2010 The Oslo Weeks- Part 1: Nora Brockstedt

By all means of transport, ashclouds permitting, the 2010 Eurovision stars are arriving in Norways capital city Oslo for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.

While the new Superstars and main contenders are working their pretty little arses off drinking at parties, spending their allowance on overpriced souvenirs and other important promotional activities, Eurocovers reminisces on the gone old days.

Since the Finweeks in 2007 Eurocovers dives into Eurovision history with the popular songs and artists of the host country.

I Voted For Nora!

A few months ago there Norway Post was having a bit of a internet vote on who should be the 4th Norwegian Eurovision entity to be honoured with their face on a stamp. Three stamps were already decided to be graced by Norways Eurovision winners Bobbysocks!, Secret Garden and Alexander Rybak, and the public was to vote for another one. I voted for Nora Brockstedt, but in the end the people decided to give Jahn Teigen the honour. Bless him.
I'm sure it must have been a very close call, as Nora Brockstedt is one of the lovely superstars of early Eurovision.

She sang with the popular Monn Keys in the early 50's  and scored some popular tunes before she set foot on the Eurovision stage like En Liten Pike I Lave Sko and Eurocover Augustin (see below) .

She represented Norway on their first two Eurovision entries and after that Nora tried four times more in the national finals, the last time being in 1977.

In the 21st century Nora is still singing, she released her latest CD For Swingende in 2008.
You could have seen Nora Brockstedt live in action on May 28 at the Byporten shopping centre in Oslo. Bobbysocks! and Maria Haukaas Storeng also joined. (Byporten info).
update BeaRecords happened to be shopping in Oslo and recorded this footage of Nora Brockstedts performance of Voi Voi  for Youtube. BeaRecords YouTube channel is here.

Voi Voi

The first Eurovision entry for Norway was the brilliant Voi Voi by Nora Brockstedt. It ended 4th and still remains a popular tune in Norway. Nora recorded Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and English versions of the song. Voi Voi was a # 5 hit on the Norwegian charts (9 weeks on the list)
In 1988 a new version was released by Nora and the original singer can also be heard on some coverversions.

A very 21st century rappy coverversion is by Superstars who use the original version of the song. See the videoclip here at YouTube.

Follow up Sommer I Palma, also by Nora,  ended 7th at the contest but was picked up by two French Eurovision singers Isabelle Aubret  (the 1962 winner for France) and Jean Claude Pascal  (1961 winner for Luxembourg) both recorded the song as Si Mon Amour.
Finnish Eurovision legend Laila Kinnunen recorded the song in Finnish and Swedish.

Nora Brockstedts own collection of Eurocovers starts in 1957 with Norwegian and Swedish versions of the Danish entry Skibet Skal Sejle I Nat.

Below is a list of all Nora's Eurovision songs including all the Eurocovers I know of. There's many details missing, especially label info on the Norwegian releases. So if you know more, just let me know. I'm also looking for a complete picture sleeve scan of Sommer I Palma.

Nora Brockstedt
Eurovision and Eurocovers Discography.

---

Norway 1960 - Voi Voi

- Voi Voi (norwegian) on 7"(Karussell KM12)

- Big boy (english) - as Norah Brockstedt on 7" (U.K.: Top Rank JAR 353)

- Voi Voi (swedish) on 7" (Sweden: Joker JK 4004)

- Voi Voi (danish) on 7" (Denmark: Karussell KD 5010)

- Voi Voi (1988) on 7" (Garlic Records GR-1)

- Voi Voi (2006) - Bjelleklang with Nora Brockstedt

---on CD Sokker I Sandaler (Big Box records BBRCD 012, 2006)

- Voi Voi (2006) - Superstars (pop-rap version with original sample)

---Two versions on cdsingle  (Soundfarm recordings SFRCDS 0601)

Norway 1961 - Sommer I Palma

- Sommer I Palma (norwegian) on EP (Karussell TNEP 1062)

- Sommar I Palma (swedish) (Sweden: Joker JK 4014)

Denmark 1957 - Skibet Skal Sejle I Natt

---(Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler)

- Skibet skal seile i natt (norwegian) -  (RCA, details wanted)

- Skeppet skall segla i natt (swedish) on 7" (Cupol CS 4521)
--- & EP Höst i en park i Paris (Cupol SEP 105)

France 1958 - Dors Mon Amour (André Claveau)

- Sov i min favn (norwegian) on 7" (details wanted)
---and CD Tango For To, 50 Innspillinger Fra 50 År.

- Sov, min älskling (swedish) on EP (Cupol CEP 193) also includes I Det Blå.

Italy 1958 - Volare (Domenico Modugno)

- I dine blå øynes blå (norwegian) -  release details wanted

- I det blå (swedish) on EP (Cupol CEP 193)

Sweden 1959 - Augustin (Brita Borg)

- Augustin (norwegian) -  7" (RCA NA 1099) - a 5/7 hit in Norway

- Augustin (swedish) on EP (Cupol CEP 214, pic below)

Norway 1963 Solhverv

---(Anita Thallaug at Eurovision)

This song was performed twice in the Norwegian National selection, once by Jan Høiland and once by Nora Brockstedt. A different singer, Anita Thallaug, performed it at Eurovision and Jan Høiland is the only one to release the song (7" Columbia GN 1755).

Special thanks to Erik.

Sources: Eurovision Collectors Guide 1956-2005
The 10.000 Coverversions Project
Rate Your Music (Augustin label image).

The Oslo Collection for all your 2010 release news.

Previous Eurocovers posts with Norwegian stuff:

Grethe Kausland, Lille Grethe

Døsty Cåwshit, also a bit about them here.

Anne Mette - Boom Bang A Bang

Puppet On A String: Norwegian Happy and Norwegian Gloom

Let It Swing by Pia Beck

Volare International: Inger Jacobsen and Nora Brockstedt

Lars Forsell: Du Er Sommer

The Olsen Brothers New Album, updated

Is It A Bird?, Is It A Plane?

Three week ago Eurocovers reported (here) on the forthcoming album by 2000 Eurovision winners the Olsen Brothers. There is a new tracklist now and it turns out to be more exiting than the original announced tracklist did imply.

Less great news is that the release date is now set to the end of june, while Eurovision week probably would have been better publicity wise.

Here's the full new tracklist of Wings Of Eurovision (My Way Records):
1 - Bang A Boomerang
Not a Eurovision song, but a Swedish preselection song from 1975. ABBA's Björn & Benny penned it for Svenne & Lotta and it ended 3rd in the Swedish final. ABBA themselves recorded it for the 1975 ABBA LP.
The Olsens have also recorded ABBA's Fernando which can be found on the 2003 album More Songs.
2 - Love Shine A Light
The U.K. 1997 winner by Katrina and The Waves
3 - Hallelujah - Featuring Lill Babs
Israels second winner in a row from 1979. The Olsens team up with Swedish songstress superstar Lill Babs for a jazzy interpretation. Her own April April was 14th in the 1961 contest.
4 - What's Another Year
The Irish 1980 winner you can read all about in the post below.
5 - Rock 'n' Roll Kids
The original grey-power winner, Irelands 1994 entry by Paul Harrinton & Charlie McGettigan.
6 - Waterloo
ABBA's 1974 winner for Sweden
7 - Ein Bisschen Frieden - featuring Nicole
The bro's team up with the original singer Nicole for this version of the schmaltzy German 1982 winning song.
8 - Save Your Kisses For Me
Brotherhood Of Man won in 1976 for the United Kingdom
9 - Let It Swing And Let It Rock 'n' Roll
Norway's 1985 winner by Bobbysocks! (Elisabeth Andreasson and Hanne Krogh) now sung in English.
10 - Non So Che Darei - featuring Alan Sorrenti.
Alan Sorrenti, original singer of this Italian 1980 entry guests on this new version of his Italian #1 hit.
11 - Congratulations
The song by Cliff Richard that was allegedly robbed of its victory by Franco, dictator.
It's not the first Cliff cover for the Olsen Brothers: on their 2008 album Respect you can find Livin'Doll.
12 - Fly On The Wings Of Love 2010
13 - Smuk Som Et Stjerneskud 2010

The last two tracks are new versions of the Olsen Brothers winning song from 2000. The song was performed in English at the contest, but at the national final it was in Danish.
They also recorded the song in German as Weil Nur Die Liebe Zählt. This can be found on the German language album with the same name which was released in 2002.

Volare (Italy 1958) and Främling (Sweden 1983) seem to have disappeared from the tracklist, but according to the Olsen Brothers website at least Volare was recorded.
http://www.olsen-brothers.dk/  has more information on the recording of the new album.

Shop for The Olsen Brothers CDs at BeaRecords
Digital versions of the album have a bonus track: Fly On The Wings Of Love (Remix)


Stay Tuned For The Oslo Weeks
Trains and Boats And Planes, the 2010 Eurovision stars are heading to Norways capital city to sing their little hearts out for all the world to witness and win the much coveted Eurovision trophy.
Tradition dictates that Eurocovers will celebrate the event with The Oslo weeks. in the coming two weeks there's be articles on the best loved Norwegian Eurovision stars, the Norwegian classics and interesting / odd Eurovision hits covered by Norwegian artists.
For all the news on the 2010 entries, their versions, chart adventures and of course details on CD shopping must haves there's The Oslo Collection.

Johnny Logan: What's Another 30 Years.

Johnny Logan, you either love him or adore him, King of Eurovision, Three times Eurovision winner, you will probably know all the accolades.

30 Years ago he won the contest for Ireland with What's Another Year, Irelands second victory of many, 10 years after Dana.

What's Another Year became a huge European hit, Going # 1 in U.K., Sweden and Ireland and top 10 in most European countries.

Johnny Logan recorded the song in English, German and Spanish (see below) and also released a few re-recordings, including a spanking new 2010 version.

I don't know if it's rough being percieved as a one trick pony, always being associated with Eurovision, but it surely keeps Johnny Logan in a job.

It still results in many guest appearances as singer and jury in the Eurovision pre-season and also resulted in a fantastic tour with the Eurovision In Concert show with the Dutch Airforce orchestra.

Nature Of Love

Of course Johnny Logan has released many other records, and his latest albums The Irish Connection and Irishman In America (2008) was quite successful chartwise in Scandinavia.

He has now recorded a new album titled Nature Of Love. The album is a bit country rock tinged and for the Eurovision fans: There's new versions of his three Eurovision winners What's Another Year, Hold Me Now and Why Me?.

The first single from Nature Of Love is Last Days Of Beautiful. You can listen to the song at Tajmer, Johnny Logans management.

The album is out in Germany May 7 (Indalo/DA Music). Excepts from all tracks can be heard at Rebeat.
Nature Of Love is now available at Bearecords, as well as many other Johnny Logan releases.
update In Scandinavia the album is out on the Black Pelican label (SME-8869771-2602). It charts in the Swedish Danish and Norwegian album charts. 

Eurocovers

Most What's Another Year coverversions are from the Nordic countries and many are recorded in English but it was also a popular tune for orchestra's, Hammond players and other instrumental music magicians.

Eurovision stars that have recorded the song are Brotherhood Of Man, Geraldine Branagan, Noelle Cordier, Lars Berghagen, Ivo Linna and Jørgen Ingmann.

The most famous artists to record What's Another Year are Shane McGowan & The Popes (ex Pogues) and US country singer Charley Pride .

A personal favorite is by Australian singer Karen Knowles, one time (later) Seekers member. She recorded Logan's winner for her 2nd album Loves Us All in 1982. 

Que Es Un Año Mas
Now here's a glimpse in the weird & wonderful world that is Eurovision collecting.

Recording your Eurovision tune in a host of languages is a time honoured Eurovision tradition and Johhny Logan is no exception. His german version Was Ist Schon Ein Jahr is well known and was released on a single in Germany in 1980. But there has always been this elusive Spanish version Por Un Año Mas that seemed impossible to find. Many collectors came home from holidays in Spain to find out that the mega rare 7"inch single found in a grubby backstreet thrift shop contained the English version of the song.

For a few years it was known that the Spanish version had to be released on a Mexican compilation LP, but no one had ever heard the song. Johnny Logans discography makes no mention of it either.
Discussions about its existence were the order of the month and some even dared to doubt the Eurovision Collectors Guide, oh ye faithless. But no more!

Now it has finally surfaced, in fact, someone YouTubed it already a year ago, but I, and many collectors with me, just failed to notice.
The title turns out to be Que Es Un Año Mas and the LP in question is Europa Canta En Español, a collection of European hits performed in Spanish by the original artists like Rafaella Carra, Umberto Tozzi, Joe Dassin and Vicky Leandros. (Released on Epic, Mexico)

We, the anoraks, are without purpose now. But people in Mexico, does any of you have the Katja Ebstein promo single Teatro (Spanish version of course) lying about. Just drop me a line.
Special thanks to André Vermeulen

Andrew Carrington

Andrew Carrington, not the son of Blake, has recorded a coverversion of Was Ist Schon Ein Jahr, the German version of What's Another Year.

It can be found on his new album Ich Leb Für Dich.

Australian born Carrington was a lead singer in the Ten Tenors.

His German language CD also includes coverversions of Rücksicht (German entry 1983) and Wer Liebe Lebt (Germany 2001)
Ich Leb Für Dich is out May 7 on Warner Music Germany.

Sources: Muziekfreaks weblog, thanks to Marion Minten
http://www.johnnylogan.net/

2010: The Oslo Collection
The place to go for all the latest release news of the 2010 Eurovision stars.

Denmark: cdsingle, album info *** Azerbaijan: Safura advance release info *** Israel: Harel Skaat Versions update ***  Moldova: Lounge, Pop Rock versions*** France: Jessy matador new release info *** Estonia: Siren cdsingle*** Slovenia: CD info *** Spain: Daniel Diges CD out now, Swing Jazz version *** Bosnia-Hercegovina: cdsingle out now *** Georgia: Sofia Nizharadze new website, promo update *** Iceland: Hera Björk in French *** Eurosong News Handbook out now

Brita Borg - 1926 - 2010

Swedish Eurovision singer Brita Borg has died yesterday. She represented Sweden in 1959 with the tango Augustin and reached 9th place. (YouTube)
Augustin, written by Bo Harry Sandin and Åke Gerhard, only got four points. One came from Denmark and three from the Netherlands, but it was a completely different voting era with each country awarding ten points in total.
Brita Borg also recorded four 1959 Eurocovers, all from the EP Festival I Cannes below.

The EP Festival I Cannes (Knäppupp KNEP 83) includes four Swedish coverversions of 1959 Eurovision songs.
Om Våren ('n Beetje - Teddy Scholten, Netherlands, 1st)
Oui Oui Oui Oui (Jean Philippe, France, 3rd)
Piove (Domenico Modugno, Italy, 6th)
Åh, Ifall Jag Vore Du Ändå (Uh ! Jeg Ville Ønske Jeg Var Dig, Birthe Eilke, Denmark, 5th)

Brita Borg Wiki has more information on her career from the early 40's to the late 70's.
News at  SVT and Aftonbladet ( both in Swedish).
For more on Teddy Scholten (1926 - 2010), the original singer of 'n Beetje, check this Eurocovers tribute.

The Olsen Brothers Fly Again, On The Wings Of Love.

Eurovision winners The Olsen Brothers (Denmark 2000) will release a new album in may, Eurovision week.

The album Wings Of Eurovision will include 12 Eurovision covers and a new version of their own entry Fly On The Wings Of Love.

Not many suprises there, even the most avid Eurovision dodger will know the songs.

Most entries tackled by the Brødrene were international hits, and there are eight winners present. Maybe Non So Che Darei is the odd one out that even some Eurovision fans may have forgotten about.

Full tracklist:
1 - Fly on the Wings of Love (New Version) - Denmark 2000
2 - Congratulations - UK 1968, Cliff Richard
3 - Waterloo - Sweden 1974, Abba
4 - Ein Bisschen Frieden - Germany 1982, Nicole
5 - Främling - Sweden 1983, Carola
6 - Save All Your Kisses for Me - U.K. 1976, Brotherhood Of Man
7 - Halleluja - Israel 1979, Milk and Honey
8 - Non So Che Darei - Italy 1980, Alan Sorrenti
9 - Bang-A-Boomerang - Swedish national final 1975
10 - Volare - Italy 1958, Domenico Modugno
11 - La Det Swinge - Norway 1985, Bobbysocks!
12 - Love Shine A Light - U.K. 1997, Katrina andThe Waves
13 - Rock'n'Roll Kids - Ireland 1994, Paul Harrinton and Charlie McGettigan

Please read the updated tracklist and more info at this new Eurocovers post.
Shop for The Olsen Brothers CDs at BeaRecords

Those Kids Of Today: Nútímabörn

In Februari 2008 I did a Eurocovers post about some seemingly non traceable Icelandic Eurocovers including one from an LP with this fantastic sleeve.

Good things come to those who wait, so I'm happy to be able to present one of the songs here. 

The ultra cool looking band called Nútímabörn (Modern kids) recorded a version of the Eurovision winner La La La for their LP Nútímabörn. As given away by the sleeve, the song is a bit more mellow, slightly flower power typical late 60's pop. And of course it's utterly lovely.

Nútimabörn were Drífu Kristjánsdóttir, Ágústi Atlasyni, Snœbirni Kristjánssyni and Sverri Ólafssyni, and they only released one album, the eponymous Nútímabörn from 1969 (SG - hljómplötur SG 023).

La La La, originally by Massiel is of course the Spanish entry that kept Cliff Richard from the #1 spot in 1968.

Very Special Thanks to Dr. Gunni.
You can watch Dr. Gunni in action here. It's the first of four shows reviewing the 2010 Eurovision entries. Dr, Gunni is on the panel and the show is hosted by Paul Oscar, King Of The Couch.
For another track by Nútímabörn (We Can Work It Out in Icelandic) check out Dr. Gunni's fab webspace at this page and scroll down halfway. It's part of the Bítlarnir á íslensku series. There's also a great version Fool On The Hill by Björk as a 11 y.o. just added.
The picture sleeve is from this wiki page.

More La La La at Eurocovers: Lesley Gore, Merit Hemmingson, Leelo Karp

Teddy Scholten 1926-2010

Another sad goodbye in Eurovisionland. Teddy Scholten, winner of the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest died last week at the age of 83.
She was one of the popular stars of 50's and 60's Dutch radio and television entertainment. In the 70's and 80's she worked for the Red Cross.

Even though she was a frequent face & voice in Dutch entertainment, Teddy Scholten wasn't a top 40 singer, and people remember 'n Beetje, the 1959 winning Eurovision song best.
The reception Teddy Scholten received when she arrived back home was unprecedented with 100's of people at Schiphol Airport with banners and flowers and set the tone for heroes' arrivals in years to come.

'n Beetje (A little bit), written by Dick Schallies and Willy van Hemert, was the 2nd victory for the Netherlands at only the 4th Eurovision (how times have changed). It was a #4 hit on the (then monthly) Dutch charts (4 months on chart).
Teddy Scholten recorded two Dutch versions of the song and also versions in German (Sei ehrlich), French (Un p'tit peu) and Italian (Un poco).
The Italian version was a top 20 chart hit in Italy.
Teddy Scholten sang a Swedish version Om Varen on Swedish radio (1959, details wanted) but it was never recorded by Teddy. An English version, The Moment, was also written but never recorded.
In the preselection (Nationaal Song Festival) 'n Beetje was also sung by John de Mol (sr.) (released on 7" Telefunken UH 9323A). His version was a #3 hit (3 months on chart)

Eurocovers
The only Eurocovers recorded by Teddy Scholten are from 1959, her own Eurovision year.
For the Post Eurovision releases of 'n Beetje she recorded the French entry Oui Oui Oui Oui and the British entry Sing Little Birdie (with husband Henk Scholten).
Sing Little Birdie, the #2 at the contest, originally recorded by Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson, was recorded as the b-side to the 'international' versions.

Teddy Scholten Eurocovers
Oui Oui Oui Oui (in dutch)
- on EP 'n Beetje (Philips 422366 PE)
Sing Little Birdie - Teddy & Henk Scholten
- Zing Kleine Vogel (in Dutch) on EP 'n Beetje
- (Philips 422366 PE) & 7" (Philips 318 227 PF)
- La Chanson De La Grive (French) on 7" (Philips B318254)
- Canta Uccelino (Italian)  on 7" (Philips 318 255)
The German Sei Ehrlich single has an instrumental version of Sing Little Birdie on the b-side by Orchestra Jack Bulterman.


En Smule
I have over 40 coverversions listed of 'n Beetje, most Dutch, many instrumental and a handful of other languages.
Remarkable is the popularity of the song with Danish recording artists from the era.
There are at least seven full Danish versions of the song, all titled En Smule, and there are a few medleys and instrumentals also recorded in Denmark.

En Smule - Danish versions of n'Beetje
Birgit Falk on 7" single (Heliodor HE 45 0800).
- This one is recorded with the original orchestra backing of Teddy Scholtens own pre-Eurovision version. (Orch. Jan Corduwener)
Raquel Rastenni - on 7"* (HMV 45-X 8391)
- Raquel Rastenni is the Danish Eurovision singer for 1958Birgit Bruel - on EP* 4 Grand Prix Melodier (VA) (427 933 PE Philips DK)
- Birgit Bruel went on to sing for Denmark in 1965
Lisbeth Frandsen - on 7" * (Triola TD 45-35)Rose Lundstrøm - on EP* 4 Grand Prix Sucess'Er (RCA DEP 107)
Rita Storm - on 7" * (Polyphon XM 61912)Inge Strauss - on 7" * (Sonet T 8023)Lone Helmer - on EP* Grand prix cocktail 1959 (Tono ST 41080)
Two medleys with 3 songs each, five Eurovision songs.
* All releases marked * also feature Danish Eurocovers of Sing Little Birdie.

Special thanks to Mikael.

'n Beetje - Document.
I have uploaded a list with all details on Teddy Scholtens 'n Beetje releases and 47 coverversions of the song. It's a word document.
In the Eurocovers 2007 Finweeks a Finnish version was / is featured. A Swedish version can be found in the Marie Dieke Eurocovers post from November 2006. For an Italian version by Carla Boni, check this Eurocovers post.

Spring Is In The Air, Happy Birthday Agnetha

Happy 60th Birthday Agnetha! Seen here in a field* of her own on her 1969 LP Som Jag Är. The LP includes Sov Gott Min Lilla Vän, a coverversion of Un Jour, Un Enfant by Frida Boccara, one of the 4 winners of Eurovision 1969.
* I know, the field looks a bit autumny

Sun is shining. Take your little lamb out for a walk, the girls will love you.

Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son (lux 1965) - Ann Morre and Jean Claudric Ensemble

Alex Chilton 1950 - 2010

I was very sorry to hear that Boxtops / Big Star singer Alex Chilton died yesterday.

There's an article with his coverversion of Volare in this Eurocovers post.

Bits and bobs and wonderful dreams

We're fast approaching the end of the 2010 Eurovision preselection season. In a week all countries should have made their minds up and we'll know all the songs. (see below)
Then the long wait starts....
With all the new stars it's busy busy busy at Eurocovers headquarters and I don't really have the time for in-depth dissections of Eurocovers artists and their discographies right now.
So here's just a few lovely ones I got recently.Wonderful Dream, an English language version of the Luxemburg 1973 winner by Malaysian singer Anita Sarawak.
Гелена Великанова - Лечу я: Letayu, an old Russian version of Volare by Gelena Velikanova

Mary Ann (U.K. 1979). Not covered very much, but Ragnar Kuusk & Agrofon from Estonia did. From a real MC.

成吉思汉 - 张碟. Another fabulous cover of Dschinghis Khan (Germany 1979) by some kid named Joshua. I think it's sung in Cantonese, correct me if I'm wrong.




The Oslo Collection: Latest News
Ukraine: Goodbye Vasyl, Aloysha breaks the rules *** Belgium: Tom charts in 2 countries! *** 2010 Promoconcert *** France: *** Belarus: new song selected *** Russia: Peter Nalitch, listen *** Azerbaijan: It's Drip Drop *** Switzerland: new Video *** Serbia: This is the Balkans *** Sweden: Anna Bergendahl wins MF ***Germany: Satellite - Lena Meyer-Landrut, cdsingle news ***Greece : Opa - Giorgos Alkaios*** United Kingdom: Josh Dubovie gets the Waterman song*** Netherlands: Sieneke to Oslo, cdsingle coverversions galore ***