An Xtra Happy Birthday; Week 48!

Its time for happy birthday week. Last week only fifteen Eurovision people celebrated their birthday. This week however, they are twenty-five who are getting one year older. One of them is Émilie Satt, who sang into our heart this year in Lisbon. November 26th Today we have five Eurovision Artist that celebrate their birthday. One of them was victorious at Eurovision on the behalf of United Kingdom. But the others also did quite well and finished in 8-12th place at the Contest. Greetje Kauffeld, 79 The Netherlands picked Greetje in 1961 to go on their behalf to Cannes, France. That is why she sang "Wat een dag" at the stage. She made it to 10th place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBnIF9gQxkg Pfuri Baldenweg, 72 Pfuri was a part of a trio Pfuri Gorps & Kniri. Which joined forces, in 1979, with the Eurovision trio Peter, Sue and Marc. And therefore represented Switzerland with the song "Trödler und Co". Like Greetje, Pfuri also placed in 10th place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVNheb09v4E Martin Lee, 69 In 1976 United kingdom selected the famous band “Brotherhood of Man” to represent them at Eurovision in The Hague, Netherlands. They sang the song “Save Your Kisses for Me”, which got 164 points at the show. Thereby they won the Contest! They are still active as a group today. Martin performed with three other artists; Sandra Stevens, Nicky Stevens and Lee Sheriden. https://youtu.be/fhq_Q1Ut8SQ Ludwig Galea, 41 Ludwig represented Malta at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul. He did so as half of the duo Julie & Ludwig, performing the song “On Again, Off Again”. In the semi-final, the firts of its kind in Eurovision, they finished 8th, thus qualifying for the final. There they finished 12th out of 24 contestants. Julie & Ludwig also tried their luck in Malta Song for Europe 2003, with the song “My Number One“, but they had to wait another year before winning the right to represent their country. https://youtu.be/hbKBo7QhwcI Michał Szpak, 28 Michał Szpak represented Poland at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. There he performed the beautiful ballad “Color of Your Life”. His performance in the semi-final secured a 6th place, thus he qualified for the grand final. In the finale he delivered a flawless performance, giving him a third place among the viewers, and an 8th place in total. https://youtu.be/87BBmxm7IJU November 27th Today is the busiest Birthday party of the week. Are you ready for seven Eurovision Birthday People? Five gentlemen and two ladies. Hans Kreuzmayr, 74 Hans represented Austria at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest in The Hague. He dd so under his stage name Waterloo, as part of the duo Waterloo & Robinson. They performed the song “My little world”, finishing in a very respectable fifth place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXzdl8Ntoh4 Vlado Janevski, 58 Vlado represented Macedonia in their first ever Eurovision, back in 1998. He won that year’s edition of Skopje Fest with the song “Ne Zori, Zoro”, thus winning the ticket to Birmingham. On the night of the final he finished 19th. As a result of this, Macedonia was not allowed to take part the year after. https://youtu.be/Ds8L9PymbJo Vili Resnik, 55 Vili represented Slovenia at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham. He performed the ballad “Naj bogovi slišijo”. He finished in 18th place, right ahead of Vlado Janevski (above), thereby just securing his country’s participation the next year. https://youtu.be/BTED2l_S-aQ Tinka Milinović, 45 Tinka represented Switzerland at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. She did so as part of the group Six4One. They performed the song “If We All Give a Little”. In the grand final they finished 16th out of 24 participating countries. Prior to this, Tinka had taken part in the national pre-selection in Bosnia and Herzegovina several times. Her most successful attempt was in 2005, when she tied for first place, performing Ralph Siegel’s “Sometimes I wish I Were a Child Again“. In 2002 she graced the Eurovision stage for the first time, when she was a backing singer for Maja Tatic in Tallinn. https://youtu.be/eSkQmSug55g Sanna Nielsen, 33 Sanna Nielsen represented Sweden at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. She performed the song “Undo” in the first semi-final, finishing second, thus qualifying for the final. In the grand final she finished in third place, only beaten my Conchita Wurst and The Common Linnets. Participating in the Eurovision Song Contest has been a long standing dream for Sanna, and “Undo” was her seventh attempt at representing Sweden in the contest. Her best results prior to winning in 2014 was a second place in 2008 with “Empty Room” and a third place in 2001 with “I går, i dag“. https://youtu.be/5PQJI-3LW-8 Max Jason Mai, 30 Max represented Slovakia at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. He performed his own song “Don’t Close Your Eyes” in the second semi-final. He finished 18th and last in his semi, thus failing to reach the grand final. https://youtu.be/OTXz60794lI Josh Dubovie, 28 Josh represented the United Kingdom at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. He performed Mike Stock, Pete Waterman and Steve Crosby’s song “That Sounds Good to Me”. Since United Kingdom is pre-qualified for the final, Josh didn’t have to take part in the semi. In the final, however, he finsihed dead last, having received only 10 points. https://youtu.be/BLiL-tRxhkE November 28th Slightly less Eurovision Stars have a birthday today, still respectable five. Do you have the schoolroom dance routine ready? Lonnie Devantier, 46 Lonnie represented Denmark at the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest. She performed the fun up-tempo song “Hallo Hallo”. At the end of the eveninge, Denmark had received a total of 64 points, landing her in 8th place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsp0S79f1ko Daz Sampson, 44 Daz represented the United Kingdom at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. He sang “Teenage Life”, which viewers might remember more because of the performancethan for the song itself. Five female backing singers/dancers, dressed in school girls’ uniforms, were on stage with Daz. And the stage itself was set up as a classroom. When all the votes had been counted, Daz finished 19th out of 24 entries. https://youtu.be/OYgE7O0OLyw Magdi Ruzsa, 33 Magdi Ruzsa represented Hungary at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. She performed her own song “Unsubstantial Blues”. The song originally had Hungarian lyrics, “Aprócska Blues”, written by Magdi herself. However, she wanted the European audience to understand the meaning of the song. Therefore she hired Imre Mózsik to write English lyrics. In the semi-final Magdi finished second, thus sailing through to the grand final. There she finished in ninth place. She did however bring home a victory, as she recieved the Marcel Bezençon Award as best composer. The official video clip of the song also received a lot of positive feedback. https://youtu.be/2WsuY94n06w Jonas Flodager Rasmussen, 33 Denmark selected the singer Rasmussen to be their reprasentative at Eurovsion in 2018. He therefore performed the viking inspired song "Higher Ground" in Lisbon. The song was successful and placed 9th at the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeraDSzu0nw Dominic Muhrer, 29 Dominic represented Austria at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. He did so as part of the trio The Makemakes, performing their own song “I’m Yours”. Dominic, better known as Dodo, is the piano player and lead singer of the band. Since they represented their country on home ground, they were one of the pre-qualified finalists. In the grand final, however, they received the dreaded 0 points…thereby finishing in shared last place with Germany. https://youtu.be/-f993p0CAV8 November 29th Today is dedicated to one dedicated Eurovision performer. Who performed back in the 90', but now gets paid for watching Eurovision. Bob Savenberg, 57 He created the band Clouseau. They first tried out for the Belgian pre- selection in 1989, then with the song "Anne". They did quite well, that is were runner ups in the contest. However, their time at Eurovision came in 1991 then with the song "Geef het op". They placed 16th at the contest. For the last several years, Bob Savenberg, has been one of the national juries for Belgium at Eurovision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkU0cBqJtLg November 30th This day we have four Birthdays. Three of their songs are slightly on the political side and letting people live in peace. While the fourth song showcases a dress with inhabitants that seem to live in harmony. Danny Sanderson, 68 The band Kaveret was selected to be Israels act for Eurovision in 1974. Danny is one of the members and therefore performed “Natati la khayay” at Eurovision. They placed 7th out of 17 acts. https://youtu.be/Pc0A5a-lZGo Linda Wagenmakers, 43 Netherlands selected Linda in 2000, that means she got to perform on the Eurovision stage in Stockholm, Sweden. She started with huge black and white outfit which then was taken off showing all silvery and glittery outfit matching the song “No Goodbyes”. The song ended up in 13th place at the final. https://youtu.be/uuDf5GBnGpA Émilie Satt, 34 The vocalist of the duo, Madame Monsieur, Émilie Satt took part at Eurovsion in 2018. Where she performed the emotional song "Mercy", with a story that touched many people. The song was a strong contender at the competition in Lisbon and ended lower the expected. That is in 13th place at the final. However the song received the Marcel Bezençon Press Award. They were also the runner-up of the OGAE fan vote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLuTtUv0Ns Boogie, 32 Hungary chose Boglárka Csemer, or Boogie, an Hungarian pop artist to reprecent them at Eurovision in 2015. That is why she went on stage in Vienna, Austria. She performed the song “Wars For Nothing” at the first semi final. Like the two other birthday people of the day, she also made it to the final. At the final the act got 19 points, therefore reached 20th place out of 27. https://youtu.be/MdybVsBESQc December 1st Now we have four Eurovision Ladies that celebrate their birthday today. Which out of these four are your favorite? Lize Marke, 82 Marke first took part at the Netherlands national selection in 1963 then with two songs. However her song ended in 2nd and 4th place. In 1965 the Netherlands selected her to perform all the songs at the national selection. “Als Het Weer Lente Is” was the song that was selected and thus it was performed in Napels, Italy. The song however did not capture the juries, and received zero points. https://youtu.be/fChcH7yu3Qc Yianna Terzi, 38 In 2018, the Greek broadcasters really wanted to showcase their origins in music. Yianna was picked out of twenty people to represent Greece. She therefore sang "Oneiro mou" in semi final one in Lisbon. Unfortunately for Greece, the song did not advance to the final. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XOR1DhtDC0 Eva Boto, 23 Slovenia chose Eva Boto in 2012 to perform at Eurovision in Baku, Azerbaijan. Then only 17 years old. The song is called “Verjamem” or “I belive” and was performed at the second semi final. However the act did not advance to the final. https://youtu.be/jEHNRKnrWiU Zoë, 22 Austria selceted Zoë Straub to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016. Therefore she sang her song “Loin d’ici” in Stockholm Sweden. The song was quite popular among the fans. The song qualified for the final where she reached 13th place. https://youtu.be/3xuPYt5i5cE December 2nd Today's birthday ladies had different approach in their Eurovision entries, one about the music dying (hope she is not talking about Eurovision, it can never end) and the other just wanted to be loud! Sabina Babayeva, 39 The year after Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest, they selected Sabina to represent them. Therefore she stood on stage in her home city, Baku, in 2012. Where she sang the song “When The Music Dies”. It was quite the success, because she got 150 points which was enough to earn her the 4th place at the final. https://youtu.be/yzT7O3Fnwpk Mari-Leen, 31 Estoina selected the girl group Suntribe to reprecent them in Eurovision Song Contest in 2005. Mari-Leen was a apart of Suntribe. Therefore she and her band member stood on stage in Kiev, Ukraine, where they performed their song “Let’s Get Loud”. Unfortunately for them, they failed to reach the final. https://youtu.be/mqvOUfdwQtw We all here at ESCXTRA would like to send our best birthday greetings for these artist that have entertained us with their tribuite to Eurovision.

December 2nd

Sabina Babayeva, 39

Mari-Leen, 31

Hlynur Sigurðsson

Comments on An Xtra Happy Birthday; Week 48!

December 2nd

Sabina Babayeva, 39

Mari-Leen, 31

Hlynur Sigurðsson

Comments on An Xtra Happy Birthday; Week 48!

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