History of the Eurovision Song Contest Wikipedia

Pre-recorded backing tracks were also permitted for the first time, however all vocals were still required to be performed live and any instruments featured on the track had to be seen on stage. The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the eighteenth edition of the contest, organised by CLT and held on 7 April 1973 at the Nouveau Théâtre in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Luxembourg earned their third contest win, represented by the Greek singer Vicky Leandros with “Après toi”; it was Leandros’ second attempt at Eurovision, having previously come 4th for Luxembourg in 1967. Monaco recorded their first and only win, with French singer Séverine victorious for the principality with “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”. The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth edition of the contest, organised by Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and held on 3 April 1971 at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Widespread dissatisfaction with the result of the 1969 contest led to the withdrawals of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal, with Austria and Denmark also declining to participate in response, leaving only 12 countries to compete in Amsterdam, the lowest number of participants since 1959.

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• Bucks Fizz, specially formed for the contest, would have great success in the following years, and their Eurovision winning song “Making Your Mind Up” would go on to become a Europe-wide hit.
• Luxembourg earned their third contest win, represented by the Greek singer Vicky Leandros with “Après toi”; it was Leandros’ second attempt at Eurovision, having previously come 4th for Luxembourg in 1967.
• Taking inspiration from the Festival of British Popular Songs, organised by the BBC in August 1956 which included a scoreboard and voting by regional juries, the contest organisers decided to incorporate these ideas into the pan-European contest, allowing viewers at home to follow the voting procedure.
• The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the forty-seventh edition of the contest, organised by Eesti Televisioon (ETV) and held on 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia.
• In September 1953, an EBU meeting in London resulted in a series of international exchange programmes organised the following year, entitled the “European Television Season”, and relayed live across Europe through the Eurovision network.

45 years after first entering the contest, Finland secured its first win, represented by Lordi and “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to compete, but controversy over the winner of their national selection resulted in their late withdrawal. The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the fifty-first edition of the contest, organised by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and held on 18 and 20 May 2006 at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece.

Initially BRT had wanted to co-produce the first Belgian contest with RTBF, the broadcaster which had won the previous year, however disagreements quickly arose between the two organisations, and so RTBF organised the contest on its own, with BRT selecting the Belgian entry. Since the contest’s formation two broadcasters had been responsible for choosing Belgium’s entries, with French-language RTBF and Dutch-language Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) alternating every other year. This contest also saw one of the first open representations of a member of the LGBT community, when members of the Norwegian drag group the Great Garlic Girls accompanied the home nation’s singer Ketil Stokkan. A worldwide audience of around 500 million viewers was expected, with some 30 countries taking the broadcast across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Israel made its first appearance, becoming the first non-European nation to enter the contest, while Austria and Malta both withdrew, bringing the total participating nations to 17. Groups were allowed to participate for the first time, with the maximum number of performers allowed on stage set at six; previously only one or two principal vocalists had been permitted with support from a maximum of three supporting artists.

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29 countries submitted entries for this qualifying round, with all competing nations and Norway voting and deciding the 22 countries which would advance to the final and join Norway as the host country and previous year’s winner. Loreen, the winner of the 2012 contest, returned for Sweden and became the second artist to record two wins in the contest with “Tattoo”, and in doing so giving Sweden a record-tying seventh contest win. Substantial changes to the voting system were made for this contest, with full televoting returning to determine the qualifiers from the semi-finals, and viewers from non-participating countries being allowed to vote in all shows, with their votes being aggregated and awarded as one set of points from an “extra country” for the overall public vote. This contest saw the performance of Eurovision’s 1,500th song, when former winner Alexander Rybak performed “That’s How You Write a Song” in the second semi-final for Norway. 43 countries were initially announced as being represented at the contest, with Australia being invited to compete for a second time; Romania was subsequently barred from competing due to outstanding debts owed by the Romanian broadcaster TVR, leaving 42 countries to compete in Sweden’s sixth outing as hosts.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the sixtieth edition of the contest, organised by ORF and held on 19, 21 and 23 May 2015 at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. Developments in Russia, particularly the introduction of a gay propaganda law and the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, were also present in the contest when audible booing could be heard during the Russian entry and voting. The bearded drag queen’s victory proved controversial among some, particularly in Russia where several conservative voices voiced criticism of her win. The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the fifty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by DR and held on 6, 8 and 10 May 2014 at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the fifty-eighth edition of the contest, organised by SVT and held on 14, 16 and 18 May 2013 at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden.

14 songs from Eurovision history, chosen by fans and the contest’s Reference Group, competed to determine the most popular song from the contest’s first 50 years. 39 countries competed in total, with debut entries from Moldova and Bulgaria, and a return from Hungary for the first time since 1998. The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the fiftieth edition of the contest, organised by the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) and held on 19 and 21 May 2005 at the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the forty-ninth edition of the contest, organised by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and held on 12 and 15 May 2004 at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey.

A record 42 countries competed in the contest, which saw the debut entries from the Czech Republic, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia, the latter two as independent countries for the first time. A record 36 countries competed in the first contest held under the new format, with the relegated countries from 2003 being joined by Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro in their debut appearances, with Monaco also making its first appearance after a 25-year absence. This change, which proved controversial, meant that all entries would be accompanied by a backing track for the first time, a decision which former winner Johnny Logan claimed had turned the contest into banglabet casino “karaoke”. 25 countries were featured in the eighth contest held in the UK, a new record, with Macedonia making its debut appearance. A new qualifying system was introduced at this contest, principally to appease Germany, one of the contest’s biggest financial backers, which otherwise would have been relegated, which saw all countries, except the host nation, competing in an audio-only qualifying round. Norway scored its second contest victory with the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden and the song “Nocturne”; some criticism arose following its victory that, as a mainly instrumental number containing only 24 words in total, the winning song should not have been eligible for the song contest, to no avail.