In 1955, the EBU came up with the idea of an international song contest whereby countries, represeted by their respective public broadcasters, would participate in one television show, to be transmitted simultaneously in all represented nations.
This was conceived during a meeting in Monaco in 1955 by Marcel Bezençon, a Frenchman working for the EBU. The competition was based upon the Italian Festival di Sanremo, held for the first time in 1951, and was also seen as a technological experiment in live television: In those days, it was a very ambitious project to join many countries together in a wide-area international network. Satellite television did not exist yet at that time, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network. Le Grand-Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne was born!
Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.
Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay despite the fact that they do not compete.
The programme is hosted by one of the participant countries, and the transmission is sent from the auditorium in the host city. During this programme, after all the songs have been performed, the countries then proceed to cast votes for the other countries' songs: nations are not allowed to vote for their own song. At the end of the programme, the winner is declared as the song with the most points. The winner receives, simply, the prestige of having won—although it is usual for a trophy to be awarded to the winning songwriters, and the winning country is invited to host the event the following year.
The years countries made their debut at Eurovision....
1956 Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland
1957 Austria, Denmark, United Kingdom
1958 Sweden
1959 Monaco
1960 Norway
1961 Finland, Spain, Yugoslavia
1964 Portugal
1965 Ireland
1971 Malta
1973 Israel
1974 Greece
1975 Turkey
1980 Morocco
1981 Cyprus
1986 Iceland
1993 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia
1994 Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia
1998 Macedonia
2000 Latvia
2003 Ukraine
2004 Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro
2005 Bulgaria, Moldova
2006 Armenia
2007 Czech Republic, Georgia, Montenegro, Serbia
2008 Azerbaijan, San Marino
There have been 56 Contests, with one winner each year except the tied 1969 Contest, which had four. Twenty-six different countries have won the contest. Switzerland won the Contest on their debut—the first Contest, in 1956. The country with the highest number of wins is Ireland, with seven. Portugal is the country with the longest history in the Contest without a win; it made its forty-fifth appearance at the 2011 Contest. The only person to have won more than once as performer is Ireland's Johnny Logan, who performed "What's Another Year" in 1980 and "Hold Me Now" in 1987. Logan is also one of only five songwriters to have written more than one winning entry ("Hold Me Now" 1987 and "Why Me?" 1992, performed by Linda Martin). This unique distinction makes Logan the only person to have three Eurovision victories to his/her credit, as either singer, songwriter or both. The other four songwriters with more than one winning entry to their credit are, Willy van Hemert (Netherlands, 1957 and 1959), Yves Dessca (Monaco, 1971 and Luxembourg, 1972), Rolf Løvland (Norway, 1985 and 1995) and Brendan Graham (Ireland, 1994 and 1996).
The winners.....
2011 Running Scared - Eli and Nicki - Azerbaijan
2010 Satellite - Lena - Germany
2009 Fairytale - Alexander Rybak - Norway
2008 Believe - Dima Bilan - Russia
2007 Molitva - Marija Šerifovic - Serbia
2006 Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah - Finland
2005 My number one - Helena Paparizou - Greece
2004 Wild Dances - Ruslana - Ukraine
2003 Everyway That I Can - Sertab Erener - Turkey
2002 I Wanna - Marija Naumova - Latvia
2001 Everybody - Tanel Padar & Dave Benton - Estonia
2000 Fly On The Wings of Love - Olsen Brothers - Denmark
1999 Take Me To Your Heaven - Charlotte Nilsson - Sweden
1998 Diva - Dana International - Israel
1997 Love shine a light - Katrina & the Waves - United Kingdom
1996 The Voice - Eimear Quinn - Ireland
1995 Nocturne - Secret Garden - Norway
1994 Rock 'N Roll Kids - Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan - Ireland
1993 In Your Eyes - Niamh Kavanagh - Ireland
1992 Why Me? - Linda Martin - Ireland
1991 Fångad Av En Stormvind - Carola - Sweden
1990 Insieme:1992 - Toto Cutugno - Italy
1989 Rock Me - Riva - Yugoslavia
1988 Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi - Celine Dion - Switzerland
1987 Hold Me Now - Johnny Logan - Ireland
1986 J'Aime La Vie - Sandra Kim - Belgium
1985 La Det Swinge - Bobbysocks - Norway
1984 Diggi Loo-Diggi Ley - Herreys - Sweden
1983 Si La Vie Est Cadeau - Corinne Hermes - Luxembourg
1982 Ein Bisschen Frieden - Nicole - Germany
1981 Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz - United Kingdom
1980 What's Another Year? - Johnny Logan - Ireland
1979 Hallelujah - Milk & Honey - Israel
1978 A Ba Ni Bi - Yizhar Cohen & Alphabeta - Israel
1977 L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant - Marie Myriam - France
1976 Save Your Kisses For Me - Brotherhood of Man - United Kingdom
1975 Ding Dinge Dong - Teach-in - Netherlands
1974 Waterloo - ABBA - Sweden
1973 Tu Te Reconnaitras - Anne-Marie David - Luxembourg
1972 Apres Toi - Vicky Leandros - Luxembourg
1971 Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue - Severine - Monaco
1970 All Kinds Of Everything - Dana - Ireland
1969= Vivo Cantando - Salome - Spain
1969= Boom Bang-A-Bang - Lulu - United Kingdom
1969= De Troubadour - Lennie Kuhr - Netherlands
1969= Un Jour, Un Enfant - Frida Boccara - France
1968 La La La - Massiel - Spain
1967 Puppet On A String - Sandie- Austria
1965 Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son - France Gall - Luxembourg
1964 No Ho L'Eta - Gigliola Cinquetti - Denmark
1962 Un Premier Amour - Isabelle Aubret - France
1961 Nous Les Amoureux - Jean-Claude Pascal - Luxembourg
1960 Tom Pillibi - Jacqueline Boyer - France
1959 Een Beetje - Teddy Scholten - Netherlands
1958 Dors Mon Amour - Andre Claveau - France
1957 Net Als Toen - Corry Brokken - Netherlands
1956 Refrain - Lys Assia - Switzerland
