JIMMY MAKULIS - 1935-2007 - ΤΖΙΜΗΣ ΜΑΚΟΥΛΗΣ

Greek born Eurovision singer Jimmy Makulis has died.
He was the first Greek singer on the Eurovision stage when in 1961 he entered for Austria in 1961 with the song Sehnsucht (Desire). That song is one of the rare missing songs in anyone's Eurovision record collection, as it's one of the unfound records of which no release is confirmed.

Even though Makulis enjoyed popularity in Greece his biggest successes were in Germany in the late 50's and early 60's. In 1966 he tried to break America which resulted in working with Duke Ellington and appearing on the Ed Sullivan show and playing Las Vegas. It resulted in one minor US radio hit Happy Heart (written by James Last). In the 90's Makulis toured Germany again and appeared in many TV shows.

Jimmy Makulis recorded two Eurocovers, both released in 1971.
Love is blue (L'amour est bleu, in English) can be found on the 1971 LP With Love (Hippo Records).
He also recorded a Greek version of Severine's 1971 winner for Monaco, Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue : Μια καρδιά χτυπά (Mia kardia ktipa). I don't have any details on the original release but the song was issued on CD Τα Ερωτικά του '60 & '70 in 1996 and το ελληνικο τραγουδι in 2006.

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Sakura Teng !!!

In the Eurocovers posts celebrating Sandie Shaws anniversary year I have featured fabulous Mandarin Chinese versions of Puppet On A String by Lara and the Trailers ( 櫻櫻) and by Betty Chung ( 鍾玲玲) and I asked for the third known Chinese version by Sakura Teng (櫻花) & The Quests*.

Well, no need to look any further, there is a great bit of Sakura Teng audiobilia to be found at WFMU's Beware Of The Blog. You can find Puppet On A String along with classics like My Boy Lollipop, Stupid Cupid and the Beatles' Michele. Go there!
The same blog has more Eurocovers related stuff here with another Puppet and Congratulations by some Dutch postal workers. English with A Dutch accent at its best.
You can also find Esperanto singer Alberta Casey there, including her version of Domenico Modugno's Volare + a very interesting Maltese LP by Joe Cutajar, Once the Joseph of Helen & Joseph, Malta's first ever Eurovision stars from 1971. And many many many weird and amazing audiogems.
Many other versions of Puppet On A String from all over the globe can be found here (links)
The Quests* also recorded 1967 Luxemburg classics 'L'amour est bleu'.

Estonia - Hylene for Belgrade!

Estonia, look no further, your singer for Eurovision 2008 is Hylene. I have no clue who she is (Idol?), but her album Täna Rikun Ma Reegleid is stuffed with high tempo pop-disco-techno (think Cascada) that wouldn't be out of place on the Eurovision stage. Highly danceable but also a good collection of Tunes.
I have a feeling that going Pop the big way is the way forward for Eurovision which more and more drowns in ethnic drum parades and pseudo rock balladry. Hylene will do the job for Estonia.

Although her dress-code won't be acceptable for the EBU (Big Giant Head of Eurovision) but that's nothing that can't be handled with.

The album is a collection of 11 songs in Estonian plus You Came, a Kim Wilde cover in English. Add a few remixes as a bonus and it's 15 tracks in total.
And this is Eurocovers, so there's a Eurovision song too. It's Keelatud Maa (Forbidden land), originally sung by Estonian Pop Angel Maarja (Maarja-Liis Ilus), the best pop voice in the world. It's a fitting tribute to the 10th anniversary of the song, which reached the 8th place in the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1997.
Another coverversion on the album is Taevas Ja Maa, a fine pop song we all know and love as Heaven Is A Place On Earth (Belinda Carlisle's signature tune).

At Hylene's homepage you can listen to some more songs (Click Laulud) including the titletrack which is also the new single.
If you want to hear the original version try this videoclip at Youtube.



UPDATE 01-12-07: Estonia has announced the shortlist for the national selection and there's no Hylene. tssss...., they just don't wanna be in the final do they?

Swedish Queen Of Groovy Hammond - Merit Hemmingson

Instrumental covers can be a bore and often I don't really understand what actually is the purpose of releasing them on record. But of course the exceptions make the rule and the following instrumental versions of 60's Eurovision entries are just plain groovy. Groovy, for those younsters not familiar with the word, it's dated slang for Cool, Neat, Interesting. To me it means 'swinging your ass off'.

The Hammond organ is a popular keyboard instrument with endless possibilities, but often the Eurocovers on the organ (and there are hundreds) are of the cheesy variety.
But not so Merit Hemmingson, Swedish key-magicienne. Her Hammond antics are the most swinging you'll ever hear.

Debut LP Merit Hemmingson and the Meritones at the Esquire Club (Sonet T 7656, 1967) features an odd collection of popular songs putting a pop song like Sandie's Shaw's Always Something There To Remind Me against a funky jazz Watermelon Man.
And then there's New Fashioned Waltz. It's a version of the jazzy Swedish Eurovision entry of 1966, Nygammal Vals, written by Bengt-Arne Wallin. Even though Merit Hemminsons interpretation is instrumental it's worth mentioning that the lyrics (by Björn Lindroth) are some of the weirdest ever written in Eurovision history. There's a hip pig breeder, a prudish princess and some saucepan banging. You can check them (and translation in English) out at the site for Eurovision lyrics The Diggiloo Thrush.

There's some more serious toetapping and finger snapping to be done with Hemminsons second LP, Merit Hemminson Plays (RCA Camden YSJL-1-547, 1968). It's another collection of hits like Lady Madonna, Mighty Quinn and A Banda. And it has two Eurocovers.
Massiels 1968 winner La La La opens gentle and slowly but you just can't sit still once the beats kick in. Cliff Richards runner up of the same year, Congratulations, gets the groovy hammond treatment laced with some funky sax.
You can find more details about this second LP and its personel here at the Sabu Martinez website.

Today Merit Hemmingson mainly focusses on folk music and she has issued several CDs in recent years (check her MySpace).

In a 40 year career she has released 20 albums (so far), the most recent being Touch of 2006.
In 2005 a compilation of 70's tracks was released at the initiative of Merit fans/Eurovision stars The Ark: Merit - Queen Of Swedish Hammond Folk Groove (Bonnier-Amigo AMSCD 111).Both Merit Hemmingson CDs are available from CD-ON and other sources. The early LP's have not been issued on CD (yet).

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Merit Hemmingson Homepage and MySpace and a Youtube video for 2006 song Halcyon Days.

10.000 Eurocovers: Additions to ABBA's Waterloo

Here's some additions to Waterloo in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs.

A rare version of the 1974 Eurovision classic I had been looking for for a long time is the Turkish version by Nilgün Atılgan. Most known as an actress, Atılgan released several records including this single Oldu mu? (Waterloo) on the Coskun label. (Coskun plak 1359)

Roymond.com presents an odd version of ABBA's Eurovision winner Waterloo features a mini Abba sample, cats and a disturbed vocal. Think The Colourblind James Experience meets Vincent Price. In a washing machine. You can get the track here.

An even more impressive version in the weirdness stakes is the version by Phil Granville you can find at at Dictionaraoke.com. Loving the wow wow wow's at the end.
"This site features parodies of popular songs using karaoke-style backing music with vocals provided by audio pronunciation samples from online dictionaries". Many other great classics get the Dictionaraoke treatment.

And I didn't want to let you hear this one (for your own good), but I can't refuse a request that is accompanied with praise and kisses.

It's the Babies Go Abba Version by the Sweet Little Band (see original article).



Babies Go ABBA, Aerosmith, Bob Marley, Elvis, Madonna, Shakira, Coldplay, Oasis etc - more info at RGS music
The original Waterloo article is here.

BLOG TIP:
Funky Czech In has a nice feature about Blue Swede, band of Eurovision singer Björn Skifs (Swedish entries of 1978 & 1981). Blue Swede preceded Abba by being the first Swedish act to top the US charts (1974 - Hooked on a feeling).

Los Reyes Del Camino - Perdón Cariño Mio

I have many soft spots, one is for Mexican Cowboys preferably doing Eurovision covers.
The track featured today is the 1971 Italian entry l'Amore E Un Attimo originally recorded by Massimo Ranieri. Ranieri's Spanish version Perdón Cariño Mio was covered by Los Reyes Del Camino on their 1997 CD Asi Es La Vida (Disa/Universal 2020028) and it's a heartfelt rendition of a song oozing with love and sorrow. If you don't know the original I recommend you watch it at YouTube and prepare to melt.





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The boy in the front is Tito (Gilberto de Jesús Rodríguez Guardiola) who joined 2 years after Perdón Carino Mio was recorded.
After Tito joined the Reyes got the attention of a whole new audience (i.e. 15 y.o girls) and they got their first 100.000 selling CD.
The Kings Of The Road have a new CD out now titled Sólo Falta Ella (Disa/Universal 2107620), with a more adult Tito, a more rockier sound and the men dressed in serious black with the appropriate sturdy faces on the cover.
You can hear songs of the new album at the Los Reyes Del Camino Myspace. The Tito and Los Reys Del Camino MySpace has some older songs.
There's a few video's of the band at Youtube in which they show a wide range of Mexican cowboy fashion must haves. All tormented little soap opera's with many girls, but young Tito never seems very happy.



Another Mexican version of the song was recorded by Estela Nuñez. I don't have details on the original 70's release but it can be found on several Estela Nuñez compilation CDs.

Benjamin Bates - This World Needs More People Like You

I have just been listening to the Benjamin Bates album Recyclomania at his website and ordered it straight away.
Sexier than Mylo, happier than Vitalic, poppier than Tiesto and certainly more productive than Pay-TV, Bates produces a collection of amazing dancy electro Pop gems.
Recyclomania includes the single On My Feet (This World Needs More People Like You) which is the theme tune for Dance4Life 2007.
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Dance4Life is an international project involving young people in pushing back HIV and AIDS, and in fighting the stigmas and taboos that surround them.







As this is Eurocovers I have been listening very carefully for a Eurovision connection on the new Bates album, but there isn't any, so we'll have to make do with his brilliant 2003 single Thin Time, which is a fab dance track based on a sample from the 1986 Belgian Eurovision winner J'aime la vie by Sandra Kim. Technically not a coverversion but a must hear anyway.
The track was released on 12"inch and cdsingle (ID&T records) and has become a bit of a a hard to find collectable.



Benjamin Bates Internet Hideout 

1964 - Walk Away - Warum Nur Warum

I was just checking the Matt Monro Jnr website to see how his second album If He Could See Me Now is shaping up only to discover that Walk Away has been scrapped from the initial tracklist. Shame really, as it would have been perfect Eurocovers promotion for the album.


Who and WhatMatt Monro is a British singer who enjoyed huge success in the 60's and Matt Jnr. is his son singing dads songs and currently working on his second album. -
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Matt Monro Snr. (1930-1985) entered the Eurovision song contest for the U.K. in 1964 with I Love The Little Things, ending 2nd, but it was another song from the 1964 contest that became a famous standard still being recorded today.
It was Udo Jürgens' first of three consecutive Eurovision entries Warum Nur Warum (Why oh why) that Matt Monro took to the international charts. In English it became Walk Away and it was his 2nd biggest hit. And in Spanish it became Vete Por Favor.
Matt Monro also recorded Merci Cherie (LP This is the life)

I have only been able to find one coverversion in German, but almost 20 in English, including versions by well known stars like Vicky Carr, Timi Yuro and Brenda Lee. The most recent coverversion of Walk Away is by Peter Grant, a modern new swing pop crooner who recorded it for his acclaimed 2006 CD New Vintage.

(Other) Eurovision artists that have recorded the song are musical star Michael Ball, 1961 winner Jean-Claude Pascal and Germany's legendary dancing twins The Kessler sisters.

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The coolest version here today is by Brenda Lee. American Rock'n'roll star a.k.a. Little Miss Dynamite. She recorded two English version including one in 1969 with Richard Williams (LP Johnny one more time (Decca DL-75111, 1969), but the most interesting is of course her featured Japanese version.
International hits like I'm Sorry, Sweet Nothin's, Fool #1 and All Alone Am I made Brenda Lee the most popular female singer (with the most hits too) of the 60's.

You can find a YouTube clip of Brenda Lee Singing the song with the Casuals, with Brenda singing in Japanese. The Casuals also recorded the song themselves.

So, sadly Matt Monro Junior hasn't recorded his dads → Eurovision song and neither the big Eurocover hit, but still it's worth while to take a look at his website.
Peter Grant has a great new CD Traditional out this week available from all sources (but no Eurocovers there)
And Udo Jürgens of course went on to win the Eurovision song contest in 1966 with Merci Cherie and still is one of the biggest stars in the German speaking countries today.
He recorded many versions of Warum Nur Warum (see doc) including a live version with the Supremes (post-Ross though) and several versions in Italian, Spanish and English.
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Udo Jürgens' work will be celebrated in Mamma Mia style when in december the musical Ich War Noch Niemals In New York (I've never been to New York) premieres in the Operettenhaus in Hamburg. The musical features 23 of Jürgens hits including Merci Cherie (but not Warum Nur Warum) used in a story about an ambitious TV show host and her neglected mother.
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RELATED POST: You can find a version by Byron Lee in the Eurocovers post Jamaica Can I Have Your Votes Please (part 1)
More Udo Jürgens at Eurocovers to follow soon….

Eurocovers South Africa: George Meiring Competition, Win His Latest CD!

EUROCOVERS SUPERSTAR
George Meiring shot to fame in South Africa with Supersterre, the TV talent show hosted by Patricia Lewis* and Brendan October. (Sort of Idols South Africa.)
He now has released his CD Onthou Die Tye (Remember the times) on Sony BMG and it's a great album for Eurocovers fans, as well as many others.
George recorded coverversions of two Eurovision Songs on this CD.
Track 4 is a quite straightforward version of Every Song Is A Cry For Love, the Irish entry that ended 10th in 2006 by Brian Kennedy. If one thing, it shows again how good that song actually is.
The other Eurovision song is a real treat, the song Liedjie Vir Danella (Song for Danella, track 2) is a coverversion of the Norway 1994 entry Duett, which ended 6th and was performed by originally by Bobbysock Elisabeth Andreasson and the late Jan Werner Danielsen. In this version, sung in Afrikaans, George is accompanied by Supersterre host and a favorite of Eurocovers Patricia Lewis*.
The Afrikaans lyrics were written by Mariska Laas.

YOU RAISE ME UPBoth Eurovision songs come together in George Meirings version of You Raise Me Up. That song, written by Duett composer Rolf Løvland ** and Brendan Graham *** was a big hit in the UK and Ireland for Brian Kennedy as a tribute to George Best. In the US the song was a #1 for Josh Groban and Westlife scored a European hit with the song in 2005.
You Raise Me Up , inspired by the Irish traditional Danny Boy, was first recorded by Eurovision winners Secret Garden (Løvlands band) on their CD Once In A Red Moon (2001) and it has been covered over a 125 times in just 6 years.
And now it's George Meirings turn.
There are more interesting covers on the CD. Another big tune is Jy (Du), a big hit in many European countries in the early 70's for Peter Maffay. The CD closes with a medley of Africa songs like Pata Pata and The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
All in all Onthou Die Tye is a very good CD and George didn't fall into the trap of trying to show off he can do everything by recording a mish mash of songs. Onthou Die Tye is a well presented complete collection of songs, which makes the full CD very enjoyable in it's totality.


COMPETITION
And for the very first time in history there's a prize to win at Eurocovers. You can win the George Meiring CD Onthou Die Tye if you answer the following question (correctly) and send it to me in an e-mail. with your details.

What place did George Meiring finish in the South African Supersterre talent show (2006 edition)?.
Hint: You can find the answer is at George Meirings MySpace

Your name will go in the big hat with the ones of the of the other website running this competition and 2 lucky winners will be drawn and will get the CD at their doormat.
This competition is in co-operation with OGAE Rest Of The World, Roy van der Merwe and ESCkaz.com.
COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

LINKS and Stuff
- George Meirings MySpace, listen to four songs from Onthou Die Tye.
- Sony/BMG South Africa - Use the artists search to read more about George Meiring (in Afrikaans)
* Find more about Patricia Lewis and other Afrikaans Eurocovers in this Eurocovers Post.
** Rolf Løvland of course wrote also both Norwegian Eurovision winners to date. La det Swinge (1985) and Nocturne (1995 text Petter Skavlan) and the 1987 entry Mitt Liv (co written with the other Bobbysock Hanne Krogh)
Nocturne is the most covered Eurovision song since 1982's winner Ein Bisschen Frieden.
*** Brendan Graham also wrote two Eurovision winners: the Irish Eurovision entries of 1994 (Rock'n'Roll Kids) and 1996 (The Voice) plus the Irish entries of 1976 (When) and 1985 (Wait Until The Weekend Comes)
- It's the first coverversion for both Duett & Every Song Is A Cry For Love in the 10.000 coverversions project list.
- You Raise Me Up at Wiki. The song was also recorded by artists like Kenny G., Il Divo, Russell Watson, Daniel O'Donell, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Michael Ball (Eurovision 1992), Sanna Nielsen (MF regular), Samantha Mumba with the Celtic Tenors and Britain Got Talent sensation Paul Potts.
- The new series of Supersterre starts tonight (07-09-07) on SABC2

------------------Rest In Peace Big Man

-------------------------- Luciano Pavarotti featured in this Eurocovers post.