Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Patrick Fiori's  career kick started with the Eurovision 1993 when this Corsican-Armenian young talent sung for France his love for Mama Corsica. Despite becoming respectable 4th he still didn't set the charts on fire. A hit musical Notre Dame de Paris followed with #1 single Belle and since then he has been among the top male singers in France with succesful collaborations with Jean Jacques Goldman (who also made Céline Dion in France for real). Earlier this year he released his ninth studio album Choisir, that reached #2 in France and charted also in Belgium and Switzerland. The lead single of the album was Elles and now he has also released the second one featuring Tommy, J'espère que tu vas bien.  You can also enjoy a little look back to his 20 years in business here , and yes, Eurovision is mentioned! This blogger has always been very fond if this little older Fiori-Goldman collaboration: 4 mots sur un piano . Another #1 hit by the way.

Jūrmala in Latvia is the place to be if you are singer in ex-USSR countries and not only as the New Wave - the international contest of new pop voices is taking place again. Sixteen singers or groups have made it to the contest this year coming from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Germany, Armenia, Latvia, Cuba, Georgia and Vietnam. No Finnish or Italian singers made the cut this year. In the coming days the performers will do world-wide hits and local hits, while guest stars will perform as well. There will be also gala concerts, tennis, soccer.... a lot goijg on indeed. If the contestants are new and fresh the guest stars include a lot of familiar names: Valeria, Sergey Lazarev, Intars Busulis , Dima Bilan , Emin , Garou, Julio Iglesias , Il Divo, Natalia Podolskaya , Ani Lorak , Serebro , Lara Fabian , Timati, Verka Serduchka , Alsou , Alessandro Safina, Emma Shaplin.... and if that wasn't enough Toto Cutugno is one of the judges! You ...

Jean-Jacques Goldman, the French superstar who saved Cèline Dion's career in French. What can I say? I came across, can't remember how, to his debut solo album Démodè (1981) with hits like Il suffire d'un signe as well as follow up Minoritaire (1982) with Comme toi , Quand la musique est bonne and Veiller tard but when Positif (1984) came out I was totally sold and continued my adoration to this guy well to the 1990's. Envole-moi (and the international release Love me away ), Nous ne nous parlerons pas , Dors bébé dors , Encore un matin , Ton autre chemin and most of all Long is the road  ( Americain ) are all songs from this album I knew by heart and still do... well, sort of (age doesn't come alone...). The album sold over one million copies in France alone and made him a megastar for years to come, especially when his following albums were filled with hits as well. He opened the French music to me and I was hunting several artists who remain favourites...

Patrick Fiori, who represanted France in 1993 with Mama Corsica has gone a long way since, both as musical star and recording artist. After 7 albums and a couple of best ofs, several musicals and important collaborations he's releasing an album with music from the movies under title Les choses de la vie , that follows up his Best of album in 2007 and 4 Mots album earlier this year with the valuable collaboration with Jean-Jacques Goldman. Check him out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTrgv5rVsb8 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rex54EGM_3Q&feature=channel , and here the fantastic Belle from the musical Notre Dame de Paris that made both Garou and Fiori, amongst others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXGVfmrEN4&feature=related

This is old but still fabulously fantastic track: Celine Dion & Garou's Sous le vent. Why doesn't France send something like this?? Ok, maybe they can't get performers with this caliber to participate but the song itself is great and their voices just make it even better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtttLfaO8U Garou, Eurovision needs you!