Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Tra le granite e le granate proves to be The summerhit of 2017 in Italy. It has now been certified platinum following the incredible success Francesco Gabbani is enjoying in radios and on his sold out tour. The single made it to #19 in official charts but keeps selling steadily after hitting #1 in Italian Airplay (four weeks and counting....). The video counts over 32 million views. The album Magellano  has sold already gold and made it to #1 in albums chart.  The Sanremo winner and Italy's Eurovision entry Occidentali's Karma sold four times platinum after hitting #1 in both official charts and Airplay (and San Marino) and #10 in Europe. The video is close to 148 million views... It's already the 4th most watched Italian video ever.   And let's not forget his very first platinum selling single, Amen .  UPDATE AUGUST 7:

Manel and his gang at the beach again Lindita and her hubby at the beach again Marija and her dog at the beach again Michele and his rastas at the beach again  Tamara did Paris Andras did try pirate's life Alexander did Niagara Falls Alma was prety as flower among flowers Isaiah is looking at the future just before releasing a new song Hovig is waiting for someone to take for a ride ... while Zoe is waiting in the forest.

Kristian had midnight pasta Ilinca had a drink Levina had candy Freddie's got mugs Conchita met Celine Sergey, Dima and other Sovjet stars met in Baku Ott met Liis in Jurmala Francesca met V aka Vettel (she 's turning into Formula One groupie...) Lucie met a... err... fan?  Demy screams for revenge.... ,,, as Helena is this week's covergirl

Markus Riva had a bath.... ... before he met Måns Z Månsbyn aka Måns Village honored Måns Z as its honorary citizen. He also did Turku (Finland) before flying off to Croatia for holidays  Omar shot a new music video in Opatia Svala wears kimono and bathsuit from her own Kali collection Dihaj was cleaning up thoughts....  Meanwhile in Malta it was boobs out fight between Claudia and Ira Erik got 2xplatinum for Wide awake.  So someone still listens to him?

End of the road. End of Motown. Boyz II Men was the last huge Motown act. End of the road was their first of their five #1's. With it their broke the decades old record by Elvis Presley as the most consegurive weeks at #1: 13. They would break it themselves with I 'll make love to you (14) and One sweet day (with Mariah Carey) that stayed on top for 16 weeks.  The usual conflicts with contracts and label's decisions made the group leave Motown and see their fame and success disappear. However they later recorded a cover album of Motown classics..... End of the road indeed. This is a good point to end this series of Motown hits. (Some specials might follow later though.... ;-p) I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed relistening the good old Motown sound, and dig deeper into song's hostory and chart action!

Erykah Badu is one of the most interesting and succesful new Motown artists in the past 20 years. Bag lady off her first Motown album Mama's gun in 2000 provided her biggest chart success, US #6. It's second of her three top-20 hits in the US. Her latest album so far came out in 2010, and she has been featured in various solo singles, as well as featured artist and she's touring the world all the time.  

Take me higher is Diana's so far last chart hit (#1 in Billboard Dance charts, #32 UK) in 1995, 35 years after the very first The Supremes release. She was also back to Motown after 8 years with RCA in 1981-87. It was also her 5th US Dance chart topper, off from her album of the same name. Since then she has released only two studio albums...

By 1990's Motown was coming to an end as we know it and Shanice and her I love your smile is one of the last big hits it provided, US #2 as well UK #2. The curiosity is the mix included laughter by Janet Jackson - keep it in the Motown family! Shanice has been also acting and doing musicals, and keeps recording even if her latest chart appearance is in 2009.   The song has been covered by R'n'G , Tiffany Evans, Kaori Kobayashi and Ukrainian Julia Voice. It has been sampled or mentioned in Talib Kwell's Eardrum album and Zimbabwean Roki's Zuva neZuva

Ann-Christine Nyström turns 73 today. She had a short lived singing career in the 1960's that included her Eurovision adventure. Between 1962-69 she released about 20 singles (and a total of 42 songs) in Finnish, German and English, but no album. She also toured in Sweden, where she moved back in early 1970's and went into finance business. She made a surprise duet with Katja Lukin in 2003.  Congratulations!

Lisbon it is. MEO Arena it is. And the dates are a week later than speculated yesterday and just like this blogger doubted in my previous post . Lisbon, one of the oldest cities in Europe in the West-south corner of Europe completes the Eurovision map after the contest has been held in Helsinki and Athens and Jerusalem, as well as Oslo. Now we need Reykjavik to complete the puzzle. May 12 has already three previous Eurovision finals: 2001, 2007 and 2009.