70 years of Eurovision: big hits and bare feet

1965

Sweden was back. Ireland made its debut. That brought the total number of countries in Naples, Italy, to no less than 18. In the RAI auditorium in this city, Renata Mauro presented the largest festival to date.

Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the second time. Conchita Bautista returned for Spain. Vice Vukov was there for the second time representing Yugoslavia. But those were not the entries that caused a stir. Bobby Solo (Italy) and Guy Mardel (France) managed to score an international hit. But the most notable one was Ingvar Wixell from Sweden. This opera singer had been assigned the song “Annorstädes Vals” in the national final. But in Naples, he suddenly sang “Absent Friend,” the English version. Nowhere in the Eurovision regulations did it state that this was not allowed. You can imagine that it was included a year later.

The French singer France Gall won for Luxembourg. Her “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” was written by none other than Serge Gainsbourg. He stated that he had never watched Eurovision. He therefore had no clue what he was writing for. And perhaps that was exactly the key to the success. During the reprise, France Gall seemed to realize she had won only halfway through. Only then a smile appeared on her face.

1966

Once again, the Eurovision circus moved to the tiny studio in the Villa Lauvigny in Luxembourg. The presentation was now in the hands of Josiane Shen. The same countries as in 1965 participated.

Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the third consecutive time. Domenico Modugno returned for Italy. And then we do not want to leave two candidates unmentioned: Åse Kleveland (Norway) and Lill Lindfors (Sweden) would later host the contest themselves. Kleveland, who later also became Minister of Culture in Norway, won the hearts of the jury members with her guitar. She came third. Lindfors sang a fairy tale to jazzy music in a duet. She came second with it. However, we do not want to leave the Dutch Milly Scott out either. Not only because she was the first black singer at Eurovision. She had also quite misjudged the size of the stage. She wanted to enter with a steeplechase. That was impossible. She had to back down and put on a much simpler act.

As mentioned, Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the third time. Third time was the charm for him: he won! A promising career lay ahead of him. When he won and got to sing his “Merci Chérie” again, he turned it into “Merci Jury”.

1967

For the first time, the Eurovision Song Contest went to Vienna. Erika Vaal hosted the contest at the Vienna Hofburg. She opened the show with a speech in no less than four languages. In addition, she apologized for not being proficient in all the participants’ other languages. Denmark was not present this year and would be absent for a long time. This country was angry about the bloc formation during the voting.

Raphaël from Spain and Kirsti Sparboe from Norway both participated for a second time. So did Claudio Villa from Italy. Serge Gainsbourg wrote a song, just like two years earlier. This time it was for Monaco. Singer Minouche Barelli let loose completely during Gainsbourg’s “Boum Badaboum”. The Greek Vicky (Leandros, though she did not use that surname yet) did the same. Her “L’amour est bleu” became a big hit, but not exactly for her. Orchestra conductor Paul Mauriat made a single with the instrumental version and walked away with the hit.

The voting was incredibly exciting. Not because of the winner, as that was the United Kingdom with a landslide. Rather because of the many errors and misses during the scoring. The scoreboard kept malfunctioning, forcing poor Erika Vaal to constantly make adjustments. In her panic, she forgot about the last one, the Irish jury. “I thought we were going to be left out,” a crestfallen Irish jury chairman remarked.

But then again, it was pop star Sandie Shaw who won for the United Kingdom with “Puppet on a String.” She caused a sensation by winning barefoot! Her song became a worldwide hit and a classic. However, Sandie Shaw has never made a secret of the fact that she herself hated that song. There have indeed been times when she refused to sing it. For example, on a Dutch television show, she simply walked away when the interviewer mentioned the word Eurovision.

Martijn
April 1, 2026
9:00 pm
1965, 1966, 1967, Luxembourg, Naples, Vienna

Martijn

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70 years of Eurovision: small studios and lost footage

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1962 Eurovision traveled to Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. Everything was just a little too small in this small country. Luxembourg television received assistance from the German broadcaster ZDF. The presentation was in the hands of Mireille Delannoy. The same sixteen countries as in 1961 participated. Camillo Felgen took part for Luxembourg yet again. With a third place, he did much better this time than two years before. But the absolute top favorite was Germany. Dutch commentator Willem Duys introduced her with the words: “She looked as if she had just won the entire Grand Duchy in a lottery.” After hearing the competition, she was slightly less self-assured. Ultimately, she would finish sixth with her “Zwei Kleine Italiener.” However, she did have the contest’s big hit. The French-speaking countries were in charge this year. Luxembourg itself came third, Monaco second, and France won. A ballad by Isabelle Aubret about, of course, love. Aubret received 26 points with her “Un premier amour.” That was double the score of the runner-up. That year, there were even four countries that received no points at all! That was a first time. But that didn’t bother Isabelle Aubret; she won! 1963 Because France had had enough of organizing by then, the United Kingdom took over. The festival was held in various studios of the brand-new BBC Television Centre in London. Host Cathy Boyle was in one studio, the artists in another, and the orchestra in yet another studio. This made it look just as if the viewer was watching a pop music show from those days. Big stars tried their luck. Françoise Hardy participated for Monaco, Nana Mouskouri for Luxembourg, Carmela Corren for Austria, and Esther Ofarim for Switzerland. Hardy was deeply disappointed when she discovered that she wasn’t allowed to lip-sync. Mouskouri walked away crying and stamping her feet afterwards. She was nowhere to be found at the afterparty. Switzerland won. But then the Norwegian jury had to vote one more time. The jury spokesman spoke way too fast. Cathy Boyle had been unable to repeat the points. The second time, Norway suddenly submitted a completely different result. As a result, it was not Switzerland that won, but Denmark instead. An investigation by the EBU later revealed that the Norwegians didn’t cheat. When they were called, the points had not yet been ready. Esther Ofarim has always said that she was the winner. But it was ultimately the Danish couple Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann with the three-quarter time “Dansevise”. 1964 Copenhagen was the venue. Not much footage of this festival has been preserved. Only the opening scene and parts of the winner’s performance remain. Sweden did not participate. A musicians’ strike resulted in a withdrawal. The Swedes could not send a participant to their neighboring country. However, because Portugal made its debut, the number of participants remained 16. Host Lotte Waever hosted the show. It was held at the Tivoli Theater in Copenhagen. Big stars did not come to Copenhagen. That is to say: Udo Jürgens, who participated for Austria, only achieved international breakthrough later. A trio participated for Spain: the Uruguayan group Los TNT. That is not allowed. The two male members of the group were therefore relegated to a backing choir. The broadcast did not go smoothly. Midway through, a demonstrator managed to get onto the stage. He held up a sign reading ‘Boycott Franco and Salazar’, referring to the dictators of Spain and Portugal. Little of it was visible on television. However, photos were taken of the incident. It did not get exciting that evening. Italy won with 49 points. By comparison: the runner-up, the United Kingdom, had 17. It was sixteen-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti who captured the hearts of viewers and jury members. She sang the innocent “Non ho l’eta” (I am not old enough yet). It became not only the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, but also a worldwide hit. The EBU recently posted a video on the Eurovision YouTube channel with a complete reconstruction of the performance.

March 31, 2026 No Comments

History

70 years of Eurovision: big hits and bare feet

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1965 Sweden was back. Ireland made its debut. That brought the total number of countries in Naples, Italy, to no less than 18. In the RAI auditorium in this city, Renata Mauro presented the largest festival to date. Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the second time. Conchita Bautista returned for Spain. Vice Vukov was there for the second time representing Yugoslavia. But those were not the entries that caused a stir. Bobby Solo (Italy) and Guy Mardel (France) managed to score an international hit. But the most notable one was Ingvar Wixell from Sweden. This opera singer had been assigned the song “Annorstädes Vals” in the national final. But in Naples, he suddenly sang “Absent Friend,” the English version. Nowhere in the Eurovision regulations did it state that this was not allowed. You can imagine that it was included a year later. The French singer France Gall won for Luxembourg. Her “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” was written by none other than Serge Gainsbourg. He stated that he had never watched Eurovision. He therefore had no clue what he was writing for. And perhaps that was exactly the key to the success. During the reprise, France Gall seemed to realize she had won only halfway through. Only then a smile appeared on her face. 1966 Once again, the Eurovision circus moved to the tiny studio in the Villa Lauvigny in Luxembourg. The presentation was now in the hands of Josiane Shen. The same countries as in 1965 participated. Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the third consecutive time. Domenico Modugno returned for Italy. And then we do not want to leave two candidates unmentioned: Åse Kleveland (Norway) and Lill Lindfors (Sweden) would later host the contest themselves. Kleveland, who later also became Minister of Culture in Norway, won the hearts of the jury members with her guitar. She came third. Lindfors sang a fairy tale to jazzy music in a duet. She came second with it. However, we do not want to leave the Dutch Milly Scott out either. Not only because she was the first black singer at Eurovision. She had also quite misjudged the size of the stage. She wanted to enter with a steeplechase. That was impossible. She had to back down and put on a much simpler act. As mentioned, Udo Jürgens participated for Austria for the third time. Third time was the charm for him: he won! A promising career lay ahead of him. When he won and got to sing his “Merci Chérie” again, he turned it into “Merci Jury”. 1967 For the first time, the Eurovision Song Contest went to Vienna. Erika Vaal hosted the contest at the Vienna Hofburg. She opened the show with a speech in no less than four languages. In addition, she apologized for not being proficient in all the participants’ other languages. Denmark was not present this year and would be absent for a long time. This country was angry about the bloc formation during the voting. Raphaël from Spain and Kirsti Sparboe from Norway both participated for a second time. So did Claudio Villa from Italy. Serge Gainsbourg wrote a song, just like two years earlier. This time it was for Monaco. Singer Minouche Barelli let loose completely during Gainsbourg’s “Boum Badaboum”. The Greek Vicky (Leandros, though she did not use that surname yet) did the same. Her “L’amour est bleu” became a big hit, but not exactly for her. Orchestra conductor Paul Mauriat made a single with the instrumental version and walked away with the hit. The voting was incredibly exciting. Not because of the winner, as that was the United Kingdom with a landslide. Rather because of the many errors and misses during the scoring. The scoreboard kept malfunctioning, forcing poor Erika Vaal to constantly make adjustments. In her panic, she forgot about the last one, the Irish jury. “I thought we were going to be left out,” a crestfallen Irish jury chairman remarked. But then again, it was pop star Sandie Shaw who won for the United Kingdom with “Puppet on a String.” She caused a sensation by winning barefoot! Her song became a worldwide hit and a classic. However, Sandie Shaw has never made a secret of the fact that she herself hated that song. There have indeed been times when she refused to sing it. For example, on a Dutch television show, she simply walked away when the interviewer mentioned the word Eurovision.

April 1, 2026 No Comments