1980s
The 1980s brought more up-tempo songs to the Eurovision Song Contest. The surprising victories of La Det Swinge by the Norwegian duo Bobbysocks in 1985, Swedish Herrey's Diggi Loo, Diggi Ley and Yugoslavian Rock Me by Riva in 1989, to name a few. Ballads still dominated and many of them won the contest in this decade.
One of them was Nicole who finally brought the victory home for Germany in 1982 with Ein Bißchen Frieden, composed by the legendary Ralph Siegel.
Johnny Logan, now known as ‘Mr Eurovision’, secured Ireland's second victory in 1980 with What's Another Year and again in 1987 with Hold Me Now. The Australian-born singer became an Irish citizen after he sang for Ireland in the 1980 contest. Linda Martin won the contest with another Johnny Logan song Why Me? in 1992, making Logan the only person to have won the contest three times.
More superstars were launched at the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1980s. For Céline Dion, winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest was the starting point of her worldwide career. Germany’s and Austria's entries in 1989 were both written by the German pop titan, Dieter Bohlen who became famous in Germany in the 1980's as one half of the duo Modern Talking.
1983 marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist who reached the third place and went on to win the contest in 1991, then represented her country again in 2006, coming fifth. Her song Främling became very popular in Sweden, perhaps even more than her winning song from 1991. Her debut album, Främling remains the biggest-selling album in Swedish music history.As the acts became more visual, the organizers also had some tricks up their sleeves.
The contest in 1985 was hosted by the former participant Lill Lindfors who shocked the audience with an act in which it appeared that her skirt was torn off. This was of course well-rehearsed, and remains one of the most-remembered highlights in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. She also congratulated the Norwegian team by saying: “I am honestly very happy that this happened, because Norway has been last so many times that you really deserve it!”
The Eurovision Song Contest participants list grew again. For the first time in the history of the song contest in 1980, an African country - Morocco took part with Samira, a star in all of the Arabic-speaking countries, but her entry Bitakat Hob ended up at 18th position with just 7 points.
One of them was Nicole who finally brought the victory home for Germany in 1982 with Ein Bißchen Frieden, composed by the legendary Ralph Siegel.
Johnny Logan, now known as ‘Mr Eurovision’, secured Ireland's second victory in 1980 with What's Another Year and again in 1987 with Hold Me Now. The Australian-born singer became an Irish citizen after he sang for Ireland in the 1980 contest. Linda Martin won the contest with another Johnny Logan song Why Me? in 1992, making Logan the only person to have won the contest three times.
More superstars were launched at the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1980s. For Céline Dion, winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest was the starting point of her worldwide career. Germany’s and Austria's entries in 1989 were both written by the German pop titan, Dieter Bohlen who became famous in Germany in the 1980's as one half of the duo Modern Talking.
1983 marked the first performance of Sweden's Carola Häggkvist who reached the third place and went on to win the contest in 1991, then represented her country again in 2006, coming fifth. Her song Främling became very popular in Sweden, perhaps even more than her winning song from 1991. Her debut album, Främling remains the biggest-selling album in Swedish music history.As the acts became more visual, the organizers also had some tricks up their sleeves.
The contest in 1985 was hosted by the former participant Lill Lindfors who shocked the audience with an act in which it appeared that her skirt was torn off. This was of course well-rehearsed, and remains one of the most-remembered highlights in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. She also congratulated the Norwegian team by saying: “I am honestly very happy that this happened, because Norway has been last so many times that you really deserve it!”
The Eurovision Song Contest participants list grew again. For the first time in the history of the song contest in 1980, an African country - Morocco took part with Samira, a star in all of the Arabic-speaking countries, but her entry Bitakat Hob ended up at 18th position with just 7 points.