Lenita Gentil - Eles foram tão longe (1982)

It's time to focus on a singer that tried to go to ESC twice, but never got a chance (so far) to go there

Lenita Gentil is one of the portuguese most known singers, mostly for her fado work (she's known as a fado singer anyway)

For the ESC fans, she tried to go to ESC in 1971 with the dramatic song "Anda ver o sol", only to be last out of 9 songs and in 1989 with the catchy "Canção da roda e fantasia", again last out of 5 songs

The song "Eles foram tão longe" was released as a single in 1982, becoming Lenita's biggest hit of the decade and it's about a group of navigators that leave their country, home and friends, hoping to discover new lands

At this point, the author and composer of the song, Carlos Paião, was at the peak of his popularity, mostly due to his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Play-back", only having 9 points and a shared 18th place

This didn't mean his carrer was over and in a short time, he became one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of the 80's until his sudden death in August 1988 in a car accident. He's still regarded nowadays as one of the most influent singer-songwriters ever in Portugal

Tzvika Pick - Mary Lou (1978)

We came back to the ESC theme, this time with one of the most famous singers and composers from Israel. Talking about Tzvika Pick

He's, of course, more known internationally as the composer of "Diva", sung by Dana International, which went on to win the ESC 1998 (Israel)

Later in 2002, he would go to ESC again as a composer for the song "Light a candle" , sung by Sarit Hadad (Israel), reaching the 12th place. The last time so far was in 2003, when Ukraine made its debut with "Hasta la vista", sung by Olexandr Ponomariov (Tzivka was also the composer in that occasion)

He tried to go there himself as both singer and composer many times, the first one being in 1979 with "Ein li ish milvadi" (2nd place) and his last one (so far) being in 2005 with "Or yare'ach" (3rd place)

The song depicted in the video is one his biggest hits in the 70's: "Mary Lou", with lyrics from her wife Mirit Shem Or. The song is about Mirit herself

Bibi Andersen - Call me Lady Champagne (1980)

The first year of the 80's in Spain saw Bibi Andersen aka. Bibiana Fernández debuting as a singer with her first single "Call me Lady Champagne", becoming a hit in her home country, making way to promote it in other countries, like Germany. The B-side of the single was the classy "Boys will be girls"

Bibi Andersen became a controversial figure in the late 70's for being transsexual. This happened due to her sucessfull appearance in Vicente Aranda's movie "Cambio de sexo" (the leading actress was Victoria Abril), which talked about transsexualism

With time, she became also famous in the late 80's to the 90's for participating in many Pedro Almodovar movies and also for presenting TV-programmes such as "Sábado noche" between 1988-1989, etc...

The performance seen in the video came from "Musikladen", a music program from the nowadays german broadcaster RBB Berlin (former SFB), in the 9th October 1980

Michalis Hatzigiannis - Heria psila (2006)

Time for another former ESC participant, this time being one of the most famous singers in his home country and Greece as well since 1995. Talking about Michalis Hatzigiannis, of course

He tried to go to the ESC before in 1995 with 2 songs, but he came 2nd with "To gramma" and 3rd with "Filise me"

In ESC 1998, he participated with was a composition of his own, "Genesis", and he got a 11th place in a total of 37 points

Since then, he has recieved a bigger boost in his carrer, rewared with hits after hits

One of them is "Heria psila", made and released in the summer of 2006, becoming a summer hit in both Greece and Cyprus. Noting that, unlike most of his folk, rock or ballad compositions, this was a dance music entry with some rock elements on the chorus, which was something unusual from the singer

Gérard Lenorman - Michèle (1976)

Today, it's dedicated to a former ESC representant ;)

By the time the song was released, Gérard Lenorman already had big hits, the first one being made in 1972. The song was "Il"

Included firstly in his 1976 album "Drôles de chansons", "Michèle" became another big sucess for the singer. The B-side of the single was a song from the singer Nicolas Peyrac, "Et je t'aime"

He would later be selected internally to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, singing "Chanteur de charme", finishing in a respectable 10th place in a total of 64 points

Rumba Tres - Nata, limón y fantasía (1974)

Born in 1963, the trio formed by Pedro Capdevila, José Sardaña and Joan Capdevila started to have numerous hits from 1970 on

This song "Nata, limón y fantasía" was the B-side of the single "No vuelvas a soñar" in 1974 and in the following year, it would be included in their 1975 album, "Rumba Tres"

The performance of the song was made in 1974/1975 and rebroadcasted in New Year's Eve of 2008/2009 by TVE 1 ;)

My first post on this blog

(test post)

Here's my second blog, hoping that I finally get more time to get it done. Music, japanese anime, television, etc... and especially the Eurovision Song Contest (I'm a big fan of ESC, as you know) will be discused (therefore, no politics involved) ;)

Thank you,

LAboy 456
(Rui Craveiro)