An Xtra Happy Birthday; October 27th

Yesterday we celebrated two birthday boys who both participated in the 2015 Eurovision. Today we return with a fuller line-up; no less than six Eurovision stars celebrate their birthdays today. One of them is even a winner; We give you Tanel Padar! And a handful others.

Lou, 54

Lou represented Germany at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. She performed Ralph Siegel’s song “Let’s Get Happy”, finishing in 11th place. Two years earlier, in 2001, she finished third in the German national final with the song “Happy Birthday Party“.

Marika Krook, 45

Marika represented Finland at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham. She did so as lead singer of the group Edea. They performed their song “Avaa”. Unfortunately they only managed to reach 15th place out of 25 competing countries.

Jessica Andersson, 44

Just like Lou, Jessica participated in Eurovision Song Contest in Riga in 2003. She represented Sweden with the song “Give Me Your Love” as part of the duo Fame. Magnus Bäcklund was her “duet partner in crime”. They also took part in Melodifestivalen the year after, since they really wanted to improve their 5th place from 2003. However, in 2004 they only finished 6th in Melodifestivalen with “Vinderna vänder oss“. Jessica took part in Melodifestivalen again in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2015. Her best result came in 2010, when she finished 8th in the national final with “I Did It For Love“. Because of these results in Melodifestivalen, she has not gone to Eurovision more than once. Yet.

Tanel Padar, 37

Tanel Padar started his Eurovision career as backing vocalist for his girlfriend at the time, Ines, in 2000. They finished 4th with “Once in a Lifetime“. The year after, Tanel returned to the Eurovision stage. This timehe ended up winning the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen for Estonia with “Everybody”. He performed the song alongside Dave Benton and 2XL.

Vaclav Noid Bárta, 37

Vaclav represented the Czech Republic at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. He did so together with Marta Jandová. They performed the powerful ballad “Hope Never Dies”. They finished 13th in ther semi_final, thus not making it to the grand final. This is yet another of the huge unjustices in the history of the contest. They delivered a flawless performance, and had really deserved a place in the final. (Sorry; I just had to…)

Jessy Matador, 34

Jessy Matador represented France at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. He performed the fun, summery up-tempo entry “Allez ola olé”, which turned into a huge summer hit across Europe. At the contest, however, he only managed to make it to a 12th place. This despite being one of the pre-contest favorites.

All of us here at escXtra wish today’s Eurovision birthday stars the most wonderful of celebrations!