An Xtra Happy Birthday, week 39!

It’s not quite a record, but very close; this week we have a total of 31 Eurovision birthdays to celebrate! What is perhaps even more surprising than the sheer number is that none of this week’s birthday boys ans girls are Eurovision winners. We do however have a three time participant; Chiara! 

September 24th

Five Eurostars celebrate their birthdays today. Two of them were born on the exact same day, and the oldest and youngest celebrate “round days”; 60 and 30!

Justine Pelmelay, 60

Netherland selected Justine to be their representative at Eurovision in 1989. Therefore she went on stage and performed “Blijf zoals je bent” in Lausanne, Switzerland. The song ended in 15th placeout of 22 acts.

Kati Wolf, 44

Kati Wolf represented Hungary at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf. She was one of the really big pre-contest fan favorites with her entry “What About My Dreams?”. However, as the results came in it became clear that the juries and viewers didn’t agree with the fans. Eventually she finished in 22nd place in the grand final.

Brinck, 44

Niels Brinck, or just Brinck, represented Denmark at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, with the song “Believe Again”. As we can see from their age, Niels was born on the exact same day as Kati Wolf. At Eurovision, however, their fates were quite different. Whereas Kati finished at the bottom of the scoreboard, Brinck ended up in a very respectable 13th place. His song, as we can easily hear, especially at the beginning, was co-written by Ronan Keating.

Matti Matt, 43

Matthias, or Matti Matt, represented Iceland at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, just like Kati Wolf. He was part of the group Sjonni’s Friends, performing the song “Coming Home”. He is the only guy out of the six who doesn’t play an instrument. But then again; with a voice like that you don’t really need another instrument, do you? They were the last qualifiers to be called from their semi-final, and in the grand final they finished 20th. Matti has also tried his luck in Söngvakeppnin a few times, for instance in 2010 and 2011.

Birgit Õigemeel, 30

Birgit Õigemeel represented Estonia at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. She qualified for the grand final by finishing 10th. In the final she finished 20th with her entry “Et uus saaks alguse”. Birgit had tried to represent Estonia twice before finally winning Eesti Laul in 2013. Her first attempt was in 2008, when she finished 3rd in the national final with “365 days“. She tried her luck again in 2012, alongside Violina, with “You’re Not Alone“, finishing 7th.