Yesterday we celebrated four Eurovision birthdays. Today we add one, and bring you a handful Eurovision stars to congratulate. There is more than 20 years between the oldest and youngest, and also their results vary a fair bit. One of today’s birthday girls, however, is a former winner; Ruslana!
Philippe Lafountaine, 63
Philippe represented Belgium at the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb with the song “Macédomienne”. Not only did he perform the song, he had also written it himself. On the big night, he received 46 points, thereby finishing in 12th place.
Kathy Leander, 55
Kathy represented Switzerland at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. She performed the French love ballad “Mon cœur l’aime”. At the end of the evening she had received 22 points, thus finishing 16th.
Jill Johnson, 45
Jill Johnson represented Sweden at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham. She performed the song “Kärleken är”, finishing in a respectable 10th place. Five years later she competed in the Swedish national final, Melodifestivalen. She was not, however, quite as successful as in her previous participation; in the final she finished fourth with her up-tempo country schlager, “Crazy In Love“.
Ruslana, 45
Ruslana won Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 in Istanbul! Represented Ukraine, she performed the very popular “Wild Dances”. She also performed as an interval act when Ukraine hosted Eurovision, both in 2005 and 2017. Ruslana remains a huge fan of the contest, even though she hasn’t tried her luck again.
Silje Vige, 42
Silje represented Norway at the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest. At the time she was only 17 years old. She finished in an excellent fifth place with her song, “Alle mine tankar”, which her dad had written for her. Silje and “Alle mine tankar” is very often mentioned when Eurovision fans list their favorite Norwegian entries.
All of us here at escXtra wish today’s five Eurovision birthday children the very happiest of celebrations!
