3 More Eurovision Song Contest Winners

With this month's Eurovision Song Contest getting just that little bit closer, I continue my look at a few selected previous winners of the "great annual musical extravaganza".

Please click HERE should you have missed my previous posting.

Much of the contest is, for want of any other way of describing it, a complete load of nonsense, but sometimes it throws up a decent song and very occasionally that song will actually win. Not to say that all the winners are good, some of them are pretty dreadful as well it has to be said. 

So here we go with another trio of winning songs, it would be intriguing to know of  your opinions on this little lot?

Gali Atari - Love the hairdo sweetie!

In 1979, the contest found its way to Jerusalem after Israel had won the previous year's "shindig" in Paris. The home entry was a sing-along ditty (with an out-of-tune piano plonking along in the background), entitled "Hallelujah" sung by a 4 piece vocal group by the name of Milk and Honey, fronted by Gali Atari.

On this 4th occasion that the host nation won the contest, this winner was (in my opinion) truly awful, being performed by what seemed to resemble, a bunch of "local pub singers". 

In fact, if this lot turned up at the "Bear and Badger" on a Friday talent night, I wouldn't be surprised to see them boo'ed off stage and pelted with rotten tomatoes (they're a rough old crowd down the B & B, I can tell you).

The following year Israel didn't enter the contest. The official reason was that the date clashed with Yom Hazikaron (Israel's Memorial Day), but you do wonder if some sense of national musical shame didn't influence the decision as well.

Is this the worst winner of all? It can't be far off it if truth be known.

9 years down the line in 1988, the contest had again ended up in Dublin, after the Emerald Isle's previous success 12 months earlier (our Irish friends never seem to learn).

That year Switzerland were represented by a 20 year-old, French Canadian female vocalist who, it has to be said, went on over the years, to carve out a fairly decent living for herself.

Celine Dion, (yes, that Celine Dion) sang "Ne partez pas sans moi" (which I am reliably informed translates to "Don't Leave Without Me", to an estimated 600 million worldwide audience.

It is evident, even at that early age, what an incredibly powerful voice Celine possesses, which obviously helped her to win by 1 solitary point, but it couldn't really be classed as one of the better winning songs of all ESC's.

Just one last comment, Celine - that skirt!!! A Fashion Police alert if ever I saw one!

Now coming a little more (or quite a lot really) up to date to 2009 and Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak's landslide winning song "Fairytale".

Coming through the 2nd semi-final, the song won the final with a massive 387 points, setting a new ESC record along the way and giving Norway their 3rd all-time win in the contest. An enormous hit throughout Europe, it also managed to reach no.10 on the UK charts.

It certainly was a different style of Eurovision winner, with its violin interludes and cossack style backing dancers (popular with the hosting Moscow audience I assume).

To say it was truly appalling is being kind to it.

That's all for this time.

COMING SOON: 

3 Songs that didn't win the ESC - one of which, could possibly be classed the worst entry of all time. 

Watch this space!