Eurovision Song Contest 1987

The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the 32nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brussels, Belgium, following the country's victory at the 1986 contest with the song "J'aime la vie" by Sandra Kim. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF), the contest was held at the Centenary Palace on Saturday, 9 May 1987 (also Europe Day) and was hosted by French-Belgian singer Viktor Lazlo.

Eurovision Song Contest 1987
Dates
Final9 May 1987
Host
VenuePalais du Centenaire
Brussels, Belgium
Presenter(s)Viktor Lazlo
Musical directorJo Carlier
Directed byJacques Bourton
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Executive producerMichel Gehu
Host broadcasterRadio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF)
Opening act"Breathless" performed by Viktor Lazlo
Interval actMarc Grauwels
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/brussels-1987
Participants
Number of entries22
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countriesNone
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1987
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points in final Turkey
Winning song Ireland
"Hold Me Now"

Twenty-two countries took part in the contest with Greece and Italy returning to the competition after their absences the previous year. This set the record for the highest number of competing countries up until that point.

The winner was Ireland with the song "Hold Me Now" by Johnny Logan. Johnny Logan had also won the 1980 contest which makes him the only performer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice.

Location

The Centenary Palace of the Brussels Exhibition Centre, host venue of the 1987 contest

The contest took place at the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo) in Brussels, Belgium, a set of exhibition halls built from 1930 on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau (Heysel Park) in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels) to celebrate the centenary of Belgian Independence.

The Centenary Palace (French: Palais du Centenaire, Dutch: Eeuwfeestpaleis), where the main stage was located, is one of the remaining buildings of the Brussels International Exposition of 1935. Currently, it is still being used for trade fairs, as well as concerts, usually for bigger acts and artists.

Format

Host broadcaster

Initially, the competition was to be jointly organised by the two Belgian public broadcasters: the French-speaking Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF) and the Dutch-speaking Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT). However, quickly, disagreements appeared between the two broadcasters, especially on the host venue, the presenters and transmission of the contest. BRT eventually withdrew from the project and RTBF organised the contest alone as host broadcaster.[1]

Budget

The necessary budget was so important that a new law had to be adopted, allowing the use of advertising to finance the Belgian public channels. This was the first time that sponsors helped to produce the contest and appeared on screen.[2] BRT was in charge of the selection of the Belgian entry for the contest, as in all other odd-numbered years until 1993.

Contest overview

The 1987 Eurovision was the biggest contest at that time, with 22 countries taking part. Only Malta, Monaco and Morocco failed to compete out of all the countries which had entered the contest in the past. Due to the number of countries, and the time it took for the contest to be held, the EBU set the limit of competing countries to 22. This became problematic over the next few years as new and returning nations indicated an interest in participating, but could not be accommodated.[3]

Controversy erupted in Israel after their song was selected, "Shir Habatlanim" by the Lazy Bums. The comedic performance was criticised by the country's culture minister, who threatened to resign should the duo proceed to Brussels. They went on to perform for Israel, placing eighth; however the culture minister's threat was left unfulfilled.[3]

The presenter was Viktor Lazlo who agreed to present the contest on the condition she was allowed to open with a song of her own, "Breathless".

Participating countries

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.[4][5]

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner.

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Gary Lux  Austria 1983 (member of Westend), 1984 (as backing singer for Anita), 1985
Alexia  Cyprus 1981 (member of Island)
Wind  Germany 1985
Johnny Logan  Ireland 1980

Results

Draw Country Artist Song Language[6][7] Place[8] Points
01  Norway Kate Gulbrandsen "Mitt liv" Norwegian 9 65
02  Israel Datner and Kushnir "Shir Habatlanim" (שיר הבטלנים) Hebrew 8 73
03  Austria Gary Lux "Nur noch Gefühl" German 20 8
04  Iceland Halla Margrét "Hægt og hljótt" Icelandic 16 28
05  Belgium Liliane Saint-Pierre "Soldiers of Love" Dutch[lower-alpha 1] 11 56
06  Sweden Lotta Engberg "Boogaloo" Swedish 12 50
07  Italy Umberto Tozzi and Raf "Gente di mare" Italian 3 103
08  Portugal Nevada "Neste barco à vela" Portuguese 18 15
09  Spain Patricia Kraus "No estás solo" Spanish 19 10
10  Turkey Seyyal Taner and Lokomotif "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" Turkish 22 0
11  Greece Bang "Stop" (Στοπ) Greek 10 64
12  Netherlands Marcha "Rechtop in de wind" Dutch 5 83
13  Luxembourg Plastic Bertrand "Amour, amour" French 21 4
14  United Kingdom Rikki "Only the Light" English 13 47
15  France Christine Minier "Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche" French 14 44
16  Germany Wind "Laß die Sonne in dein Herz" German 2 141
17  Cyprus Alexia "Aspro mavro" (Άσπρο μαύρο) Greek 7 80
18  Finland Vicky Rosti and Boulevard "Sata salamaa" Finnish 15 32
19  Denmark Anne-Cathrine Herdorf and Bandjo "En lille melodi" Danish 5 83
20  Ireland Johnny Logan "Hold Me Now" English 1 172
21  Yugoslavia Novi fosili "Ja sam za ples" (Ја сам за плес) Serbo-Croatian[lower-alpha 1] 4 92
22   Switzerland Carol Rich "Moitié, moitié" French 17 26

Scoreboard

Voting results[9][10]
Total score
Norway
Israel
Austria
Iceland
Belgium
Sweden
Italy
Portugal
Spain
Turkey
Greece
Netherlands
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Cyprus
Finland
Denmark
Ireland
Yugoslavia
Switzerland
Contestants
Norway 6547107344735326
Israel 73215641034108758
Austria 817
Iceland 28444610
Belgium 56523674584534
Sweden 501281372377
Italy 103363511212841121412127
Portugal 15852
Spain 1010
Turkey 0
Greece 64126857571265
Netherlands 8352105738312226810
Luxembourg 422
United Kingdom 4710535331214325
France 4414541125102
Germany 141381012107451610610661012771
Cyprus 806621226536108104
Finland 321034218211
Denmark 83767782118678843
Ireland 172841212121281010121012168125612
Yugoslavia 9212781086612221081
Switzerland 2612573413

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
8  Ireland Austria,  Belgium,  Finland,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Sweden,   Switzerland,  United Kingdom
5  Italy Germany,  Ireland,  Portugal,  Spain,  Yugoslavia
2  Germany Denmark,  Iceland
 Yugoslavia Norway,  Turkey
1  Cyprus Greece
 France Luxembourg
 Greece Cyprus
 Netherlands France
 Sweden Israel

Spokespersons

Each country announced their votes in the order of performance. The following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country.

Broadcasts

National broadcasters were able to send a commentary team to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria FS1 Ernst Grissemann [22]
Hitradio Ö3 Hans Leitinger
 Belgium RTBF1 French: Claude Delacroix [23]
BRT TV1 Dutch: Luc Appermont [24]
RTBF La Première French: Patrick Duhamel and Stéphane Dupont
BRT Radio 2 Dutch: Rita Jaenen
 Cyprus RIK Fryni Papadopoulou [18]
RIK Deftero Pavlos Pavlou
 Denmark DR TV Jørgen de Mylius [25]
DR P3 Poul Birch Eriksen
 Finland YLE TV1 Heikki Harma and Kari Lumikero [26]
YLE 2-verkko TBC
 France Antenne 2 Patrick Simpson-Jones [23]
France Inter Julien Lepers
 Germany Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen Lotti Ohnesorge and Christoph Deumling [27]
Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2 Peter Urban
 Greece ERT Dafni Bokota [28]
Proto Programma Dimitris Konstantaras
 Iceland Sjónvarpið Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir [29]
 Ireland RTÉ 1 Marty Whelan [30]
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
 Israel Israeli Television No commentator
Reshet Gimel Yigal Ravid
 Italy Rai Due Rosanna Vaudetti [31]
Rai Radio 2 Antonio De Robertis
 Luxembourg RTL Télévision Valérie Sarn [23]
RTL plus TBC
RTL André Torrent
 Netherlands Nederland 1 Willem van Beusekom [32]
Radio 2 Rudi Carrell
 Norway NRK John Andreassen and Tor Paulsen [33]
NRK P2 Roald Øyen
 Portugal RTP1 Maria Margarida Gaspar [16]
 Spain TVE 2 Beatriz Pécker [34]
 Sweden TV1 Fredrik Belfrage [15]
SR P3 Jacob Dahlin [15]
  Switzerland TV DRS German: Bernard Thurnheer
TSR French: Serge Moisson
TSI Italian: Wilma Gilardi
 Turkey TV1 Gülgün Baysal [35]
 United Kingdom BBC1 Terry Wogan [36][5]
BBC Radio 2 Ray Moore [5]
 Yugoslavia TVB 1, TVZ 1 Serbo-Croatian: Ksenija Urličić [20]
TVL 1 Slovene: Miša Molk
Radio Val 202 Slovene: Marjeta Keršič Svetel
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Australia SBS TV Unknown
 Hungary MTV1 István Vágó
 Poland TP1 Bogusław Brelik

Possible Soviet Union participation

In 2009, Eduard Fomin, a former employee of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, revealed that in 1987, Georgiy Veselov, the Minister of Education for the Soviet Union, brought forward the idea of a participation of the Soviet Union at the Eurovision Song Contest due to the number of political reforms made by the Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during the late 1980s. The idea was mainly a political one, with the thought that a win in the contest for the Soviet Union would have an impact on the relationships between the Soviet Union and the capitalist countries of the west. Valery Leontyev was suggested as a name for the Soviet Union's first participation; however, Veselov's ideas were not shared by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or by Gorbachev himself, believing it to be too radical a step to take, and so no Soviet participation was ever made.[37] Furthermore, its broadcaster, Soviet Central Television, was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union (a prerequisite for participation), so the country would not have been able to participate in the first place. Ten former republics of the Soviet Union would later compete in the contest on their own in the 1990s and 2000s: Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, with five of the countries going on to win the contest.

See also

Notes

  1. Contains some phrases in English

References

  1. "Brussels 1987".
  2. HAUTIER Jean-Pierre, La folie de l’Eurovision, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Arbre, 2010, p.65.
  3. Kennedy O'Connor, John (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. pp. 108–111. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  4. "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  5. Roxburgh, Gordon (2017). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. UK: Telos Publishing. pp. 302–313. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9.
  6. "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  7. "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  8. "Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  9. "Results of the Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  10. "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  11. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  12. "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  13. "Morgunblaðið, 05.05.1987". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. RadioVisie.eu. "De 11-urenmis van de Wakkere Radioman (65) [ RadioVisie.eu /columns ]". Radiovisie.eu. Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  15. "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  16. "Comentadores Do ESC - escportugalforum.pt.vu | o forum eurovisivo português". 21595.activeboard.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  17. "Concours Eurovision de la Chanson • Consulter le sujet - Porte-paroles des jurys des pays francophones". Eurovision.vosforums.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  18. Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
  19. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  20. "Novi fosili na Pesmi Evrovizije 1987: Neno šarmirao belgijsku kraljicu, Zec poljubio pitona u glavu".
  21. Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
  22. Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  23. Christian Masson. "1987 - Bruxelles". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  24. Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  25. "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  26. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  27. "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  28. "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987-2004)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  29. "Morgunblaðið, 09.05.1987". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  30. "Whelan speaks about Eurovision to BBC". 12 May 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  31. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Umberto Tozzi e Raf Gente di mare Eurofestival 1987". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  32. www.eurovisionartists.nl. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  33. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  34. "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema - Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  35. "1987 eurovision ark yarmas". T Szlk. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  36. "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 BBC Archives". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  37. Невероятно! Леонтьев должен был представлять СССР на Евровидение-87!. nnm.ru (in Russian).
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