We had just one Eurovision birthday to celebrate yesterday. Today, however, we have no less than FIVE names on the celebration list! The youngest turns 26, while the oldest celebrates his 70th birthday! And we’ll start with the oldest; the amazing Tommy Körberg of Sweden.
Tommy Körberg, 70
Tommy Körberg has represented Sweden in Eurovision twice; in 1969 and 1988. In 1969 he finished 9th out of 16 participating countries with the song “Judy min vän“. When he returned 19 years later, in 1988, he finished 12th out of 21 songs, with the unbelieveably beautiful “Stad i ljus”. Dispite his two Eurovision participations, he is probably much more famous for his brilliant work as Anatolij Sergievskij in both the English and Swedish versions of the musical Chess, and his performance of the Christmas classic “O helga natt”. He also tried his luck in Melodifestivalen in 1971 and 2013, without winning.
Eirikur Hauksson, 59
Eirikur is one of the artist with the most Eurovision participations under his belt. He has graced the Eurovision stage no less than three times! And not just for his native Iceland. He moved to Norway in 1988, and in 1991 he was part of the group Just4Fun who represented Norway in Rome with “Mrs.Thompson“. They were one of the pre-contest favorites, however they only finished 17th.
His other two participations were for Iceland; in their debut year and then again in 2007. In his, and Iceland’s, Eurovision debut in 1986, he was part of Icy, who finished 16th in Bergen with “Gleðibankinn”. “Gleðibankinn” has turned into one of the proper Eurovision classics. His most recent participation was with “Valentine Lost” in 2007, when he finished 13th in what is considered to be the most difficult semi final of all times. He also tried to represent Iceland in 1988, with “Lífið er lag”, without winning the national contest.
Regina, 53
Regina represented Slovenia at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. She performed the song “Dan najlepših sanj”, finishing in a disappointing 21st place. This was not her first attempt at representing her country at Eurovision, nor was it her last. She has actually tried her luck in EMA no less than eight times between 1993 and 2016.
Nina Badric, 46
Nina Badric represented Croatia at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. She performed the song “Nebo” in the second semi-final. Being one of the big stars in Balkan, everybody expected her to do well, but she failed to qualify from the semi-final, finishing in a very disappointing 12th place.
Basim, 26
Basim represented Denmark on home turf at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. He performed the fun, up-tempo entry “Cliche Love Song”. However, despite the title, the televoters and juries didn’t think his song was a cliche, awarding it a total of 74 points. This was enough to land him in 9th place in the grand final.
All of us here at escXtra send our warmest congratulations to Tommy, Eirikur, Regina, Nina and Basim and hope they will all have an Xtra happy birthday!
