DISCLAIMER : THE IDEA OF THE VINYL COVERS IS TO CELEBRATE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN JUST ACTUAL EUROVISION ENTRIES – SOME EUROVISION ARTISTS HAVE HAD OTHER RELEASES, SOME WERE JUST IN NATIONAL SELECTIONS AND IN SOME CASES COMPOSERS FROM EUROVISION WROTE OTHER SONGS AS WELL. SO THESE POSTS ARE TO CELEBRATE THAT AND OUR KNOWLEDGE ON THE ACTUAL ARTISTS ARE LIMITED AND FOR THAT REASON WE SEARCH THE INTERNET AND ESPECIALLY WIKIPEDIA FOR INFORMATION – BUT WE HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE AS TO WHAT IS CORRECT AND WHAT NOT. IT IS FOR EACH PERSON WHO READS THE POST AND SEE INCORRECT INFORMATION TO CONTACT US AND WE WILL IMMEDIATELY CORRECT IT

Nana Mouskouri , born Iōánna Moúschouri on the 13th of October 1934) is an international singer, considered to be one of the best-selling music artists in the world. She has recorded songs in many languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese, Corsican, and Turkish. During the lifespan of her music career she has released over 200 albums and singles in at least 10 different languages. Mouskouri performed the Luxembourg entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1963, “À force de prier”. Although the song only achieved eighth place in the contest, it achieved commercial success, and helped win her the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in France. My favourite song by her is from 1983 and is called GEH NICHT ZU DEN SOLDATEN composed by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger.
If you want detailed information on Nana, go to the following article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_Mouskouri

Barbara Alexandra “Sandra” Reemer (born on the 17th of October 1950 in Bandung, Indonesia) is a Dutch singer of Dutch, Chinese and Javanese extraction. She has represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest on three separate occasions, tying with Corry Brokken for most appearances representing the country. In 1972, she sang the song “Als het om de liefde gaat” in a duet with Dries Holten (she was credited as “Sandra,” he was credited as “Andres”), receiving fourth place. In 1976, she performed solo credited under her real name, singing the song “The Party’s Over,” which made it to ninth place. In 1979, she was credited as “Xandra” and sang the song “Colorado,” which placed twelfth. She later returned to the contest to sing backing vocals (unaccredited) for the Dutch entry in 1983, “Sing Me A Song” performed by Bernadette. Interesting that in 1981 she recorded a song called INDONESIA in honour of the country where she was born.

Katja Ebstein (born Karin Witkiewicz; 9 March 1945) is a German singer. She was born in Girlachsdorf (now Gniewków, Poland). She achieved success with songs such as Theater or Es war einmal ein Jäger. She was married to Christian Bruhn, who wrote many of her songs. She represented West Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest three times: 1970, 1971, and 1980. Her best performance was in 1980 when she gained second place with the entry Theater. As noted by John Kennedy O’Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, Ebstein is the most successful performer to have taken part in the contest, without ever winning. She is the only singer to appear in the top three on three separate occasions. I loveher song ABSCHIED IST EIN BISSCHEN WIE STERBEN, composed of course by Ralph Siegal and Bernd Meinunger. Janita Claassen covered it in Afrikaans simply as AFSKEID.

Heike Schäfer is a German pop singer born on the 23rd of March 1964. She made her first public appearance in 1980. From 1982 onwards she studied singing for several years. Her break through came in 1985 when the recorded the Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger song DIE GLOCKEN VON ROME (The Bells of Rome). It came second in the German selection for Eurovision that year and did well on the german charts. The song has been covered twice in South Africa, by Ge Korsten as DIE KLOKKE SAL LUI (The bells will ring) and Janita Claasen as NET SOOS JY WAS (Just like you are).

Dana Rosemary Scallon (born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951), known in her singing career as Dana, is an Irish singer and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP). While still a schoolgirl she won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with “All Kinds of Everything”. The song was composed by two Dublin printworkers, Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, and produced by Ray Horricks and arranged by Phil Coulter. Released on 14 March, it shot to #1 in the Irish singles chart before the contest began, and stayed there for nine weeks. Across the Irish Sea it spent two weeks at the top of the UK singles chart on 18 and 25 April. It was also successful in Australia, Austria, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. The song went on to sell more than two million units. Manuel Escorio covered it in Afrikaans as “Soveel herinner my” (So much remind me). I have picked his song IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME of 1982 composed by among others Ben Findon.

Information on Lesley Hamilton is very hard to get. Her real name is Barbara Gabriele Hector and she was born in Saarbrücken, Germany. Although she is a German singer, I have not heard a single song by her sung in German. All her releases, according to my knowledge, was in English with her biggest hit “No Hollywood movie”, reaching number 2 on the South African top 20. The song was also covered in Norwegian by a singer there. I also like “My jukebox baby”, however my favourite song by her is CAPRI, THE NIGHT AND YOU. Most of her songs were composed by Rolf Soja and Peter Zentner. These two also composed the 1978 Eurovision entry for Luxembourg, sung by Baccara.

Pernilla Nina Elisabeth Wahlgren (born 24 December 1967 in Gustavsberg, Värmdö Municipality, Stockholm County) is a Swedish singer, actress and presenter. In 2004, she received the Ulla Billquist Award. Her musical breakthrough came when she took part in the 1985 edition of Melodifestivalen. Her song, Piccadilly Circus, became a public favourite, even though she only achieved fourth place in the competition. In the performance, she wore a piece of jewellery which was likened to the Prussian bravery medal, the Iron Cross, which led to accusations of Nazism in the tabloid press, and the TV-programme Svar direkt—an accusation which was false. In the middle of the 1980s she performed at several successful summer tours. The shows, which she did together with the brothers Emilio and Vito Ingrosso, were showered with praise from the press. In the second half of the 1980s came a pop career with several summer tours and studio albums. Her hits included “Svindlande affärer”, “I Need Your Love”, “Every Time When We’re Together” and “Running for Cover”. She again took part in Melodifestivalen in 2003, this time with Jan Johansen. They achieved a respectable second places with the song “Let Your Spirit Fly”. This great song was covered in Afrikaans. In August 2006, she released the album Beautiful Day, the first single from which, Talking to an Angel achieved gold sales status, and the track “Come Inside My World” became the theme tune to TV4’s entertainment programme Förkväll. In 2009, she announced that she recorded a demo that was submitted for the following year’s Melodifestivalen. The song “Jag vill om du vågar” ended up being shortlisted as part of the competition and Pernilla was confirmed to be performing the entry. On 27 February 2010, Pernilla performed the song in the fourth semi-final of the competition, taking place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö. She advanced to the “Second Chance” round in Örebro and on 6 March 2010 advanced to the final at Globen. Pernilla also took part in Melodifestivalen 2013 alongside Jenny Silver and Hanna Hedlund as part of the band “Swedish House Wives” with the song “On Top of the World”.The band competed in the second Semi-final on 9 February 2013 receiving the 6th place and did not make it to the final.

Nicole (Nicole Seibert, née Hohloch; born 25 October 1964, Saarbrücken, Germany) is a German singer. Nicole represented West Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 where she won with the song, “Ein bißchen Frieden” (“A Little Peace”), with music by Ralph Siegel and lyrics by Bernd Meinunger and Paul Greedus (English version). When she reprised the song after the end of the contest voting, she performed parts of the song in English, French, and Dutch along with the original German. In 1983, she made the second place (behind the Hungarian band Neoton Família) at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with the Ralph Siegel/Robert Jung song So viele Lieder sind in mir. Nicole married Winfried Selbert in 1984 and has two daughters and a granddaughter. Nicole was also the winner of the German Schlagerparade in 1991 with the song “Ein leises Lied”. The full English version of the song “A Little Peace” went on to be the 500th number one single in the UK Singles Chart. Full versions in French (“La Paix sur Terre”), Dutch (“Een beetje vrede”), Spanish (“Un poco de paz”), Danish (“En smule fred”), Slovene (“Malo miru”), Russian (“Немного мира”), Polish (“Troszeczkę ziemi, troszeczkę słońca”), and Hungarian (“Egy kis nyugalmat kívánok én”, nota bene by the mentioned band Neoton Família) have also been recorded. The song has also been covered extensively in South Africa with the Afrikaans version Nie lank gelede selling 100 000 copies. In the BBC4 Programme Eurovision at 60 she described her emotions when she realised that Israel had awarded her the full 12 points for her song. She went on to say how much it meant to her, “with our history”, and was subsequently invited to Jerusalem to perform, in the midst of the conflict with Lebanon. I have picked SONG FOR THE WORLD which is an absolute masterpiece – sung in three languages and 100% the kind of song I love. Like Carola, she is having house in South Africa.

Carola Maria Häggkvist was born on the 8th of September 1966. She is better known as simply Carola and is a Swedish singer and occasional songwriter. She has been among Sweden’s most popular performers since the early 1980s, and has released albums ranging from pop and disco to hymns and folk music. Her debut album, Främling (Stranger), sold around one million copies and remains the biggest-selling album in Swedish music history. She has also worked as a songwriter. During her 30-year-long career, she has recorded many top-selling albums and singles and is referred to as Sweden’s most prominent female singer. Some of her biggest hits include “Främling” from 1983, “Tommy tycker om mig” (Tommy likes me) from 1984, “Fångad av en stormvind” (Captured by a Lovestorm) from 1991, “All the Reasons to Live” from 1992, “I Believe in Love” from 2001, “Genom allt” (Through it all) from 2005 and “Evighet” (Eternity) from 2006. Häggkvist has represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions: in 1983, finishing third; in 1991, winning the contest; and in 2006, finishing fifth, which gives her one of the best track records in Eurovision history. Carola has released records in various languages: Swedish, Dutch, German, English, Norwegian and Japanese. Songwriter Lasse Holm offered Häggkvist two of his songs for Melodifestivalen 1983, “Mona Lisa” and “Främling”. “Främling” was chosen, and with it Häggkvist won the right to represent Sweden at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Munich. The song scored eight points, the highest possible mark, from all eleven juries. Häggkvist represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on 23 April. She finished third in front of 6.1 million Swedish television viewers, 84% of the country’s population. This is still a record in Sweden. In 2003, Häggkvist submitted a song, “Autumn Leaf”, for Melodifestivalen 2003. Having performed the demo, she was required to perform the song when it qualified for the competition. Häggkvist decided against doing that, and the song was disqualified from the competition. “Autumn Leaf” appeared on Häggkvist’s next album, Guld, platina & passion, in Swedish as “När löven faller” (When the leaves fall). The ballad became an enormous hit. Guld, platina & passion reached number 1 on the Swedish charts and sold over 300,000 copies. She also recorded her favorite Elvis Presley songs, “Walk a mile in my shoes” and “If I can dream”. Carola entered Melodifestivalen 2008 as part of the duo Johnson & Häggkvist with Andreas Johnson. Their first single was called “Lucky Star” which became popular on the radio. In the melodifestival in February, they sang “One Love”, written by Carola, Johnson and Peter Kvint. They were the early favourites to win the whole show, taking part in the second qualifier. They qualified for the Second Chance round, missing out on an automatic final spot. In May 2009, she performed at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow at the kick-off ceremony, performing her 3 Eurovision songs. In July, she performed, together with the Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak in Norway and sang “Fairytale” and “Främling” and The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There”. Carola attended the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö and performed in a humorous interval act about Swedish culture. Carola attended the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm and was briefly interviewed on screen along with another previous Swedish winner Loreen. Her status as one of the most popular national celebrities of her country made her more or less constantly followed by the tabloid press. She has often talked about her Christian faith and much of the focus has been around her membership in the controversial evangelical church Livets Ord (Word of Life). She was married to Runar Søgaard, a Norwegian Christian preacher, with whom she has a son, Amadeus, and a daughter, Zoe, who was adopted in 2012. It was recently reported that Carola bought a house in South Africa. Several Carola songs have been covered in South Africa, with the big exception her winning song of 1991 as that is not the traditional kind of song that sells well in South Africa. I am highlighting the cover of CAROLA IN NORWAY with Jahn Teigen and Timo Korhonen – I bought this vinyl single during my visit to Norway in 1984.

Vassiliki, Baroness von Ruffin (born Vassiliki Papathanasiou, 23 August 1949 or 1952 (disputed year of birth), known by her stage name Vicky Leandros, is a Greek singer with a long international career. She is the daughter of singer, musician, and composer, Leandros Papathanasiou (also known as Leo Leandros as well as Mario Panas). In 1972, she achieved worldwide fame after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the song, “Après Toi”, while representing the country of Luxembourg. In 1965, Leandros released her first single “Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht”. This was the beginning of a successful career for her with her father as composer, manager and producer. In 1967, she received an offer to sing for Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “L’amour est bleu”. She finished in fourth place but the song became one of the biggest worldwide hits of the year and was covered by other artists. She was shortly singing in eight languages with her albums, singles and EPs being sold all over the world. In 1970, her first TV show, Ich Bin was broadcast in 13 European countries. It received many awards for its originality and thought-provoking contemporary graphics including in 1971 the world-famous Bronze Rose of Montreux. It was also the first time that Vicky used the same stage surname as her father (actually his real Christian name) and became known from then onwards as Vicky Leandros having been known simply as Vicky during the 1960s. Guests appearing were Julien Clerc and Deep Purple. The show has been repeated over the years and is seen as a classic piece very evocative of the era, though at first it was not well received in all quarters owing to its surprising, even shocking, imagery, in an age when songs were not generally accompanied by visuals for marketing purposes. In 1972, she represented Luxembourg at Eurovision for the second time and won the contest with the song “Après Toi”.Translated into English as “Come What May” it was also a hit in the UK reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart. Globally it sold over six million copies. Leandros recorded the song in seven languages. Later in the year she released her version of the Theodorakis composition “O Kaymos (Sorrow) (The Love in Your Eyes)” which became a hit all over the world in various language versions. It peaked at #40 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1973, “When Bouzoukis Played” became another massive selling world hit in several languages, reaching #44 in the UK chart. In 1974 she recorded “Theo, wir fahr’n nach Lodz” a song that was a #1 hit in Germany. She also found much success in South Africa during the 1970s and toured here. In Japan, she reached her peak during the late 1960s and early 1970s and recorded many times in Japanese. Her second Japanese single “Watashi no Sukina Chocolate” (The Chocolate That I Like) became a notable hit. She also recorded many cover versions of songs, “Mamy Blue”, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and “My Sweet Lord” among others. In 1975, she recorded the album entitled Across the Water in Nashville, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida. A departure from her previous works by combining country, rock, and soul, the release was well received by critics upon its release in the United States. In 1976, she signed a multimillion-dollar contract with CBS Records for albums to be released in the US market and started working in Hollywood, California, with Kim Fowley; however, she soon returned to Europe after CBS’ support faltered. After returning to Europe, Leandros released albums of various genres which included German folk music and Christmas songs. Her career showed signs of fading and she had her last top 20 hit in Germany with the song Kali Nichta. In 1981, she recorded the album Love is Alive including duets with Demis Roussos, Johnny Hallyday and US star David Soul for a United Nations Benefit. Also in 1981, she released the album, Ich Gehe Neue Wege and its Greek version, Irtha Yia Sena. This comeback was consolidated in 1982 by the success of the song “Verlorenes Paradies” from the same titled next album which saw Leandros back in the upper reaches of the singles charts in many territories after a few years absence. The composer of this was Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger did the lyrics. The song was covered in South Africa in Afrikaans and was a big hit. Vicky herself sang it also in Dutch as VERLOREN ZIJN WE NIET. In 1983, came the album Vicky containing the popular song and single “Gruesse an Sarah” which is regularly still sung in concerts often a cappella with the other musicians and vocalists making the sounds of the beats and instruments vocally to combine with Leandros’ main vocal. Also later in 1983 she recorded again in Dutch a song specially for the Dutch-speaking market; “Ver Van Het Leven”. In 1984, the French version – “A l’Est d’Eden” – was a big success in France, reaching #2 on the singles chart. This single and corresponding album (Vicky) gave Leandros a notable comeback in Canada and she toured there after a gap of many years in 1985. In 1990, Leandros released the album “Starkes Gefühl” (Strong Feeling) which notably contained a new version of “Apres Toi” her Eurovision song contest winner of 1972. The album also contained the German version of Piretos tou erota now “Süchtig nach Geborgenheit” which was the first single cut. She also did a duet with Tony Christie, “We’re Gonna Stay Together” (1995). The resurgence of popularity in Greece saw first the re-release on vinyl of Leandros’ early albums (with different sleeves) and later a CD release of them all with bonus tracks. From 1995 to 1998, she collaborated with German hit-maker Jack White and released three Top-10 albums, as well as the German version of the Titanic song “My Heart Will Go On”. This song “Weil mein Herz dich nie mehr vergisst” gave Leandros her highest charting record since Verlorenes Paradies in 1982. In 2000, Leandros started producing her own records. Her duet with Chris De Burgh was one of the highlights of the first album. Following this she featured again on the charts of several countries such as Canada, China, Japan, Belgium and South Africa due to the many greatest hits collections that several companies released. 2005 saw the release of a double album, Ich Bin Wie Ich Bin, containing new recordings of her songs. The album charted in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Her Jubilee Tour of Europe started in February 2006. A month later, she took part in the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, 34 years since “Après Toi”. Her song, “Don’t Break My Heart”, which had already entered the charts, failed to win the most votes from the televoting.

Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins on the 8th of June 1951) is a Welsh singer known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album The World Starts Tonight and its singles “Lost in France” and “More Than a Lover”. Her 1978 single “It’s a Heartache” reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. In the 1980s, Tyler ventured into rock music with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman. He wrote Tyler’s biggest hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart'”, the lead single from her 1983 UK chart topping album Faster Than the Speed of Night. Steinman also wrote Tyler’s other major 1980s hit “Holding Out for a Hero”. She had success in mainland Europe during the 1990s with Dieter Bohlen, who wrote and produced her hit “Bitterblue”. In 2003, Tyler re-recorded “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with singer Kareen Antonn. Their bilingual duet topped the French charts. Her latest album Rocks and Honey was released in 2013 and features the single “Believe in Me” which she performed representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Both “It’s a Heartache” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” are among the best-selling singles of all time, with sales in excess of six million each. Her work has earned her three Grammy Award nominations and three Brit Award nominations, among other accolades. The song HIDE YOUR HEART from 1988 is one of her lesser known songs.

Séverine was born as Josiane Grizeauon the 10th of October 1948 in Paris. Séverine won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971 for Monaco, performing “Un banc, un arbre, une rue” (A bench, a tree, a street), with music by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and words by Yves Dessca. It was recorded in English as “Chance In Time”, in German as “Mach die Augen zu (und wünsch dir einen Traum)” and Italian as “Il posto”. The original French version made #9 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1971, whereas the English version, released on CBS rather than Philips, did not chart. The song charted highly in most other European markets. Séverine had further success in France and Germany, but never again on an international scale. Her song was covered in South Africa by Virginia Lee and is called A BRAND NEW DAY, partly in French and partly in English (the English lyrics are different to those of the official English release). Séverine made two further attempts at winning the Eurovision Song Contest, participating in the German national finals of 1975 and 1982. Neither song won. She accompanied Monaco’s delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. I quite like her song VERGESSEN HEISST VERLOREN SEIN which was composed by Peter Orloff.

Joanna Field is a South African artist (birth name Joan Elizabeth Lubbe) born in Boksburg, near Johannesburg, on 26 March 1948. She completed her schooling career at the Johannesburg Technical High School and started working as a receptionist, also singing in a country band after hours. In 1967 she married Ralph Thursfield and, whilst singing around the house while doing her chores, was noticed by a neighbour who introduced her to Johnny Collini, who in turn arranged an audition with Peter Lotis at Gallo Records, and she was immediately signed up. Her first single was entitled “Goodbye John I Love You”, and her second “April Fool”, which also became the title of her first album (both in 1973), and she won a Mini-SARIE in that year for Most Promising Female Vocalist. Her big break, however, only came in 1977 when she recorded an Afrikaans single, “Silwermaan”. It held the number 1 spot on “Afrikaanse Treffers” for 3 weeks in July 1977, and returned to number 1 in October / November of that year. The original of this is called Silver bird and was a hit for Tina Rainford earlier in 1977. Joanna and Ralph were divorced in 1978, and from 1979 onwards she started collaborating with other South African artists, notably Sias Reinecke and Gene Rockwell. A number of albums resulted from this, although she continued to release solo albums as well. In 1982 she had a South African Top 20 hit with “Don’t Fly Too High”, which reached number 4 and charted for 12 weeks. This of course is the English version of the first Nicole song FLIEG NICHT SO HOCH, MEIN KLEINER FREUND.

Hana Zagorová, born 6 September 1946 in Petřkovice, Ostrava is a Czech female singer who has been recording since 1964. She has written the lyrics to around fifty of her recorded songs. Nine times she was listed number one in the national Zlaty Slavík (“Golden Nightingale”) popularity chart. Since 1992 she has been married to opera singer Štefan Margita. As most of the info on her is writtren in the Czech language,it is a little difficult to accurately report on. Hana only came to my attention when she covered the 1981 Eurovision entry from the Netherlands, Het is een wonder in Czech as PROC NEJSI VETSI which remains one of my most loved covers.

Singer/songwriter/actress Gemma van Eck was born on the 5th of February 1957) in the town called Diepenveen. Her real name is Gemma Bernardina Wilhelmina Maria van Eck. Her singing ability was the reason why star producer Peter Koelewijn in 1979 decided to from the girlgroup BABE around Gemma van Eck. The other two members of Babe were Monique Hagemeyer (later Margot van de Ven) and Rita van Rooy. They charted both nationally and international. Babe was formed as an alternative to the girlgroup LUV who was hugely successful. Between 1979 and 1981 Babe hit the charts in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland, South Korea, Indonesia, South Africa and Lebanon. As part of Babe, Gemma van Eck had hits like Please me please do (1979), Never listen to a bouzouki player (1979), Wonderboy (1979), Oh lala I’m falling (1980), The drunken sailor (1980), The kiss (1980), My Malaysia (1980), Mister Blitzer (1981), Ticks a thumps my heart (1981) and I’m a rocking machine (1981). My favourite song by her is however a solo effort and comes from 1985. It is called HELLO MAGNIFICO and was composed by top Dutch composer Hans van Hemert who wrote the Dutch euro entries of 1972 (Sandra and Anders), 1974 (Mouth and MacNeal) and 1976 (Sandra Reemer).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOthYy_5FpU

Birthe Kjær (born in Aarhus on 1 September 1948) is a Danish singer who began her career in the late 1960s. Kjær had made previous bids to represent Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, 1986 and 1987, before being chosen in 1989 with the cabaret-style song “Vi maler byen rød” (We paint the town red). Her performance in Lausanne earned the song a third place that year. She hosted the Danish national contest in 1990. She was unsuccessful in her bid to represent Denmark again in 1991 with “Din musik, min musik”. In June 2004, her single with Safri Duo “Hvor’ vi fra?” (the Denmark national football team’s anthem for the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship) achieved a gold record with 4,900 copies sold. In Autumn 2005, she took part in the second season of the Danish Dancing with the Stars (“Vild med dans”), but she withdrew following a heart attack. Kjær hosted the Danish final to pick the 2009 Danish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest Final on 31 January 2009. She covered several Euro songs in Danish. I have, however, picked her song TIVOLI TIVOLI which was obviously written about one of the most known places in Copenhagen.

Katri Helena Kalaoja, born on 17 August 1945, released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloist in Finland behind Madonna and places her also among the top 20 best-selling music artists in the Finnish market. She has represented Finland twice in the Eurovision Song Contest: in 1979 with her song “Katson sineen taivaan” which came 14th and in 1993 with “Tule luo” which came 17th. She also took part in the International Sopot Festival in 1969, singing “Valssi”. She covered a lot of Euro entries, especially songs composed by Ralph Siegel. Here is JOHNNY BLUE. It is still a dream of me to have someone singing Tule luo in English.

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer and businesswoman. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland with the song NE PARTEZ PAS SANS MOI. I have never heard her doing an English cover of the song. There are, however, English covers like by Icelandic duo EURO BAND and of course an Afrikaans cover. Following a series of French albums during the 1980s, Celine signed on to Epic Records in the United States. In 1990, Dion released her debut English-language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world. INCOGNITO was released in 1987, so one year before she took part in Eurovision.

Finland has been known as the cover country when it comes to Eurovision. In especially the 70’s and 80’s, almost every euro song was covered in Finnish by some well known Finnish singer or group. Armi Aavikko was one of them. She was crowned as Miss Finland 1977. She represented Finland in Miss Universe, but wasn’t among the finalists. On the other hand she was 2nd runner-up in Miss Scandinavia. Armi never took part in Eurovision itself, but in 1981 she covered the Irish entry of that year Horoscopes which was sung by Sheeba at Eurovision. It was actually the B-side of her single as the A-side as the smash hit from Black lace who also took part in Eurovision in 1979. She covered their song Agado. Armi got very depressed around 2000 and started drinking. She was found dead on the balcony of her own apartment in Espoo (very near Helsinki).