Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Loreen of Sweden is the 15th previous Eurovision song contest winner who has decided and/or managed give it another try. Only Ireland's Johnny Logan has managed to win twice, as we all know. One can't really do a ranking however as the contest had changed so much from the 1950's with maybe a dozen songs to the approx 40 we have these days. In coming days I will feature the winners who decided to come back  after  winning the contest as there also many winners who have won with their second or third try. Charlotte Perrelli (48), ex Nilsson went solo in Melodifestivalen 1999 after having sung with several dancebands since she was 13. Her heavily ABBA inspired schlager banger Tusen och en natt won and went on winning in Jerusalem as well 17 points ahead of Iceland's Selma, the hot pre-contest favorite whose song was very up-to-date instead. Nostalgia won and Sweden took its 4th win. She gained great success at home and some abroad touring Europe and Middle East, was voted ...

Whoever got the idea of that backdrop is a genius! L-o-v-e! Last night's interval act included 1979 winner Gali Atari singing her entry Hallelujah joined by other Eurovision winners Conchita Wurst and Måns Zelmerlöw and runner ups Eleni Foureira and Verka Serduchka. (From 8mins 45) That was already third time the song has featured in the Eurovision final as also last time Israel hosted the show back in 1999 it was there, and even closing the show - the only time the show has ended with some other song than the winner btw - when then winner Charlotte Perrelli then Nilsson was joined on stage by all the toher artists to sing it for the memory of Balcan war victims (on video from 3h 10mins onwards) And of course it was also sun in 1979 contest when it won at home soil in Jerusalem. The song is a true classic with many meanings. 

Every now and then Eurovision song contest winners come back to the contest and looking back quite often it hasn't been such a good idea. A total of 14 previous winners have managed to return (and even more have tried but failed to win the national final. Latest of them is Swedish Loreen last year). In this series I have a brief look at them and how did it go..... If Dana International became the first Eurovision winner not to make the final again, it was a close call for Charlotte Perrelli. To her luck in 2008-2009 there was the jury wildcard rule or only the top-9 of the semifinalists qualified for the final and the jury chose the 10th one. In 1999 Charlotte Nilsson won Melodifestivalen with Tusen och en natt , and thanks to the new rule of free language it became Take me to your heaven in Jerusalem and she beat Iceland's Selma with 17 points taking a somewhat surprise win. Conflicts with SVT caused her to stay out of Eurovision song contest in 2000, breaking ...

The Stockholm department store NK is having its share of Eurovision celebrations as it's visual marketing crew has created six windows celebrting the six Swedish Eurovision song contest winners. I think the one with Carola takes the prize!

The Eurovision Cruise weekend is in full swing in Helsinki for the 5th time and last night special guests from Spain took the stage of the Eurovision Night at Hercules Night club.  Mirela opened the night by singing some Spanish entries like Dime and Vuelve conmigo, Euphoria and of course her own entry from 2009, Nada es comparable a ti (4th). Jorge Gonzales wasn't any less and delivered among others Dile que la quiero and even a Spanish cover of Zeljko Joksimovic's Nije ljubav stvar (2012). The house was packed with international Eurovision fans before the sold out cruise with guests from at least 23 different countries. In short year's Eurovision Cruise has grown to the biggest annual Eurovision event after the contest itself what comes to the number of attending people.  Tonight the party continues aborad Baltic Queen with Charlotte Perrelli, Nicky French, Softengine and CatCat . Well done, OGAE Finland!

After Romanian "miracle" here comes amazing Estonia. Not really. Neither this one was never among my favorites. Another mediocre heard-it-all-before song but good luck anyways. Amazing beat Super Hot Cosmos Blues band in the superfinal with 53% against 47%. This is like Charlotte Nilsson doing a washed down remix of Euphoria, isn't it? And the staging is a bit too busy, too.... Below are the jury votes. They weren't kind to Maiken and Sandra. Here are the final's first round results: 01. SHCBB (10 jury / 11940 – 10 public) – 20 points 02. Tanja (7 jury / 10580 – 9 public) – 16 points 03. Traffic (8 jury / 5433 – 7 public) – 15 points 04. Lenna (9 jury / 2941 – 5 public) – 14 points 05. Sandra Nurmsalu (2 jury / 10434 – 8 public) – 10 points 06. Norman Salumäe (5 jury / 2347 – 4 public) – 9 points 07. Brigita Murutar (1 jury / 2965 – 6 public) – 7 points 08. Kõrsikud (4 jury / 2256 – 3 public) – 7 points 09. Wilhelm (6 jury / 1525 – 1 public) – 7 p...

Loreen's winning entry Euphoria of 2012 Eurovision song contest won't be heard in the final it seems but in the first semifinal on May 14, 2013. She will reprise her Melodifestivalen 2013 interval act performance using kid's choir and sign language - only that it all gets bigger and better. A total of 69 kids will be on stage with her and it all makes sense as May 14 is the international sigh language day.  However, this isn't the first time SVT snobs the previous year's local winner. In 2000 Charlotte Perrelli didn't get to re-perform her Take me to your heaven (actually she refused to appear at all as she was reduced as a mere flower girl, as the rumors say), nor Carola her Fångad av en stormvind , but she got to open the final with another song, All the reasons to live .

Charlotte Perrelli ex-Nilsson ex-Ingrosso is taking part again in the Swedish summer institution, the Diggiloo tour . The problem is she's pregnant and due to have the baby in early August, while the tour end on August 17. What to do? Nothing. She plans to go on and hopes the delivery should happen on a day off and she'd be back on stage the after or maybe two. No subsitution for her.  Maybe the other starts like Lotta Engberg and David LIngdren will have to act as midwives for her this summer? "It's a popular show. I don't need to wear tank tops and shorts anyways " she comments, "I will take time in the fall and rest!" She's The Girl! Currently she is also working on a pregnancy training book....

No, she didn't just eat too much Christmas food or skip champagne on New Year's without a reason. Charlotte Perrelli, born Nilsson is happily pregnant. The baby is due this summer and she's relieved it's just one as they thought first she was with twins. She has just finished with the Evita musical (hmm, Madonna got pregnant while filming Evita ...). Charlotte has two sons from her ex-husband Nicola Ingrosso, later changed to Perrelli (whose brother Emilio Ingrosso was married to another songbird, Pernilla Wahlgren!), Angelo and Alessio. Now she's dating Anders Jensen who is, obviously the lucky father. And he has a daughter, Izabella.  Despite her pregnancy she plans to participate in this summer's Diggi-loo tour as usual! And did you know she, too, has her own perfume, The Girl ?

Apparently not but a fake. But just the thought about it was so funny, or rather some comments I read on internet. This is supposed to be Aurora Borealis, that I believe isn't very common wonder of nature in south of Sweden but who cares if it makes a good logo? Anyways, some see it as Loreen's hair. And now it all makes sense as if the 2000 logo was Charlotte's botoxed lips, the 2013 logo should be Loreen's colored hair? Right? If this is so, I'm afraid to think what comes next when Sweden wins again.... 

Loreen landed in Arlanda airport tonight around 22.25 and one hour later she met the press and a few hundred fans waiting for her. While waiting the fans kept singing her Euphoria . The homecoming was webcasted live by both Aftonbladet and Expressen! Tomorrow the big party in Hötorget in Stockholm. That will be broadcasted live on TV2 (19.00-19.30 CET). Move out Carola and Charlotte, Sweden's got a new schlager queen!

Charlotte Perrelli who did a flop in 2008 with Hero but won the Eurovision 1999 as Nilsson with Take me to your heaven is giving it another go this year with The girl . A sure fan favourite. The rehearsals didn't go totally as planned today. A backing singer smashed the microphone into her front tooth. " I just heard it crack " she commented afterwards. Now she needs to fix it before tomorrow night's live broadcast. She also revealed they have spent over 113.000 euros for the entry (or one million in local money) and can't afford to go to Second Chance. "I need to go directly to the final or be kicked out!" she said. Didn't Carola have similar tooth problems in Athens?

The Swedish multiple Melodifestivalen winners and Eurovision winners Carola Häggkvist and Charlotte Perrelli have been national schlager queens for decades and privately have known each other for years as well but strangely they have not shared the same stage before. Between them they have five Eurovision final placings and four of them in top-5. That all changed this summer in Norway when they both sung their songs and joined forces for the final medley in Allsång på grensen - or should we say Charlotte was reduced to back up Carola? " It's quite funy actually " they told the press in unison. "Usually they book one or the other, it's difficult to have two such big names in one show maybe?" But don't except a duet with them anytime soon. " Maybe if we had known better we could have prepared something " they conclude. Sounds like "no no never"....

The summer rumours are running wild and some are just making them up to get some attention and who am I to deny it from them? A few days ago Kate Ryan announced she'd like to return. Her Eurovision trip went all wrong last time in 2006 with Je t'adore , from a hot favourite to a non qualifier. Another returner might be Charlotte Perrelli who was far from a hero on her return from the second time in 2008 even if the first trip as Nilsson in 1999 did take her to heaven . Mihai Tristariu promised already back in 2006 he will return and indeed, this news is out there every year. Just like Dima Bilan.

SVT has just released the names in the first two Melodifestivalen semifinals: Luleå - February 5, 2011 Pernilla Andersson – Desperados Danny – In the Club Swingfly – Me and my drum Le Kid – Oh my god Jonas Matsson – On my own Rasmus Viberg – Social butterfly Jenny Silver – Something In Your Eyes Dilba – Try again Gothenburg - February 12, 2011 Anniela – Elektrisk Babsan – Ge mig en spanjor Sanna Nielsen – I’m in love Christian Walz – Like suicide Loreen – My Heart Is Refusing Me The Moniker (Daniel Karlsson) – Oh my god! Brolle – Seven Days And Seven Nights Elisabeth Andreassen – Vaken i en dröm And yes, there seem to be two songs with the same title, Oh my God! And SVT dumped Charlotte Perrelli for Jenny Silve r who gets the chance to belt out Something in your eyes instead of her, despite Jenny's flop last year but maybe that's less harmful as Charlotte's flop? Also totally unknown Anniela gets a chance instead of Linda Bengtzig and Magnus Carlsson ...

What do you get if you breed Britney Spears and Alexander Rybak? This! And there's this classic Charlotte Perrelli meets Lady Gaga I have already posted previously. Sometimes it works and these two are good examples of it...  Here are the originals: Circus , Fairytale , Poker face , Hero

The Royal Gardens in Stockholm go on with the celebrations. Tonight amongst other Eurovision winner (and flopper) Charlotte Perrelli together with Magnus Carlsson perform together a special song for the occasion and their own hits. Another schlagertastic night to come!

Every now and then previous Eurovision winners want to try it again and this year we have Ireland's Niamh Kavanagh. She won back in 1993 with wonderful In your eyes and tries again this year with It's for you. Let's see how it has been for the previous returning winners in the past.... So far only Johnny Logan, also for Ireland, has managed to win Eurovision twice; in 1980 with What's another year and in 1987 with Hold me now . Italy's Gigliola Cinquetti came close in 1974 with Si as she was only beaten by ABBA. She won ten years earlier with Non ho l'etá . Also Lys Assia for Switzerland and Elisabeth Andreasson for Norway have scored a second place after their win. Lys took part three years in a row and came 1-8-2 in 1956, 1957 and 1958. Elisabeth on the other hand won with Hanne Krogh in 1985, came 6th with Jan Wener in 1994 and finally went solo in 1996 and scored a 2nd place.  Isabelle Aubret won in 1962 for France with Un premier amour and went on to ...

Carola has recorded a charity single, witten by Natasha Bedingfield, for Haiti. She's also organizing a charity concert for the same course in Filadelfia church in Stockholm on February 25. Charlotte Perrelli, LaGaylia Frazier and Kristin Kaspersen are the first other artists included to the set and Carola wished to do a duet with Charlotte or Lena Philipsson as well. Carola has been doing charity for Haiti already for many years and has even a godchild, 14 year old Edens Dorelus living outside Port-au-Prince. Just a couple of days ago she found out he is ok. Carola is off to Haiti for a visit on February 1.

The last two Swedish Eurovision divas - with minor success in Eurovision - will join forces for a concert in Stockholm in October 22-24. They will be joined by comedian Sissela Kyle and Anders Berglund conducting the Radio's Symphony Orchestra. Tickets have been selling so well they have added an extra concert already. Malena will be performing in Sweden also in Gothenburg September 4-5 and back in Stockholm's Opera November 15. Watch their Eurovision efforts again here and here .