Serge Lama was born on February 11, 1943 in Bordeaux, France. His career as a songwriter took off with the song 'Je suis malade', made famous by Dalida and Lara Fabian.
In 1971 he represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Un jardin sur la terre'. The song deals with the chaos of daily life, with Lama expressing his
desire for a place where he can find solitude amid everything else. At the close of voting, it had received 82 points, placing 10th in a field of 18 competitors.
My collection: 7" single no. 5724 Found: Discogs.com, received February 25, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Un jardin sur la terre' / 'Bungalow 73'
Jacques Hustin (15 March 1940 – 6 April 2009) was a Belgian singer-songwriter and artist who was successful in his homeland in both fields, and is best known internationally for his participation in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.
He participated with his self-penned song 'Fleur de liberté' in Brighton. In a very competitive contest (featuring Abba, Olivia Newton-John and Gigliola Cinquetti among others) he ended up in ninth place out of 17 competitors.
My collection: 7" single no. 5723 Found: Discogs.com, received February 25, 2015 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Fleur de liberté' / 'On dit de toi, on dit de moi'
Please note: Divshare has been defunct for over a month now, and it looks like it won't be resolved any time soon. I haven't found a good alternative for streaming music in a player, so I guess I won't be able to let you hear these singles. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to oblige.
The Eurovision Song Contest has a rich history of famous winners, but there are a few songs that have become classics without even winning. The best example of this comes from the first few years of the contest: Italian singer Domenico Modugno performed the song 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' in 1958 during the third edition of Eurovision after winning the San Remo festival with the same song. At the close of voting, it got 13 point and became 3rd out of 10 competitors.
Following commercial success in Italy, where it sold almost a million copies, the song was also released in the United States and in the rest of Europe. In the United Kingdom, Modugno's single was released on 23 August 1958, together with eight other versions recorded by international artists. The single obtained global acclaim, becoming an international hit. However, somewhere along the line the song became better knows as... 'Volare'.
This single is an Italian pressing, presumably from 1958, on blue vinyl. I don't know, but it might be a real collector's item.
My collection: 7" single no. 561 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' / 'Lazzarella'
This EP is a strange beast. I bought it, obviously, for the German entry to the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, but there are three other tracks on this disc, and possibly the weirdest of all is the first one: it's Chubby Checker singing 'Good old Schwäb'sche Eisenbahn'. That's right, partly in German.
Nora Nova was the first Bulgarian to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her father was an official of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria and she reports that she was raised a monarchist. After scoring a number of hits in the German and Swiss charts, in 1964 she was chosen to represent West Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. Her song, 'Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne', reportedly has the longest name in Eurovision Song Contest history. With it she had another record — nul points for West Germany, and hence 13th, last place.
My collection: 7" single no. 5620 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Good old Schwäb'sche Eisenbahn' (Chubby Checker) / 'Keine Schule mehr' (Peggy Peters) / 'Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne' (Nora Nova) / 'Bella Luna' (Renate und Werner Leismann'
Jean-Jacques appeared on this blog once before with the single of his 1969 Eurovison Song Contest entry Maman. As mentioned there, he recorded his song in French, Spanish and Italian. So this single presents the Spanish version, and even the B-side 'Les beaux dimanches' appears here in that language.
It's not inconceivable that I would never have bought either single if Jean-Jacques hadn't participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, because it's such a sentimental song. But there you go.
My collection: 7" single no. 5619 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Mama' / 'Los domingos felices'
Lara Crokaert was born on January 9, 1970 in Etterbeek, Belgium. She began singing, dancing and taking piano lessons at a young age, and began formal music lessons at age eight. She began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years of formal music study.
In 1988, the RTL TV channel in Luxembourg invited Fabian to represent the country at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Dublin, Ireland. The song was a composition of Jacques Cardona and Alain Garciac entitled 'Croire' ('Trust'). At the close of voting, it had received 90 points, placing 4th in a field of 21 competitors. The single became a hit in Europe, selling nearly 500,000 copies.
My collection: 7" single no. 5618 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 14, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Croire' / 'Trust'
I had to set aside my principle of not spending too much money on vinyl singles for this 1992 Eurovision Song Contest entry by Cleopatra, because it's so hard to find and the fact that I was buying this together with six other singles meant that I could save on shipping costs anyway. That's how I have to justify things sometimes.
'Oulou tou kosmou i elpida' ('Everyone's hope') is one of the best Eurovision entries ever, despite - or perhaps, because of - the fact that the lyrics are incomprehensive if one does not speak or understand Greek. The powerful song received 94 points, placing 5th in a field of 23 competitors, making it Greece's best showing in the Contest since 1977.
My collection: 7" single no. 5617 Found: eBay.com, received February 12, 2015 Cost: 5 euro Tracks: 'Oulou tou kosmou i elpida' / 'Song for love'
