Today the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan’s win at the 1987 contest with the song Hold Me Now. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), the contest was held at the RDS Simmonscourt and was hosted by Irish broadcaster Pat Kenny and the Miss Ireland 1980 Michelle Rocca, marking the first time since the 1979 contest that two presenters had hosted the contest.
Twenty-one countries took part, after an initial plan of twenty-two, as Cyprus’ song was disqualified for breaching the contest’s rules by being published a few years earlier, in an attempt to represent the country at a prior edition of the contest. The Cypriot song had been drawn to be performed 2nd in the running order.
The contest helped launch an international career for two now world-famous artists, the winner for Switzerland Céline Dion and Luxembourg’s representative Lara Fabian. Canadian Céline Dion was a rising star in the French-speaking world at the time of the contest. Shortly afterwards she started recording songs in English to great worldwide success. As Dion, Belgian-Canadian Lara Fabian also achieved a successful career after the contest with becoming established in various countries worldwide, with a mainly French-sung repertoire. The UK entry was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, the daughter of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth who was present. When interviewed afterwards he was particularly annoyed at the Dutch jury not having given a vote to the UK, as they had done some work there.
The winner was Switzerland with the song Ne partez pas sans moi, performed by Canadian singer Céline Dion and composed by Atilla Şereftuğ with lyrics in French by Nella Martinetti. Switzerland beat the United Kingdom by just one point in the last vote to win the title. The victory helped launch Dion’s international career, subsequently leading her to become one of the best-selling artists of all time.
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