An Xtra Happy Birthday; week 38!

Last week was Eurovision Birthday busy. Howerver, no less than 16 Eurovision birthdays to celebrate this week! One of them is even a winner! The oldest was born in 1947, while the youngest is only 21 years old, as she was born in 1997,Marija Ivanovska. And three of them celebrate “round” days; 30, 40 and 50!

September 17th

Today there are three Birthday Stars one of the represented her country two times, and there was almost a 3rd time.

Ilanit (Hanna Dresner-Tzakh), 71

Ilanit was the deput singer for Israel in 1973 in Luxembourg. Where she performed “Ey Sham”. This was a great start for Israel because she finished in 4th place. She returned back to Eurovision in 1977,  then the contest was held in London. She performed the song “Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim” on stage. This time her entry landed the 11th place. She also would have represented in 1984 with “Balalaika“, but the contest ended up being on the same day as Memorial day.

Bianca Shomburg, 44

Bianca represented Germany at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. She performed the song “Zeit”, written by Ralph Siegel. In the German final there was no doubt whatsoever as to who would represent the country. Bianca actually won by a landslide, receiving 40% of the votes, over three times more than the song in second place. However, at Eurovision the song failed to impress the juries, leaving it in 18th place.

Nikolaj Tøth, 23

Nikolaj Tøth represented Denmark at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. He did so as part of the group Anti Social Media. They performed their own song “The Way You Are”. Despite being among the favorites in their semi, they failed to qualify for the grand final.