If you wanna make it onto the Eurovision stage, being born on July 25th is obviously a great idea… No less than FIVE Eurostars celebrate their birthdays today! And as always; escXtra is here to celebrate with them! The oldest turns 70 today, while the youngest is just 23. Their Eurovision results are mainly right hand of the scoreboard, with one exception; a 4th place!
Tonia, 70
Tonia represented Belgium in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg City. She performed the song “Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel”. Out of the 18 competing countries this year, Tonia finished 4th, thus bringing Belgium back into the top 10 after 5 years near the bottom of the scoreboard. This was their best result until 1978, when they finished 2nd! Today Tonia turns 70, and we all hope she has an Xtra wonderful birthday!
Rui Bandeira, 44
Rui Bandeira represented Portugal in the 1999 Eurovision in Jerusalem. He performed the song “Como tudo começou”, finishing 21st out of 23 participationg countries. Since taking part in Eurovision Rui has gone on to have a prosperous career in music. He has, among other things, released a total of 13 studio albums. Today he celebrates his 44th birthday, and we hope ha has an Xtra super day!
Rebeka Dremelj, 37
Rebeka represented Slovenia in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. Her entry, “Vrag naj vzame”, is a mid-tempo, dancey tune, and a lot of people thought she would do very well in the contest. However, she finished 11th in her semi-final, meaning she just missed out on a ticket to the final. Today Rebeka turns 37, and we all wish her an Xtra lovely celebration!
Gor Sujyan, 30
Gor Sujyan is the lead singer and guitarist on the Armenian rock band Dorians. They represented Armenia in the 2013 contest in Malmö, with the song “Lonely Planet”. They finished 7th in their semi-final, which brought them into the grand final. On the Saturday they finished 18th. This is, along with this year’s “Fly With Me”, the worst Eurovision result of the Caucasian country. However, this wasn’t Gor Sujyan’s first time on the Eurovision stage. During the Oslo contest in 2010 he did backing vocals for Eva Rivas on “Apricot Stone”. We all wish him an Xtra super happy 30th!!
John Karagiannis, 23
John (or really Giannis) Karagiannis represented Cyprus in the 2015 Eurovision in Vienna. He performed the ballad “One Thing I Should Have Done”, finishing 6th in his semi-final. In the grand final he finished 22nd. John is one of the artists who genuinely want to take part in Eurovision. Before his participation in 2015 he had tried to represent his country at JESC twice; in 2007 and 2008. Who knows; maybe we’ll see him back on the Eurovision stage one day? However, today we are here to wish him the very happiest of birthdays, as he celebrates his 23rd!
An Xtra happy birthday to Tonia, Rui, Rebeka, Gor and John!
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