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.   Closest winning for the second time so far has been Italian Gigliola Cinquetti (75). Just 16 she took an overwhelming victory in 1964 with Non ho l'età scoring 49 points vs runner ups 17. She launched a successful international career singing all over the globe in multiple languages scoring hits here and there and everywhere. Ten years later she was chosen internally by Rai (whereas Non ho l'età was Sanremo winner) with Si. Weird choice in a way as Rai self censore...

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. Gigliola Cinquetti (73) , the 1964 winner returned to Eurovision this time as a Canzonissima winner but Italians didn't get to see that until a month later as at the time there was a referendum on divorce and Rai was afraid the song title Si (Yes) could be seen as political. She placed second right after a certain Abba and almost became the first double winner and went on to record the song in English (UK #8), French , Spanish and German . Gigliola was only 16 when she first won Castrocaro, then Sanremo, then Eurovision back in 1964. She scored hits in a steady flow in the 1960's and in the 1970's she was already an international star singing in multiple languages including Japanese. As an artistic soul she also set to de...

Just 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti charmed first Italy by winning the talent contest Castrocaro 1963 and then Sanremo 1964 with her Non ho l'etá, and went on to charm the rest of Europe as well by winning the Eurovision song contest a few weeks later in Copenhagen.  She beat UK to second place by scoring 47 points vs. their 17, when over half the juries gave her full marks. The song sold over 4 million singles worldwide and launched her international career. She has had singles released in 120 countries! In Italy she enjoys fame and success participating in various festivals and Sanremo. She almost got back to the contest already in 1966 when she won Sanremo with Domenico Modugno and Dio come ti amo . Modugno decided to go himself back to the contest and came last....  (Such a shame as it is one of the best Italia entries ever, if you ask me! And Gigliola's version is much bettr anyways) In 1974 she was chosen to represent Italy again and the song is Si. Italy ...

The youngest ever Tango King in Finland, Amadeus (Lundberg) has gone a long way after his win back in 2009. The year after he got a free pass to Euroviisut, the Finnish national final for the Eurovision and he presenter Anastacia, that followed nicely his debut single Matador . He released his debut album and after his reign was over went on touring all over tango circuit. Two years ago he released with Riku Niemi Orchestra an album with covers of classics with new songs, and in 2015 another one. The succesful series is completed now with a third one, that is basicly only covers of Italian classics, including Volare and Si from Eurovision song contest plus songs like Il Mondo that has been recently covered also by Il Volo. Listen the album here .  Volare has been of course covered about a zillion times so that's no news and more like a yawn, but it's not everyday you get a new Si cover. His voice fits the song nicely and the arrangement is rather simple dance oriented (...

Sammarinese Valentina Monetta had a busy weekend. First she was again, for the third time in a row, in the Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam performing her entry this year, Maybe . And also meeting a lot of familiar faces, giving interviews and also having some fun. The day after she was a guest star in The Dome in Brighton where the 40th anniversary of ABBA's win with Waterloo was celebrated. She sung of course Maybe , but also Gigliola Cinquetti's runner up in 1974, Si . Dressed in a blue dress just like Gigliola, she gave a lovely Valentinalised version of that fantastic song and the audience loved it. Maybe her next project could be an album full of Italian classics performed in her style? How about Dio come ti amo as bossanova?

Waldo's People re-enter the European Top-100 at #39. Alexander Rybak climbs to #4 and enter with his follow up at #57. Besides that six other Eurovision entries are in Top-100 this week: 04. (33) Alexander Rybak - Fairytale 39. (re) Waldo's People - Lose control 40. (new) Yohanna - Is it true? 41. (71) Hadise - Dum tek tek 50. (new) Aysel & Arash - Always 57. (new) Alexander Rybak - Funny little world 60. (new) Svetlana Loboda - Be my Valentine 66. (re) Malena Ernman - La voix 72. (new) Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy - Et cetera