An Xtra Happy Birthday, week 41

Can you believe that there were 26 Eurovision Stars that celebrated their birthday last week. Can you guess how many will celebrate their birthday his week. Just click through the days and count, or just look at the number on the last page;) Will give you one name to start the count, "Nicky Byrne"! No need to count him twice, however there are twins so take note of that. October 8th Big Eurovision Birthdays today! That is, the birthday boy celebrates 70 years and the birthday girl 60 years. Norbert Niedermayer, 70 Niedermayer first participated on behalf of Austria in 1972 with the rock band Milestones. They performed "Falter im Wind" in Edinburgh and recived 100 points, thus ending in 5th place at the Final. That is one of Austria’s most successful Eurovision entries, as only three songs have placed higher. The second time Nobert performed for his country was in 1978 in Paris. Then as a part of the band Springtime. The band sang “Mrs. Caroline Robinson” and got 14 points, therefore ended up in 15th place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-lGhJOZagA Laura Vlasblom, 60 Laura was part of the group Frizzle Sizzle, and therefore took part at Eurovision in 1986.That is the groupre reprecented the Netherlands in . heir song is called "Alles heedt een ritme" and gained 40 points, which gave them the 13th place out of 20 countries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwdO6F6sRJs October 9th After a slow few days in the Eurovision birthday calendar, we are back with a bang today! No less than four Eurostars were born on this day, and we are of course here to congratulate all of them on their birthday! One of them is none other than the former boyband super star Nicky Byrne! Burak Güven (Mor ve Ötesi), 43 Burak represented Turkey at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. He did so as bass player and backing singer of Mor ve Ötesi. Their “Deli” is possibly the best rock entry in the last…I don’t know…sixtysome years (yeah, getting personal again; sorry, it just happens…). They finished in an ever so deserved 7th place, which regardless is approximately five or six places too far down on the scoreboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A__hliu_9UE Nicky Byrne, 39 Nicky Byrne represented Ireland at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. He performed the song “Sunlight”, finishing 15th in his semi-final, thus failing to reach the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezJsUMD-y-I Csezy, 38 Csezy represented Hungary at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. She performed the song “Candlelight”, finishing last in the second semi-final. As a result of this she did not get to perform her song again in the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgt2AhRtVA Sidsel Ben Semmane, 29 Sidsel represented Denmark at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. There she performed the up-tempo song “Twist of Love”. Since Denmark finished in the top 10 in 2005, Sidsel was automatically qualified for the final, where she finished 18th out of 24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lvegAK4vOA October 10th Today we celebrate three Eurovision Stars! One song is speaks to us Eurovision fans, Come Back to Eurovision and stay! the birthday lady is turning 70 years old. And the "young" one in the group was a debut act for his country. Dickie Rock, 72 Ireland selected Dickie to g to Eurovision in 1966, which was held in Luxembourg. Therefore he sang the sweet song "Come Back to Stay". his sweetness paid off, because his song got fourth place at the contest, As well as being the top hit in his home country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHOJlZaWuU Severine, 70 Performing on behalf of Monaco in Dublin in 1979. Singing “Un banc, un abre, une rue” that can be translated from france to “A bench, a tree, a street”. The entry got 128 points thus winning the show. She entered the German national selection two times after that, but was not successful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzII567Bp3w Brane Vidan, 58 Slovenia debuted at Eurovision in 1993, and chose a group called a musical band 1x Band. Brane was the base-guitar player of the band. They performed the rain song "Tih dezenven dan". Slovenia did not find the heart of Eurovision in the first attempt because the it got low score. Therefore landed on the bottom part of the scoreboard. https://youtu.be/uAuiJDjd28c?t=65 October 11th Today there are six Eurovision Performers that celebrate their birthday. However there are seven Eurovision entries, three of them represented Poland. Gladys del Pilar, 51 Gladys placed second in Melodifestivalen in 1994 with the song "The most beautiful thing I know". However her chance at Eurovision came in 2002, then she took part with the group Afro-dite and performed "Never Let in Go" in Tallinn, Estonia. At the end of the voting they got 72 points at the Final and therefore landed the 8th place. https://youtu.be/gr-3NJr42Cg?t=56 Jacek Łągwa, 49 This Eurovision fellow has taken part at Eurovision two times for his country! Maybe the name of Jacek's band sounds more familiar; Ich Troje. But they took part for Poland in 2003 with "Keine Grezen - Żadnych Granic". The song was sung in three languages; Russian, Polish and German. That might have done the trick because the song did well and placed 7th at the contest. Three years later they added two more languages, English and Spanih. Despite that, "Follow My Heart", did not do better as it one place short of reaching the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7pL-jaEnwQ Isis Gee, 46 Isis represented Poland at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. She qualified in tenth place from her semi-final, thus being the last qualifier. In the grand final, on the other hand, she wasn’t as successful. She only finished 24th out of 25 participants. “For Life”, though not being much of a success at Eurovision, nevertheless turned into something of a classic among fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8f5AueE7g Jeronimas Milius, 34 Just like Isis, Jeronimas took part in the 2008 Eurovision in Belgrade. He represented Lithuania with the song “Nomads in the Night”. Unlike Isis, however, he failed to qualify for the grand final. He finished 16th in his semi-final, out of 19 participants. This meant he continued Lihuania’s rather disappointing streak of results at Eurovision. The Baltic country had to wait another eight years before finally achieving a top 10 result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxi0MqXbDiQ Margaret Berger, 33 Margaret Berger represented Norway at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. After three pretty bad years for Norway, her fourth place hinted at a better Eurovision future for her country. Her cool, contemporary entry, “I Feed You My Love”, was one of the pre-contest favorites. It’s result proved once again that modern pop music has a place in Eurovision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjm-kCOMaPY Elżbieta “Ela” Steinmetz (Elaiza), 26 Ela represented Germany at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. She did so as part of the group Elaiza. They performed the song “Is It Right”. Ela was also one of the songwriters behind the entry. Despite charting both in several countries, it finished in a rather diappointing 18th place. The official video for the song is almost four minutes long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFuGH2Kp9dI October 12th We have one Winner in today's group of three. Well, she did not win Eurovision, but she won an international singing contest. Inge Brück, 82 Following Inge's victory in an International singing competition in Brazil in 1966. Germany decided to selected Inge to perform at Eurovision the year after, 1967. The song was called “Anouschka” and was number 8th in Vienna, along with Yugoslavia and Sweden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15jOhZ_23s8 Brian Kennedy, 52 Ireland selected Kennedy to perform his song at Eurovision in Athens, 2006. As well as being the singer of the song “Every Song is a Cry for Love” he was also the author. He was a favorite to win, however he got 93 points leaving him in 10th place at the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiW-jAB4A8 Cláudia Pascoal, 24 Pascoal along with Isaura, got the honor of representing the hosting country in Lisbon in 2018. They sang "O Jardim" in Portugees. I will addmit that I do have a soft spot for their song and think they should place higher then the last place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHjGbADMcOI October 13th Second day in a row when there are three Eurovision Stars that can give us a reason to be merry and celebrate. In many languages! Nana Mousouri, 84 Nana is more know for other things then Eurovision, but she is a talented singer and multi-linguist. Owns singles in more then 12 languages. And that was also shown at Eurovision, that is Nana is Greek, and performed in French for Luxembourg. Her song "À force de prier". placed in the middle, 8th of 16 actat Eurovison 1963. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98HlhsUVX70 Vanessa Chinitor,42 Belgium selected Vanessa to perform at Eurovision in 1999. She sang the song “Like the Wind” in Jerusalem, despite not using a wind machine. “Like the Wind” received 38 point therefore matching UK in the 12th place out of 23 entries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV-jZP4IpI0 Jacques Raymond, 80 Belgium picked Raymond to represent them in 1963 in London with the Dutch song “Waarom?”. His entry was 10th out of 16. In addition to performing in London, he step in when one of the Belgian lead singer from the 1971 Belgian fell ill. Therefore he represented Belgium was again, now with Lily Castel, as they performed the duet “Goeiemorgen, Morgen”. The act ended up in 14th place out of 18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi4vDTGHArQ October 14th A total of six Eurovision stars celebrate their birthday today, and we’re here to celebrate with them! Two of today’s birthday boys were born on the exact same day. Which makes sense, since they are twins! But lets start with congratulation. Cliff Richard, 78 In 1986, UK brought the big guns for Eurovision. They picked the world famous singer Cliff to be their performer for Eurovision. They made the right choice, because his entry "Congratulation" was a hit and placed 2nd at the Contest. And has become an Iconic song since then. Cliff Richard is of course better know for for having sold 250 million records around the world with his brilliant songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3dQ0nnlHY Hanne Haugsand, 43 Hanne represented Norway at the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. She did so as part of the girl trio Charmed. They finished 11th with their uptempo entry “My Heart Goes Boom”. Hanne has also taken part in Melodi Grand Prix twice as a solo artist; in 2006 with “Heavens in Your Eyes” and 2010 with “Don’t Stop“. However, she failed to qualify for the final both times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNP7VPSBICc Hakan and Gökhan Özoğuz (Athena), 42 Hakan and Gökhan are twin brothers, and they represented Turkey at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest on homeground in Istanbul. Gökhan plays the guitar and is also the lead singer, while Hakan is a guitar player. In addition they are also two of the founding members of Athena. They finished 4th with their ska/rock entry “For Real”. Though they didn’t win, they recieved a total of 195 points, which is the highest number of points Turkey has ever gotten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipamUl14A4 Ruslan Alehno, 37 Ruslan represented Belarus at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. He performed the song “Hasta La Vista” in the second semi-final. Though he was one of the pre contest favorites of many fans, he only finished 17th in the semi. Consequently, he did not get to perform his song again in the grand final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG8p0fSHc3U Iveta, 32 Iveta Mukuchyan represented Armenia at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. Long before the contest kicked off she had become a huge fan favorite. Her modern pop entry “Love Wave” was among the favorites to win the contest. She finished second in her semi-final, thus qualifying for the grand final with flying colors. In the final, however, she only finished 7th. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL066Rp7J7k That's it for this week; 27 Eurovision stars to celebrate! All of us here at escXtra wish all of these wonderful artists the very happiest of birthdays!

October 12th

Inge Brück, 82

Brian Kennedy, 52

Cláudia Pascoal, 24

Hlynur Sigurðsson

Comments on An Xtra Happy Birthday, week 41

October 12th

Inge Brück, 82

Brian Kennedy, 52

Cláudia Pascoal, 24

Hlynur Sigurðsson

Comments on An Xtra Happy Birthday, week 41

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