Charlotte Perrelli née Nilsson goes for second Victory

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!

Anno Domenico: Gay 'ole times with Anita Bryant

American singer / actress Anita Bryant shot to international infamy when she used her star status in her battle to stop a Miami law against discrimination on the basis of sexual preference. That surely alienated her gay fanbase, who felt like she was smashing their heads in with the Bible. And she only wanted to stop them from recruiting (!) and molesting innocent children.
Later on she toned down a little bit and changed her crusade against the bad bad gays corrupting American family values and American society to "Hate the sin, love the sinner".

After magically surviving her birth, her career started at a young age in the pageant industry, later winning titles like Miss America Pageant and Miss Oklahoma.
At 16 she released her first record Sinful To Flirt. She scored three hits in the early 60's including Paper Roses and released christian music records later in the 60's and 70's.
When she divorced she lost her new christian fundamentalist fanbase, and her career seemed to end in bankrupcy in 1997. Her second husband left her, allegedly, for another man.

In 2005 Barnsdall, Oklahoma she was honoured when a street got her name (Why?). Today she runs Anita Bryant Ministries International. (link here).
Read more about her birth story, (which is second to Jesus' birth only), a very effective gay orange juice boycott, a fruit pie (pictured) and Bryants life and hate campaigns and at her Wiki.

Her biography subtitled The Survival Of Our Nation's Families And The Threat Of Militant Homosexuality seems still available in the second hand bookstores bargain bins.

Anita Bryant recorded a great version Volare which appeared on her 1962 LP In A Velvet Mood (Columbia CS-8685) and it was also released as a 7" single (Columbia - S731571)


2008: Anno Domenico is a tribute to Domenico Modugno's Eurovision classic Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) which conquered the world 50 years ago. Eurocovers will feature half a century of remarkable coverversions of the Italian evergreen. With this link you'll get all the Eurocovers posts that have featured (or mentioned) the song so far.

On/Off Topic: Ze French Eurovision Song for 2008

Off Topic as is doesn't involve any coverversions. But we're 37 entries into the 2008 contest and I finally have a huge favorite. For those hoping for a Carla Sarkozy appearance it may be a bummer, but I am very pleased The French appointed Sebastien Tellier to represent the country with the song Divine. Electronic Beach Boys meets Human League demo.

Pretentious, moi?
Maybe it is too arty and it doesn't have any poultry involved. I'm quite convinced it will bomb on the night as it probably won't feature any fireworks or scantilly clad dance routines either (although one can hope).
Divine is produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk fame, and that should be enough really. All Seb needs is a trip to the barber for a cut and a shave.

You can listen to Divine at Sebastien Telliers Myspace.

Divine is already out on the CD Sexuality, in France on the Record Makers Label (founded by Air) and in the UK on Lucky Numbers Music.

CD tip - Milana Misic - Laulumme

This week Bonnier Finland release a new CD by Milana Misic.
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Milana is the daughter of Laila Kinnunen, celebrated Finnish legend and the singer of the first Finnish Eurovision song Valoa Ikkunassa(1961) and many Eurocovers.
Two of those Eurocovers can also be found on Milana's new CD Laulumme, which features 14 songs made famous in Finland by Laila Kinnunen.
- Kaikialla (Al Di Lá, Italy 1961)
- Tanssilaulu (Dansevise, Denmarks winner from 1963)
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You can find more details an excerpts here at Playcom and the CD is available from various webshops (CDON for EU).

Special thanks to Jukka!
Milana homepage (in Finnish) and more on Milana's Bonnier page (also in Finnish)
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For more about Laila Kinnunen and her Eurocovers check this Finweeks Eurocovers post, with some great picture sleeves.

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.

Anno Domenico: The Volare Stamp

Eurovision 2008 - Till Hamingju Eurobandið

Congratulations to Eurobandið for winning last night Icelandic final with This Is My Life. The song, originally Fullkomið líf in Icelandic, can be hear at the bands MySpace. Or download the song Official & Free at Tonlist

The band, with Friðrik Ómar and Regína Ósk has already been featured in these Eurocovers posts.

Eight countries chose their entry last night. You can find out more at the official Eurovision site and many others. Ireland has chosen a turkey named Dustin. No comment, watch here (Youtube).

Anno Domenico: Pier Angeli

Another Volare, Another tragedy. Sardinian born twin* Pier Angeli's entry in the history books on the shelf may be mostly about her being James Deans belle and all that, but she was an actress in her own right. And she sang a bit too.
*Pier Angeli's twin sister is actress Marisa Pavan.

Pier Angeli's first American film, Teresa (MGM 1951) won her a Golden Globe as best newcomer (New Star Of The Year) but she didn't really live up to these expectations in the films that followed. In 1956 she starred in Somebody Up There Likes Me alongside Paul Newman in a role originally intended for James Dean, but he was dead by then.

Pier Angeli was engaged to Kirk Douglas in the early 50's, had a short relationship with James Dean (the rumoured marriage never took place thanks to Mamma Angeli) and Dean was said to be heartbroken of the unrepairable kind.

Pier Angeli married (Eurocoverer*) Vic Damone in 1954. The marriage lasted 5 years. Her second marriage to Italian composer Armando Trovajoli only lasted 7 years. Angeli said that James Dean was the only love in her life.
1960's Films didn't bring her much success but just when things started to look up for Pier Angeli when she was offered a role in The Godfather, tragedy struck and she died at 39 of an medical incident. Speculations about suicide have never been confirmed.

Pier Angeli recorded Volare for her 1959 LP Italia Con Pier Angeli (Forum SF 9055, re-issued on Roulette SR 25051) which is now a collectable LP. Volare was also released as a b-side to Torero (Roulette 4104) The EP Italia Con Pier Angeli features 4 tracks of the LP but not Volare.
The LP was re-issued on CD in Japan in 2005 (EMI), I don't know of any other CD-issues.

Note From The Editor

All links to uploaded songs at Eurocovers have been deleted as my uploader has terminated my account for copyright infringement.

I can understand their point of view and bear no grudge against them, but to the petty little weazels who scour the internet just to be able to snitch for a few pennies: I hope your children will be ugly.

I won't be creating a new account, so from now on Eurocovers will only feature news, release info and links to websites with content that is legal and interesting for the Eurocovers reader.

All the Eurocovers posts, stories, discographies etcetera, stay up and I hope you'll still enjoy the read.

It was great while it lasted, wasn't it?

** Vic Damone recorded at least two Eurovision songs, both Italian entries. Al Di La from 1961 (on CD Feelings, 1993) and Dio Come Ti Amo (1966) on the CD Greatest songs of the 20st century.

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A Great Fanpage dedicated to Pier Angeli has wonderful pictures including some with James Dean.

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2008: Anno Domenico is a tribute to Domenico Modugno's Eurovision classic Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) which conquered the world 50 years ago. Eurocovers will feature half a century of remarkable coverversions of the Italian evergreen.
With this link you'll get all the Eurocovers posts that have featured (or mentioned) the song so far.

Melodifestivalen 2008 - Carola Not So Invincible?

I missed yesterday's Melodifestivalen heat to wake up with the shocking news that three time Eurovision entrant Carola didn't make it to the final straight away. Well, tough luck, she, with her singing partner Andreas 'Glorious' Johnson, will get another chance to sing their One Love in the Second Chance round.

Carola's Eurovision history is one of success and glamour. Her first appearance at a national final in 1983 resulted in a maximum vote from all 11 regions' judges, something that hadn't happened before.
The song, Främling (Stranger) went on to Eurovision in Münich and ended third.
Carola recorded the song in Swedish, English, German and even in Dutch. The latter, Je Ogen Hebben Geen Geheimen (Your eyes have no secrets) scored a top 10 hit in the Dutch charts. Främling was only a # 5 hit in the Swedish charts but has become a classic over the years and is the third most covered Swedish Eurovision entry behind winners Waterloo (1974) and Diggi Loo Diggi Ley (1984).

In 1990 Carola tried again and ended 2nd in Melodifestivalen with Mitt I Ett Äventyr. Great pop song and another # 5 hit in the Swedish charts. The winner Som En Vind by reli band Edin Ådahl bombed at Eurovision (16th) and in the charts (only a 15/2 hit)

Carola's revenge came in 1991 when she won Melodifestivalen and the Rome Eurovision with Fångad Av En Stormwind (Caught by a storm) an energetic power pop schlager stunner for which Carola introduced the windmachine to the Eurovision stage.
Runner up with the equal amount of points was Amina's Le Dernier Qui A Parlé for France, but Carola was declared the winner on a high point count.
The song charted in Sweden (3/6) but failed to impress the international record buyers.

Via an almost return in 2003 with När Löven Faller (which she withdrew from the competition) 2006 saw Carola singing Invincible (Evighet at the MF) at the Athens Eurovision Song Contest. Melodifestivalen was a piece of cake, but in the international final she 'only' ended fifth (a result many other countries would start a war for).

Carola is a superstar in Sweden. She had her ups and downs, scandals and celebrations. A tabloid career ranging from religious fundamentalism and anti gay remarks to liberation trough divorce and really really loving her stylists and hairdresser. All s#@t came her way but somehow most Swedes forgave her, bought her Christmasalbums by the truckload and voted Carola as most popular Swede after the royals.
Is Carola not making it straight to the final a sign of a love that's beginning to crack or do we just blame Andreas Johnson?

I made a Carola Document (updated version september 2011) for your entertainment and information. You can find details and some picture sleeves on all Carola's versions and releases as taken from the Eurovision Collectors Guide.
You'll also find lists of coverversions from the 10.000 coverversions project. If you have any addition or correction, please let me know.
It's a Word Document and you can download it here.

Carola's page at BeaRecords offers various releases of her entries including vintage vinyl, cdsingles and several CDalbums.

http://www.carolainternational.com/ is a great site about Carola with biography, discography, news and lots more.

Here's a few coverversions of Carola's three Eurovision songs.
First up there's Främling by Marjana Derzaj, a recording in Slovenian (Tujci) from the CD Za vse poletne noci! (2001, RTVS ZKP DD 0173). The Stormwind is covered by Dutch kids project Ministars as Een Nijlpaard In De Achtbaan which translates as A Hippo In A Rollercoaster. Last is Evighet by South African boyband Hi-5. Their Afrikaans version 'N Ewigheid is from their CD Versoeking (Select musiek) which includes 6 Eurocovers in Afrikaans.


You can find another version of Främling in the last years Eurocovers post about Døsty Cåwshit. You can find a Chinese version of Le Dernier Qui A Parlé, the song that Carola beat in 1991, in this post.

Anno Domenico: Volare Around The World

Volare has been covered in many languages and the version featured today is an quirky version in Japanese mixed with some Italian namedropping.

It's by Bar/ Blues/ Rock'n'roll band Brave Combo from Texas together with Japanese Ondo (& Pop) star Kawachiya Kikusuimaru. (河内家 菊水丸).
Ondo is an 800 year old Japanese folk music genre.

The track first appeared on the 1993 Brave Combo & Kikusuimaru CD Ondo Saves The World (Tele Disc TLCD-93001, released in Japan) and later in 1996 it was reissued on the Brave Combo CD Mood Swing Music (Rounder CD 11574, USA)

Check out http://www.brave.com/ for all about the Grammy winning Brave Combo! Their albums and other goods are available at their Webstore
Their youngest CD is Polka's Revenge (Dentone records, 2007).

2008: Anno Domenico is a tribute to Domenico Modugno's Eurovision classic Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) which conquered the world 50 years ago. Eurocovers will feature half a century of remarkable coverversions of the Italian evergreen.

With this link you'll get all the Eurocovers posts that have featured (or mentioned) the song so far.