Eurovision Song Contest 1987

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Eurovision Song Contest 1987
File:ESC 1987 logo.png
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
Participants
Number of entries22
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countriesNone
  • Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Monaco in the Eurovision Song ContestLuxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Malta in the Eurovision Song ContestAustria in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Morocco in the Eurovision Song ContestCyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987A coloured map of the countries of Europe
    About this image
         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"
1986 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1988

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 9 May 1987 (also Europe Day) and was hosted by French-Belgian singer Viktor Lazlo.

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, and he remains 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.

Host city selection

class=notpageimage|
Locations of the considered venues: the chosen venue is marked in blue, while the eliminated locations are marked in red.

An expert committee designated the Royal Theatre of Antwerp as the ideal hosting venue, as both locations proposed by the Francophones (the Palais du Centenaire in Brussels and the Patinoire de Coronmeuse [fr] in Liege) would have required too much renovation work. Nevertheless, RTBF demanded that the contest be hosted in Brussels, Belgium's capital city. On 6 October 1986, 7 months before the contest, RTBF unilaterally announced that the Palais du Centenaire in Brussels would host Eurovision 1987. In the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, BRT proposed instead to host Eurovision at the Cirque Royal, also located in Brussels, adding that RTBF would be solely in charge of organizing the contest if BRT's counter-offer was not taken into consideration. However, RTBF moved forward and confirmed the Palais du Centenaire as the host venue of Eurovision 1987.[1] The Flemish broadcaster was offended by the choice of Brussels as host city, and withdrew from the organization.

Format

Host broadcaster

Sandra Kim's Eurovision victory in 1986 occurred amidst a complex political situation in Belgium: starting in the 80s, the country transitioned from a central to a federal government model due to rising tensions between the two major linguistic regions of Belgium, Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. Both regions had had independent broadcasters since 1960 (BRT in Flanders and RTBF in Wallonia) but had still agreed to jointly host the contest in the event of a Belgian victory. While the triumph of "J'aime la vie" in 1986 – an entry sent by French-speaking RTBF – reignited a sense of national union across all Belgian regions, the two regional broadcasters weren't able to overcome their disagreements to allow for a joint hosting of the 1987 contest.[1] BRT eventually withdrew from the project and RTBF organised the contest alone as host broadcaster.[2] BRT remained in charge of the selection of the Belgian entry for the contest, as in all other odd-numbered years until 1993.

In her academic study "Which Belgium Won Eurovision? European Unity and Belgian Disunity" published in 2019, scholar Julie Kalman describes how, as a consequence, the opening of Eurovision 1987 mostly showed footage of Wallonia.[3]

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.[4] After the closing of the 1987 contest, BRT President Cas Goossens praised RTBF for a "perfect organization" while at the same time regretting that the two broadcasters weren't able to collaborate. He added that the cost of hosting Eurovision would have been difficult to justify to the Flemish taxpayers.[1]

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.[5]

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.[5]

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.[6][7]

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

Participants and results

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

Detailed voting results

Detailed voting results[11][12]
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 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  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 [de]
Hitradio Ö3 Hans Leitinger [de]
 Belgium RTBF1 French: Claude Delacroix
BRT TV1 Dutch: Luc Appermont [16]
RTBF La Première French: Patrick Duhamel [fr] and Stéphane Dupont
BRT Radio 2 Dutch: Rita Jaenen
 Cyprus RIK Fryni Papadopoulou
RIK Deftero Pavlos Pavlou
 Denmark DR TV Jørgen de Mylius
DR P3 Poul Birch Eriksen [dk]
 Finland YLE TV1 Heikki Harma and Kari Lumikero [fi]
YLE 2-verkko TBC
 France Antenne 2 Patrick Simpson-Jones [fr]
France Inter Julien Lepers
 Germany Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen Lotti Ohnesorge [de] and Christoph Deumling [de]
Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2 Peter Urban
 Greece ERT Dafni Bokota
Proto Programma Dimitris Konstantaras [el]
 Iceland Sjónvarpið Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir [17]
 Ireland RTÉ 1 Marty Whelan [18]
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
 Israel Israeli Television No commentator
Reshet Gimel Yigal Ravid
 Italy Rai Due Rosanna Vaudetti
Rai Radio 2 Antonio De Robertis
 Luxembourg RTL Télévision Valérie Sarn [fr]
RTL plus TBC
RTL André Torrent [fr]
 Netherlands Nederland 1 Willem van Beusekom [19]
Radio 2 Rudi Carrell
 Norway NRK John Andreassen and Tor Paulsen
NRK P2 Roald Øyen
 Portugal RTP1 Maria Margarida Gaspar
 Spain TVE 2 Beatriz Pécker [es]
 Sweden TV1 Fredrik Belfrage
SR P3 Jacob Dahlin
 Switzerland SRG Sportkette [de] German: Bernard Thurnheer [de] [20]
SSR Chaîne sportive French: Serge Moisson [fr] [20]
TSI Canale sportivo Italian: Wilma Gilardi [20]
 Turkey TV1 Gülgün Baysal
 United Kingdom BBC1 Terry Wogan [21][7]
BBC Radio 2 Ray Moore [7]
 Yugoslavia TVB 1, TVZ 1 Serbo-Croatian: Ksenija Urličić [15]
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 MTV2 István Vágó [22]
 Poland TP1 Bogusław Brelik

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Contains some phrases in English

References

  1. ^ a b c Covolo, Julien (8 May 2022). "Il y a 35 ans, l'Eurovision 1987 au Heysel sur fond de querelle entre RTBF et VRT". RTBF (in French). Archived from the original on 10 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Brussels 1987". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Which Belgium Won Eurovision? European Unity and Belgian Disunity".
  4. ^ HAUTIER Jean-Pierre, La folie de l’Eurovision, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Arbre, 2010, p.65.
  5. ^ a b Kennedy O'Connor, John (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. pp. 108–111. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  6. ^ "And the conductor is..." Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d 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.
  8. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1987". 4Lyrics.eu. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Results of the Final of Brussels 1987". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  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. ^ a b "Novi fosili na Pesmi Evrovizije 1987: Neno šarmirao belgijsku kraljicu, Zec poljubio pitona u glavu".
  16. ^ Adriaens, Manu & Loeckx-Van Cauwenberge, Joken. Blijven kiken!. Lannoo, Belgium. 2003 ISBN 90-209-5274-9
  17. ^ "Morgunblaðið, 09.05.1987". Timarit.is. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  18. ^ "Whelan speaks about Eurovision to BBC". 12 May 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  19. ^ www.eurovisionartists.nl. "Welkom op de site van Eurovision Artists". Eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  20. ^ a b c "Der Bund, 9 May 1987".
  21. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1987 BBC Archives". BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  22. ^ "RTV, 1987.05.04".

External links

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