An Xtra Happy Birthday; week 52

December 25th

The Christmas day Eurovision people hav e been rather successful at Eurovision. That is all of the four of them have placed in the top 12 at their year at Eurovision. Two of them placed second and thrid in the same year.

Boris Novković, 51

Croatia selected Boris in 2005 to represent them at Eurovision Song Contest. Therefore he went on stage in Kiev, Ukraine, and performed his song “Vukovi umiru sami (Wolfs die alone)” where he became 4th at the semi final.  Which of course meant that he would take part at the final as well. At the final he got 115 point which gave him the 11th place.

Boris came close to entering Eurovision in 1990 on behalf of Yugoslavia, as  he was second at the national selection.  However that song,  “Dajana” went instead to international festival in Kuala Lumpur.

Paula Seling, 40

Paula is a well know singer in Romania and got involved with Eurovision with style. In 2010 she teamed up with Ovi and won Selectia Nationala. Therefore they entered the Eurovision Contest in Oslo, Norway with their song “Playing With Fire”. Advancing from the semi final, with there flaming piano, and scoring the 3rd place! This was the second time Romania became 3rd which is their best scoring at Eurovision up to date.

Seling´s Eurovision story did not end there because she and Ovi took part again in 2014. Then with the song “Miracle” at the stage in Copenhagen, Denmark. They once again made it to the grand final. Where they got 72 points, which secured the act the 12th place.

Ferman Akgül, 39

In the same year as Paula Seling first entered, Turkey selected maNga to represent them at Eurovision. Ferman is the lead singer of the rock band maNga. Their song ” We Could Be The Same” won the second semi final and reached the second place at the final. Which is Turkey’s second best placement in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Marco Mengoni, 30

Marco Mengoni represented Italy at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. He was selected through the Sanremo Festival, which he won with his own song “L’essenziale”. The original version of the song was just over 3.30, therefore it had to be shortened for Eurovision. On the night of the final in Sweden, Marco finished in 7th place, giving Italy their third consecutive top 10 result after returning to the contest in 2011.