Happy-go-lucky doctor Gianluca Bezzina, 23, stole the hearts of the Malta Eurovision Song contest jury on Saturday night and, despite being a newcomer, clinched the title.
On Saturday morning I had to quickly book the evening off, because I never imagined I would make it to the final
His uplifting song Tomorrow battled off 15 semi-finalists including Needing You sung by Swedish Pop Idol winner Kevin Borg, and totted up a total of 92 votes from the jury and the televoting audience.
The recently graduated doctor from Qrendi had been completely clueless about his chances of winning.
“Singers Petra and Richard told me I was going to be this year’s dark horse. And I was like: what on earth are they on about?” he said, laughing.
At 10am yesterday he was still dazed – and not just from lack of sleep. “This was completely out of the blue. Up till the last member of the jury read out the votes, I could not believe that I could possibly win,” he told The Times.
He was even surprised that he had survived the semi-final.
“On Saturday morning I had to quickly book the evening off, because I never imagined that I would make it to the final,” he said.
He took part in the contest “just for fun”, after much convincing from his singer sister Dorothy. “You see, I don’t really like competition,” he said quietly. “But this was the first time I had no exams to study for, and so I thought I’d do it for fun.”
He teamed up with co-writers and composers Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat and they came up with a crossover song.
When asked whether he thought that his song was similar to Train’s Hey, Soul Sister, he chuckled. “I know people have been saying that, but it’s the ukulele – it’s also a main feature of that song and that’s what makes it sound similar.”
His elder sibling, although herself taking part in the contest, was “very encouraging and supportive”. His other sister, Samara, joined him as his backing vocalist. “At home it’s pretty much like The Sound of Music,” he quipped.
In all he has seven siblings aged from 14 to 26, and all are very musical. And together with his parents, Charles and Sonia, they will all be going up to see him in the qualifying semi-final, in Malmö, Sweden, in mid-May.
Gianluca described music as his “hobby but not my ambition”. It is the first time that a doctor will be representing Malta at the Eurovision and the first time that the singer does not want to make a career out of it.
“I appreciate music more if I don’t have to make a living off it,” he said.
He is currently working with the elderly at St Vincent de Paul – where he is suspecting “a bit of a noisy welcome” when he returns there today.
For the next two years he will be working at different hospitals.
“After that I would like to specialise, hopefully in paediatrics, as I have done lots of voluntary work with children,” he said.
Despite the tough schedule ahead of him, he does not plan on giving up work while preparing for the May song contest but wants to take everything day by day: “I’m relaxed”.
The CEO of event organiser Public Broadcasting Services, Anton Attard, said Gianluca’s attitude would serve him well: “His aura comes across quite nicely on television.”
In the meantime, on social media, memes for the occasion have been doing the rounds, with one depicting Gianluca as “the doctor of our choice”, in reference to a past PN proposal.
With his infectious smile, Gianluca could be very well be just what the doctor ordered for this tense electoral time.