United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996

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Eurovision Song Contest 1996
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process The Great British Song Contest 1996
Selection date(s)Semi-final
1 March 1996
Final
8 March 1996
Selected entrant Gina G
Selected song"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result8th, 77 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1995 •1996• 1997►

The United Kingdom selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo, Norway with a new show, The Great British Song Contest . The winning entry was Gina G with "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit".

Contents

Before Eurovision

The Great British Song Contest 1996

The Great British Song Contest 1996 was the national final developed by the BBC in order to select the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. Eight acts competed in the competition which consisted of a semi-final on 1 March 1996 and a televised final on 8 March 1996. Both semi-final and final were broadcast on BBC1.

Semi-final

The qualifying round for the contest (the first since 1960's selection), a special edition of Top of the Pops , was broadcast on BBC1 on 1 March 1996 and hosted by Nicky Campbell. It was announced that the four songs with the highest number of telephone votes would qualify for the final. A recap of the songs were also featured during the following morning's edition of Live & Kicking with voting lines reopened for a short time. The top four songs were announced later that evening during The National Lottery Live and went forward to the final on 8 March. [1]

Semi-final –1 March 1996 [2]
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)Result
1Layla"Find Love" Marcus Vere, Simon WilkinsonAdvanced
2 Code Red "I Gave You Everything"Deni Lew, Nicky Graham, Wayne Hector Advanced
3Esseness"I Never Knew"Stuart Elliot, Rick Driscoll, Mike ConnarisEliminated
4Dan Anderson"Sometimes It Rains"Louisa Scott, Ronnie James ScottEliminated
5Lois"I Just Want To Make Love 2 U" Ben Keen, Paul Thompson, Mike ConnarisEliminated
6Twin Hazey"Louise"Keith Summers, David Whitehouse, Michael FlahertyEliminated
7 Zeitia Massiah "A Little Love" Pam Sheyne, Eliot Kennedy Advanced
8 Gina G "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" Steve Rodway, Simon TauberAdvanced

Final

The final was held on 8 March 1996 at BBC Television Centre. Hosted by Terry Wogan, it was broadcast on BBC1 at 20:00. For the first time since 1985, there was no simultaneous broadcast with BBC Radio 2. The winning entry was announced at the end of the show following a further public phone vote. The guest performers were Irish boy band Boyzone, who performed their version of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" and actress Nicola Hughes who performed "The Acid Queen" from the rock musical The Who's Tommy .

Final –8 March 1996 [2]
DrawArtistSongTelevotePlace
1 Zeitia Massiah "A Little Love"41,1053
2 Code Red "I Gave You Everything"41,7912
3 Gina G "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit"113,5761
4Layla"Find Love"2,5784

At Eurovision

With the exception of host nation Norway, who were exempted, all 29 countries wishing to participate in the 1996 contest had to go through an audio-only pre-qualifying round held on 20 March. The lowest-placed seven songs would be eliminated and would not appear in Oslo. Gina G was placed third with 153 points, thus qualifying for the final. [3]

On the night of the final Gina G performed 2nd in the running order, following Turkey and preceding Spain. At the end of the voting it had received 77 points, placing 8th out of 23 contestants. [4] The United Kingdom jury awarded its 12 points to Cyprus.

When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded six points to "Holland" (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Byrn misheard as "Poland." The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands' seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. [5] Despite this result, 'Just a Little Bit' is one of the most successful of the UK's entries at Eurovision, not only topping the UK singles chart but also finding success in America, where the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 1998.[ citation needed ]

Voting

Qualifying round

Final

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurovision Song Contest 1996</span> International song competition

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) and presented by Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket, the contest was held in Norway following the country's victory at the 1995 contest with the song "Nocturne" by Secret Garden.

The United Kingdom's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves. The entry was chosen during the UK selection show, The Great British Song Contest, hosted by Dale Winton on 9 March, with the results announced six days later. The UK went on to win the song contest which was being held in Dublin, Ireland, with an unprecedented 227 points. The 1997 contest is last win for the United Kingdom so far.

For the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Dublin for the second consecutive year, the United Kingdom entered "Love City Groove", performed by Love City Groove. It finished in 10th place with a total of 76 points.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the third time that Estonia entered the Eurovision Song Contest, and was their first participation since their second-to-last place in the 1994 final. The entrant was again selected by a panel of expert judges, with thirteen entrants into the preselection final. The preselection would end up tied on points, with Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna's duet "Kaelakee hääl" winning on the basis of being awarded more maximum points than the runner-up Kadri Hunt. In the final, Ilus and Linna finished 5th.

Sweden was represented by One More Time with the song "Den vilda" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.

Eimear Quinn represented Ireland in the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "The Voice".

Portugal selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 through the annual Festival da Canção.

For the first time since 1992, a national final was held in Germany to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. At the contest, represented by Leon with "Planet of Blue", Germany failed to progress from the pre-qualification round, leading to the first, and so far only time that Germany failed to participate at Eurovision.

Belgium was represented by Lisa del Bo with the song "Liefde is een kaartspel" at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest.

The Netherlands was represented by duo Maxine and Franklin Brown, with the song "De eerste keer", at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Oslo on 18 May.

Denmark chose Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft, with the song "Kun med dig", to be their representatives at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held on 18 May in Oslo. "Kun med dig" was chosen as the Danish entry at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on 9 March. However, Denmark was one of seven countries which failed to qualify for the Eurovision final from a pre-qualifying round, so they were not represented in Oslo.

Norway was represented by Elisabeth Andreassen, with the song '"I evighet", at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 May at the Oslo Spektrum, following Secret Garden's victory for Norway in Dublin the previous year. "I evighet" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 30 March. This was the last of four Eurovision appearances as a main performer by Andreassen, a record shared with Lys Assia, Fud Leclerc, Valentina Monetta and Peter, Sue and Marc.

Hungary chose Gjon Delhusa, with the song "Fortuna", to be their representative at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest. However, Hungary was one of seven countries which failed to qualify for the Eurovision final from a pre-qualifying round, so they were not represented in Oslo.

Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "Niin kaunis on taivas" written by Timo Niemi. The song was performed by the singer Jasmine. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their relegation from 1995 as one of the bottom nine countries in the 1994 contest. Yle organised the national final Euroviisut 1996 - Euroviisut ja Emma in order to select the Finnish entry for the 1996 contest in Oslo, Norway. Ten entries selected to compete in the national final were presented on 3 February 1996 and votes from the public selected "Niin kaunis on taivas" performed by Jasmine as the winner with 67,907 votes, which was announced during a televised programme on 5 February 1996.

Croatia selected its entry for the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest through the "Dora 1996" contest, which was held on 3 March 1996, organised by the Croatian national broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) in Opatija. The winner was Maja Blagdan with "Sveta ljubav".

Macedonia attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, the first time the country tried to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. Macedonia selected Kaliopi to represent them in Norway, after winning the national final selection with the song "Samo ti". However, Macedonia was one of seven countries which failed to qualify for the Eurovision final from a pre-qualifying round, so they were not present in Oslo.

Israel attempted to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo. Galit Bell represented Israel with the song "Shalom Olam". However, Israel was one of seven countries which failed to qualify for the Eurovision final from a pre-qualifying round, so they were not present in Norway.

Russia attempted to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo, Norway. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster Rossiya Channel (RTR). Andrey Kosinsky was chosen to represent Russia with the song "Ya eto ya". However, Russia was one of seven countries which failed to qualify for the Eurovision final from a pre-qualifying round, so they were not present in Norway.

Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo, Norway. Amila Glamočak represented Bosnia and Herzegovina with the song "Za našu ljubav". They finished on 22nd place out of 23 countries with 13 points. It was the worst result for Bosnia and Herzegovina until 2016.

Constantinos represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "Mono gia mas". It finished 9th with 72 points.

References

  1. ↑ "Eurovision United Kingdom 1996".
  2. 1 2 Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 229–254. ISBN   978-1-84583-163-9.
  3. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 255–261. ISBN   978-1-84583-163-9.
  4. ↑ "Final of Oslo 1996". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 1996". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 18 May 1996. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. p. 259. ISBN   978-1-84583-163-9.
  7. 1 2 "Results of the Final of Oslo 1996". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
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