So, if you’ve been
watching any SBS at all in recent weeks, you will have seen the promos
heralding the fact that this year Australia’s finally got a place on the main
stage at Eurovision.
Jessica Mauboy will
perform her latest single Never Be The Same as the interval act during the
second semi final at B&W Hallerne next Thursday, 8 May.
And, out of sheer
luck, the second semi-final just happens to be the show I’ve got tickets to
see!
It’s going to be
fascinating to see how European fans respond to an Australian interloper at
their competition, and I’ll definitely be reporting back on how it goes down in
the hall.
If we were entering
the contest for real, of course, Jess would be almost the perfect choice – a young,
female pop singer with an international profile, she also embodies the
diversity of modern Australia.
Of course, she’s actually
not the first Australian to appear on the Eurovision stage. Here’s a few more
that have done us proud:
Ireland – Johnny Logan – 1980, 1987 and 1992
He’s known as Mr
Eurovision, because he’s the most successful artist in the contest’s history:
winning for Ireland as a performer in 1980 and 1987, and writing the country’s
winning song in 1992.
But, despite singing
for the Emerald Isle, he was actually born in Australia – Frankston, in fact. (I
know!)
His father was an Irish tenor, who travelled around the world making a living as a singer, but the family moved back to Ireland when he was just three years old - and the rest, as they say, is Eurovision history.
Incidentally, Johnny is giving a free concert in the streets of Copenhagen next week, and you'd better believe I'll be there singing along to Hold Me Now.
UK – Gina G – 1996
You might remember Ooh Aah Just a Little Bit from the
Australian charts back in the mid-nineties, but did you know that Gina G first
performed this catchy little number at Eurovision?
Yep, Queenslander Ms G
– real name Gina Mary Gardiner – represented the UK at the 1996
contest.
Many fans thought she
was robbed when she finished eighth, behind ethereal (read: dreary) ballad The Voice by Ireland’s Eimear Quinn.
It was the last year
the winner was selected entirely by professional juries in each country, with
televoting introduced from 1997 – perhaps if she’d waited a year, the popular
vote across Europe would’ve got her over the line!
UK – Olivia Newton-John – 1974
Before she got Physical and was the one John Travolta
wanted, Australia’s own Olivia Newton-John represented the UK back in 1974.
And she didn’t
disgrace herself either, finishing a very respectable fourth with the soppy
number Long Live Love.
Unfortunately she
chose the wrong year to make a splash at Eurovision, with the eventual winners
sweeping all before them – you might have heard of them, and their little tune
called Waterloo…
