An Xtra Happy Birthday; September 26th

After having “only” three birthdays to celebrate yesterday, we are up one and back to four today. Two guys, two girls. The oldest wss born in 1953, the youngest in 1985. Just one of them had much success at the contest itself, but two of the others have had great Eurovision success post contest. We won’t keep you guessing for much longer, and as always we’ll start with the one who’s been around the longest.

Micha Marah, 64

Micha represented Belgium at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem. Her song, “Hey Nana”, was performed in Dutch, It did however fail to impress the juries and ended up in a joint last place with Austria.

Nicki French, 53

Nicki French represented the United Kingdom at the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. She performed “Don’t Play That Song Again”, finishing in a very disappointing 16th place. At the time this was the UK’s worst result at Eurovision. However, post contest both Nicki and “Don’t Play That Song Again” have become massive fan favorites. If ever there was proof that you don’t need to win Eurovision to win the Euroverse…

Kerem Özyeğen (Mor ve Ötesi), 40

Kerem Özyeğen represented Turkey at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. He did so as lead guitarist and backing singer of Mor ve Ötesi. Their “Deli” is possibly the best rock entry in the last…I don’t know…sixtysome years (yeah, getting personal again; sorry, it just happens…). They finished in an ever so deserved 7th place, which regardless is approximately five or six places too far down on the scoreboard.

Marcin Mroziński, 32

Marcin Mroziński represented Poland at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. He performed the rather dramatic entry “Legenda”, but unfortunately failed to qualify for the grand final. However, post contest, Marcin, or Martin Fitch, which is his stage name, has become a huge fan favorite. A lot of fans have wanted him back on the Eurovision stage, but he has said no every year. Until this year, that is. Seven years after Oslo, he finally decided that it was time for him to attempt a return to the contest. He entered the Polish pre-selection with “Fight For Us“, but finished all the way down in seventh place. How this happened is one of the great mysteries of the 2017 pre-season.

Edit: We actually have to double yesterday’s number! Today we have been made aware that another two Eurostars celebrate their birthdays today; Olivia Newton John (69) and Axel Hirsoux (37)!
All of us here at escXtra want to wish Marcin, Kerem, Nicki, Micha, Olivia and Axel the very happiest of birthdays.