The 1985 edition of A Song for Europe was held at the BBC Television Centre in Studio 1 on 9 April, hosted by a suited Terry Wogan. The theme music was Te Deum. The BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but despite performing live, the orchestra was off-screen, behind the set.
Secret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian band specialised in new instrumental music, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger and pianist Rolf Løvland.
Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen, also known simply as Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 61 times since making its debut in 1960 and has only been absent twice since then. In 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, and in 2002, they were relegated. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norway's national selection competition, Melodi Grand Prix.
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest was a television programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to commemorate the Eurovision Song Contest's fiftieth anniversary and to determine the contest's most popular entrant of its fifty years. Hosted by Katrina Leskanich and Renārs Kaupers, the event took place at Forum, in Copenhagen on 22 October 2005. The host was Danish broadcaster DR. Fourteen songs from the contest's first half-century, chosen through an internet poll and by a jury, contested the event.
Hanne Krogh is a Norwegian singer and actress from Haugesund and Oslo. Krogh is among the most selling record artists in Norway ever and is internationally well known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with Elisabeth Andreassen in the group Bobbysocks!.
"La det swinge" is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and Norway's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on the radio. Befitting the subject matter, the song itself is written in an old-fashioned style, with a memorable saxophone melody starting the song. The melody arrangement is in retro style, containing elements of contemporary 1980s music and throwbacks to the 1950s. Following their win, the single peaked at number one in the Norwegian and Belgian singles chart, and entered the charts in various countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
"Ein bißchen Frieden" is a German-language song, written by prolific German Eurovision-writing duo Ralph Siegel (music) and Bernd Meinunger (lyrics) for the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, held in Harrogate, United Kingdom. It was performed by 17-year-old German high-school student Nicole Hohloch, resulting in Germany's first win at the Eurovision Song Contest by a record margin of 61 points, setting a new record for the largest winning margin that lasted until the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. Nicole's single is still the only Eurovision entry to top the sales charts in every territory it was released in.
"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 performed in Swedish by the trio of brothers Herrey's, representing Sweden. Lyrics were written by Britt Lindeborg, and the tune by Torgny Söderberg. It was produced by Anders Engberg and Torgny Söderberg.
"Nocturne" is a song performed in Norwegian by Secret Garden and the winning entry for Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. It was the second time Norway won the contest, after it had won in 1985 with Bobbysocks! song "La det swinge". For their performance at the contest, the Secret Garden duo of Fionnuala Sherry and Rolf Løvland featured three guest musicians: Norwegian vocalist Gunnhild Tvinnereim, Hans Fredrik Jacobsen on penny whistle, and Swedish nyckelharpist Åsa Jinder.
Bobbysocks! was the first album from Norwegian pop duo Bobbysocks!. The album was released in 1984 and in a new version in 1985. The re-release became popular in many parts of the world, and by early 1986 the album had sold around 75,000 copies in Norway. In 2012, the album reached viral popularity when popular YouTube user Nigahiga featured the track "Don't Bring Lulu" in one of his videos. Album sales are estimated to have been at least 12,000 in the following month alone.
Walkin' on Air is a 1987 album from Norwegian pop duo Bobbysocks. Within four days, the album sold 50,000 copies, and was certified gold in Norway. It was to be the duo's final album.
"Love Is…", written and composed by James Kaleth and Vikki Watson, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1985, performed by Watson, credited at Eurovision and on the single by just her given name.
Bang was a Greek male vocal duo, consisting of Paul Stevens and Billy Adams (keyboards). They had chart success with the single "You're the One", released on the RCA label. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 6 May 1989, reaching #74. It was in the chart for two weeks. The B-side of the 7" version was "Don't Burn Down the Bridge", with the 12" having an additional instrumental version.
Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, began in 1960, the year of Norway's debut in the contest. It has been held almost every year since.
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "My Heart Goes Boom" written by Tore Madsen and Morten Henriksen. The song was performed by the group Charmed. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2000 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2000 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 4 March 2000 and the winner was determined over two rounds of voting from a five-member jury panel and a regional televote. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the superfinal. In the second round of voting, "My Heart Goes Boom" performed by Charmed was selected as the winner.
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Alltid sommer" written by David Eriksen and Linda Andernach Johansen. The song was performed by Lars A. Fredriksen. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1998 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 1998 contest in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Eight entries competed in a show that took place on 27 February 1999 and the winner, "All I Ever Wanted " performed by Lars A. Fredriksen, was determined by the votes from a six-member jury panel and a regional televote. The song was later translated from English to Norwegian for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Alltid sommer".
Norway was represented by Bobbysocks!, with the song "La det swinge", at the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 4 May in Gothenburg, Sweden. "La det swinge" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 30 March, and went on to bring Norway a famous first Eurovision victory after decades of being the butt of jokes about their status as Eurovision's perennial also-rans. It was admitted that the lyrics of "La det swinge" had been written with the specific intention of avoiding those Norwegian consonant combinations which had been said to sound harsh in song to non-Scandinavian ears.
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Icebreaker" written by Agnete Johnsen, Gabriel Alares and Ian Curnow. The song was performed by Agnete. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2016 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 27 February 2016 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "Icebreaker" performed by Agnete was selected as the winner with 166,728 votes.
Eivind Rølles was a Norwegian musician (guitar) best known for his time with pop duo The Monroes. prior to this, he was a member of the bands Broadway News and PVC.
