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.

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 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.