What exactly will the 24 contestants be vying for this weekend? Winning the Eurovision song contest itself – let alone simply taking part – is not a guarantee that stardom will follow. Most Eurovision winners shine brightly and briefly before being quickly consigned to the “has-beens” category.

Then there are the exceptions: names that might not have been completely unknown upon entering the Euro-arena, but whose performance on what has been described as the world’s biggest stage for singers left enough of a mark to keep their name in pop culture for years to follow.

Such as Italian crooner Toto Cutugno’s Insieme, which was the Eurovision winning entry in 1990. What shall we bet that as soon as you read the song name you actually started humming the chorus? Insieme had that commercial, feel-good quality that invariably guarantees tons of radio air-time and sure enough, that’s what it got.

The Italians have a rather good track-record when it comes to churning out these anthems that somehow become iconic of a particular era. Who knows, maybe it’s all that training they do during the San Remo festival! Even before Cutugno’s success, the country had already wowed even the toughest Eurovision sceptics with Gigliola Cinquetti’s Non Ho l’Eta. Such a haunting song that practically sends shivers down your spine to this day – if you choose to ignore that the man the song is dedicated to is pretty much a would-be pederast who would have been stoned to death by an indignant mob nowadays. In 1964, however, this was perfectly fine and the song that was sung by an innocently beautiful fourteen-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti went on to launch a super successful career for the singer.

A year later in Luxembourg, where the Eurovision final was being held, France Gall seduced Europe with her rendition of Serge Gainsbourg’s Poupée de Cire Poupée de Son. Confession time: I’m a massive fan of Gainsbourg’s work and this discovery (which only came about while I was researching this topic) kind of shocked me because I honestly never associated him with the Eurovision. Gainsbourg is more known for being an enfant terrible than for pandering to the commercial crowds. Can it be that in previous years, the Eurovision contest actually attracted more cutting-edge artistes and genres before it developed into the pop/ballad fest it is known for today?

The sixties seem to have been a good time for Eurovision music: on a more upbeat and fun note, who doesn’t remember Sandy Shaw’s Puppet on a String, the 1967 winner? The song that got covered, re-mixed and re-released like there was no tomorrow...Funnily enough, Shaw had already enjoyed a degree of success pre-Eurovision and was actually worried that taking part in the contest would damage her reputation. Seems like even back then, feelings about the contest were quite mixed. Despite the enduring popularity of Puppet on a String, it didn’t quite revive her sales: Shaw only enjoyed one other massive hit after that, Anyone Who Had A Heart.

The most recent Eurovision hit connected to a band that had enjoyed long-term commercial success would probably be Katrina & the Waves’  Love Shine A Light, which won the coveted prize for the UK in 1997. In this case, however, things were somewhat turned on their head: the group took part in the contest to revive a career that was in fast decline. The ploy, however, didn’t work and the Eurovision turned out to be a short-lived comeback.

Leaving the best for last, the best Eurovision success story is undoubtedly that of Abba. Waterloo was the Swedish group’s first single and it took not only Europe, but the whole world by storm. The song launched the career of what was to be one of the most iconic groups in the history of music. Such was the resulting Abba-fever that even today the band is synonymous with the ‘70s disco genre.  The group took part in the contest a second time with Ring Ring, which failed to win but was nonetheless a huge hit with fans. Abba-fever hit the world so badly that for years, talk of a possible reunion constantly resurfaced in the news.

Who have I left out of the big list? Celine Dione anyone? Feel free to let us know which past Eurovision winners still have a spot in your heart.

 

For more updates check out the Malta Eurovision section on the homepage.

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