Thomas G:son

Thomas Gustafsson (born February 25 1968) is a Swedish composer and musician from Skövde, Västergötland, Sweden. He is much more known nationally and internationally as Thomas G:son, his artistic name. Since 1998, Thomas has worked full time as a songwriter for the company G:songs. In addition to writing and composing songs for a living, he plays the guitar in a hard rock band. Thomas G:son is mostly known for the more than 60 songs he has written for national finals of eight different countries for the Eurovision Song Contest. He wrote song for the ESC pre-selections of Sweden, Spain, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Romania and Belgium. He has also reached the Eurovision Song Contest five times, twice for Sweden (2001 and 2005), once for Norway (2007), once for Spain (2007), and once for Denmark (2010).

Melodifestivalen entries (Sweden)

• Natten är Min Vän - Cleo Nilsson (1999), 8th place
• Lyssna Till Ditt Hjärta (Listen To Your Heartbeat) - Friends (2001), 1st place (5th at ESC 2001)
• Vem é Dé Du Vill Ha? - Kikki, Lotta & Bettan (2002), 3rd place
• Ingenting är Större än Vi - Arvingarna (2002), 6th place (semi-final)
• Världen Utanför - Barbados (2002), 4th place
• What Difference Does It Make? - Poets (2002), 3rd place (semi-final)
• Hela Världen För Mig - Sanna Nielsen (2003), 5th place
• C'est La Vie - Hanson, Carson & Malmkvist (2004), 10th place
• Tango Tango - Petra Nielsen (2004), 4th place
• Säg Att Du Har ångrat Dig - Anne-Lie Rydé (2004), 4th place (semi-final)
• Långt Bortom Tid Och Rum - Mathias Holmgren (2005), 4th place (semi-final)
• As If Tomorrow Will Never Come - Katrina & The Nameless (2005), 3rd place (semi-final)
• Så Nära - Anne-Lie Rydé (2005), 5th place (semi-final)
• Evighet (Invincible) - Carola (2006), 1st place (5th at ESC 2006)
• Ge Mig En Kaka Till Kaffet - Östen med Resten (2006), 6th place (semi-final)
• Idag & Imorgon - Kikki Danielsson (2006), 10th place
• Innan Natten är över - Kayo (2006), 6th place (semi-final)
• When Loves Coming Back Again - Jessica Folcker (2006), 7th place (semi-final)
• Silverland - Roger Pontare (2006), 4th place (semi-final)
• Amanda - Jimmy Jansson (2007), eliminated in Second-Chance Round
• Samba Sambero - Anna Book (2007), 9th place
• Här För Mig Själv - Maja Gullstrand (2009), 8th place (semi-final)
• Du Vinner över Mig - Mikael Rickfors (2009), 5th place (semi-final)
• Show Me Heaven - Lili & Susie (2009), eliminated in Second-Chance Round
• Thursdays - Lovestoned (2010), 6th place (semi-final)
• I'm In Love - Sanna Nielsen (2011), 4th place
• E De Fel På Mig - Linda Bengtzing (2011), 7th place
• Something In Your Eyes - Jenny Silver (2011), eliminated in Second-Chance Round
• Run - Anders Fernette (2011), 8th place (semi-final)

Melodi Grand Prix entries (Norway)

• Din Hånd I Min Hånd - Kikki, Lotta & Bettan (2003), 4th place
• Anyway You Want It - Ingvild Pedersen (2003), eliminated in semi-final
• Absolutely Fabulous - Queentastic (2006), 3rd place
• Ven A Bailar Conmigo - Guri Schanke (2007), 1st place (18th in ESC 2007 semi-final)
• Rocket Ride - Jannicke Abrahamsen (2007), 2nd place

Euroviisut entries (Finland)

• Who Cares About A Broken Heart? - Johanna (2002), 5th place
• Say You Will, Say You Won't - Ressu (2002), 4th place
• I Can't Stop Loving You - Kirsi Ranto (2004), 10th place (semi-final)
• Till The End Of Time - Arja Koriseva (2004), 10th place

Misión Eurovisión entries (Spain)

• I Love You Mi Vida - D'NASH (2007), 1st place (20th in ESC 2007)
• Piénsame - Anael (2008), eliminated in online-voting
• Te Prefiero - Baltanás (2008), eliminated in online-voting
• Nada Es Comparable A Ti - Mirela (2009), 4th place
• Amor Radical - Rebeca (2009), eliminated in online-voting
• Perfecta - Venus (2010), 4th place
• Recuérdame - Samuel & Patricia (2010), 5th place
• En Una Vida - Coral Segovia (2010), 2nd place
• Beautiful Life - Jose Galisteo (2010), 7th place
• Abrázame - Lucía Pérez (2011), 2nd place

Eirodziesma entry (Latvia)

• Heaven In Your Eyes - Elina Furmane (2006), 8th place

Selecţia Naţională entry (Romania)

• Lovestruck - Indiggo (2007) (disqualified)

The girl duo Indiggo ,which was going to perform the song Lovestruck, was disqualified because they didn't turn up in time for a rehearsal. Additionally, an instrumental version of the song was not sent in time to the TV company.

Piosenka dla Europy entries (Poland)

• Viva La Musica - Man Meadow (2008), 3rd place
• Love Is Gonna Get You - Man Meadow (2009), 6th place

Eurosong entry (Belgium)

• Addicted To You - Tanja Dexters (2008), 5th place (semi-final)

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix entry (Denmark)

• In a Moment Like This - Chanée & Tomas N'evergreen (2010), 1st place (4th in ESC 2010)
• Let Your Heart Be Mine - Jenny Berggren (2011), 8th place
• 25 Hours A Day - Le Freak (2011), 4th place

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010

• Allt Jag Vill Ha - Josefine Ridell (2010), 11th place

Patrick Fiori

Patrick Fiori (born as Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan on September 23 1969 in Marseille, France) is a French singer.

Patrick was born to an Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fiori) in Marseille, France. When he was only 12 years old, he was offered his first role in the musical La Légende Des Santonniers. At the age of 17, he recorded his first single, entitled Stéphanie.

In 1993 Patrick was chosen to represent France at the ESC with the song Mama Corsica which was written by François Valéry. The song was performed in French and Corsican and came 4th in Millstreet.

The following year, his first album was released, entitled Puisque C'est L'heure. His successful audition for the musical Notre Dame de Paris enabled him to originate the role of Phoebus both onstage and in the recording studio. With Daniel Lavoie and Garou, he recorded the successful song Belle. The following year, Patrick signed a contract with Sony and recorded his 3rd album Prends Moi. Patrick finally decided to end his role in Notre Dame de Paris in the year 2000 in order to dedicate more time to his fourth album, Chrysalide. Two years after, his fifth album was released and most recently, the album Les Choses De La Vie in 2008. His 2007 single 4 Mots Sur Un Piano was number one in the French charts for 2 weeks.

Elpida

Elpida Karayiannopoulou, born October 1, 1950 in Spercheiada is a Greek singer who was one of the most successful singers in Greece in the 1970s and 1980s.

Elpida began her singing career in 1970 when she became the singer of an orchestra and recorded an album with them.

In 1972 Elpida participated in the Thessaloniki Music Festival with the song Den Ton Eida and was introduced to the public. In that same year she represented Greece at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the song Mh Teaae which made it into the Grand Final.

In 1973 Elpida recorded her first solo album and was chosen as the most popular singer in Greece.

In 1974 elpida represented Greece once again at the W.P.S.F with the song Min Ipohoris which came 4th and won a Special Award and an Outstanding Song Award.

In 1975 Elpida won the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile Pos Pes Mou Pos. She received various awards such as the Reward of Interpretation"in Poland, and a reward for television in Bulgaria. She also made a lot of television appearances in Latin America, Spain, Germany, UK, Holland, the Scandinavian Countries and made several television appearances in Israel.

In 1979 elpida won the Greek national final for the ESC with the song Socrates. At the ESC in Jerusalem she came 8th.

In 1986 Elpida represented Cyprus at the ESC in Bergen with the song Tora Zo which came last. It is rumoured that Elpida hated the song and she refused to sing it in Bergen. Just before the show she dicided to sing the song herself. It is said that one of the backing vocals was appointed to replace Elpida.

After the ESC Elpida released several successful albums. In 1997 she released her last album which was a compilation. Elpida released 17 albums in her 25-year recording history.

Dima Bilan

Dima Bilan, born as Víktor Nikoláevich Belán, December 24 1981, is a Russian actor and singer who is very popular in Russia.

At school Dima took part in performances, recited poems and sang songs. He graduated from Gnesins Musical College as a classical vocal performer. Dima made his debut at the Russian/Latvian festival New Wave in 2002. In 2003 dima released his debut album Nochnoy Huligan which was a success. In 2004 and 2005 he also released albums.

In 2005 Dima participated at the Rusian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Not That Simple, which came 2nd.

In 2006 Dima was chosen internally to represent Russia with the song Never Let You Go which came 2nd at the ESC in Athens. Also in 2006 Dima received two Awards at the World Music Awards in London and he won awards for Best Artist and Best Song of the year at MTV Russian Music Awards.

In 2008 Dima participated again at the Russian pre-selection for the ESC with the song Believe. Dima won and represented his country in Serbia. During his performance Dima was accompanied by Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton and olympic and world champion figure skater Evgeni Plushenko. Dima won the contest receiving 272 points.

In 2012 Diam participated again at the Russian national final. This time he sang the song Back to the Future, together with Yuliya Volkova, which came 2nd.

And the conductor is......

ABBA & Sven-Olof Walldoff

The website www.andtheconductoris.eu provides it's visitors with full-scale biographies of all conductors who were involved in the ESC between 1956 and 1998.

Stefan Ludik

Stefan Ludik (born April 5, 1981) is a Namibian misician, actor and former cricketer from Windhoek City. He was the first contestant to represent Namibia in the reality television program Big Brother Africa. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for the Namibia Under-19s in 2000.

He competed in the first series of Big Brother Africa, where he first became famous. He is now a popular Afrikaans singer. Stefan covered the Finnish entry of 2009, Lose Control.

Interval acts - 1965: Mario del Monaco

Mario del Monaco (July 27, 1915 - October 16, 1982) was an Italian tenor and is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century.

Mario was born in Florence to a musical upper-class family. As a young boy he studied the violin but had a passion for singing. He graduated from the Rossini Conservatory at Pesaro.

Mario's career began in earnest with his debut in 1940 in Milan. He sang in Italy during the Second World War and married, in 1941, Rina Filipini. In 1946, he appeared at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for the first time. During the ensuing years he became famous not only in London but also across the operatic world for his powerful, metallic voice.

Mario sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1951 to 1959, enjoying particular success in dramatic parts. He soon established himself as one of a quartet of Italian tenor "superstars" who reached the peak of their fame in the 1950s and '60s.

Del Monaco made his first recordings in Milan in 1948. Later, he released several albums and appeared in many operas and concerts.

In 1965 Mario sang during the Interval act of the ESC in Naples. Mario del Monaco sang two Italian songs in old Neapolitan style. The orchestra was conducted by Maestro Gianni Ferrio.

In 1975 he retired from stage. He died in 1982 in Mestre as a result of nephritis.