Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 25th - Merry Christmas! Christmas songs by Eurovision artists

Merry Christmas! Here's some Eurovision stars singing Christmas songs.



Charlotte Perrelli - All I Want For Christmas - Live Stortorget, Örebro 2009



Johnny Logan - Happy X-mas



Alexander Rybak - The Christmas Song

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 24th - 1,2,7,4 down the Rockefeller Street

Now a LOT of people seemed to think this was a dead cert to win Eurovision this year. Estonia only qualified thanks to the votes of the juries (they came 13th in the second semi final televote). In a strange quirk of the mixed jury and televote system despite coming 23rd in the televote and 18th in the jury vote, once the points were added up they finished second to last in the combined vote - 24th place.

Estonia 2011: Getter Jaani - Rockefeller Street (24th in Düsseldorf with 44 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 23rd - It's for you Niamh Kavanagh

Now anyone who's met Niamh will tell you she's an absolutely lovely person. As one of Ireland's 7 winners she should be Eurovision royalty but her legacy was tainted when she received Ireland's second-worst ever result in Oslo with 'It's For You'. I rather liked the song myself but I admit the performance wasn't perfect.

Ireland 2010: Niamh Kavanagh - It's For You (23rd in Oslo with 25 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 22nd - What about Kati Wolf's dreams?!

Favourite of British politician Ed Balls and all my gay friends Kati Wolf had a lot of fans at Eurovision 2011. They obviously forgot to vote though as Hungary finished one place below Paradise Oskar 22nd place after a shaky vocal performance.

Hungary 2011: Kati Wolf - What About My Dreams (22nd in Düsseldorf with 53 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 21st - Da Da Dam - it's Paradise Oskar!

Aww it's the lovely Paradise Oskar (real name Axel Ehnström). Perhaps trying to emulate Tom Dice's success in 2010 it was just him and his guitar against a backdrop of the Earth. The song was very popular in the arena. If you listen carefully you can hear everyone singing along to the 'da da dam' bit. It proved popular in the semi final too, where it finished 3rd with 103 points. Possibly due to his early slot (he performed first) it proved much less successful in the final, finishing in 21st place with just 57 points.

Finland 2011: Paradise Oskar - Da Da Dam (21st in Düsseldorf with 57 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 20th - Greece's worst result - Thalassa - Mia Krifi Evesthisia

Greece have very well at Eurovision recently, finishing in the top ten for the last 8 years in a row. However, performing in Eurovision's unlucky 2nd spot Thalassa received just 12 points in 1998, all of which came (surprise surprise) from Cyprus!

Greece 1998: Thalassa - Mia Krifi Evesthisia (20th in Birmingham with 12 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 19th - Hera Björk's Je Ne Sais Quoi

Hera Björk came a strong 3rd in the 1st semi final of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite a great perfomance in the final Iceland finished 19th.

Iceland 2010: Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (19th in Oslo with 41 points)



A cynic would say Iceland suffered for their volcano throwing Eurovision into doubt that year when it erupted shortly before the contest, bringing chaos to Europe's airspace.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 18th - Malta get off to a bad start

Malta have had some great results at Eurovision but it hasn't always been so. In 1971, their debut year, they came last in 18th place. They came 18th again the next year and after a slightly better 12th in 1975 withdrew from the contest.

Malta returned again in 1991 and had much better luck including a 2nd and 3rd place for Chiara. Since the introduction of the semi final Malta have only qualified once, when Chiara once again rode to the rescue. Her song 'What If We' bombed out in the final though, finishing in a disappointing 22nd place.

Malta 1971: Joe Grech - Marija l-Maltija (18th in Dublin with 52 points)



Malta 1972: Helen and Joseph - L-imħabba (18th in Edinburgh with 48 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 17th - Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist

In the year that Bucks Fizz won with their memorable skirt-ripping performance Austria could only manage 17th place. The rather odd performance included a backing dancer who danced around in a gold American football helmet and a swimsuit with a number 7 on it.

Austria 1981: Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist (17th in Dublin with 20 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 16th - Juliana Pasha - It's All About You

Sometimes a song you think will do well doesn't do that well and such was the case for Juliana Pasha in 2010 (for me anyway). Albania finished 6th in the first semi final but could only manage 16th in the final.

2010 Albania: Juliana Pasha - It's All About You (16th in Oslo with 62 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 15th - Bookies favourite France come 15th in 2011!

The bookies are normally good at predicting Eurovision winners but they failed spectacularly this year. Favourites France only managed 15th place.

France 2011: Amaury Vassili - Sognus (15th in Düsseldorf with 82 points)

Melodifestivalen - Deltävling (Heat) 1

The artists and songs for Sweden's massive national final show 'Melodifestivalen' were revealed recently. Deltävling 1 takes place on 11th February 2012 at Scandinavium in Gothenburg.

1. Loreen - Euphoria (Thomas G:son/Peter Boström)
2. The Moniker - I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning) (The Moniker)
3. Thorsten Flinck och Revolutionsorkestern - Jag Reser Mig Igen (Thomas G:son/Ted Ström)
4. Dead by April - Mystery (Pontus Hjelm)
5. Abalone Dots - På Väg (Rebecka Hjukström/Sophia Hogman/Louise Holmer/Viktor Källgren)
6. Marie Serneholt - Salt & Pepper (Lina Eriksson/Mårten Eriksson/Figge Boström)
7. Sean Banan - Den Förste Banan (Sean Banan/Joakim Larsson/Hans Blomberg/Mårten Andersson)
8. Afrodite - The Boy Can Dance (Figge Boström/Catrine Loqvist/Johan Lindman)

We won't get to hear the final songs until the week of each heat (Deltävling) but here is a little info about each of the artists and their previous songs.

Loreen

Loreen's career started on Swedish Idol 2004 where she came 4th. You may remember Loreen from last year's MF where she competed with 'My Heart Is Refusing Me'. Despite becoming a big hit in the Swedish charts she only managed 4th in her heat and lost out to Sara Varga in their head-to-head in the second chance round 'Andra Chansen'.



The Moniker

The Moniker is another artist returning for a second year AND another artist from Swedish Idol. Competing under his real name Daniel Karlsson he came 4th in 2007. 'Oh My God' came 3rd in the same heat as Loreen, therefore also going through to Andra Chansen. Showing that the second chance round really does work The Moniker finished 3rd in the MF 2011 final.



Thorsten Flinck

Thorsten Flinck is a Swedish, actor and musician who released his first solo album in 2005. Here's the opening track from his new album with the Revolutionsorkestern to give you some idea what we're going to get at Melodifestivalen.



Dead by April

Dead by April are a Swedish metal band from Gothenburg. They released their debut album in 2009 and now in 2012 they are going to try for Eurovision.



Abalone Dots

From metal to country, Abalone Dots released this song in 2008.



Marie Serneholt

Back to a previous MF contestant. In 2009 Marie Serneholt came 6th in Deltävling 1 with this song, 'Disconnect Me'.



Sean Banan

Since it's nearly Christmas here's Sean Banan's Christmas song from 2010.



Afrodite

Not only have Afrodite competed in Melodifestivalen before - they won - and went on to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2002.

2002 Sweden: Afrodite - Never Let It Go (8th in Tallinn, Estonia with 72 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 14th - Ell & Nikki won 7 months ago today

It's hard to believe but it's been a whole 7 months since Ell and Nikki took the Eurovison crown for Azerbaijan in Düsseldorf.


That means it's only 5 months, 8 days until the 1st semi final and 5 months, 12 days until the final of Eurovision 2012 in Baku!!


For now, let's relive their winning performance.


2011 Azerbaijan: Ell and Nikki - Running Scared (Winner in Düsseldorf with 221 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 13th - Unlucky for some but not Sandra Kim and Bobbysocks!

The number 13 may be regarded as unlucky for some but Sandra Kim won Eurovision in 1986 after performing 13th and at just 13 years of age. She was the youngest ever winner. That record will probably never be broken as the rules were subsequently changed so that the minimum age for a performer is now 16 (however there is now a separate Junior Eurovision Song Contest for younger artists).

1986 Belgium: Sandra Kim - J'aime la vie (Winner in Bergen, Norway with 176 points)



This was the second year in a row that a song won from the 13th spot. In 1985 Norway's Bobbysocks! won with 'La det swinge' (Let it Swing).

1985 Norway: Bobbysocks! - La det Swinge (Winner in Gothenburg with 123 points)



It wasn't until 1999 that another country came close to winning after performing 13th. Selma was pipped to the post by Sweden's Charlotte Nilsson with 'Take Me To Your Heaven'.

1999 Iceland: Selma - All Out Of Luck (2nd in Jerusalem with 146 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 12th - Douze Points!

From 1956 until 1974 various scoring systems were used for Eurovision. It was only 1975 that the scoring system in use today was introduced - scores from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally douze points! However, the points were not given in numerical order but in order the songs were performed, as you can see from this video.



1976 was of course the year the UK's Brotherhood Of Man won with 'Save Your Kisses For Me'.



This changed in 1980 and we finally had the voting system we're used to. This was also the year of Jonny Logan's first win with 'What's Another Year'.



In 2009 Norway's Alexander Rybak received a record 16 douze points (from Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine) out of a possible 42.

Norway 2009: Alexander Rybak - Fairytale - Winner in Moscow with a record 387 points!



Sixteen douze points out of 42 may not sound like much but compare this to 2011 when Azerbaijan won with just 3 douze points (from Malta, Russia, Turkey), the same number as Denmark, Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine - one less than Italy and two less than Bosnia who got 5 douze points from Austria, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland. In total 20 countries received at least one douze points in the 2011 final.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 11th - Low jury score push Blue into 11th place in Düsseldorf

Blue were a big hit with the public this year, coming 5th in the televote. However a low score from the juries (22nd out of 25 countries) pushed the UK down into 11th place. The disparity between the televote and the jury vote for the UK was only slightly better than Russia who came 7th in the televote and last in the jury vote, finishing 16th overall.





Of course the juries cast their votes the night before at the final dress rehearsal (Jury Final). Judge for yourself whether they were any better or worse the night before.

Eurovision 2012: Switzerland Decides - Sinplus to Baku

The Swiss public last night chose Sinplus to represent them in Baku, winning 17.87% of the vote.





Pre-contest favourite Lyss Assia came 8th with just 5.46% of the televote.



Full results:

1. Sinplus - Unbreakable - 17.87%
2. IVO - Peace & freedom - 16.02%
3. Chiara Dubey - Anima nuova - 13.82%
4. I Quattro - Fragile - 10.56%
5. Katherine St-Laurent - Wrong to let you go - 9.91%
6. Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves - Real love - 9.81%
7. Raphael Jeger - The song in my head - 5.96%
8. Lys Assia - C’était ma vie - 5.46%
9. Macy - Shining - 3.49%
10. Atomic-Angels - Black symphony - 2.36%
11. Emel - She - 1.30%
12. Guillermo Sorya - Baby baby baby - 1.19%
13. Ze Flying Zezettes Orchestra - L’autre - 1.17%
14. Sosofluo - Quand je ferme les yeux - 1.08%

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 10th - Switzerland decides tonight

Tonight the first entry for Eurovision 2012 will be chosen as Switzerland's Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow takes place. Unfortunately the UK's X Factor duo Same Difference and American act Ultra Nate didn't make the final but 14 other acts did:


Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves - Real love
Emel - She
Chiara Dubey - Anima nuova
Guillermo Sorya - Baby baby baby
Macy - Shining
Sosofluo - Quand je ferme les yeux
Atomic Angels - Black Symphony
Ivo - Peace & freedom
Ze Flying Zézettes Orchestra - L'autre
Raphael Jeger - The song in my head
I Quattro - Fragile
Sinplus - Unbreakable
Lys Assia - C'était ma vie
Katherine St-Laurent - Wrong to let you go


The hot favourite to win is Lys Assia, who won the first ever Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.





If she wins tonight she will go on to represent Switzerland for the 4th time in Baku next year. It's a rather old-fashioned song but the message behind the tile 'C'etait Ma Vie' (It Was My Life) combined with her Eurovision royalty status should ensure Switzerland have their best chance of qualifying in years. That said, returning winners haven't fared too well in recent years - just look at Dana International and Niamh Kavanagh.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 9th - Linda Martin's 9 attempts at Eurovision

Linda Martin is best known for winning Eurovision in 1992 with the Johnny Logan-penned ballad 'Why Me'. However she also represented Ireland in 1984 with another Johnny Logan song 'Terminal 3' and competed in the Irish national final a total of 9 times, 4 times with the band 'Chips', once as 'Linda Martin and Friends' and 4 times as a solo artist. Out of 9 attempts she's represented Ireland twice and won once.

Ireland 1984: Linda Martin - Terminal 3 - 2nd in Luxembourg with 137 points



We covered Why Me on the 3rd so here are six of Linda Martin's other attempts to represent Ireland at Eurovision (I couldn't find a video of Happy Days sorry).

National Song Contest 1976: Chips - We Can Fly (2nd place)



National Song Contest 1977: Chips - Goodbye Goodbye (4th place)



1978: Chips - Happy Days (4th place) - NO VIDEO AVAILABLE

1982: Chips - Tissue of Lies (8th place)



National Song Contest 1986: Linda Martin - If I Can Change Your Mind (4th place)



Euro Song '89: Linda Martin - Here We Go (6th place)




Euro Song '90: Linda Martin and Friends - All the People in the World (2nd place)



And since we covered the 1992 winning performance on the 3rd here's Linda Martin's guest performance at the 2006 Irish national final on the Late Late Show.



*Thanks to Youtube User senzate81 for uploading most of these videos.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 8th - Qele Qele

Ok so how did I link the number 8 to a song with came 4th in 2008?

Despite finishing behind Russia, Ukraine and Greece, Armenia actually received the most 12 point scores - from Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, Netherlands, Poland and Russia - a total of 8 douze points!

Winners Russia only managed 7 (Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine), 3rd place Greece received 6 (Albania, Cyprus, Germany, Romania, San Marino, United Kingdom) and 2nd place Ukraine only got 1 douze points (from Portugal)!

Armenia: Sirusho - Qele Qele - 4th place in Belgrade with 199 points



Sirusho returned to the Eurovision stage this year, performing a remixed version of Qele Qele at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest held in Yerevan, Armenia.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 7th - 7 times winner Ireland

Ireland have won the contest more times than any other country. We've already covered three three of them on the 3rd (the 3 in a row from 1992-1994). Here are the rest of them.

1970: Dana - All Kinds Of Everything - winner in Amsterdam with 32 votes

This was Ireland's first win but would go down in history as one of the most popular Eurovision entries ever. It sold an estimated two million copies worldwide.

Dana later moved into politics, running for Irish President.



1980: Jonny Logan - What's Another Year - Winner with 143 in The Hague

1980 was the last time we would see Monaco perform until their return in 2004. Morocco performed for the first (and so far only) time.




1987: Jonny Logan - Hold Me Now - Winner with 172 points in Brussels

This was Jonny Logan's second win for Ireland. He also wrote Terminal 3 for Linda Martin, which came 2nd in 1984, and would go on to write Linda Martin's winning song 'Why Me' in 1992.



1996: Eimear Quinn - The Voice - Winner in Oslo with 162 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 6th - The 6 performers rule

Initially the rules of the contest stated that a song could only be performed by a solo artist or duo. In 1971 this rule was relaxed to allow up to 6 performers on stage for each song.

DJ Bobo pushed this rule slightly in 2007 when he performed with the maximum six performers on stage, as well as a number of inanimate mannequins. It didn't help though and the bookie's contest favourite only managed 20th place, therefore not qualifying for the final.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 5th - The Big Five

The Big Four has been a contentious issue in Eurovision. As the biggest contributors to the EBU budget none of these countries have to qualify through the semi finals and instead get an automatic place in the final.

Rather than reform the concept, with the return of Italy the Big Four became the Big Five. Judging by the result Italy would have sailed through to the final even if they had had to compete in the semis. Runaway winner with the juries, 11th in the televoting and 2nd overall, it was a triumphant return for Italy after a break of 13 years.

Raphael Gualazzi - Madness Of Love - 2nd place in Düsseldorf with 189 points.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 4th

At the 4th Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes, The Netherlands became the first country to win the contest twice. Just 11 countries competed in 1959, less than now compete in Junior Eurovision.

Georgia Win Junior Eurovision 2011

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 just took place in Yerevan, Armenia. It's not even broadcast in the UK so we had to take to the internet to watch it. Georgia won with a catchy little number Candy Music, beating The Netherlands by 5 points.




Unfortunately our favourite Sweden only managed 9th place out of thirteen countries.



1st: Georgia - CANDY - Candy Music - 108 points
2nd: Netherlands - Rachel - Ik ben een teenager - 103 points
3rd: Belarus - Lidiya Zabolotskaya - Angely dobra (Ангелы добра) - 99 points
4th: Russia - Katya Ryabova - Kak Romeo i Dzhulyetta (Как Ромео и Джульетта) - 99 points
5th: Armenia - Dalita - Welcome To Armenia - 85 points
6th: Moldova - Lerica - No, No
7th: Belgium - Femke - Een kusje meer - 64 points
8th: Bulgaria - Ivan Ivanov - Supergeroy (Супергерой) - 60 points
9th: Sweden - Erik Rapp - Faller - 57 points
10th: Lithuania - Paulina Skrabytė - Debesys - 53 points
11th: Ukraine - Kristall - Evropa (Европа)
12th: Latvia - Amanda Bašmakova - Mēness suns - 31 points
13th: Macedonia - Dorijan Dlaka - Žimi ovoj frak (Жими овој фрак) - 31 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 3rd

The 3rd is dedicated to Ireland who won the competition 3 times in a row between 1992 and 1994.


1992: Linda Martin - Why Me - 1st place in Malmö, Sweden with 155 points




1993: Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes - 1st place in Millstreet, Ireland with 187 points



1994: Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan - Rock 'n' Roll Kids - 1st place in Dublin with 226 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 2nd

The 2nd in dedicated to the United Kingdom. Despite some horrendous results over the last decade the UK still ranks joint second in victories and has come 2nd more than any other country - 15 times!


1967: Cliff Richard - Congratulations - 2nd at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK



1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour. The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom as an encore presentation on BBC2 the next day.


1988: Scott Fitzgerald - Go - 2nd in Dublin



Written by Jule Forsyth, daughter of British TV legend Bruce Forsyth, 'Go' finished just one point behind Switzerland represented by Celine Dion. The final voting country didn't give a single point to either the UK or Switzerland, making for a nail-biting cliff-hanger of a finish.


1993: Sonia - Better The Devil You Know - 2nd in Millstreet, Ireland



After Michael Ball's 2nd place finish in 1992 the UK had high hopes for Sonia. It was another nail-biting finish with the UK needing 12 points from the final jury to win. In the event the UK received nil points and Ireland the 12, ensuring a clear victory for Niamh Kavanagh.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 1st

After a long break Love Eurovision is back! We'll shortly be launching our new website Loveeurovision.com but in the meantime it's time for the return of the Love Eurovision Advent Calendar!


Who else could we choose for the 1st but Helena Paprizou and her 1st place winning song My Number One. Good tidings Loveeurovisioners!