Germany 1999

The German Final was held on March 12th at the Stadhalle in Bremen, hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and Sandra Studer (who represented Switzerland in 1991 as Sandra

Simo).  The winner was chosen by televoting, with the citizens of Switzerland being allowed to participate in the televote too seeing as song 9 was from Switzerland. It was discovered on March 16th that Corinna May's song had been released on CD in 1997 by another singer, and she was disqualified.  Therefore Germany was represented by the runner-up in the German Final - the group Sürpriz, who went on to come 3rd at the ESC.

Results:

01. Hör den Kindern einfach zu - Corinna May, 32% (DQ)
02. Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e Seyahat - Sürpriz, 16.2%
03. Together we're strong - Cathrin, 15.9%
04. Das tut unheimlich weh - Jeanette Biedermann, 12.2%
05. Bye bye bar - Michael von der Heide
06. Ein bißchen Sonne, ein bißchen Regen - Patrick Lindner
07. Lover boy - Carol Bee
08. Ich habe meine Tage - Megasüß
09. qHeaven - Elvin
10. Lost in love - Wind
11. Itsy Bitsy Spider - Naima

At the ESC in Jerusalem Sürpriz came 3rd with the by Ralph Siegel & Bernd Meinunger song Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat.

***

Sürpriz were a German-Turkish musical group, consisting of Cihan Özden, Deniz Filizmen, Yasemin Akkar, Filiz Zeyno, Savaş Uçar and Bülent Ural, known for their participation in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest.

The group was formed by Cihan Özden in 1999 in order to enter that year's German Eurovision selection with the song Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat, which had been written by regular Eurovision composers Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger.

At the German national final held in Bremen on 12 March, Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat finished in 2nd place behind Corinna May's Hör den Kindern einfach zu. However, some days later it emerged that May's song had previously been released by another singer in 1997, which contravened Eurovision rules and led to its disqualification. As runners-up, Sürpriz were therefore offered the Eurovision spot, but this too caused controversy when allegations of self-plagiarism were made, claiming that the song was remarkably similar to another Siegel composition which had appeared on a B-side in 1984, Wo geht die Reise hin? by Harmony Four. The matter was taken to the European Broadcasting Union, where a panel of experts concluded that the similarity was not sufficient to disqualify the song on the grounds alleged.

Sürpriz therefore were given the go-ahead to perform in the 44th Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Jerusalem on May 29. On the night, the song was performed in a combination of English, German, Turkish and Hebrew and claimed an unexpected third place of the 23 entries.

The good showing at Eurovision failed to translate into substantial sales, and Reise nach Jerusalem - Kudüs'e seyahat failed to chart in Germany. The group recorded a self-titled CD, which was released in Turkey only in 2000, and continued through several personnel changes before disbanding in 2002.

Germany 1998

The Germany national final to select their entry, Countdown Grand Prix 1998, was held on February 26 at the Stadthalle Bremen, and was hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and Nena. The final decision was decided on televoting only, the top 3 were announced, but the other placings are known unofficially.

The winning entry was Guildo hat euch lieb!, performed by Guildo Horn and written and composed by Stefan Raab.

Results:

01. Guildo hat euch lieb! - Guildo Horn, 62%
02. Herzensschöner - Rosenstolz, 10.6%
03. Du bist ein Teil von mir - Heats & Roses, 10.1%
04. Gel-Song (Kleine Melodie) - Fokker
05. Lass die Herzen sich berühren - Diana & Wind
06. Can-Can - Ballhouse
07. Carneval - Köpenick
08. Kids - Sharon
09. Es regnet nie in Texas - Shana
10. Freut euch! - Maria Perzil

Guildo Horn was the ninth performer on the night of the Contest. At the Contest, he performed together with his band Die Orthopädischen Strümpfe. At the close of the voting the song had received 86 points, placing 7th in a field of 25 competing countries.

Guildo Horn (born February 15, 1963 in Trier as Horst Köhler) is a German schlager singer. He is mainly famous for his eccentric stage persona, which includes outrageous clothes and very extroverted antics.

He has served alongside Olympic trampolining champion Anna Dogonadze and referee Markus Merk as ambassador for his native state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Germany 1997

Germany was represented by Bianca Shomburg, with the song Zeit, at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on May 3 in Dublin. Zeit, composed by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, was the winner of the German national final, held on March 27.

The final was held in Lübeck, hosted by Jens Riewa. Nine songs took part and the winner was chosen by televoting, converted into percentages. Zeit received over three times more votes than the 2nd-placed song.

Results:

1. Zeit - Bianca Shomburg, 40.2%
2. Schein (meine kleine Taschemlampe) - Leon, 13.0%
3. Im Auge des Orkans - Michelle, 11.8%
4. Zwischen Himmel und Erde - Anke Lautenbach, 11.4%
5. Es lebe die Liebe - Michaela, 9.3%
6. Kein "bitte verzeih' mir - Jeana, 5.8%
7. Engel - All About Angels, 4.3%
8. Komm zurück - Veveca, 2.5%
9. Ich bin solo - Verliebte Jungs, 1.8%

On the night of the final Bianca Shomburg performed 11th in the running order. At the close of voting Zeit had received 22 points, placing Germany joint 18th (with Bosnia-Herzegovina) of the 25 entries.

***

 Bianca Shomburg (born 17 September 1974, Hiddenhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German singer, best known for her participation in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1996, Shomburg took part in the international TV talent contest European Soundmix Show, which she won, as a result obtaining a recording contract with producer Harold Faltermeyer and releasing her first single, I Believe In Love. In 1997 she entered the German Eurovision selection with the Ralph Siegel-composed Zeit, which had originally been written for Esther Ofarim. Zeit emerged the clear winner, and went forward to the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest, held in Dublin on 3 May. The song's performance in the contest was however very disappointing, managing only an 18th place finish of 25 entries.

Shomburg followed her Eurovision appearance with an English language album, It's My Time, which failed to sell and remains her only album to date. She was unable to make a commercial breakthrough, and subsequently largely disappeared from public view, although she was for a time a singing coach on TV reality show Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Since 2008, Shomburg has been working with country rock band Nashfield.

Germany 1996

For the first time since 1992, a national final was held in Germany to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The German national final for the 1996 Eurovision, organised by ARD, was held on March 1 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg, presented by Jens Riewa. 10 songs competed, and a public televote was held to select the winner: this was Leon with Planet of Blue, which received 37.9% of the vote.

Only the top three songs were announced during the show, however the placings of all the songs are known.

Results:

01. Planet of Blue - Leon, 37.9%
02. Jeanny wach auf - Andre Stade, 16.4%
03. Echos - Angela Wiedl & Dalila Cernatescu, 11.9%
04. Für dich mein kind - Anett Kölpin
05. Der liebe Gott ist ganz begeistert - Ibo
06. Surfen-multimedia - Euro-Cats
07. Ohne dich - Rendezvous
08. Immer nur du - Nina Falk
09. Ja das kann nur Liebe sein - Jacques van Eijck
10. Wo bist du - Enzo

The 1996 Contest implemented an audio-only pre-qualification round for all competing country (except for host country Norway). 22 songs, from the 29 competing, could join Norway in the live final on 16 May. Germany failed to progress from the pre-qualification round, leading to the first time that Germany failed to participate at Eurovision.

***

Leon (born Jürgen Göbel, 4 April 1969, Lippetal, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German singer, best known for his participation in the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, when he was controversially eliminated at the pre-selection stage.

Leon had taken part in the 1996 German Eurovision selection with the song Planet of Blue, which had gained a comprehensive victory in a public televote. It was a very contemporary, techno-influenced song which had been expected to do well in the contest. The 1996 Eurovision Song Contest was to take place in Oslo on 18 May. Hosts Norway were given an automatic place in the contest, but as 29 other countries were chasing the 22 remaining places, it was decided to hold an audio-only pre-qualifier on 20 March where a jury from each country would listen to all the songs and vote in the normal ESC manner, with the bottom seven songs being eliminated. To universal surprise, Planet of Blue finished 24th in the voting, and failed to qualify for the contest.

Undeterred by disappointment, Leon returned to the German Eurovision selection in 1997 with Schein (meine kleine Taschenlampe), which finished second. He remains active and continues to release new material.

Germany 1995

In 1995 the duo Stone & Stone were chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest with their song Verliebt In Dich. 

The song, originally written in English, is a religiously-themed ballad, with the singer expressing her love and devotion to God, and explaining that this faith serves to comfort her in troubled times......

Stone & Stone also recorded the English version of the song, bearing the title (Oh Lord) I Realized It's You.

Following the show, lead singer Cheyenne Stone was heavily criticised for a very shaky, toneless and at times off-key vocal performance, and for her choice of stage outfit – a shapeless half-sleeve floor-length white dress which, it was said, looked like a nightgown. The widely-predicted bad result materialised, as Verliebt in Dich was saved from the  nul-points only by 1 point received from Malta, placing Germany last of the 23 entries.


 Stone & Stone were a German duo formed by Glen J. Penniston and Tatjana Cheyenne Pennisto. They made a few singles and an album but they were not very successful and shortly after the contest they broke up.

Alejandro Abad

Alejandro Antonio García Abad is a Spanish singer-songwriter.

In 1993 he wrote the song Enamorarse for Ana Reverte which won the OTI Festival in Valencia.

In 1994 Alejandro was chosen to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest with his song Ella No Es Ella which came 18th.

In 1995 he wrote the song Eres Mi Debilidad which was the winning song at the OTI Festival in Asunción in Paraguay and sung by Marcos Llunas.

In the year 2000 Alejandro discovered David Civera in the TV show Lluvia De Estrellas and asked him to sing Dile Que La Quiero in the Spanish pre-selection in 2001, which came 6th at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen.

In 2003 Alejandro produced the song Desde El Cielo for Sergio which came 2nd at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark.

Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra

Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra was a Turkish band of the 80's which was meant to be the Turkish answer to ABBA. The members of the band were Nilgün Onatkut (1982-1987), Atakan Ünüvar, Mehmet Horoz, and Esma Erdem (1984-1987), Şebgün Tansel (1982-1984), Didem Hekimoğlu (1987-1988) and Seda Ünüvar(2001), who is the daughter of Atakan Ünüvar.

In 1983 they came second in the Turkish national final with the song Atlantis. In 1984 they won the Turkish pre-selection with Halay. For the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxemburg they changed the song and a chorus was added, Halay came 12th which was the highest position for Turkey up till then.

Mario Pacchioli

Mario Pacchioli is a Swiss singer who won the first price at Music Star. His first single, Tier Tei/By Your Side was a top 3 hit in the Swiss charts and came 2nd in the Swiss pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

His second single Can't Stop Loving You wasn't successful at all and Mario stopped his music career but in september 2005 he made another album which was quite successful.

Germany 1994

Germany was represented by three-member girl group MeKaDo, with the song Wir geben 'ne Party, at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on May 30 in Dublin. As in 1993, the German entry was chosen internally. The song was composed by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger.

The group's name came from the girls' first names and consisted of Melanie Bender, Kati Karney and Dorkas Kiefer. Dorkas had previously taken part as a solo singer in the German national final in 1989.

On the night of the final MeKaDo performed 14th in the running order. The group had put together a complex stage routine which reportedly caused them problems in rehearsals, but on the night they managed to get it right. Although Eurovision rules at the time required the song to be sung in German, lyricist Meinunger admitted that he had specifically written lyrics with a very English sound, as well as including several brief phrases actually in English (which the rules allowed). Wir geben 'ne Party stood out as a fun, uptempo song in a contest very heavily dominated by ballads, and at the close of voting had received 128 points (including maximum 12s from Hungary and Romania), placing Germany third of the 25 entries, the country's first top 5 finish since 1987.

Festival di Sanremo - Tony Renis

Tony Renis (born May 13, 1938), stage name of Elio Cesari, is an Italian composer, songwriter, music producer and film actor.

Born in Milan, he debuted in the mid-fifties, paired with Adriano Celentano, performing an impression of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In 1958, he signed to the label Combo Record as a singer and started releasing covers of Italian and American songs. In 1961, Renis debuted at the Sanremo Music Festival with the song Pozzanghere.

In 1962, Renis gained international success with the song Quando, Quando, Quando, written with Alberto Testa and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. One year later, he won the same Festival with the song Una per tutte.

Other participations at the Festival di Sanremo:

1964: I Sorrisi Di Sera
1967: Quando Dico Che Ti Amo, 2nd
1968: Il Posto Mio
1970: Canzone Blu, 13th

In 1972, he composed the song Grande grande grande with Alberto Testa, successfully performed by Mina, and later by Shirley Bassey under the English translation title "Never Never Never".

In 1974, he won the Nastro d'Argento for the Best Score for the score of Blu gang - vissero per sempre felici e ammazzati.

In the eighties, Tony Renis mainly worked as music producer and, in 1981, he launched the career of Nikka Costa.

In 1999, Renis received a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar for the song "The Prayer", performed by Céline Dion and Andrea Bocelli, from the Quest for Camelot movie soundtrack.

In 2005, he won a David di Donatello for the song Merry Christmas in Love from the film Christmas in Love. The song was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards.

Junior Eurovision - Rosica Kulakova & Dimitar Stojmenovski

Rosica Kulakova & Dimitar Stojmenovski represented FYROMacedonië in 2007 at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with the song Ding Ding Dong which came 5th.

Germany 1993

Germany was represented by the band Münchener Freiheit, with the song Viel zu weit, at the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on May 15 in Millstreet, Ireland. For the first time since 1977, the German entry was chosen internally. Münchener Freiheit were allowed to pick the song they like. The band chose the song Viel Zu Weit which was written by Stefan Zauner who is the singer of Münchener Freiheit.

Münchener Freiheit were internationally the best-known act in the 1993 contest, having had a very successful recording career throughout the previous decade. They were one of very few non-British Eurovision participants to have had a hit single in the United Kingdom (Keeping the Dream Alive in 1988) prior to their Eurovision appearance. However – as others such as Olivia Newton-John, Silver Convention and Baccara had found out before them – prior international success was no guarantee for Eurovision success.

On the night of the final Münchener Freiheit performed 3rd in the running order. At the close of voting Viel zu weit had received 18 point, placing Germany 18th of the 25 entries.

Münchener Freiheit was founded in the early 80's and consists of Stefan Zauner (vocals, keyboards), Aron Strobel (guitar and vocals), Rennie Hatzke (drums), Michael Kunzi (bass and vocals), and Alex Grünwald (keyboard). In the 80's they were very successful in Germany and other countries in Europe and America, they had many hits and made 15 albums. Their biggest hits were Tausendmal Du, Play it Cool, Keeping the Dream Alive and Ohne Dich. The band is still together and successful.

Germany 1992

The German Final was held in Magdeburg, hosted by Carmen Nebel. The winning song was chosen by the votes of 11 regional juries, each giving one point to their favourite song from the six competing.

The winner was Wind with the song Träume sind für alle da, composed by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Bernd Meinunger. Wind had previously represented Germany at the 1985 and 1987 contests with Für alle and Laß die Sonne in dein Herz, coming 2nd both times.

Results:

01. Träume sind für alle da - Wind, 7 points
02. Licht am Horizont - Blaue Engel, 3 points
03. Wir seh'n uns wieder - Lena Valaitis, 1 point
04. Shalalaika - Susan Schubert, 0 points
04. Blue Farewell River - Relax, 0 points
04. Der letzte Traum - Bernhard Brink, 0 points

Wind performed 22nd on the night of the contest. Träume sind für alle da received 27 points, placing 16th of 23 countries.

***

 Wind is the name of a German musical group that mostly plays schlager music. The band is still active, more than 20 years after its foundation.

The group was started in 1985 by the composer Hanne Haller. The members of the band at that time were Alexander "Ala" Heiler, Christiane von Kutschenbach, Rainer Höglmeier, Willie Jakob, Sami Kalifa and Petra Scheeser.

The group has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany 3 times. The first time was shortly after the formation of the band, in Eurovision 1985. With the song Für alle they finished 2nd, just behind the winning duo Bobbysocks from Norway. In 1987 Wind returned to the contest, performing Laß die Sonne in dein Herz in Brussels, Belgium. Once again they achieved a second place, this time behind Johnny Logan who represented Ireland. Wind entered Eurovision for a third time in 1992 in Malmö, Sweden, with the song Träume sind für alle da. This time they were not as successful, finishing 16th of 23 participants. According to John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, Wind are the only act to ever finish second in the contest on two occasions.

The group is a heavy hit-producing band. In the period since 1997 they have released more than 15 singles.

In 1998 Wind participated at the German national final for the ESC again, with the song Laß die herzen sich berühren they came 5th. In 1999 Wind came 10th with the song Lost in love.

Since the late 1990s, Wind consisted of Andreas Lebbing (who sang lead on Lass die Sonne in dein Herz in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest), Nastasja Marinkovic, Albert Oberloher, and Iris Remmertz (later Criens). Marinkovic left the group briefly in 2005 and was replaced by Angela Kötzsch; she returned to the group in 2006.

In late 2008, Albert Oberloher left Wind to pursue his own interests. According to his website, he left the band "due to different ideas about the artistic direction (of the group).

Wind continued from there as a trio with Andreas Lebbing, Natasja Marinkovic, and Iris Criens. At the end of 2010, Marinkovic once again left the group, replaced by Carolin Frölian.

ABBA (3)

At the end of 1974 Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson wrote the song Bang-A-Boomerang and were invited by the Swedish Television to participate with Bang-A-Boomerang in the Swedish pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975.

Since ABBA themselves didn't want to compete in the contest again, just one year after they won, they instead gave the opportunity and the song to Svenne & Lotta. Bang-A-Boomerang was given Swedish lyrics by Stig Anderson and retitled Bang En Boomerang. In the national final Svenne & Lotta came 3rd but had a big hit in Scandinavia.

ABBA released Bang A Boomerang in France with SOS as B-side where it was a minor hit.

ABBA (2)

In 1974 ABBA represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo which came 1st. The writers of the song, Björn & Benny, wrote two songs for the Swedish pre-selection: Waterloo and Hasta Mañana.

Initially thinking Waterloo was too risky, their second choice of song was the ballad Hasta Mañana, as they thought it was more in style with the previous Eurovision Song Contest winners. They decided on Waterloo, primarily because it had Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sharing lead vocals, whereas Hasta Mañana had Agnetha as the sole lead vocalist, and the group believed that this would give the wrong impression of the group to the world.

While the song was being recorded, they decided to give up on it at one point because none of them could sing it properly. Agnetha alone was in the studio and decided to play around with it. She felt if she could sing it in a Connie Francis style it would work - and it did.

In Australia, Hasta Mañana was later used as a B-side on the So Long single (which never charted). After being featured in the immensely popular The Best of ABBA TV Special, broadcast in March 1976, the song became a Top 20 hit in Australia and Top 10 hit in New Zealand.

ABBA (1)

After writing the song Säg Det Med En Sång for the Swedish Melodifestivalen in 1972, manager Stig Anderson decided to have another try at the Swedish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, this time with the song Ring Ring.

He wanted Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida to sing the song. They did, but came only 3rd. Ring Ring was a hit in many parts of Europe and also in South-Africa. It wasn't the first song of ABBA, in 1972 they recorded the song People Need Love as Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida, but in 1973 when they released the song Ring Ring they decided to call themselves ABBA.

World Popular Song Festival - Luv'

In 1980, the popular band Luv' which consisted of Patty, Marga and José, was chosen to represent The Netherlands at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with the song Be My Lover Tonight, but……….

Four months before the festival Patty left the group, she was replaced by Ria Thielsch but after a few weeks Marga also left the group and the manager decided to withdraw the song and the participation of Luv' was cancelled. The song was especially written for the World Popular Song Festival and should have been the start for a career in Japan. The song was only released in Japan as the B-side of the single Tingalingaling.

Wendy van Wanten

Iris Vandenkerckhove also known as Wendy van Wanten is a Flemish model and singer. She started her career as a model and is especially known for her performance as Wendy in the erotic TV-show the Pin-Up Club.

In 1993 Wendy took part at the Belgian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Zonder Verklaring which came 9th. In 2002 she participated again as Iris with the song Forever Yours which stranded in the semi-finals.

Germany 1991

The German national final was held on March 21st at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin, hosted by Hape Kerkeling. The winner was chosen by 1000 people who were telephoned by German TV to vote on the songs.

The winner was the band Atlantis 2000 with the song Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben composed by Helmut Frey with lyrics by Alfons Weindof.

The choice of Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben was widely criticised, as many felt that not only was the song itself not particularly strong, but that also the anthemic 'peace, love and hope for the future' style of the song was at the time becoming something of a Eurovision cliché (the 1990 contest had seen a plethora of such lyrically-themed entries).

Results:

01. Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben - Atlantis 2000, 18,5%
02. Die Wächter der Erde - Ziad & Sandrina, 15,2%
03. Tief unter der Haut - Vox & Vox, 14,9%
04. Hautnah ist nicht nah genug - Barbara Cassy, 14,1%
05. Du bist mehr - Susanne Schubert, 10.8%
06. Hand in Hand in die Sonne - Tanja Jonak, 9,5%
07. Nie allein - Cindy Berger, 6,4%
08. Junge Herzen - Strandjungs, 4,1%
09. Herz an herz - Stefan de Wolff, 3,7%
10. Jedesmal - Connie & Komplizen, 2,8%

On the night of the final Atlantis 2000 performed 17th in the running order. At the close of voting Dieser Traum darf niemals sterben had received only 10 points , placing Germany 18th of the 22 entries.

Atlantis 2000 had been set up specifically to participate at Eurovision and following the bad result in Rome, and the song's failure to achieve significant sales success in Germany, they disbanded soon after.

Atlantis 2000 consisted of: Alfons Weindorf, Jutta Niedhardt, Helmut Frey, Eberhard Wilhelm, Klaus Pröpper and Clemens Weindorf.

Marian van de Wal

Marian van de Wal is a Dutch singer who runs a small hotel in the Andorran town of L'Aldosa. Marian was chosen to represent Andorra at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005. In the national final she sang three songs and the winner was chosen by a mixture of SMS voting (2/9) and an "expert" jury (7/9). No Demanis came 3rd, Dona'm La Pau came 2nd and La Mirada Interior came 1st. At the Eurovision Song Contest Marian finished 23rd at the semi-final. 

Lepa Brena

Fahreta Živojinović, (born October 20 1960), better known as Lepa Brena, is a Serbian singer and one of the most well-known and successful singers in the former Yugoslavia.

She sold over ten million records worldwide, which makes her the best selling female artist in the history of the Balkans. She is the owner of the folk-pop label Grand Production.

In 1983 she participated in the Yugoslav national final with the song Sitnije Cile Sitnije which came 7th. In 1986 she participated again in the Yugoslav pre-selection, this time she came 10th with the song Miki Mico.

On one of her albums she covered the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest of 1995.

Steven Sterling

Steven Sterling is a South-African singer and actor who made his debut album in 2000. He released 9 albums, performed many times on television and is quite popular in South-Africa. Steven sings in Afrikaans, English and Spanish. Steven covered many eurovision songs.

Festival di Sanremo - Eduardo De Crescenzo

Eduardo De Crescenzo, born on February 8 1951 in Naples, is an Italian singer and musician who participated five times at the Festival di Sanremo.

1981 - Ancora, which didn't reach the top 10 in the final

1985 - Via Con Me, 14th in the final

1987 - L'odore Del Mare, 15th in the final

1989 - Come Mi Vuoi, 21st in the final

1991 - E La Musica Va, which didn't reach the top 3 in the final

The song Ancora was a hit for Shirley Zwerus in the Netherlands, she recorded a Dutch version entitled Heel Even.

Years later Gerard Joling and Shirley Zwerus recorded a duet-version of Heel Even.

Germany 1990

The German national final took place on March 29, 1990 at the German Theatre in Munich and was hosted by Hape Kerkeling. The songs were presented live and the winning song was chosen by televoting. Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac were chosen as the winners with the song Frei zu leben which was was composed by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Michael Kunze.

Results:

01. Frei zu leben - Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac, 11955 votes
02. Paloma blue - Xanadu, 8534 votes
03. Hollywood ist besser als Latein - Starlight, 6723 votes
04. Melissa - Divo, 6004 votes
05. Alles was ich haben will - Bandit, 4064 votes
06. Melodie d'amour - Isabel Varell, 3867 votes
07. Wetten, dass... - Mara Laurien, 2601 votes
08. Wieder zusamm' - Kennzeichen D, 2454 votes
09. Alpenglühn - Jürgen Drews, 1267 votes
10. Eine Nacht voll Zärtlichkeit - Malibu, 1180 votes

Frei zu leben was performed thirteenth on the night. At the close of voting, it had received 60 points, placing 9th of 22 countries competing.

__________

Chris Kempers (born Christiane Kempers, January 7 1965, Mönchengladbach) is a German singer, best known for her participation in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest.

Kempers took part in the German Eurovision selection in 1988 as a member of group Rendezvous with Du bist ein Stern für mich, which came 10th. In early 1990, she appeared on a television programme imitating Jennifer Rush, and was noticed by Ralph Siegel, who offered her the opportunity to perform one of his songs as a duet with Slovenian singer Daniel Kovac in the 1990 Eurovision selection, which was held on March 29 in Munich. Kempers and Kovacwon the pre-selection with Frei zu leben. Although the victory was by a considerable margin, it was unexpected, as not only had the song itself been seen by many as somewhat trite, but it was also considered by many viewers that Kovac had given a shaky vocal performance.

Following her Eurovision appearance, Kempers appeared in several stage musicals and worked briefly as a studio backing singer, but was unable to make a career breakthrough, and retired from the music industry soon thereafter.

_________

Daniel Kovac (born 27 September 1956, Črna na Koroškem, Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian singer, best known for his participation in the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest.

Kovac moved to Germany with his family in 1968, and started working as a session singer in the late 1970s. In the 1980s he became a presenter for the Munich-based television music channel musicbox, at the same time hosting radio shows for Bayerischer Rundfunk. Kovac met Ralph Siegel through his studio work, and in 1990 was offered the chance by Siegel to perform a song in the German Eurovision selection.

Kovac subsequently worked as a presenter for music channel VH1. He remains musically active, leading his own band.

Cindy Oudshoorn

Cindy Oudshoorn is a Dutch singer who started her singing career with the band French Kiss. After that she worked as a studio singer and as a backing vocal for Ruth Jacott, Rob de Nijs, René Froger, Frans Bauer and Gerard Joling. She made a couple of singles, one of them is a cover of the Estonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, Kaelakee Hääl. Cindy's version is called Gedachten.

Arne Jansen

Arne Jansen (1951-2007) was a Dutch singer. In 1972 he had his biggest hit with Meisjes Met Rode Haren (Girls With Red Hair). In the 70's and 80's he had several smaller hits, most of them were coverversions. In 1983 Arne had a hit with the song Julie, a cover of the Yugoslav entry of 1983.

Germany 1989

The German national final to select their entry, Vorentscheid 1989, was held on March 23 at the Deutsches Theater in Munich, and was hosted by actor and comedian Hape Kerkeling. The winning song was chosen by televoting.

The winning entry was Flieger, performed by Nino de Angelo and composed by Dieter Bohlen with lyrics by Joachim Horn-Bernges.

During the televoting the German broadcaster showed the wrong telephone number for song number ten so it isn't strange that song number ten came last…..

Results:

01. Flieger - Nino de Angelo, 14625 votes
02. Einen Traum für diese Welt - Xanadu, 10891 votes
03. Ich hab' Angst - Dorkas, 7973 votes
04. Herz an Herz - Andreas Martin, 3855 votes
05. Winderland - Canan Braun, 2570 votes
06. Ich such' dich - ZouZou, 1941 votes
07. Bitte, nicht nochmal - Die Erben, 1799 votes
08. Viva l'amore - Francesco Napoli, 1659 votes
09. Heut' nacht sind sie allein - Clou, 1156 votes
10. Diese Zeit - Caren Faust, 841 votes

Nino de Angelo performed twenty-first on the night of the contest. At the close of the voting the song had received 46 points, placing 14th in a field of 22 competing countries. It marked the second appearance in a row in which Germany took the 14th place slot at the end of the night.

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Nino De Angelo, born as Domenico Gerhard Gorgoglione, December 18 1963, is a German singer of Italian descent. His biggest hit in Germany was Jenseits Von Eden.

After that big success Nino released several singles which couldn't reach the success of Jenseits Von Eden. In 1989 he was asked by Dieter Bohlen to sing his song Flieger in the German national final which won but came only 14th at the ESC in Lausanne.

In 2002 Nino tried to make a comeback and participated again in the German pre-selection, this time he sang Und Wenn Du Lachst which came 9th.

Zdravko Čolić

Zdravko Čolić was born in 1951 in Sarajevo and is a popular singer across the entire area of former Yugoslavia.

After being a member of the bands Ambasadori and Korni Grupa, Zdravko started a solo career in 1972. In 1973 he won the Yugoslav national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Gori Vatra which came only 15th at the contest but was a huge hit in Yugoslavia.

After that Zdravko had many hits and released more than 12 albums.

World Popular Song Festival - Robert Long

John Mohring and Robert Long

Jan Gerrit Bob Arend (Bob) Leverman, better known as Robert Long (1943-2006), was a Dutch singer, songwriter, composer, comedian and television presenter.

Under the stage name Bob Revel he founded the band The Yelping Jackals in 1963. In 1967 he moved to another band called Unit Gloria. In 1971 he began to sing solo under the name Robert Long, a reference to his height. Only a year later he left Unit Gloria and began to sing self-written songs in Dutch. His Dutch songs were critical of Dutch society and of politics. In 1977 Robert Long was awarded with six Dutch Edison Music Awards. During the 80's he scored a top 10 hit in the Netherlands with his song Iedereen Doet't (Everybody Does It) In the late 80's he was the presenter of a couple of shows on Dutch television like Mein Geheim (My Secret), Tien Voor Taal (An A For Language), Vandaag Geen Nieuws (No News Today) and Fantstico. Together with Dimitri Frenkel Frank, Robert Long composed the Dutch version of the musical Chekhov, which was a big success in the Netherlands, but the German version in which Robert Long also participated, was less popular.

In 1973 Robert Long represented the Netherlands at the World Popular Song Festival with the sing-along song I Believe In Love which came 5th and won an Outstanding Song Award.

Germany 1988

Germany was represented by mother and daughter duo Maxi & Chris Garden, with the song Lied für einen Freund, at the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Dublin. Lied für einen Freund, written by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, was the winner of the German national final, held on March 31. Maxi & Chris Garden had finished second in the 1987 German final.

One of the songs which failed to qualify for the 1988 German national final, Das Beste by male/female duo Duett, later became embroiled in controversy when it was entered by the same performers in the 1990 Austrian selection, which it duly won in dramatic circumstances after the female singer had appeared to faint onstage during the initial performance. When the song's previous history subsequently came to light, Austrian broadcaster ORF had no choice but to disqualify it as a clear violation of Eurovision rules, handing the 1990 Austrian ticket to original runner-up Simone Stelzer.

Before the final there were 2 semi-finals. The German semi-final was broadcast on several radio stations, and around 500 people were selected by a German polling institute to select the 12 finalists. The semi-final was in two separate parts which were broadcast on different days. The German Final was held on March 31st at the Frankenhalle in Nürnberg, hosted by Jenny Jürgens. The winning song was chosen by the votes of approximately 600 people who were chosen by an institute to be representative of the German population.

Results:

01. Lied für einen Freund - Maxi & Chris Garden, 4475 points
02. Und leben will ich auch - Cindy Berger, 3769 points
03. Komm' ins Paradies - Bernhard Brink & Gilda, 3538 points
04. Hättest du heut' Zeit für mich - G. G. Anderson, 3508 points
05. Regenbogenland - Ann Thomas, 3351 points
06. Insel Im Wind - Tommy Steiner, 3185 points
07. Tanzen geh'n - Tammy Swift, 3172 points
08. Ein kleines Wunder - Michaela, 3171 points
09. Ich geb' dir mein Herz - Heartware, 3021 points
10. Du bist ein Stern für mich - Rendezvous, 2826 points
11. In deiner Hand - Christian Francke, 2596 points

On the night of the final the duo performed 11th in the running orde. At the close of voting Lied für einen Freund had received 48 points, placing Germany 14th of the 21 entries.

Maxi & Chris Garden are Meike (born June 29, 1974 in Hanau) and Chris Garden (born December 29 1950 in Zellhausen), was a German singing duo, consisting of mother and daughter.

In 1987 Maxi & Chris came 2nd in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Frieden für die Teddybär’n. In 1988 they won the German national final and then represented Germany with the song Lied für einen Freund produced by Ralph Siegel. At the ESC in Dublin they came 14th.

After graduating from high school and completed training as an art and wall painter, Meike studied at the University of the Arts for two years of art and music education. She received her diploma in technical and musical show (singing, acting and dance).

Following her graduation, she was successful as a musical performer in several productions in Germany and Austria. 

Wuyts & Schepens

The Belgian duo Wuyts & Schepens consisted of Jan Schepens en Danny Wuyts and they participated in the Belgian pre-selection in 2002 with the song Without Love which came 4th. Jan Schepens is a singer, actor and musical star and Danny Wuyts is a singer, pianist, componist and producer.

Yellow Pearl

Yellow Pearl is a Dutch band that started in 2003 and has had several hits. This pop/rock band consists of Emiel Pijnaker (vocals), Viktor Beekman (guitar), Robert E. James (keyboards), Sander Keuls (bass guitar) and Guzz Genser (drums).

The band's biggest hits were For You And Me and See You Again. For You And Me was an instant radio hit and came 7th in the Dutch national final for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004. See You Again was a top 10 hit in the Single Top 100. In January 2010, the song For You And Me was selected in the Top 1000 of the last 10 years by radio station 3FM.

Floryanna

Floryanna is a Romanian singer, songwriter and composer who started her singing career as a member of the Flores group at the age of ten. With this group she recorded five albums. In 2009 Floryanna participated in the Romanian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Take The Chance which came 11th out of 12 in the first semi-final. Floryanna covered many eurovision songs.

Germany 1987

Germany was represented by the band Wind, with the song Laß die Sonne in dein Herz, at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Brussels. Laß die Sonne in dein Herz was the winner of the German national final, held on March 26. This was the second of three appearances by Wind at Eurovision, they had previously finished second for Germany in 1985 and would return to the contest in 1992.

Before the final there were 2 semi-finals. The German semi-final was broadcast on several radio stations, and the 12 finalists were chosen by televoting. The semi-final was in two separate parts which were broadcast on different days. The German Final was held on March 26th at the Frankenhalle in Nürnberg, hosted by Christopher Deumling. The winning song was chosen by the votes of approximately 1000 people who were chosen by an institute to be representative of the German population. Other participants included the following year's German entrants Maxi & Chris Garden and Michael Hoffmann, who had represented Germany in 1983 as half of Hoffmann & Hoffmann with brother Günter.

Results:

01. Laß die Sonne in dein Herz - Wind, 4445 points
02. Frieden für die Teddybären - Maxi & Chris Garden, 4370 points
03. So bin ich ohne dich - Bernhard Brink, 3355 points
04. Die Frau im Spiegel - Denise, 3320 points
05. Ich geb' nicht auf - Michaell Hoffmann, 3190 points
06. Einer von uns - Rouge, 3166 points
07. Aus - Cassy, 3126 points
08. Lieder der Freiheit - Helen Christie, 3059 points
09. Das Licht eines neuen Morgens - Michaela, 3054 points
10. Visionen in der Nacht - Bernd Schütz Band, 2929 points
11. Träume tun weh - Sandy Derix, 2902 points
12. Viel zu schön - New Generation, 2864 points

On the night of the final Wind performed 16th in the running orde. At the close of voting Laß die Sonne in dein Herz had received 141 points (including maximum 12s from Denmark and Iceland), placing Germany 2nd of the 22 entries.

Wind became the first act, and to date still the only one, to have finished in second place twice at Eurovision.

Judith Peters

Judith Peters is a Dutch singer. She recorded a few singles and one album which were quite successful. Judith participated in many talent shows on Dutch television like the Soundmixshow. Judith covered the Dutch entry of 2010, Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha La Lie)

Joey Bianco

The Dutch singer Joey Bianco covered the German entry of 1987.