Euphoria - Tyler Ward & Alex G

Tyler Ward and Alex G. do Loreens Euphoria, The Eurovision hit that still populates the top 10s in the European charts after three months (a record for a Eurovision hit)

The Ward/G. track is out through iTunes on Tyler Wards album The Hollywood Sessions EP which also includes other coverversions like thàt other song that just won't go away: Somebody That I Used To Know.
Euphoria was already available as a single at iTunes since May.

I like the way they fooled around with the song in a minimal electronic pop-style but I haven't decided yet if Ward is just gorgeous or a bit slappable.

American singer/songwriter Tyler Ward has been opening for stars like Gavin de Graw and one of the Jonasses, but in autumn he'll be touring the world on his own. 21 dates in Europe in October including Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and of course Loreenland. Check out the dates here at his website.
A full album is expected later this year.
Alex G. has also been recording many coverversions (iTunes) but a release with her own work is expected in September.

If you want to find out more about Loreen's Euphoria, the remixes, constantly updated chart domination and other very important trivia, please check this page at the Baku Collection.
You'll also find the details on some other coverversions, from the amazing to the appalling.

Quédate Conmigo, Euphoria and When The Music Dies covers

Here is a coverversion of this years Spanish Eurovision Song Quédate Conmigo which will be performed in the Eurovision final on May 26 by Pastora Soler.
I don't know who is behind this (please tell me), but it is wonderful. Singers from all over the world (well, mostly Eurovision world) cover the classic Eurovision ballad and it is very well put together.
I've spotted a few pre-selection singers (ooh, Rui Andrade) and Eurocovers favourite Lianie May from South Africa.

Update: I just read at Eurovicio, who already posted it a week ago, that the idea from this clip is from Antonio (Tony) Sanchez, one of the composers of the song. It's a tribute to Pastora in support of her Eurovision adventure. You can also find the full list of participating singers at the Eurovicio link.
So: Thank you Eurovicio!

You can find out everything about Pastora Solers own version and releases here at The Baku Collection, the place for all info on the releases of the Baku 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

Euphoria!
And while we're in the business of 2012 covers, an acoustic coverversion of Swedish entry Euphoria well worth checking out is released by Gavin Mikhail.
Gavin Mikhail recorded his acoustic version of Euphoria for a digital release with five acoustic versions of current hits (+ five instrumental versions).
Mikhail's coverversions are a bit of an internet phenomenon and his version of the Swedish entry shows us why. I think MF 2013 may have their intervalact sorted with our Gav'.
Listen to Gavins Euphoria here or buy here at itunes or amazon.


Euphoria will be performed in the second semi-final on May 24 by Loreen. (and hopefully also in the final). Find out everything about Loreen, Euphoria, chart success, remixes and Melodifestivalen 2012 here at the Baku Collection.




Wənneer Die Musiek Verdwijn

A third coverversion worth checking out is Wanneer Die Musiek Verdwyn (When the music disappears) by Colé Van Dais. 
It's an Afrikaans version of When The Music Dies, Azerbaijans home entry by Sabina Babayeva (Səbinə Babayeva).
You can listen to Colé version through her Reverbnation and it's also for sale at RhythmMusic store (South Africa).

Colé Van Dais has recorded several Eurovision coverversions recently for her album Dink Aan My (Think of me). For example titletrack is a cover of Haegt Og Hljott, the 1987 Icelandic entry by Halla Margret.
She also recorded a duet version of Georgia's Peace Will Come (Diana Gurtskaya 2008) with Marc Rantseli. This one is sung in Afrikaans, Spanish, English and Zulu.
Afrikaanse Meissies (African girls or probably Afrikaans girls) is The Balkan Girls (Romania's Elena Gheorge, 2008) and Die Eiland (The island) is 1987 Cyprus entry Aspro Mavro by Alexia.
Listen to some of the tracks here at Reverbnation

Of course you can find out everything about the original entry by Sabina Babayeva at the Baku Collection. There are details about the remixes, the Azerbaijani version Gəl and more at this page.

The Road To Baku: Lukas Plöchl - Love Shine a Light

Here's a great live clip by Trackshitta Lukas Plöchl. It's from the Austrian talent show Helden von Morgen (2010) where Lukas ended second behind Cornelia Mooswalder.

Lukas Plöchl is a member of duo Trackshittaz (with Manuel Hoffelner) who represent Austria in the 2012 Baku Eurovision Song Contest with the wonderfully titled Woki Mit Deim Popo. (Shake your booty)
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Read more about the Trackshittaz entry here at The Baku Collection.

There you can also find out more about the history of all Austria's dialect / regional language entries.

Love Shine A Light is the 1997 Eurovision winning song originally by Katrina and the Waves who took the trophy for the United Kingdom.

Special thanks to Marco!

The Road To Baku: Engelbert Humperdinck - In Love With You

Here's an audioclip of Engelbert Humperdinck singing In Love With You, an English version of the 1984 Dutch Eurovision song originally by Maribelle.
In a bold and certainly unexpected move the BBC have appointed Engelbert to represent the United Kingdom in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku.

Update: Find out all about his Eurovision song Love Will Set You Free here at the Baku Collection

Humperdincks Eurocovers

Engelbert Humperdinck recorded two Eurovision songs and (at least) two with a preselection connection.

In 1968 he scored a worldwide hit with A Man Without Love, a cover version of Quando M'Innamoro from the Sanremo contest of the same year. The original versions were performed by Anna Identici and by The Sandpipers. (single on Decca)

In 1971 he covered Clodagh Rodgers 'Song For Europe' song Another Time, Another Place. Another single and a modest hit in several countries. (single on Decca).
Clodagh Rodgers had her own national final in 1971 with six songs. Another Time, Another Place ended 4th and she took the winner Jack In The Box to a 4th place in the Dublin Eurovision Song Contest of 1971.

In 1997 he recorded the CD A Little In Love (Dino records). Top-man of Dino records and long time friend Tony Berk teamed Humperdinck up with Dutch singer and producer Peter Koelewijn to record an album with English versions of Dutch modern classics. It includes popular hits from the 80’s and 90’s and also features In Love With You, a coverversion of the Netherlands’ 1984 Eurovision entry Ik Hou Van Jou, originally by Maribelle.
Another song on the album is The Little Café By The Harbour, a Dutch evergreen written by Sha La Lie composer Pierre Kartner a.k.a. Father Abraham.

A Little In Love reached #29 on the Dutch album charts and stayed ten weeks on the list. In Love With You was also released as the second song on the cdsingle release of the title track.
The album was also released in Germany as Romantic Songs (EMI) but was discontinued when a project with dance re-recordings of E.H. classics was released.

The last song to mention was recorded in 2003, but it is the oldest Eurovision related song of the lot. Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu), well know to Eurocovers readers and everyone else ended up on his album Definition Of Love (Hip-O records). Volare, written and originally performed by Domenico Modugno, didn't win Eurovision but is the best selling Eurovision single and most covered Eurovision song of all time.

Please check out The Baku Collection for all the latest on the 2012 Eurovision songs, releases, charts and other trivia.

The Road To Baku - I Quattro

Swiss TV have announced the line-up of their National Final to be held on December 10. Eurocovers already did a bit about la Grandmère D'Eurovision Lys Assia in this post, and I'm glad she's through to the final 14.

One act Lys Assia will have to compete against is I Quattro, not the sons of Suzi (unfortunately), but a group of four tenors Roger Widmer, Simon Jäger, Damian Meier and Matthias Aeberhard.
Their debut album Passione from 2009 reportedly shifted 30.000 copies in Switzerland. This album includes a coverversion of Io Senza Te (Me without you), the 1981 Swiss entry originally by Peter, Sue and Marc*.
The song ended in 4th place and was a hit in Dutch as Het Is Nog Niet Voorbij (It's not over yet) for Willeke Alberti in 1982 and for Gerard Joling in 2008. (Both are Dutch Eurovision singers). A Swedish version was recorded by Kicki Moberg (Leva Utan Dig).
The song was covered in Italian, French, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish and Norwegian.
Below is the Io Senza Te video from the 2009 TV show Die Grössten Schweizer Hits, which was more or less the breakthrough moment for I Quattro.

Update: I Quattro ended 4th in the Swiss national final. Read all about the winner here at the Baku Collection.



On the second I Quattro album Emozioni two Eurocovers can be found. Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi (Don't leave without me) is the Swiss 1988 winner by Celine Dion. Viver Senza Tei (To live without you) is the Swiss entry from 1989. It was performed by Furbaz, the group of Marie Louise Werth and the songs main claim to Eurovision History fame is that it's the only Swiss entry ever to be performed in Romansch, the language of the Graubünden area.
Emozioni also includes a coverversion of Lys Assia's Oh Mein Papa.
The third I Quattro album was their 2010 Christmas album Winterträume.

The I Quattro are sensitive boys: all their Eurocovers are about loneliness and stuff. So it's no surprise their Eurovision effort is titled Fragile. The song will be performed in English and is a big classical ballad you might expect from four tenors.

Peter, Sue and Marc.

* Eurovision anoraks already knew this but if you didn't: Peter Sue and Marc are in the Eurovision History-Book-On-The-Shelf for participating four times (quite a feat in itself) in four different languages.

Their first entry Les Illusions De Nos Vingt Ans which was in French (12th in 1971). 1976 song Djambo Djambo was in English (4th place).
In 1979 German language song Trödler Und Company took them to 10th place, albeit with the help of some blokes called Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri and their assortment of garden utensils. (Oh, those golden days when Eurovision was only about the music....).
The final and arguably best Peter, Sue and Marc effort was Io Senza Te, sung in Italian and reaching 4th place in 1981.

Listen to the 2012 Swiss final songs here at SF TV.
For more on Eurovision 2012 check The Baku Collection.
Some more Swiss Eurocovers: Swiss Lady from Kenya, 'T En Va Pas - Dana Valery, Refrain - Jula de Palma, Flo Sandon's.

The Road To Baku - Lys Assia

I know, christmas is up first, but it’s already so busy on the Eurovision 2012 that Eurocovers will take an early peak on artists who are trying to get to Baku by means of their national finals.
Switzerland has a very extensive preselection (more info here) with well over 200 songs participating in various broadcasters pre-pre-pre voting extravaganzi.

One artist that of course caught everybody’s attention is Lys Assia, who enters the selection with C’était Ma Vie penned by 'Mister Eurovision' Ralph Siegel with lyrics by 'Mister L’Oiseau Et L’Enfant' Jean Paul Cara.
The song is a big orchestra driven ballad reminiscing of the olden days. It's Lys Assia's My Way or This Is My Life (The Shirley Bassey one). I don't know if there's a place for the rather old fashioned entry in todays Eurovision field, but it's great to see the old gal is still at it.

Update: Broadcaster SF has announced that Lys Assia will proceed to the Swiss National Final on December 10. Congratulations!
Another Update: Lys Assia ended 4th in the Swiss national final. Read all about the winner here at the Baku Collection.



Eurovision fans will of course know (and some even remember) the Grand Dame / Grand Ma of Eurovision as the first ever winner of our annual music fest. With the song Refrain, written by Geo Voumard and Émile Gardaz, Lys Assia won the initial edition of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956.

In 1956 each of the seven participating countries had two songs in the (radio only) competition. Switzerland selected  Lys Assia with Das Alte Karussell (The old Carousel) and the eventual winner Refrain.

The Swiss must have loved Lys a lot as she went on representing the country in 1957 with L'enfant Que j'Étais (The child that I was, 8th place) and in 1958 with her best effort Giorgio (2nd place, brilliant song).

Lys Assia’s biggest hit was not any of her Eurovision songs (although Giorgio did quite well in several pre historic charts) but her version the evergreen Oh Mein Papa (1950). Other hits include Arrivederci Roma (1956) Deine Liebe (1957), Ein Kleiner Gold'ner Ring (1961) and Die Sterne Von Syrakus (1962).


Eurocovers
In my book there are three Eurovision songs Lys Assia covered. There may be more, as Lys Assia must have recorded about a million songs in the 50’s and sixties.

Italy 1961: Al Di Là (Betty Curtis)
In Italian with the Dino Olivieri Orchestra
- on EP Philips 431 054, also LP San Remo's greatest hits 1958-1966

Denmark 1963: Dansevise (Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann)
Der Sommer ging voruber (German)
- single Telefunken U 55705

U.K. 1963: Say Wonderful Things (Ronnie Carroll)
Zwei blaue Vergißmeinnicht (German)
- single Telefunken U 55705
(Both 1963 songs were released on the same single)

Bonus Adorable Lys - A medley recorded in 1964 with the Addy Flor orchestra sung in English, German, French and Spanish including a bit of Refrain.

Related Eurocovers posts and links
Geo Voumard / Jula De Palma (Refrain), Flo Sandon's (Refrain)
Ralph Siegel: Dschinghis Khan (Moscow weeks) Dschinghis Khan (Korea) I Can't Live Without Music (Russia) Ein Bisschen Frieden (Korea, Norway, Korea II)
Jean Paul Cara: L'Oiseau style Zouk

Eurovision 2012 - The Baku Collection
Shopping: Lys Assia at BeaRecords