October 6th
Two birthday girls to celebrate today. None of them had huge success at Eurovision, but one of them have become some of a fan favorite in recent years!
Sonja Lumme, 57
After winning the Finnish final in 1985 with the song “Eläköön elämä”, Sonja went to perform in Gothenburg, Sweden. At the final she got 58 points and thus came in 9th place out of 19. Sonja made three attempts to enter Eurovision again, in 1988, 1989 and in 1992. The last one, where she was the closest to it, that is her song “Rakkauden bulevardi” came in 3rd at the Finnish national final.
Tereza Kerndlová, 32
Czech Republic selected Tereza to represent them in Eurovision in 2008. She sang the song “Have Some Fun” at the second semi-final in Belgrade, Serbia. Despite the fact that this was the country’s most successful entry to that date, it only got 9 points thus finishing second last in the semi-final. Czech Republic had to wait until 2016 to get a better result, when they qualified for the final with the song “I stand“.
October 7th
Today is about two ladies that surely have given Eurovision a good try! Luminita and Charlotte have a birthday today!
Luminita Anghel, 50
Luminita Anghel represented Romania at the 2005 Eurovision in Kyiv, along with the percussion band Sistem. They performed the song “Let Me Try”, finishing in a super third place. This is still today the best Romanian result at Eurovision, an honor they share with Paula Seling and Ovi (2010, “Playing With Fire”).
Charlotte Perrelli, 44
Charlotte Perrelli has participated in the Eurovison Song Contest twice, both times representing Sweden. After having won the Swedish national final, Melodifestivalen 1999 with “Tusen och en natt”, she performed the English version, “Take me to your heaven” on stage in Jerusalem. Her performance scored the most points, or 163 points in total, which of course means she won the contest in Israel.
Charlotte has taken part in Melodifestivalen another two times after winning it in 1999. The second time she took part it was in 2008 with the song “Hero”, where she won it once again. That means she earned the right to represent Sweden in Belgrade. Despite being one of the favorites to win, the song only got 47 points at the final, thus finishing 18th out of 25. She entered Melodifestevalen for the 3rd time in 2012 with the song “The girl“. This time she did not win, since the song did not make it to the national final. But she used the title and named her perfume line after it.
All of us here at escXtra wish these wonderful Eurostars the very happiest of birthdays!
Comments on An Xtra Happy Birthday; week 40!