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 | |
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Dates | |
Final | 9 May 1987 |
Host | |
Venue | Palais du Centenaire Brussels, Belgium |
Presenter(s) | Viktor Lazlo |
Musical director | Jo Carlier |
Directed by | Jacques Bourton |
Executive supervisor | Frank Naef |
Executive producer | Michel Gehu |
Host broadcaster | Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) |
Opening act | "Breathless" performed by Viktor Lazlo |
Interval act | Marc Grauwels |
Website | eurovision |
Participants | |
Number of entries | 22 |
Debuting countries | None |
Returning countries | |
Non-returning countries | None |
Participation map
| |
Vote | |
Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
Nul points in final | ![]() |
Winning song | ![]() "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
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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]
Norway – Terje Fjærn
Israel – Kobi Oshrat
Austria – Richard Oesterreicher
Iceland – Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson
Belgium – Freddy Sunder
Sweden – Curt-Eric Holmquist
Italy – Gianfranco Lombardi
Portugal – Jaime Oliveira
Spain – Eduardo Leiva
Turkey – Garo Mafyan
Greece – Yiorgos Niarchos
Netherlands – Rogier van Otterloo
Luxembourg – Alec Mansion
United Kingdom – Ronnie Hazlehurst
France – Jean-Claude Petit
Germany – Laszlo Bencker
Cyprus – Jo Carlier
Finland – Ossi Runne
Denmark – Henrik Krogsgaard
Ireland – Noel Kelehan
Yugoslavia – Nikica Kalogjera
Switzerland – no conductor
Returning artists
Bold indicates a previous winner.
Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
---|---|---|
Gary Lux | ![]() |
1983 (member of Westend), 1984 (as backing singer for Anita), 1985 |
Alexia | ![]() |
1981 (member of Island) |
Wind | ![]() |
1985 |
Johnny Logan | ![]() |
1980 |
Results
Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language[6][7] | Place[8] | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | ![]() |
Kate Gulbrandsen | "Mitt liv" | Norwegian | 9 | 65 |
02 | ![]() |
Datner and Kushnir | "Shir Habatlanim" (שיר הבטלנים) | Hebrew | 8 | 73 |
03 | ![]() |
Gary Lux | "Nur noch Gefühl" | German | 20 | 8 |
04 | ![]() |
Halla Margrét | "Hægt og hljótt" | Icelandic | 16 | 28 |
05 | ![]() |
Liliane Saint-Pierre | "Soldiers of Love" | Dutch[lower-alpha 1] | 11 | 56 |
06 | ![]() |
Lotta Engberg | "Boogaloo" | Swedish | 12 | 50 |
07 | ![]() |
Umberto Tozzi and Raf | "Gente di mare" | Italian | 3 | 103 |
08 | ![]() |
Nevada | "Neste barco à vela" | Portuguese | 18 | 15 |
09 | ![]() |
Patricia Kraus | "No estás solo" | Spanish | 19 | 10 |
10 | ![]() |
Seyyal Taner and Lokomotif | "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" | Turkish | 22 | 0 |
11 | ![]() |
Bang | "Stop" (Στοπ) | Greek | 10 | 64 |
12 | ![]() |
Marcha | "Rechtop in de wind" | Dutch | 5 | 83 |
13 | ![]() |
Plastic Bertrand | "Amour, amour" | French | 21 | 4 |
14 | ![]() |
Rikki | "Only the Light" | English | 13 | 47 |
15 | ![]() |
Christine Minier | "Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche" | French | 14 | 44 |
16 | ![]() |
Wind | "Laß die Sonne in dein Herz" | German | 2 | 141 |
17 | ![]() |
Alexia | "Aspro mavro" (Άσπρο μαύρο) | Greek | 7 | 80 |
18 | ![]() |
Vicky Rosti and Boulevard | "Sata salamaa" | Finnish | 15 | 32 |
19 | ![]() |
Anne-Cathrine Herdorf and Bandjo | "En lille melodi" | Danish | 5 | 83 |
20 | ![]() |
Johnny Logan | "Hold Me Now" | English | 1 | 172 |
21 | ![]() |
Novi fosili | "Ja sam za ples" (Ја сам за плес) | Serbo-Croatian[lower-alpha 1] | 4 | 92 |
22 | ![]() |
Carol Rich | "Moitié, moitié" | French | 17 | 26 |
Scoreboard
Norway | 65 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Israel | 73 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | |||||||||
Austria | 8 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Iceland | 28 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
Belgium | 56 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
Sweden | 50 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | |||||||||||||
Italy | 103 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 7 | ||||||
Portugal | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
Spain | 10 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Turkey | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Greece | 64 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 5 | |||||||||||
Netherlands | 83 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 10 | ||||||||
Luxembourg | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
United Kingdom | 47 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
France | 44 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 2 | |||||||||||||
Germany | 141 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 1 | ||
Cyprus | 80 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 4 | |||||||||
Finland | 32 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
Denmark | 83 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
Ireland | 172 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 12 | |||
Yugoslavia | 92 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||
Switzerland | 26 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
---|---|---|
8 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
5 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
2 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
![]() | ![]() ![]() | |
1 | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | |
![]() | ![]() | |
![]() | ![]() | |
![]() | ![]() |
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.
Norway – Sverre Christophersen[11]
Israel – Yitzhak Shim'oni[12]
Austria – Tilia Herold
Iceland – Guðrún Skúladóttir[13]
Belgium – An Ploegaerts[14]
Sweden – Jan Ellerås[15]
Italy – Mariolina Cannuli
Portugal – Ana Zanatti[16]
Spain – Matilde Jarrín
Turkey – Canan Kumbasar
Greece – Irini Gavala
Netherlands – Ralph Inbar
Luxembourg – Frédérique Ries
United Kingdom – Colin Berry[5]
France – Lionel Cassan[17]
Germany – Gabi Schnelle
Cyprus – Anna Partelidou[18]
Finland – Solveig Herlin[19]
Denmark – Bent Henius
Ireland – Brendan Balfe
Yugoslavia – Ljiljana Tipsarević[20]
Switzerland – Michel Stocker[21]
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.
Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
FS1 | Ernst Grissemann | [22] |
Hitradio Ö3 | Hans Leitinger | ||
![]() |
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 | ||
![]() |
RIK | Fryni Papadopoulou | [18] |
RIK Deftero | Pavlos Pavlou | ||
![]() |
DR TV | Jørgen de Mylius | [25] |
DR P3 | Poul Birch Eriksen | ||
![]() |
YLE TV1 | Heikki Harma and Kari Lumikero | [26] |
YLE 2-verkko | TBC | ||
![]() |
Antenne 2 | Patrick Simpson-Jones | [23] |
France Inter | Julien Lepers | ||
![]() |
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen | Lotti Ohnesorge and Christoph Deumling | [27] |
Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2 | Peter Urban | ||
![]() |
ERT | Dafni Bokota | [28] |
Proto Programma | Dimitris Konstantaras | ||
![]() |
Sjónvarpið | Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir | [29] |
![]() |
RTÉ 1 | Marty Whelan | [30] |
RTÉ Radio 1 | Larry Gogan | ||
![]() |
Israeli Television | No commentator | |
Reshet Gimel | Yigal Ravid | ||
![]() |
Rai Due | Rosanna Vaudetti | [31] |
Rai Radio 2 | Antonio De Robertis | ||
![]() |
RTL Télévision | Valérie Sarn | [23] |
RTL plus | TBC | ||
RTL | André Torrent | ||
![]() |
Nederland 1 | Willem van Beusekom | [32] |
Radio 2 | Rudi Carrell | ||
![]() |
NRK | John Andreassen and Tor Paulsen | [33] |
NRK P2 | Roald Øyen | ||
![]() |
RTP1 | Maria Margarida Gaspar | [16] |
![]() |
TVE 2 | Beatriz Pécker | [34] |
![]() |
TV1 | Fredrik Belfrage | [15] |
SR P3 | Jacob Dahlin | [15] | |
![]() |
TV DRS | German: Bernard Thurnheer | |
TSR | French: Serge Moisson | ||
TSI | Italian: Wilma Gilardi | ||
![]() |
TV1 | Gülgün Baysal | [35] |
![]() |
BBC1 | Terry Wogan | [36][5] |
BBC Radio 2 | Ray Moore | [5] | |
![]() |
TVB 1, TVZ 1 | Serbo-Croatian: Ksenija Urličić | [20] |
TVL 1 | Slovene: Miša Molk | ||
Radio Val 202 | Slovene: Marjeta Keršič Svetel |
Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
SBS TV | Unknown | |
![]() |
MTV1 | István Vágó | |
![]() |
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
- Contains some phrases in English
References
- "Brussels 1987".
- HAUTIER Jean-Pierre, La folie de l’Eurovision, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Arbre, 2010, p.65.
- Kennedy O'Connor, John (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. pp. 108–111. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- 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.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
- "Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- "Results of the Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
- "פורום אירוויזיון". Sf.tapuz.co.il. 1999-09-13. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Morgunblaðið, 05.05.1987". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- 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.
- "Infosajten.com". Infosajten.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "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.
- "Concours Eurovision de la Chanson • Consulter le sujet - Porte-paroles des jurys des pays francophones". Eurovision.vosforums.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- Savvidis, Christos (OGAE Cyprus)
- "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Novi fosili na Pesmi Evrovizije 1987: Neno šarmirao belgijsku kraljicu, Zec poljubio pitona u glavu".
- Baumann, Peter Ramón (OGAE Switzerland)
- Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- Christian Masson. "1987 - Bruxelles". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
- "Forside". esconnet.dk. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". Ecgermany.de. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Η Δάφνη Μπόκοτα και η EUROVISION (1987-2004)". Retromaniax.gr. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Morgunblaðið, 09.05.1987". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Whelan speaks about Eurovision to BBC". 12 May 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Umberto Tozzi e Raf Gente di mare Eurofestival 1987". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- www.eurovisionartists.nl. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
- "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.
- "1987 eurovision ark yarmas". T Szlk. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 BBC Archives". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- Невероятно! Леонтьев должен был представлять СССР на Евровидение-87!. nnm.ru (in Russian).
External links
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