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.   Just like Lys Assia for Switzerland, also late Corry Brokken (1932-2016) did three years in a row for the first three editions. Her placement in 1956 is unknown but she won in 1957 with Net also toen and came back again the year after with Heel de wereld, that didn't impress the juries who gave her only one point and shared last place or 9th. That makes her the only Eurovision artist ever who has finished both first and last! On top of that she also hosted the Eurovis...

Eurovision song contests 1956-58 have two artists in common, Swiss Lys Assia and Dutch Corry Brokken. Lys managed to win in 1956 but Corry only placed 7th (apparently) with Voorgoed voorbij .  But she was back the year after and won with Net als toen . She was a runaway winner with her 31 points vs runner up's 17. (Lys only scored 5 and placed 8th out of 10).  But Corry didn't stop there. She was back again for the third time in a row in 1958 as previous winner with Heel de wereld and got only one point and shared last place. This didn't have any effect in her succesful career in the 1950's and 1960's. She stopped her musical career and started studying law and became an attorney in late 1970's, after having presented the Eurovision song contest 1976 in The Hague. She was also the Dutch spokesperson in 1997 after a brief comeback to music business with an album Nooit geedacht in 1996 and performing live again. She died in 2016 at the age of 83. 

The 1957 Eurovision song contest winner for the Netherlands Corry Brokken has died. She's one of the very few artists who sung at the Eurovision three years in a row and she won with her second attempt. The year after she came last so she hold the record of being first and last. She also presented the contest in 1976, and was the Dutch spokesperson in 1997.

This year Jedward returns the year after hoping to make it better than last year's 8th. But what are the odds in Eurovision? We have a recent example of Germany's Lena who returned the year after winning and managed only 10th place. This seems to be the trend anyways if you look the bis makers over the decades.  In the 1950's Germany Margot Hielscher scored 4th and 7th while Italy's Domenico Modugno went from 3rd to 6th, and later returned for the third time - he probably wished he didn't: 17th and zero points!  In the 1960's Norway Nora Brockstedt also did 4th and 7th while United Kingdom's Ronnie Carroll did a solid 4th both times.  The 1970's were the same. Germany's Katja Epstein did twice in a row 3rd place but would later return to claim a 2nd place. That's also an Eurovision record of a kind; three top-3 placements. Sweden's Family Four did 6th and 13th while the Norwegian Bendik Singers did 7th and 14th, the second t...

Today 52 years ago, March 3, 1957 the second Eurovision song contest in the history took place in Frankfurt, Germany. Corry Brokken won for the Netherlands with Net als toen . Ten countries took part on a Sunday night in a TV-studio. Every country had a 10 member jury sitting at home and each of them awarded one point to their favourite entry. Corry won the hearts of 31 members of 90 and won easily over France's Paule Desjardins who got only 17 votes. Italy broke one Eurovision record: their song Corde della mia chitarra lasted over 5 minutes but only 6 jurors preferred it, maybe the other grew bored before it was over? Denmark caused a scandal with a long kiss by the singers in the end of the song..... And Corry? She started studying law in 1976 and became a judge in 1988! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahDVVvR2198