In 53 years, the Eurovision Song Contest and its participants broke many records and entertained us with countless gaffes. Being the longest running television programme, it is bound to have a few great moments. Some of them include the following:
The Music
* More than 1,000 songs have taken part in the Contest. In 2006, the song of Ireland's Brian KENNEDY became number 1,000.
* The most covered Eurovision Song Contest song is Domenico Mudugno's Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu, also known as Volare. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more.
* Conducting seems to be a male preserve. From the hundreds of conductors over the decades, only three women have conducted the orchestra at the Eurovision Song Contest. Nurit Nirsch conducted the Israeli entries of 1973 and 1978; Monica Dominique conducted the Swedish 1973 entry and Anita Kerr appeared in front of the orchestra for Switzerland in 1985.
* Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linde conducted for seven different countries (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland)
* German songwriter and composer Ralph Siegel seemed to love the competition. He took part 18 times, often with Bernd Meinunger
The Winners
* Ireland seems to have the luck of the Irish in winning the competition! That country has won a staggering seven times. Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom have managed five times each, with Sweden and the Netherlands each winning four times. It means that this annual competition has been virtually dominated by just six countries (bagging 75% of the titles) while some countries have never won.
* Johnny Logan is the only individual singer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest three times. In 1980 and 1987 he represented Ireland as performer and won both times. In 1992 he also wrote Linda Martin's winning entry, Why Me?
* Noel Kelehan, Ireland's conductor, also came in on the act by conducting five winners between 1980 and 1996.
*ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winner. The Swedish pop band won the contest in 1974 with Waterloo.
* Most winning songs were performed in English. A song in either English or French has won 67% of all titles. Songs (mostly) in English won 22 times, and French had 14 victories. Dutch and Hebrew songs won 3 times each
* Poor Norway could be found at the bottom of the list as many as ten times! They rapidly became known as the country with 'null poins', getting no points at all. It was very embarrassing. The unfortunates came last in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001 and 2004. But they never gave up because they also won twice (in 1985 and 1995)
The Organisation
* Nearly 9,000,000 phone calls and SMS texts were used to vote for favourite songs in 2008, up 35% on 2005. Spread over 24 hours, that would equal 104 per minute!
* Six different systems have been used to pick the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest and they are still experimenting to get it right.
* 2001 saw the largest audience ever attending the Eurovision Song Contest. Almost 38,000 people gathered at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium to see the event.
* In the very first year, 1956, only seven countries participated. It was the only time they were allowed to sing two songs each and could also vote for themselves!
* This year, 2009, a record number of 42 countries are participating.
Ms CYPRAH's All-Time Eurovision Top 5:
No. 5: Apres Toi (After You) by the beautiful Vicky Leandros representing Luxembourg, 1972.
(Vicky sang her heart out in Edinburgh, Scotland, to beat 17 other contestants. A very powerful song, sung with lots of feeling and vibrancy. It makes you forget that it is not in English! She scored 128 points to beat her nearest rival, the United Kingdom, with 114.)
LIVE UPDATE
The first dress rehearsal, presented by Natalia Vodyanova and Andrey Malakhov appeared to have gone very well today, with many of the commentators sounding very excited now and rooting for their own countries.
Eurovision Watch
To follow the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) taking place on March 16 in Moscow, click on Meet the 42 Participants, then Click on PREVIEW VIDEOS, and you will be able to get a better flavour of potential winners and make your own choices.
To enjoy some of the old winners in excellent sound, visit the Eurovision Song Contest archives . The site has some really interesting information and great performances, as well as some old classics from Bob Dylan and such like.
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