Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Patrizia Bulgari reached the Newcomers final 1991 with Giselle and returned the year after with Amica di scuola placing 5th. Two fantastic original songs with great vocals. Yet she disappeared. But I haven't forgotten!

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winner s. Mia Martini (1947-1995) did her second Euroviison and it went much better than the first  time  in 1977 . In Malmö the home audience was very intrigued not for her artistry but simply because she was the sister of Loredana Berté, tennis legend Björn Borg's ex-wife! But she handled the situation graciously with elegance and won over most everyone and landed a 4th place out of 23 with Rapsodia , a song Rai picked for Eurovision. She came 2nd in Sanremo with already evergreen Gli uomini non cambiano won by Luca Barbarossa and Portami a  ballare .  Poor Mimi's career was made of highest heights and deepest lows until it came to a sad end in spring 1995. Her legacy lives on and she has left us with several evergreens an...

Sad news from Portugal. Dina or Ondina Maria Farias Veloso, has died of polmonary fibrosis at the age of 62. Her Eurovision 1992 entry Amor d'água fresca is on of this blogger's favorite entries ever and I remember loving it to bits back in the day, despite being a bit di sappointed  for the staging , I even bought her CD when in Portugal later.... She released six albums and wrote a lot of music for films and television dramas. As she sung in her hit  Há sempre música entre nós , there will always be music between us.... 

Johnny Logan, born as Seán Sherrard in Australia, moved back to Ireland at the age of 3 with his Irish born parents. Coming from a musical family he first tried to get to Eurovision in 1979 with Angie , placing 3rd.  The year after he was back with What's another year and won. Seven times 12 points gave him an easy won obver Germany's Katja Epstein who placed 2nd. (After being twice 3rd, must be frustrating!) He earned an UK #1 and a big hit all over Europe. Sadly his follow up singles flopped and he was soon considered a one hit wonder..... Meantime he wrote Terminal 3 for Linda Martin, the Eurovision 1984 runner up. In 1987 he decided to givee Eurovision another go as his career wasn't going anywhere. Hold me now won leaving Germany 2nd again, and he became the first ever double winner. It certaibly was worth returning, as his career also took another turn now and he got it going in Ireland and Germany, and kept it going elsewhere, too, even if those winners...

Today's birthday boy is Pave Maijanen who turns 67!  Congratulations! Pave is singer, songwriter, musicians, producer, bassist, keyboardist, drummer and guitarist.  He started in bands and went solo in the 1980's and is already active in six decades! He's got so many songs his 4-cd greatest hits compilation does not even include his unfortunate Eurovision entry, nor it is the first song that comes to mind from him. What was it again?

Today we remember the amazing Mia Martini, twice the Italian entrant. Rest in peace.

Last but not least Pave Maijanen got his day. His career covers five decades so there was where to choose but all went for his golden era the 1980's with the exception of Vicky Rosti. No one covered his Eurovision song contest 1992 entry Yamma yamma , but it was remembered in a short clip. As we remember he came last and the tabloid were screaming the day after "Worst in Europe!" and Pave told his gigs vanished for three years when no one wanted him anymore. He was also worried for his kids that they would be bullied at school.... rough times. Once again mostly very enjoyable versions and the first ever Vain elämää duet (other than the day's artist's final one) Maija Vilkkumaa Vs. Pave Maijanen - Jano One of Pave's biggest and well known hits. Quite similar arrangement to the original but Maija's vocoder, simplified approach and touch of orient sounds made it very good and fresh. Vicky Rosti Vs. Royals - I'm gonna roll Vicky confessed ha...

Second episode was dedicated to rapper VilleGalle. Most of his songs as JVG are all about what they enjoy the most in life: ice hockey and Playstation. Most songs also are rapped with featured singers so the covers by his fellow Vain elämää stars were mostly completely reworked, most of them by lyrics, too. This was the episode I maybe waited the least as I thought I wouldn't know his music at all but then.... four of these were such big hits you couldn not have not heard them.... In the end a very enjoyable evening after all and if the first three seasons have been marked by tears and artists crying their eyes out this season so far it's been mostly laughter and good vibes! Vicky Rosti Vs. JVG feat Anna Abreu  - Huominen on huomenna Vicky as a 50something grandmother had turned the teenager party song into an anthem for a hot mama who goes for holidays and parties all night with her daddy man. Very well done and she already declared this one's going in to her gig ...

Vicky Rosti had the honor to open the fourth season of megapopular Vain elämää series. Over one million Finns tuned in to see it on television and streaming continues online. Antti Tuisku's Sata salamaa has got already over 300.000 views. This season the artists doesn't seem to know each other beforehand that well or at all so the first lunch and dinner were still a bit akward but surely when the season goes on they loosen up. As expected all but Anssi have searched a song from Vicky's early years and 70's cover hits - besides her Eurovision entry 1987 of course that was sure to be in the line up.  VilleGalle Vs. Vicky - Menolippu ( One way ticket ) Him being a rapper the song had gone through a total make over and gotten new lyrics sampling Vicky's original vocals. Good start but not outstanding or quite totally there.  Maija Vilkkumaa Vs. Vicky - Näinkö meille aina täällä käy ( Ain't that just the way ) This song fitted nicely Maija's voic...

We all remember Pave Maijanen for unfortunate Yamma yamma and his last place in the Eurovision song contest 1992. But he is so much more: He's been in the business for 45 years. He's singer, songwriter, basist, keyboard player, drummer, guitarist, producer. He has done a lot of backing singing, including multiple Eurovisions. Before his solo career he was in several succesful and popular bands (Pepe & Paradise, Royals, WigWam, Pave's Mistakes just to name a few). He's the surprise name in Vain Elämää 4 , and already maybe the most interesting one.

Late Mia Martini (born Domenica Berté) entered Sanremo only 1982 after having had already a lot of success in the 1970's, winning Festivalbar twice in a row with Piccolo uomo (1972) and Minuetto (1973). In 1977 she is selected for Eurovision thanks to all her success and sings Libera (13th). Her Sanremo debut comes in 1982 with E non finisce mica il cielo , that becomes a huge success afterwards and is a classic today. To compensate her lack of success in festival's scoreboard a special award is created Premio della Critica (renamed after her death Premio Mia Martini) for her. But things turn sour after that. Among the entertainment business there's a rumor she brings bad luck and many doors close for her for festivals and TV and some people refuse to work with her.  But in 1989 she's back in Sanremo against all odds with another success and classic, Almeno tu nell'iniverso (9th) and she wins again this critic's award as happens the year after when sh...

Linda Martin was visiting Gina Dirawi's pre-show on Tuesday and performed a rather brilliant version of Loreen's Euphoria . She should definately record it, we here in Blogilkar love it to bits! Linda has made a nice return to Malmö 2013 that she remembers quite differently from 1992: there's a mall now and sun shines! :-)

Lena Philipsson 's divorce hasn't been a nice one and she's been through some rough times. Due to this she has cancelled her participation in Tomas Ledin 's 60th anniversary concert next Tuesday in Skansen, Stockholm. that will be broadcasted live on SVT. "She's not ready to meet the TV cameras and the media interest yet" her publicists told the press. Tomas Ledin himself told he has talked to her and is sad she can't make it but understands fully. The other guests, among others Niklas Strömstedt , Eva Dahlgren and E-Type will be there.  Let's hope she can get herself together for the Pride concert on August 4, 2012!

Christer Björkman is one happy man. Sp happy that he jumped to the pool fully cloathed after the final. Loreen went to bed instead, btw. As you can read in Blogilkar's exclusive interview with the man here Eurovision means a lot to him and I have a feeling he won't retire. At least for a year!  Meanwhile the Swedish delegation is expected back home tonight 22.25 at Arlanda airport while already today there's a meeting in SVT to start preparing the Eurovision 2013. Three cities seem to be fighting over the right to organize the contest: Stockholm, Malmö and Göteborg

Out of 32 Italian Eurovision performers only six have been female soloists before Nina Zilli who now becomes the seventh. That's against 17 male soloists, two groups and six duets! Some consolation comes from the fact that two of these six ladies have done it twice. It all started with the first Eurovision in 1956 where Italy, like the other six countries, sent two songs by two female artists who were also the top-2 of Sanremo festival. Franca Raimondi (1932-1988) won Sanremo with Aprite le finestre while Tonina Torrielli came second with Amami se vuoi . Both ladies soon left the show business and Torrielli officially stopped singing in 1965, but has made occasional appearances in nostalgic shows since 2008! Five years later it was time for Betty Curtis (1936-2006), that year's Sanremo winner with Al di là . She remained some what active in the music business until late 1970's and was also seen in nostalgic variety shows on TV in the 2000's.  Three yea...

Italian composer, producer and musician Giancarlo Bigazzi passed away today. His is a household name in Italy and he has co-written with Umberto Tozzi most of his worldwide hits. He also wored a lot with Marco Masini and written songs to singers like Mia Martini, Gigliola Cinquetti, Marcella Bella, Gianni Bella and many others.  He also wrote music to movies, amongst them Oscar winning Mediterraneo directed by Gabriele Salvatores. The songs the readers of this blog recognize easiest include the Sanremo 1987 winner Si può dare di più  by Umberto Tozzi-Enrico Ruggeri-Gianni Morandi and Italian Eurovision entries 1987 Gente di mare and 1992 Rapsodia . And who doesn't know Tozzi's Ti amo , Gloria , Tu and Eva ? Grazie Giancarlo per la musica! La tua musica vive per sempre...

Sergio Dalma's Via Dalma has had a sequal Via Dalma II or more Italian hits covered by Sergio. Spanish seem to like them a lot as I heard El mundo all the time when in Spain. He has also released a DeLuxe version of the lot including both albums and extras, like the Italian version of his Eurovision entry, Ballare stretti . There's also cover of Umberto Tozzi's Ti amo but more about that later.... One of the less fortunate versions must be Por Elisa that Alice does so much better I must say... as original and remixed . The best cover remains no doubt Aram Quartet's .

Many artists have represanted their country in Eurovision twice. Some even three or four times or maybe even more in various duos, trios or groups and we don't even want to talk about backing singers and so on. Only Johnny Logan has won twice as a singer but we have four artists that nearly made it as well: Lys Assia, Gigliola Cinquetti, Linda Martin and Dima Bilan . On the other hand one can wonder if Linda and Diman ever came back if they won the first time? Lys and Gigliola made it to second after being a winner already before. Then we have Anne-Marie David who came third the second time around and Carola who won after being already third previously. For example. On the other hand we have recent examples from Charlotte Perrelli, Niamh Kavanagh and Dana International that previous winners are not treated with due respect anymore (in this blogger's opinion each deserved better) and it might even be more difficult for them to impress voters these days. Or what do you thi...

Ireland is not sending Jedward off again but RTÉ had decided to repeats the experience that gave us Jedward. With Jedward. Or in other words there will be once again five mentors who will find a song and a singer or an act to perform it and those five this time around are Julian Benson , a show business agent and choreographer, Greg French , a music producer and songwriter, Bill Hughes , television professional and ex-Pop Stars and You're a star judge, Edele Lynch , singer and songwriter and last but not least Linda Martin , Eurovision winner. Jedward is listed as one of the entries but who will get them? And who wants to compete against them? And how will Europe react to another dose of Irish ADHD? Other rumoured acts to take part ae Mary Byrne, Chrystal Swing and b*wiched.

A new compilation Altro che il cielo will be released next Tuesday December 7, 2010 by late Mia Martini. Most of the songs are live recording from her 1989-90 tours, after her great comeback. Most of the songs are written for her by, or covers of great Italian songwriters like Francesco De Gregori, Ivano Fossati, Pino Daniele, Paolo Conte and Claudio Baglioni. Included is also Paolo Conte's Spaccami il cuore , a song that was written for her and snobbed by the Sanremo jury and didn't make it to the festival in 1983. The song was later covered by Miriam Makeba ft Dizzy Gillespie as Don't break my heart . There are also cover of Randy Newman's It's money that I love and even Pround Mary , Tina Turner's classic. And as an icing on the cake two previously unreleased tracks from early 1980's: Signorina and Amore mio (amore bello, amore assurdo) . Her Eurovision entries Libera (1977) and Rapsodia (1992) are not included.  Here's the full track list: Danza...