09/05/1998
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, UK
Presented by Terry Wogan & Ulrika Jonsson
CROATIA
Neka mi ne svane
Danijela
Points: 131 - Ranking: 5/25
Watch it HERE
Danijela Martinović was born on July 15, 1971 in Split, Croatia. In the early 1990's Danijela was a member of the Croatian group Magazin which was very popular in Croatia. Danijela became one of the biggest national icons.
In 1995, Magazin took part in Dora, the Croatian national selection for Eurovision with the song 'Nostalgija'. They won Dora and went on to represent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. They achieved a 6th place.
Later on Danijela left the group and started a solo career. In 1998 she took part again in Dora with the song 'Neka mi ne svane' and won. With this song she represented Croatia in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham. She scored Croatia's best result at that time: a 5th place.
In 2005 and 2006 she also took part in Dora but didn't win.
GREECE
Mia krifi evesthisia
Μια κρυφή ευαισθησία
Thalassa
Θάλασσα
Points: 12 - Ranking: 20/25
Watch it HERE
The group Thalassa was formed expressly for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. After their victory in the Greek national final many other artists in that final complained Thalassa's victory was a fraud, nevertheless they went on to sing for Greece at the ESC in Birmingham.
During the rehearsals in Birmingham, Yannis Valvis (one of the musicians and formers of the group) had several serious fights with the director of the show and was kicked out of the arena and banned from re-entry. He had to watch the contest in his hotel room with two security guards guarding his room.
After Eurovision the group seperated. Dionisia Karoki worked as a backing vocalist for many Greek singers and now teaches singing and music in a private school.
FRANCE
Où aller
Marie Line
Points: 3 - Ranking: 24/25
Watch it HERE
Marie-Line Marolany was born in Saint-Raphaël, Var on the French Riviera. She has French-Caribbean roots and early on was backing singer in her brothers' group, Soul Afro Punk. She then started to sing her own compositions in piano bars all over France and then went on to record two albums with Raoul Petite. Afterwards she toured Europe with many French singers doing backing vocals. Her Eurovision entry was totally different than the other pop entries and some suggested that it was a reminder of the French 'exotic' and 'afro-Caribbean' entries of 1991 and 1992. Marie Line's song was only rewarded 3 points, 1 point from Cyprus and 2 points from (FYROM) Macedonia. After Eurovision she continued singing as a backing.
SPAIN
¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti?
Mikel Herzog
Points: 21 - Ranking: 16/25
Watch it HERE
Mikel Herzog Herzog, born April 16, 1960 is a Basque singer-songwriter of Jewish descent.
Mikel was a member of several groups during the 1980's, including his own group Ébano. For a short time he was the drummer for the band Cadillac, and later became a member of La Década Prodigiosa. He also wrote songs for other artists, including 'Tractor Amarillo' which was a hit for the group Zapato Veloz in 1991. He released several solo singles in the 1990's, and 'Hasta el final del mundo', a duet with Mónica Naranjo.
In 2001, Herzog joined the team of reality TV programme Operación Triunfo, which had been created to find the Spanish entry for the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. In 2007 he was again involved in Spain's Eurovision selection by being one of the five judges on the show Misión Eurovisión 2007.
SWITZERLAND
Lass ihn
Gunvor
Points: 0 - Ranking: 25/25
Watch it HERE
Gunvor Guggisberg (August 23, 1974), known professionally simply as Gunvor, is a Swiss singer and dancer. She owes her name to her Swedish grandfather.
Her musical role-model is Céline Dion, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland in 1988.
She has been Swiss champion tap dancing 7 times.
The year after her Eurovision appearance she was singing and dancing in a Winter circus.
SLOVAKIA
Modlitba
Katarína Hasprová
Points: 8 - Ranking: 21/25
Watch it HERE
Katarína Hasprová (Bratislava, September 10, 1972) is best known outside Slovakia for singing at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham.
Hasprová was born into a musical family. Her mother is a well known Slovak actress and singer, her father a leading director of theatre and television. A graduate in music from the Janáček Music Academy, Katarína devotes all her time to singing and dancing and has performed in a number of classic musicals, including West Side Story and Hair.
After the disappointing result for Slovakia in 1998, the Slovak national broadcaster RTVS, withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest, only to come back in 2009.
POLAND
To takie proste
Sixteen
Points: 19 - Ranking: 17/25
Watch it HERE
The Polish band 'Sixteen' was founded in 1997 and disbanded in 2004. Renata Dabkowska was its lead singer.
Their debut album 'Lawa' was released in 1997.
During the later part of 1998 the band became known as Seventeen and sometimes Sixteen-Seventeen.
ISRAEL
Diva
Dana International
Points: 172 - Ranking: 1/25
Watch it HERE
Sharon Cohen, professionally known as Dana International (born as Yaron Cohen on February 2, 1972) is an Israeli pop singer of Yemenite Jewish ancestry. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums, positioning herself as one of Israel's most successful musical acts ever.
Born male, Dana discovered she was transsexual at an early age, coming out when she was 13. Undergoing sex reassignment surgery in 1993, it was that year she released her first album, 'Dana International', upon which she based her stage name. Consolidating her initial commercial success with the albums 'Umpatampa' (1994) and Maganuna (1996), in 1998 she was selected to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest.
After Eurovision she released the albums 'Free' (1999), 'Yoter Ve Yoter' (2001), 'HaHalom HaEfshari' (2002) and 'Hakol Ze Letova' (2008).
In 2011 she once more represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany, with the song 'Ding Dong', although she failed to make it into the final.
Dana International has been credited to be one of the world's best known transsexuals. In 2005, a poll by the Israeli news website 'Ynet' to list those perceived as the 200 Greatest Israelis saw Dana voted 47th greatest Israeli of all time.
GERMANY
Guildo hat euch lieb
Guildo Horn
Points: 86 - Ranking: 7/25
Watch it HERE
Guildo Horn, born on February 15, 1963 in Trier as Horst Köhler, is a German schlager singer. He is mainly famous for his eccentric stage persona, which includes outrageous clothes and very extroverted antics.
MALTA
The one that I love
Chiara
Points: 165 - Ranking: 3/25
Watch it HERE
Chiara Siracusa, born September 25, 1976 is best known for representing her country, Malta, in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, 2005 and in 2009.
From 1998 to 2003, Chiara tranformed herself from a shy singer to a confident international entertainer, and recorded three albums. She performed extensively outside Malta and then, under the guidance of Maltese recording studio Bridge Productions, started preparing for yet another attempt to crack the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2005 she entered the Eurovision Song Contest for Malta with the song 'Angel', reaching a second place with 192 points.
After the 2005 contest, Chiara mostly worked in Greece & Cyprus. In 2008 she hosted the Malta Song For Europe.
In 2009 she took part again in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'What if we'. She qualified for the big final on Saturday night, though she would only receive 31 points, reaching a 22nd place out of 25.
These days, Chiara is a resident singer on TV show 'Hadd Ghalik'.
HUNGARY
A holnap már nem lesz szomorú
CharliePoints: 4 - Ranking 23/25
Watch it HERE
Charlie, Károly Horváth, born on October 28, 1947 in Ónod, Hungary, is an Hungarian Rock & Soul singer.
He sang for the rock bands Decca, Olympia & Generál.
In 1994 he went solo, with succes, all his songs charted the Hungarian charts.
His 1998 Eurovision song 'A holnap már nem lesz szomorú' (Sadness will be over tomorrow) was picked internally by Hungarian broadcaster MTV.
No comments:
Post a Comment