Saturday, April 9, 2011

History of Eurovision Song Contest Winners

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest-running broadcast programs in the world.  The Contest has been held every year since 1956 and gives the winner an opportunity to capitalize on the publicity generated from winning the Eurovision Award.


Twenty-five countries have won the award, led by Ireland with seven.  The most famous award winners include ABBA, which used its win for "Waterloo" in 1974 to launch a career that made them one of the most successful acts of the rock era, and another immensely successful singer, Celine Dion, who represented Switzerland at the time (1988) with her winning son "Ne partez pas sans moi".


The Contest has utilized many different methods to judge participants; the most common are votes received from juries or televoters.  The 2011 competition will be May 14.  Here is the complete list of Eurovision Song Winners:

1956:  Lys Assia with the song "Refrain" from Switzerland
1957:  Corry Brokken of the Netherlands with the song "Net als toen"
1958:  Andrea Claveau from France with "Dors, mon amour"
1959:  Teddy Scholten of the Netherlands with "Een beetje"
1960:  Jacqueline Boyer of France with "Tom Pillibi"
1961:  Jean-Claude Pascal of Luxembourg with "Nous les amoureux"
1962:  Isabelle Aubret of France with "Un premier amour"
1963:  Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann of Denmark with "Dansevise"
1964:  Gigliola Cinquetti of Italy with the song "Non ho l'eta"
1965:  France Gall of Luxembourg with "Poupee de cire, poupee de son"
1966:  Udo Jurgens of Austria with the song "Merci Cherie"
1967:  Sandie Shaw of the United Kingdom with "Puppet on a String"
1968:  Massiel of Spain sang "La, la, la"
1969:  (four-way tie)--Salome of Span with the song "Vivo cantando", Lulu from the UK with "Boom Bang-a-Bang", Lenny Kuhr of the Netherlands with "De troubadour" and Frida Boccara of France with "Un jour, un enfant"
1970:  Dana of Ireland won with "All Kinds of Everything"
1971:  Severine from Monaco sang "Un banc, un arbre, une rue"
1972:  Vicky Leandros of Luxembourg won with "Apres toi"
1973:  Anne-Marie David made it two in a row for Luxembourg with "Tu te reconnaitras"
1974:  ABBA of Sweden with "Waterloo"
1975:  Teach-In of the Netherlands won with "Ding-A-Dong"
1976:  Brotherhood of Man of the UK won with "Save Your Kisses for Me", which was a huge international hit
1977:  Marie Myriam of France sang "L'oiseau et l'enfant"
1978:  Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta of Israel won with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi"
1979:  Gali Atari and Milk and Honey of Israel won with "Hallelujah"
1980:  Johnny Logan of Ireland sang "What's Another Year?"
1981:  Bucks Fizz of the UK won with "Making Your Mind Up"
1982:  Nicole of Germany was the winner with "Ein biBchen Frieden"
1983:  Corinne Hermes of Luxembourg with "Si la vie est cadeau"
1984:  Herreys of Sweden was the winner with "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley"
1985:  Bobbysocks of Norway won with "La det swinge"
1986:  Sandra Kim from Belgium won with "J'aime la vie"
1987:  Johnny Logan of Ireland was victorious with "Hold Me Now"
1988:  Celine Dion, representing Switzerland, won with "Ne partez pas sans moi"
1989:  Riva of Yugoslavia won with "Rock Me"
1990:  Toto Cutugno of Italy won with "Insieme:  1992"
1991:  Carola of Sweden sang "Fangad av en stormvind"
1992:  Linda Martin of Ireland was the winner singing "Why Me"
1993:  Niamh Kavanagh was another Irish winner with "In Your Eyes"
1994:  Ireland set a record with three straight winners as Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan won with "Rock 'n' Roll Kids"
1995:  Secret Garden of Norway won with "Nocturne"
1996:  Eimear Quinn of Ireland won with "The Voice"
1997:  Katrina and the Waves of the UK sang "Love Shine a Light"
1998:  Dana International of Israel won with "Diva"
1999:  Charlotte Nilsson of Sweden was the winner with "Take Me to Your Heaven"
2000:  The Olsen Brothers of Denmark won with "Fly on the Wings of Love"
2001:  Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL of Estonia sang "Everybody"
2002:  Marie N of Latvia won with "I Wanna"
2003:  Sertab Erener became the first Turkish winner with "Everyway That I Can"
2004:  Ruslana of the Ukraine topped the competition with "Wild Dances"
2005:  Helena Paparizou of Greece sang "My Number One"
2006:  Lordi of Finland won with "Hard Rock Hallelujah"
2007:  Marija Serifovic of Serbia won with "Molitva"
2008:  Dima Bilan of Russia was the winner with the song "Belive"
2009:  Alexander Rybak of Norway sang "Fairytale"
2010:  Lena Meyer-Landrut of Germany won with "Satellite" 

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