The countdown to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest continues. We dig into the history of it as we take a look at how the former winners live their life now. Today it’s Ralf Mackenbach’s turn.
Throwback: Kiev 2009
Junior Eurovision 2009 marks the seventh edition of the kids Eurovision. This edition took place in Ukraine’s capital Kiev. Unfortunately, the contest wasn’t as big as previously since only 13 countries took part. We welcomed Sweden back in the line up, but said goodbye to Bulgaria, Lithuania and Greece. As every country has its own process of choosing the perfect candidate, The Netherlands sticked to the formula of Junior Songfestival. The selection kicked off with two semi finals. Ralf qualified from the second semi final. On 3 October 2009, the grand final took place. Ralf won the national selection with the highest possible score of 36 points.
In Kiev, Ralf performed as seventh out of 13 candidates. After an thriller voting, The Netherlands won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the very first time. Ralf received a total of 121 points, including three times 12 points from Belgium, Romania and Sweden.
Life after winning Junior Eurovision
“Click Clack” became a hit in The Netherlands as the nation expressed their pride for the young champion. Shortly after winning Junior Eurovision, Ralf released a few other songs and it didn’t take long before his debut album “RALF” came out.
Additional, he even gained popularity in Belgium, where he got invited a few times for some tv shows.
He also performed during a kids concert there in 2012.
Two appearances in later Junior Eurovision editions
In 2010, one year after his win, Ralf participated in one of the interval acts during Junior Eurovision in Minsk. Together with the other previous winners, he sang a medley.
Two years later, in 2012, Amsterdam hosted the kids contest. Also there, Ralf performed as an interval act during the competition. He sang his new song “This Is Our Party”.
Academic career
These days, Ralf has turned his focus on something completely different. In high school he studied physics. Then he continued in the sciences. On December 2, 2019, Mackenbach obtained the title of engineer with his study Science and Technology of nuclear Fusion at the TU / e. In 2020 he started a PhD in nuclear fusion.
Did you enjoy reading this article? Comment below or share your opinion with @escxtra on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
