An Xtra Happy Birthday; December 24th

Yesterday we celebrated just one Eurovision birthday girl; the wonderful Beth from Spain! Today, however, we are back with a serious line-up; no less than five Eurostars to celebrate! Three of them are girls, while two are boys. Among today’s birthday Eurostars we have one winner and a total of six top 10 results (yes, there are more than one “repeat offenders” today). However, none of the others have had such Eurovision success as Dima Bilan! 

Giorgios Alkaios, 46

Giorgos Alkaios, along with his Friends, represented Greece at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. They performed the song “Opa!”. In the first semi-final they finished second, thus qualifying for the grand final. They were among the favorites in the final, but there, however, they had to settle for 8th place.

Pamela Ramljak, 38

As part of the girl group Feminnem, Pamela represented both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Eurovision. The first time, in 2005, they performed “Call Me”, on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were automatically qualified for the final, where they finished 14th. In 2010, Feminnem won the Croatian ticket for Oslo. They performed the ballad “Lako je sve” in the second semi-final. There they finished in 13th place, thus failing to qualify for the grand final.
Pamela and the other two members of Feminnem also tried their luck in the Croatian pre-selections both in 2007 and 2009 without the same success.

Anush, 37

Anush represented Armenia at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. She did so alongside her sister Inga. They performed the song “Jan Jan” in the first semi-final, where they finished 5th. Due to this they earned a place in the grand final, where they finished in 10th place. Despite this being Armenia’s weakest result to date, they nontheless gave their country its fourth consecutive top 10 placing.

Maarja-Liis Ilus, 37

Maarja-Liis represented Estonia at both the 1996 and 1997 Eurovision Song Contests. In Oslo in 1997 she performed “Kaelakee hääl” alongside Ivo Linna. They finished in a very respectable fifth place. One year later she was back, this time performing “Keelatud maa“. Although she didn’t do quite as well as the year before, she still secured her second top 10 result, as she ended in 8th place. Maarja-Liis has also taken part in pre-selections in Estonia and Sweden without winning the ticket to Eurovision again.

Dima Bilan, 36

Dima Bilan won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade for Russia with his song “Believe”. He also represented his country at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. Athough he didn’t win at that attempt, his third place nonetheless makes him one of the most successful Eurovision participants in the history of the contest. A lot of fans actually prefer his 2006 entry “Never Let You Go” to his winning song. Dima Bilan also participated in the Russian pre-selection in 2012 alongside Yulia Volkova (Tatu) with the song “Back to Her Future“. They were however defeated by the grannies.

All of us here at escXtra send our best wishes to these five Eurostars who are celebrating their birthday today!