornella Muti, Eleonora Giorgi and his wife Claudia Mori. He and Claudia have three children; Rosita, Giacomo and Rosalinda Celentano, most notable to worldwide audiences for playing Satan in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. He also often works as a host on several Italian television shows.
He has released forty albums, comprising twenty nine studio albums, three live albums, and eight compilations. His most famous songs are La coppia piu' bella del mondo, which sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc; Azzurro (1968), written by Paolo Conte; and Prisencolinensinainciusol (1972).
Celentano was referenced in the 1979 Ian Dury and the Blockheads song and single, Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3", as one of the aforementioned reasons to be cheerful, and in Fellini's 1986 film Ginger and Fred.
Adriano Celentano has been a vegetarian since 2005 and defends animal rights.
Les Haricots is a French group formed in 1963. Their repertoire consists of New Orleans Jazz and Dixieland. They have sold over a million albums worldwide in more than 40 years. In 1966 they performed at the Eurovision Song Contest during the interval act.
Janneke de Roo (May 1956) is a Dutch singer who sings in Dutch and in the dialect of the Dutch province of Drenthe. Janneke is known as one of the three sisters of the group Zusjes de Roo. They were quite popular in the Netherlands in the 70's. After the group stopped Janneke began a solo-career. She's still performing and active in music. Janneke's newest single is a cover of Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha La Lie).
Todor Toše Proeski (January 25, 1981 – October 16, 2007) was a Macedonian multi-genre singer, songwriter and actor. He was popular across the entire Balkan area and further north, and locally he was considered a top act of the Macedonian music scene. Toše was known for his strong vocal performances and trademark quote "Ve sakam site" (I Love You All).He died in a car crash in Croatia on October 16, 2007.
Toše was born in Prilep, at that time still part of Yugoslavia but now in Macedonia, where he spent most of his childhood. After his musical talent was discovered at the age of 12, he was chosen to perform at the popular children's song festival Zlatno Slavejče in Skopje. This was his first public music performance but his successful career began in 1996 when he participated in the teenage music festival Melfest in Prilep.
Following this public exposure, he was awarded for his strong vocal capabilities. This led to his rise to fame when he participated in the music festival Makfest in Štip with the song Pusti Me in 1997. His fanbase quickly grew and he continued to make use of festivals, such as SkopjeFest and OhridFest, as a platform for promotion and publicity. Toše collaborated with one of Macedonia’s acclaimed lyricists and composers, Grigor Koprov, to produce some of the greatest hits of his career. In 1999, he released his debut album, Nekade vo Nokta. In the summer of the same year, Toše Proeski performed his first solo concert in Skopje.
In 2000, Toše participated in Skopjefest,the Macedonian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. He sang Solzi Pravat Zlaten Prsten which won the televoting but finished 3rd overall, behind Karolina Gočeva and the winners XXL. During that period, he began recording the tracks for his second album, Sinot Božji. The album brought some great hits.
After spending his time in recording studios in Athens, Greece, Toše released his third album Ako Me Pogledneš Vo Oči in October 2002 in Macedonian and Serbian. After the release, Toše went on a tour throughout Macedonia doing intense promotion. He also went to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria for further promotion. Toše won Beovizija in Belgrade in 2003, with Čija Si, a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former republics. This song was due to represent Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 but the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year and so some would be forced to withdraw. Serbia and Montenegro (who participated as one country at the time) were one of them.
To improve his singing, Toše took classes in New York from maestro William Riley, who was also coach to famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. When he returned, Toše held humanitarian concerts throughout the Republic of Macedonia. He was awarded with the Mother Theresa Humanitarian Award and in 2003 he became a Regional UNICEF Ambassador.
In 2004, MKTV chose Toše Proeski to represent Macedonia at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Turkey, and in February, he performed eight songs, where a jury, televoting, and his own opinion chose the song. The song Angel Si Ti was chosen by all three. In April, Toše released his album Den Za Nas, which featured the eight songs from the Eurovision selection in Macedonian.
In May, Toše finished 14th in the final with the song Life, which was the English version of Angel Si Ti. Prior to the contest he was popularised by reporters due to his tremendous opera singing ability, at his press conferences. All eight songs were recorded in English, but only the winning song of the national final Life was released. During the TV national final show, after each song was performed, a clip of the song was played in English to show viewers how it would sound if that song won the contest and was performed in English at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 final.
In 2004 Toše Proeski was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and recorded the song This World which became the UNICEF anthem. Toše signed a contract with Dallas Records so his next album could be released in Croatia and Slovenia. To establish himself in these countries, Toše recorded Krajnje Vreme with Slovenian singer, Anja Rupel. In 2005, Toše’s fifth album Po Tebe was released throughout ex-Yugoslavia. Po Tebe is one of the most successful Balkan albums ever. It topped music charts for months in the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Božilak, was a compilation of 14 traditional Macedonian songs arranged by Sasa Nikolovski Gjumar, Ilija Pejovski and Soni Petrovski. Toše was backed up by a symphony orchestra on the album. His last album Igri Bez Granici was released all over ex-Yugoslavia in August, 2007.
Apart from songs in Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, he also recorded one song in Slovene, Moja in 2007, and one in Italian, Aria, with Italian superstar Gianna Nannini. List of artist who collaborated with Proeski include Anja Rupel, Antonija Šola, Bora Čorba, Karolina Gočeva, Esma Redžepova, Gianna Nannini, Goca Tržan, Grigor Koprov, Jeff Beck, Tony Cetinski, Željko Joksimović and other notable musicians. Prior to his death, he was a student in his final year in the solo singing department of the Skopje Music Academy.
Toše also established himself as a songwriter. He wrote several hits for himself. In 2004 Toše composed Muza for Martin Vučić, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest representative for the Republic of Macedonia. It became the title track for the young artist's second album. In interviews Toše Proeski stated that he had written over 100 songs but was waiting for the right moments to record them as they were still in demo form. On October 15, Proeski gave his final interview to the Macedonian Television Station Kanal 5. He talked about his intention to finish his Musical Academy studies, his search for his soul mate, and his new album in the works.
Toše's last concert was held on October 5, 2007 for the Primary Education Project for USAID. The concert raised tens of thousands of euros for the primary schools of Macedonia. The concert was attended by over 35,000 people and viewed all over the world.
During the early morning of October 16, 2007, at 6:20 a.m., Toše died in a car accident on the Zagreb–Lipovac highway near Nova Gradiška, Croatia. He was a passenger along with his manager Ljiljana Petrović in a Volkswagen Touareg driven by Georgij Georgijevski.
After his death, the government of the Republic of Macedonia, gave him the title Honorable citizen of Macedonia.
The government organized an official state funeral for Toše Proeski, which was held October 17, 2007 in his home town of Kruševo, including military honour ceremonies. The funeral, which was broadcast by the national Macedonian TV was attended by many domestic and foreign delegations. Also, the funeral was attended by many notable musicians from Republic of Macedonia and other countries, including: Karolina Gočeva, Kaliopi, Vlado Janevski, Lambe Alabakoski, Elena Risteska, Jovan Jovanov, Martin Vučić, Adrian Gaxha, Tijana Dapčević and her sister Tamara Todevska, Aki Rahimovski (the frontman of Parni valjak), Toni Cetinski, Ceca Ražnatović, Željko Joksimović and many others.
On the 5th October 2008, the anniversary of Toše's last concert before his death a tribute concert was held in Skopje. Over twenty singers from various Balkan countries performed. A documentary about the work of Toše Proeski was released on February 12, 2009 in cinemas all over former Yugoslavia. Another concert was held on January 24, 2010, a day before Toše's birthday.
Waterloo & Robinson are an Austrian popduo. Hans Kreuzmayr (27 november 1945) is Waterloo and Sepp Krasnitzer (15 april 1947) is Robinson. They got together in 1969 and in 1971 they won a talentshow with the song Du Kannst Sehen which became their first hit in Austria. After that they had a couple of hits in Austria and were very popular and successful.
In 1976 they represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song My Little World which came 5th. After the contest they had some hits in Germany.
In 1981 Waterloo & Robinson split up. Robinson started a solo career and was successful in Austria and Germany. In 1983 he participated in the Austrian national final with the song Freiheit which came 2nd and in 1990 he tried again with the song So Ein Wunderschönes Leben which came 4th.
Robinson also started a solo career but wasn't very successful. Since 1989 the duo performed together again and in 2004 they took part in the Austrian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song You Can Change The World which came 2nd. In 2007 the duo stopped definately to focus on their solo careers.
Dollie, later known as Dollie de Luxe and Adrian/Bjørnov, was one of the most famous Norwegian pop duo's. It consisted of singers and songwriters Ingrid Bjørnov (born December 5, 1963) and Benedicte Adrian (born October 22, 1963).
The girls grew up together in Oslo and as teens they performed a norwegian version of the ABBA song Summer Night City on NRK radio in 1979. After that they got a record contract and they called themselves Dollie.
Their first hit was Første Akt which was released in 1980 and sold over 50000 copies and won an Norwegian prize. After that they had many hits in Norway.
In 1981 Dollie participated in the Norwegian final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 1984 which came 6th. In 1982 they participated again, this time they came 10th with the song Det Er Deg Jeg Skal Ha. In 1984 the girls won the Norwegian pre-selection with Lenge Leve Livet. For the Eurovision Song Contest they changed their name in Dollie de Luxe. During the final in Luxembourg the girls performed their now legendary "skiing dancing" with rags in their hair but although they were the pre-tournement favorite they came only 17th.
Their album Dollie de Luxe was a success in Norway, France and Canada. In 1987 the girls wrote a musical based on the tragic story of Maria Vittoria di Benevento who was burned at the stake as a witch. The musical was a huge success. After that they released a couple of successful albums and they won several prizes in Norway. In 1992 their musical Which Witch set up in London's West End. It should 've gone well but the musical was awarded the merciless slaughter of most British newspapers.
In 1995 the girls wrote a new, humorous, musical called Henriette which was a huge success in Norway. After that they called themselves Adrian / Bjørnov and wrote a crime-musical. The show was released on cd. This album was the latest collaboration between Benedicte Adrian and Ingrid Bjørnov.
Sheeba were an all-girl pop trio and were popular in Ireland and Japan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sheeba consisted of Maxi (who sang the Irish entry in 1973), Marion Fossett and Frances Campbell. They are best known for representing Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with Horoscopes which came 5th.
In 1978 the group took part in the Irish national final with their song It's Amazing What Love Can Do which came 6th. They went on to release several singles in Ireland with producer Roberto Danova, although their biggest hit was Horoscopes in 1981, which reached No.3.
Following their exposure in the 1981 contest, they signed a recording contract in the UK and released the singles The Next Night and Mystery, neither of these found success however. The contest also led to concert tours in Europe and Japan. The following year they entered the Irish national final again with a song performed in Irish called Go Raibh Maith Agat (Thank You Very Much) which came 7th. Later in 1982 they were involved in a road accident in the West of Ireland that brought their career to an eventual halt due to their reluctance to continue touring. Shortly after the accident Sheeba represented The Netherlands at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the song Don't Know How which stranded in the semi-finals. After a Japanese tour in 1983, they decided to split, but did compete one more time in the National final in 1984, where they finished 4th with the song My Love And You. Today, Maxi is a successful broadcaster with RTÉ in Dublin, Marion Fossett is ring-mistress of the well-known family circus Fossetts, and Frances Campbell is a broadcaster in Northern Ireland.
Rajaton is a Finnish a cappella ensemble, founded in Helsinki in 1997. The Finnish word rajaton means boundless, to indicate the breadth of their repertoire, from sacred classical to near Europop. Rajaton consists of Soprano: Essi Wuorela, Soprano: Virpi Moskari, Alto: Soila Sariola, Tenor: Hannu Lepola, Baritone: Ahti Paunu and Bass: Jussi Chydenius. Rajaton performs primarily in Finland but also tours around Europe and the rest of the world. Rajaton appears regularly in Canada at the Festival 500 choral event in St. John's, Newfoundland as well as at MusicFest Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the guest artist at the Kaleid Choral Festival in Woodstock, Ontario in 2005, 2006 and 2010. Rajaton's fan following has grown substantially since 2002. In 2005, Rajaton album sales reached 100,000 worldwide. They have earned eight gold records in total, with Rajaton Sings ABBA reaching platinum (30,000) and Joulu reaching double platinum (60,000). Rajaton also includes original material in their repertoire: aside from works by composers such as Mia Makaroff, Laura Sippola and Anna-Mari Kähärä, some of their pieces are written or arranged by members of the ensemble. In one of the shows the group sings many Finnish Eurovision songs.
Merja Rantamäki (14-2-1957) is a Finnish pop singer. Merja's first hit was a Russian folk song in the late 70's. After that she had a couple of other hits in Finland. Merja was quite successful, performed in many discotheques's and theaters and made a couple of albums. In the early 80's Merja stopped her singing career and became a devoted housewife. In the early 90's she tried to make a comeback but stopped definitely after a short, unsuccessful, period. Merja covered quite a few Eurovision songs.
Jan Malmsjö is a Swedish singer, actor and musical star. he trained at the prestigious Dramatens Elevskola (The Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school) during 1950-53 and one of his first parts at the national stage was as Paris in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He played in lots of movies, musical and plays like Hamlet, Ibsen's Ghosts, My Fair Lady, La Cage Aux Folles, Victor/Victoria and he voiced Lumiere in the Swedish dub of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Jan Malmsjö is still as active as ever and could last be spotted on stage in the title role of John Gabriel Borkman by Henrik Ibsen at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
In the 60's and 70's he made some quite successful records and he came 2nd in the Swedish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969 with the song Hej Clown.
In 1969 the Swedes picked the wrong song, in my opinion. After the voting there was a tie between Jan Malmsjö who sang Hey Clown, (which was written by Benny Andersson) and Tommy Körberg who sang Judy, Min Vän. They both got 31 points. The jurors had to vote again and they gave Jan 45 points and Tommy 54. So unfortunately Jan Malmsjö didn't go to Madrid to represent Sweden. Tommy Körberg came 9th with Judy, Min Vän.
Anita Spanner is an Austrian singer, best known for her participation in the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest.
Anita came to the Austrian national final in 1984 as a virtual unknown but her song Einfach Weg was the clear winner of 12 participants. In Austria the song was a big hit, it reached no 1 in the Austrian charts. In Luxembourg however Einfach Weg came last with only 5 points.
Anita released a couple of singles but could not repeat the success of Einfach Weg. In 1991 she participated again in the Austrian national final but came only 7th with the song Land In Sicht.
Anžej Dežan (born June 17, 1987 in Šentjur is a Slovenian singer.
Anžej began his musical career by winning the TV show Karaoke only ten years old. His first major success though was in the 2005 talent show Spet Doma on RTV Slovenija, where he was the runner-up (beaten by Omar Naber, who got to represent Slovenia in Eurovision Song Contest 2005).
His growing potential was recognised by the successful composers and lyricists Urša and Matjaž Vlašič and Boštjan Grabnar, who became Anžej's creative team. Together with them, Anžej published his first single C'est la vie which was one of the top singles of several Slovenian radio playlists.
In February 2005, Anžej was a backing vocalist for Nuša Derenda at EMA, the Slovenian Eurovision preselection, while in May of the same year he entered the festival Melodije morja in sonca and cut his second single Vroče. The song received a great reception at the festival and the jury awarded him first place.
Anžej competed in the EMA 2006 with the song Plan B with 12 points awarded by the jury and 14 points awarded by the viewers. (The runner-up song performed by Saša Lendero was actually the one awarded the maximum points from the viewers but received no points from the jury.) As the winner, he got to represent Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 at which the song was sung in English and called Mr Nobody. It ended up in 16th place in the semi-final though, and thus failed to qualify to the final.
The song Plan B was also recorded in Serbian under the title Srce od Kristala. He claims that it's his own record.
Tamta, born as Tamta Goduadze, is a Georgian pop singer. She started singing at the age of five and was the leadsinger in several kids Bands in Georgia. Tamta was awarded in children's singing festivals and children's musicals between the age of twelve and fourteen.
At the age of 22, Tamta and her family moved to Greece where she took part in the Greek version of Super Idol where she came 2nd. After that Tamta released a couple of successful singles and albums. In 2007 she was asked to participate in the Greek national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song With Love which came 3rd and last.
Aeone Victoria Watson is a British singer-songwriter, who now lives in Los Angeles, California. Her music has been classified as new age, folk or world music. She has released four albums, one of which was an internet only release. Early in her career, as Vikki, she represented the United Kingdom in the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Love Is which came 4th and was written by Vikki herself and Jimmy Kaleth.
She toured the United States and then returned to her Celtic roots and cales herself Aeone. She did well in terms of touring, television shows and live work, yet a difficult lifestyle coupled with the commercial direction of the material, drove her to emigrate to the United States. Initially teamed with writer/record producer/sound engineer Jeff Silverman, in 1991 she released an eleven track debut album, entitled Window to a World, that pioneered a blend of Celtic sounding music with a pop feel combining fiddle, banjo and mandolin. In 1998, she released a special mp3 album, called Aeone. Combining songs from her debut album and several new ones, the album did well on mp3.com. A few months later, her second studio album was released, The Woman's Touch. After the release, Aeone picked up composing for a while before working on her third album. In between she found time to sing one of the title songs for the TNT mini-series Mists of Avalon, writing the song I Will Remember You Still. A year later, the third album, Point of Faith, was released. Among the more remarkable happenings in her career, Aeone recalls her debut in Zimbabwe, when she sang one song and the band played another; and a television appearance in which she was almost accidentally flattened by Meat Loaf. Her songs have been recorded by Rick Springfield and Shari Belafonte.
UHF is a Portuguese rock band formed in the late 1970s in Almada by António Manuel Ribeiro (vocals, guitar and keyboard), Renato Gomes (guitar), Carlos Peres (bass) and Zé Carvalho (drums). They were the driving force behind the Portuguese rock boom of the early 1980's. At this time very few rock bands had success singing in Portuguese. UHF are still popular and performing in Portugal. For one of their albums they covered the Portuguese entry for the ESC 1967, O Vento Mudou.
Kurt Darren is one the most popular artist in South-Africa and made more than 15 albums since 1995. He sings in English and Afrikaans and scored a lot of hits. On one of his albums he covered the first attempt of Jørgen & Niels Olsen to reperesent Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest.
José Cid (born as José Albano Cid de Ferreira Tavares on February 4, 1942 in Chamusca, Portugal) is a Portuguese singer and composer. Over his longlasting career, José Cid has been awarded with 25 Silver, 8 Gold and 3 Platinum records. He is active in music since 1968 as a co-founder of the band Quarteto 1111, the first band to take a new approach to pop-rock music in Portugal, with a modern line-up and instrumentation. Quarteto 1111 was the first symphonic rock band in Portugal and were very successful. The pop inclinations of José Cid led him to found during the first half of the 1970s a 4 piece vocal pop group (Green Windows) in the style of ABBA who were also very successful in Portugal. After the group broke up José made himself a career as songwriter and singer and remains a popular and active musician in Portugal. José Cid participated many Times in the Portugese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest as a singer and as a writer. He tried to represent his country in 1968, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2007 as a singer or songwriter or both.
In 1968 José Cid participated for the first time at he Portugese national final, he came 3rd with the song Balada Para Dona Inês.
In 1974 José took part in the Portugese pre-selection as a solo singer with the song A Rosa Que te Dei (which came 5th) and as a member of the group Green Windows with the songs No Dia Em Que O Rei Fez Anos (which came 2nd) and Imagens (which came 3rd).
In the Portugese final of 1978 were 12 songs and 3 artists. José Cid sang 4 of the songs. O Meu Piano which came 2nd, Aqui Fica Uma Canção which came 5th, Porquê, Meu Amor, Porquê which came 6th and O Largo Do Corêto which came 7th.
In 1980 José Cid participated in the Portugese national final with the song Um Grande Grande Amor. The winning song was chosen by the votes of 22 regional juries and finally José won. He made the song especially for the Eurovision Song Contest although it was originally four minutes which is a minute too long and for the contest in Amsterdam he made a new, shorter version of the song. The chorus consisted only of international words, "Addio, Adieu, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye. Amore, Amour, Meine Liebe, Love of my Life", because José thought that this would make the song sound much stronger and he was right, Um Grande Grande Amor came 7th at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1981 José came 2nd in the Portuguese pre-selection for the ESC with the song Morrer De Amor Por Ti.
In 1984 family members of José Cid participated as the group Banda Tribo at the Portugese national final with the song A Padeirinha De Aljubarrota which came 3rd. José Cid was the producer of this song and of the album of the group.
In 1988 José Gonçalo, who is a nephew of José Cid, took part in the Portugese pre-selection with José Cid's song Cai Neve Em Nova-Iorque which came 2nd.
In 1993 Jose Cid, Bragança & Ca. Lda. sang the song O Poeta, O Pintor E O Músico which came 2nd.
In 1995 José Cid wrote the song Plural for Teresa Brito which came 3rd
In 1996 José Cid wrote the song Ganhamos O Ceu for Cristina Castro Pereira which came 4th.
In 1997 José Cid wrote the song Canção Urgente for Os Meninos da Sacristia which came 6th.
In 1998 José Cid participated in the Portugese national final as a member of the group Alma Lusa. They won with José's song Se Eu Te Pudesse Abraçar. The song, an ethnic composition featuring traditional Portuguese musical instruments, came 12th at the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham.
The group consisted of vocalist Inês Santos and musicians José Cid, Carlos Jesus, Henrique Lopes, Carlos Ferreirinha and Pedro Soares. Alma Lusa's Eurovision appearance was always intended to be a one-off, and they disbanded after the contest.
In 2007 José Cid was the producer of the song Na Ilha Dos Sonhos sung by Zé P. which came 5th.
Pam Feather is a Dutch singer and guitar player from Rotterdam. Pam performs regularly on several Dutch television stations like TMF, ETV, TV Rijnmond and VPRO. Since 2006 Pam has her own band. During a radio show Pam sang a soul version of Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha La Lie).
Mieko Hirota (弘田三枝子) is a popular Japanese singer. Her nickname is Mico. Mico was born in 1947 in Tokyo. She is very popular in Japan after making her debut in 1965.
Mico was the first Japanese singer to appear at the Newport Jazz Festival in America. For one of her albums Mico covered the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1965.
Kenickie was a rock band from Sunderland, UK. The band was formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne, drummer Johnny X (Lauren's brother), lead guitarist and occasional vocalist Marie du Santiago and bass guitarist Emmy-Kate Montrose. The band's name comes from their favourite character in the 1970s film Grease. Their first single In Your Car was a hit in the UK. Their first album which was released in 1997 was a huge success. In 1998 Kenickie released a second album but it wasn't successful as their first album and in Oktober 1998 Kenickie disbanded after a performance in London.
Kenickie covered the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest of 1976 for the project "A Song For Eurotrash".
Mary Amora is a Dutch singer who was born in 1972 in Manilla. Since 2000 Mary lives in the Netherlands.
In 2001 Mary won the Dutch Soundmixshow as an imitator of Tina Turner. After this Mary toured the Netherlands with her Tina Turner Tribute Show. In 2003 Mary participated in the Dutch pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Somewhere By The River which came 6th. In 2004 Mary tried again but she stranded in the semi-finals with the song The Power Of An Angel.
Mary recorded her first album in 2006 and is still active as a singer.
Merethe Trøan (born May 19 1970, Trondheim) is a Norwegian singer, best known for her participation in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest.
In her teens, Merethe Trøan and her sister were members of vocal group Pastel together with two brothers, not related to the Trøans. In 1985, Pastel took part in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selection, Melodi Grand Prix, with the song Ring Ring Ring finishing 3rd. Pastel released one self-titled LP before disbanding. In 1992, Trøan returned to MGP as a solo artist, and this time was successful with the song Visjoner being chosen as the Norwegian entry for the 37th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Malmö, Sweden on 9 May. Visjoner" did not prove very successful, managing only 18th place of 23 entries, although Merethe Trøan's performance is remembered for a spontaneous giggle midway through the song.
In 1993 Merethe tried again to represent Norway but came only 6th with Din Egen Stjerne.
Merethe Trøan subsequently took up work as a voice actor, her credits including the Norwegian versions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book 2.
The Latvian rock band Fomins & Kleins was founded at the end of 2002. Its members Ivo Fomins and Tomass Kleins were already accomplished and wellknown rock musicians. Both are from the western Latvian city of Liepāja, which is famous for its rock music traditions.
Both have worked together previously, in Soviet times forming the underground group Saldās Sejas, which also featured well known Latvian musicians Zigfrīds Muktupāvels and Guntars Račs.
At the end of 2002, the band signed a contract with the largest local record company Mikrofona Ieraksti. At the start of 2003, the first song that they recorded together, Sniegs, brought the group success at radio stations, as well as winning 3rd place at the LNT Music Video Competition. The next single Solījums is often played on many Latvian radio stations, and the song's video is frequently shown on television and was nominated for the Best Music Video Award at the Latvian Music Awards. In July, the musicians participated in the international festival "Baltic Song Contest" in Sweden and achieved fourth place. The festival itself is shown on Swedish television as well as Polish television.
The group's debut album Muzikants was released in 2003, and the album's title track became a huge hit after the duo successfully performed at the Latvian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and gained a convincing second place with the song Muzikants. That year it was the only song to be performed in Latvian and the public was on its feet during the performance.
In 2004 they again found themselves singing the only Latvian-language song in the Latvian Eurovision pre-selection. This time they won, and the song Dziesma Par Laimi was selected as Latvia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul where they stranded in the semi-final. Nevertheless, they subsequently remained upbeat about the experience, and about Latvia's future in the contest.
Fomins & Kleins frequently give concerts and are still very successful.
Anna Sofia Helena Källgren, known as Sofia Källgren (born 17 August 1970, Högsbo, Sweden), is a Swedish singer.
In 1982 she debuted on the TV-program Gomorron Sverige on Sveriges Television. In 1986 she performed the song I Know Him So Well from Chess in a televised talent show Folkparkernas Talangjakt. In 1987 she was awarded the Ulla Billquist-scholarship.
Sofia entered the song Världen Är Vacker to try to participate in Melodifestivalen 1989. The song was not selected, but she was offered to perform the song Världen Är Vår with Visitors which came 7th, in Melodifestivalen 1990 Sofia entered again and performed Handen På Hjärtat solo backed up by three dancers wearing partial fursuits. Handen På Hjärtat finished 4th and in 2003 Sofia Källgren sang a duet with Robert Wells but their song My Love stranded in the semi-finals of Melodifestivalen.
Robert Wells (born April 7, 1962 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish pianist, composer and singer, best known for his highly successful musical extravaganza Rhapsody in Rock which has achieved great prominence in Scandinavia, a mixture of rock, classical and boogie-woogie. Robert participated in 1987 at Melodifestivalen with the song Sommarnatt which didn't reach the top 6. Robert Wells played piano during the Belarus entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Butterflies performed by 3+2.
Andrew Carrington (April 16 1977 in Australia) is an Australian singer.
Andrew Carrington is an Australian singer from Cairns and former leadsinger of the Australian Ten Tenors. Andrew lives in Berlin with his German wife. He studied saxophone and classical singing.
Andrew covered for his album a couple of Eurovision songs.
Grupa 777 was a Croatian music group and very popular and successful in Yugoslavia in the 70s and 80s. They performed at many festivals and had lots of hits. They toured Yugoslavia, Russia and Germany.
Grupa 777 participated fout times in the Yugoslav pre-selection for the ESC:
Apocalyptica is a instrumental heavy metal band from Helsinki, Finland, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso and drummer Mikko Sirén.
Originally a Metallica tribute band, their music borrows elements from many genres including classical music, neo-classical metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, and symphonic metal.
They have sold over three million albums to date. In 2007 they performed during the interval act at the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Sedat Yüce is a Turkish pop singer and musician who participated 5 times at the Turkish pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest which he won only once.
In 1993 Sedat was a backing singer in the Turkish pre-selection for Sebnem Özsaran.
In 1996 Sedat took part with the song Vazgeç which came 3rd.
In 1999 he sang the song Birak Beni which didn't reach the top 3.
In 2001 he won the Turkish national final with the song Sevgiliye Son which came 11th inStockholm.
In 2005 he took part with the song Yeniden which didn't reach the top 2.
Behave is a Dutch band consisting of Michiel Cremers, Gerjan Schreuder, Junior Vogel and Jeroen de Haan.
In 2006 Behave participated in the Dutch national final with three songs. The song Heaven Knows was a small hit for Behave in the Netherlands and came 2nd in the Dutch pre-selection.
