Wolter Kroes - Laat de zomer in je hart

Dutch schlager singer Wolter Kroes is showing off his new flip flops to the tune of Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz, the German 1987 entry already featured here a few posts ago.
This new Dutch version is currently a top 10 hit in the Dutch top 100 and a cdsingle is out now and available at BeaRecords.

German Classics - Die Gruppe Wind - Astrid & Kingston

Wind, die Gruppe Wind, entered Eurovision three times.

Twice they ended up in second place but their third effort didn't really go anywhere.

Featured here is Alleen Bij Jou  (Only with you), a dutch coverversion of the first Wind song Für Alle (For Everyone) by Astrid.

The second entry by Wind was Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz  (Let The Sun In Your Heart) in 1987. The summery reggae-lite feel of the song is a departure of the schlager ballad from 1985. Lass Die Sonne even became a minor hit in several countries, and a Eurovision hit was quite an achievement in the 80's.
Here's a Slovenian version by Kingston titled Pusti Soncu V Srce  (Let The Sun In The Heart).

The third Wind song was titled Träume Sind Für Alle Da (Dreams are there for everyone) in 1992 which ended 18th. I don't know of any coverversion of that song.

Ready Steady Girls

Yours truly is a guest editor at Ready Steady Girls, the website about all the gorgeous sixties girls singers.

With Eurovision round the corner I was invited to select my pick of the pops, six sixties girl tracks with a Eurovision connection. And write a bit about them too.

Please take a look here at Ready Steady Girls and vote for your favorite.

Düsseldorf 2011

For all release info, versions and chart adventures of the 2011 Eurovision stars, please check the Düsseldorf Collection.

Hungary - Kati Wolf,Gábor Deutsch remix, Story CD
Moldova - So Lucky, listen to 6 versions
Slovenia - NoOne promo tracklist
Cyprus: Christos Mylordos, promo updates
Denmark - A Friend In London, promo updates
Poland - New english version, promo updates
Norway - Stella Mwangi updates, versions
France - Sognu cdsingle out now.
U.K. - Blue release updates, UK Top 10 Hit ???
Iceland - Coming Home, Website launched
Croatia : Celebrate 10 versions on cdsingle
Azerbaijan - Download Remix and Acoustic versions.
Italy: versions updated
Turkey: cdsingle in the shops, tracklist. - Belarus - Мая Беларусь, updates

MF 2008: Linda Bengtzing to Belgrade - How Hard Can It Be?

The 4th round of the Swedish Melodifestivalen this Saturday sees the 3rd entry for Linda Bengtzing. She entered in 2005 with Alla Flickor (All the girls) and made it to the final (where she ended last). When the power-schlager scored a top 10 hit Linda was hailed as one of the new Schlager Queens (along with Shirley Clamp) and her 2nd Melodifestivalen effort Jag ljuger så bra (I lie so well) ended 7th in the final of 2006 and scored a # 2 hit. Her 'debut' album Ingenting att Förlora (Nothing to lose, see comments) also reached the top 10.

Now Linda is back with Hur svårt kan det va? (How Hard Can It Be?) and she's out to win.
When you browse Linda's website you may get the impression her career started with her 2004 Fame Factory appearance but of course Eurocovers digs deeper and found some of linda's youth sins.

En Del Utav Mitt Liv
In 1986, at the age of 12, she released the album En Del Utav Mitt Liv (A part of my life, as Linda without the Bengtzing). This album includes 10 tracks and as far as I know it was only released as a cassette (Pop Production MK 1706).
One of the tracks is Så Många Människor, a Swedish version of the German entry of 1985 Für Alle by the group Wind (2nd place behind Norways Bobbysocks!). Wind also recorded the Swedish version themselves.
Another track of interest is Piccadilly Circus from the 1985 Melodifestivalen. The song only ended fourth but became one of the great Melodifestivalen classics for original singer Pernilla Wahlgren.
Another early record is a single with a Swedish version of the 1986 Eurovision winner by Sandra Kim: J'aime La Vie (Älskar mitt liv) (Mariann Records 2458).
None of the old tracks have ever been released on CD but if Hur svårt kan det va? is successful it's high time to polish up the old tapes and release a midprice CD Linda Bengtzing, the early years.
There's a (Swedish) article here, with some nice early pictures and some more info on the young Linda Bengtzing.

Linda Bengtzing scored the best selling single of the 2007 in Sweden with Värsta Schlagern (The worst Schlager) a MF/Eurovision parody she recorded with Markoolio. Watch the tongue in cheek video here at youtube.
The new MF song will be out on cd-single march 10, followed by a new album Vild & Galen March 19.

Special thanks to Rick and Klaus!

Also Check the Eurocovers Melodifestivalen 2008 post about Carola.
A great new CD with Swedish Eurocovers is out now, more details are here.