Juan Carlos Calderón 1938 - 2012

Spanish musician and songwriter Juan Carlos Calderón has passed away yesterday.
Eurovision fans know him for writing four wonderful entries for Spain, and one of those is an evergreen he will always be remembered for by everyone: Eres Tú.

Eres Tú was performed by Mocedades in the 1973 contest and ended second. It became one of the biggest Eurovision hits of all time. Mocedades (even) took it to the US top 10 as Eres Tu / Touch The Wind and many artists covered the song over the years. A few names are Bing Crosby, Eydie Gormé, Tish Hinojosa, The Kelly Family, Perry Como, Petula Clark, The Shirelles, Rika Zaraï, Byron Lee and Acker Bilk.
Below is a wonderful video of Johnny Mathis singing Eres Tú with Calderón at the piano.


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The 1989 entry Nacida Para Amar is also known as Amante Del Amor, a version with different lyrics which has been recorded by several Latin American singers most notably Luis Miguel.

Calderóns Eurovision entries:
1973 - Eres Tú - Mocedades (2nd place)
1975 - Tú Volverás - Sergio Y Estibaliz (10th)
1985 - La Fiesta Terminó - Paloma San Basilio (14th)
1989 - Nacida Para Amar - Nina (6th)

More about Eres Tú, #8 in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs in this Eurocovers post.


Juan Carlos Calderón website.

10.000: # 8 - Eres tu - Mocedades (1973)

Here's # 8 in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs of all time. Look here for more details.

# 8 - Eres Tu - Mocedades
184 versions listed

Eres Tu, the Spanish 1973 entry written by Juan Carlos Calderón for Mocedades is a classic. It didn't win but kept Cliff Richard at # 3..
A worldwide hit including a top 10 hit in the US top 100 as Eres tu / Touch the wind. The song is about love and is often interpreted as a religious hymn, so it's on the repertoire list of many gospel groups and choirs.
Mocedades say you should decide for yourself who & what the song is about and 184 coverversions did just that. Mocedades themselves recorded the song in Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and Basque.

International stars that recorded Eres Tu are Bing Crosby, Eydie Gormé, Perry Como, Petula Clark, Acker Bilk, The Shirelles, Johnny Mathis, Luis Miguel and the Kelly Family.
Eurovision artists with Eres Tu in their collection are Willeke Alberti, Bob Benny, Karel Gott and Katri Helena. In the list you will find versions in 18 languages.

Croon along with Eres túBing Crosby, the man who made Christmas white, recorded a Spanish/English version for his LP 'Bingo viejo' (1975) and Perry Como released it in 1974 on the LP Perry (RCA) and on a green vinyl single in Bolivia.

Perry Como (1912-2001) was one of the best-known American singers since the 1940's, he sold more than 100 million records over a 60-year career, with 27 of his records going gold. The former barbers most popular songs included For The Good Times, Magic Moments, It's Impossible and Catch A Falling Star.
His version of Eres Tu is titled That's You. http://www.kokomo.ca/ has a great discography.

Eres Tu is the only Eurovision song recorded* in the Māori language. It was recorded by Howard Morrison (in English) and a choir from New Zealand (In Maori) in a medley with Sailing (The Rod Stewart song). I don't have any recording from the original which appeared in a 1978 LP Morrison Magic - Tu Tangata. But there is another recording from 1995 with Mr. Morrison now a Sir. It's a live version from the CD This is my life and it's featured here (although a bit crappy quality). If anyone can help with the original studio recording please let me know.

To compensate above snoozefests there's a spicy reggae version from Panama. It's by Chicho Man (Jiffth Donaldson) recorded in the mid 80's. Chicho Man is regarded as a pioneer in Spanish language reggae-rap and is basically the inventor of reggaeton.

Last one up is a sensational steel band (pan) version by the Self Help Marines from Trinidad & Tobago. The recording is taken from a steel band competition "Pan in the 21st century" from 2005 and I dare you to sit still during this one.


Eres tu - versions list (word.doc) including details on all versions by Mocedades and 202 coverversions. (Updated nov 2012)
If you want to shop Mocedades: BeaRecords Mocedades page

* = as in the 10.000 coverversions project = that I know of.