With the victory of Charlotte Perrelli in yesterdays Melodifestivalen final the Preselection season is now officially over. 43 songs have been chosen and it's over two months before they all take to the Eurovision stage in Belgrade (20, 22 and 24 May).
Charlotte's song Hero won thanks to the jury votes as the people of Sweden preferred Empty Room my Sanna Nielsen, but hey, that's a mistake SVT allows to happen every now and then (remember Grönval vs Stenmark anyone?).
They didn't pick my favorite Upp O Hoppa by Frida and Headline either, which of course was last with only 6 points (compared to Charlottes 224)
Charlotte Perrelli is Charlotte Nilsson, who already has one victory to her name: In 1999 she beat Iceland in Jerusalem with Take Me To Your Heaven (or: Tusen Och En Natt in Swedish). Classic Swedish Schlager by numbers elevated by a fantastic performance, an amazing backing choir and a stunning presence of the singer.
Take Me To Your Heaven was a minor hit in a few European countries and is also one of the most covered Eurovision songs of the last 20 years. (See list below)
The days of songs being covered by anyone and everyone in any language are long gone so if a modern Eurovision song gets over 10 versions recorded it's quite an achievement.
Wizex
Charlotte first rose to fame as a singer of über Dansband Wizex, who have a million albums to their name and entertained the Swedish masses since 1973.
With Wizex Charlotte recorded one Eurocover Blå, Blå, Är Kärleken (L'Amour Est Bleu, Love Is Blue, you know it) which was released on the 1999 CD Tusen Och En Natt, also including the Swedish original of the 1999 Eurovision winner. pffff.... (CD Mariann MLPCD 3095)
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Some coverversions of Take Me To Your Heaven
In a earlier post I already featured Tahitian singer Maruia. She recorded a straightforward copy of TMTYH for her CD Te ora hau (Maruia Vol. 11).
A version for the kids Ta Mig Upp På Berget (Take me up the mountains) was recorded by Bamse (Stefan Nyquist) a toy bear with quite a few Eurocovers to his name. (From CD Bamses Dunderfest, 2004, BAM 7097)
A techno stomper by Ms. Dawn completes the trio. It's from the CD Absolute Schlager Mania (2005) with loads of mindless dance covers of Swedish Eurovision and MF songs.
http://www.charlotteperrelli.com/ (In Swedish)
http://www.wizex.se/ (in Swedish)
10.000 coverversions: L'Amour Est Bleu / Love Is Blue
More Swedish preselection fun at Eurocovers with Carola and Linda Bengtzing
Get the CD Melodifestivalen 2008 with all Swedish entries (32!) and/or most of the songs on CDsingle at BeaRecords, your #1 Eurovision shop.
Most covered Eurovision songs of the last 20 years 43 versions - Nocturne - Secret Garden (Norway 1996, winner)
- Many instrumental versions including some by classical artists and a few techno versions.
34 versions - Fly On The Wings Of Love - Olsen Brothers (Denmark 2000, winner)
- A techno version by Annia & XTM was a bigger hit in Europe than the original and was xeroxed by all kind of DJ's and other knob twiddlers.
25 versions - Diva - Dana International (Israel 1998, winner)
- Including several spoof versions ridiculing the transgender nature of the original singer.
24 versions - Take Me To Your Heaven - Charlotte Nilsson (Sweden 1999, winner)
- Mainly versions made in Sweden and by imaginary friends like the Smurfs*, toy bear Bamse and Barbie the doll.
21 versions - Stad I Ljus - Tommy Körberg (Sweden 1988, 12th)
- Operatic style original by Chess singer Tommy Körberg inspired many to belt out a cover.
19 versions - Bailar Pegados - Sergio Dalma (Spain 1991, 4th)
- Sugarsweet Smoocher covered in Mexico, Argentina, Dominican republic, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, USA, South Africa, Italy and Sweden
18 versions - Ooh Aah, Just A Little Bit - Gina G (U.K. 1996, 8th)
- Arguably the biggest modern Eurovision hit (a US # 12 hit) has many anonymous followers .
18 versions - Se På Mig - Jan Johansen (Sweden 1995, 3rd)
- Mainly versions from Sweden and a few from South Africa.
16 versions - Love Shine A Light - Katrina & The Waves (U.K. 1997, winner)
- It's no Walking On Sunshine but it comes close.
The most covered songs of modern Eurovision (with semi's and all) are Para Llenarme De Ti by Ramon (Spain 2004) and Lane Moje by Zeljko Joksimovič (Serbia-Montenegro 2004) with respectively 12 and 11 cover versions to their name (at least). More about Zeljko soon at Eurocovers.
Info taken from the 10.000 coverversions project.
* Congratulations: The Smurfs are 50, expect a Eurocovers celebration soon!
