An Xtra Happy Birthday; September 25th

Today we celebrate three Eurovision birthday girls! One performed as part of a group, the other two were on their own. Two of them were born in the 70s, the third in 1985. And they have a total of five (yeah, that’s right; FIVE!) Eurovision participations between them! Two of those participations ended with top 5 results, the other three weren’t quite as successful.

Marianne Antonsen, 47

Marianne represented Norway at the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest in Rome. She did so as part of the group Just 4 Fun, together with Eirikur Hauksson, Hanne Krogh and Jan Groth. NRK decided to go for an internal selection this year, so Just 4 Fun never participated in MGP. They performed the song “Mrs.Thompson”, finishing 17th.

Chiara, 41

Chiara has represented Malta at Eurovision no less than three times! She has achieved a 2nd, 3rd and 22nd place. This makes her the third most successful Eurovision participant without a victory, behind German acts Katja Ebstein and Wind. Chiara first took part in 1998, with “The One That I Love”, finishing 3rd behind Israel and the UK. She returned seven years later, at the contest in Kyiv in 2005. This time she climbed one step further up on the podium, securing a 2nd place for “Angel“. She was only beaten by Helena Paparizou, who won for Greece with “My Number One”. Chiara’s last appearance on the Eurovision stage (for now…) came in 2009, with “What If We“. Hoping that she would secure Malta’s first Eurovision victory, the 22nd place in the final came as a massive disappointment.

Vania Fernandes, 32

Vania represented Portugal at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. She was one of the pre contest favorites, and in the semi-final she finished in 2nd place. However, in the grand final she only made it to 13th, which was somewhat of a disappointment. Both the fans, the Portugese people and Vania herself had reason to expect a better result. Many still feel that Vania had deserved a much better result for her powerful performance of “Senhora do mar”.

All of us here at escXtra want to wish Marianne, Chiara and Vania an Xtra happy birthday!