Ferry Graf (14 December 1931 - 26 July 2017) was an Austrian singer, who later became a Finnish citizen.
Before his musical career, Ferry Graf worked as a locksmith. [1]
In 1959, Graf was selected by the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, with the German language song "Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien" (The K and K Calypso from Vienna). The song ended second to last, in joint ninth place receiving four points. [2] Although the song was released as a single, it was not a commercial success.
In the years following his Eurovision participation, Graf made a few appearances in Austrian and German TV, including, playing at ZDF-Hitparade in 1969, [3] but made no major successes. In the 1970s, he moved to Finland, where he formed his own band, performing Hillbilly music, as well as German cover versions of Elvis Presley's classic song.
Ferry Graf had a Finnish citizenship and lived in Jyväskylä, where he also died in 2017.
Maximilian Nepomuk Mutzke is a German singer, songwriter and television personality. He gained public interest in early 2004 when he won SSDSGPS, a talent contest hosted in Stefan Raab's late-night show TV total. Mutzke subsequently qualified for and won the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Germany 12 Points!, and thus represented Germany with his debut single "Can't Wait Until Tonight" that year, eventually finishing eighth in a field of 24 participants. Meanwhile, "Can't Wait Until Tonight" debuted atop the German singles chart and became a top five hit in Austria and Switzerland. His eponymous debut album, a mixture of soul and pop songs in German and English language, was released in January 2005 and also reached number one in Germany, where it was certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).
France has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times since its debut at the first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the first contest, and has been absent from only two contests in its history, missing the 1974 and 1982 contests. Along with Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, France is one of the "Big Five" countries that are automatically prequalified for the final, due to being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). France has won the contest five times.
Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966 and 2014, and such it holds the record for the longest gap between consecutive wins — 48 years. The contest is broadcast in Austria by ORF. Vienna was the host city on both of the occasions that the contest was held in Austria, in 1967 and 2015.
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.
The Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision, shortened to OGAE, is a non-governmental and non-profit international organisation, consisting of 42 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs from across Europe and beyond. It was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jaripekka Koikkalainen.
"Hold Me Now" is a song composed and performed by Irish singer Johnny Logan, which became the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1987 for Ireland. Logan had previously won with "What's Another Year?" in the 1980 contest and would go on to write the winner of the 1992 contest. The song is usually sung by Bohemians at home matches in Dalymount Park.
"What's Another Year" is a song recorded by Irish singer Johnny Logan which was his first Eurovision Song Contest winning song, achieving success in the 1980 edition of the contest, as well as Ireland's second Eurovision victory. Composed by Shay Healy, the song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in May.
"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.
"Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It was released as a single in 2006, reaching the No. 1 spot in Finland and reaching the top 10 in eight other European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at No. 25.
Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht", and on 18 July 1964 she became the first Swede to have a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, when "Sole Sole Sole", a duet with Italian singer Umberto Marcato, entered the chart, peaking at No. 58.
The Eurovision Young Musicians 1986 was the third edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians, held at the Koncerthuset, in Copenhagen, Denmark on 27 May 1986. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), musicians from five countries participated in the televised final. Despite the contest being held in Copenhagen, host country Denmark failed to qualify for the final alongside Germany, Austria, Israel, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands and Italy. The participant artists could not be older than 19 by the time of the contest. The finalists were all accompanied by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of Hans Graf.
"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink; and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for A Song For Europe by the publishers; when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her. On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the A Song for Europe 1977 event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan.
The song "Fairytale" written and performed by Alexander Rybak won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 for Norway, and is the first single from Rybak's debut album Fairytales.
The OGAE Second Chance Contest is a visual event which was founded in 1987 and is organised by branches of OGAE, the international fan club of the Eurovision Song Contest. Four nations competed in the first contest which took place in 1987. The competition was previously a non-televised event, but evolved over the years by the usage of video tape and later DVD, YouTube and streaming services.
Axel Ehnström is a Finnish songwriter and musician. He is known for writing songs for artists such as Phoebe Ryan, Lost Frequencies and Alle Farben. He participated as Paradise Oskar in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
"Euphoria" is a song performed by Swedish singer Loreen. It was released on 26 February 2012 as the third single from her debut studio album Heal (2012). The song was written by Thomas G:son, Peter Boström and produced by Boström and SeventyEight. It is best known as Sweden's winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song won the competition with a total of 372 points, at the time the second-highest point total in the contest's history. The song received the highest number of maximum (12) points of any entry in the contest's history with eighteen countries giving the song their top marks.
Maraaya are a Slovenian duo founded by Marjetka Vovk and Aleš Vovk (Raay) in 2014. The group's name is a combination of its members' names, while its pronunciation means "She has Raay" in Slovene.
Andreas Kümmert is a German singer and songwriter who is best known for winning season three of The Voice of Germany. He also won Unser Song für Deutschland with the song "Heart of Stone", giving him the possibility to represent his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. However, he declined the opportunity and the runner-up Ann Sophie took his place.
Zoë Straub, known professionally as Zoë, is an Austrian singer, songwriter and actress. She represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Loin d'ici", placing thirteenth in the grand final.
Cesár Sampson is an Austrian singer, songwriter, producer, dancer and model. He was also a social worker and fitness coach. He represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Nobody but You", winning the jury vote, coming in 13th place in the televote and finishing in third place overall.