PODCAST · music
Eurovision Legends
by Emil Löfström
Eurovision Legends is the biggest podcast about the Eurovision Song Contest. Emil Löfström invites songwriters, artists and other important people from the world of the Eurovision Song Contest for a warm and lighthearted conversation about their Eurovision adventures and careers. How did the songs originate, what happened behind the scenes, who ought to have won the contest and what did the song demos sound like? This and much more in this award-nominated podcast that goes out globally over the internet and on British broadcast radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
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Gracia
In 2005, 22 year old Gracia's song climbed onto the German singles chart, earning her a wildcard into the national final. She went on to win it. Behind her stood an established songwriter with a string of past hits already to his name, but soon after her victory it emerged that the chart…
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Johnny Logan
He's the only artist in Eurovision history to win the contest three times — as a performer in 1980 and 1987, and as a songwriter in 1992. In this episode, Marcus sits down with the legendary Johnny Logan for a warm, open-hearted conversation that goes far beyond the trophies. Johnny talks…
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Loreen
Having started her career in the Swedish version of pop idol 2004, it took Loreen 7 years before the big breakthrough came. What happened in between and what does she have in common with Leila K. What was her relation to Melodifestivalen before 2011 and what has this competition meant for her...
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Jamala
In 2016, a Ukrainian trained opera singer sang a song about the deportation of Crimeans in 1944, which could easily also be interpreted as a thinly veiled comment on the recent Russian annexation of Crimea. It is sometimes hard to remember that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been going on for...
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Hans Van Hemert
Many countries in Eurovision seem to have their own "super-composer", and in the case of the Netherlands this person is Hans van Hemert. He wrote the Dutch entries of 1972, 1974 and 1976, and he has made many more attempts, which we of course get to listen to in this episode. It gets really…
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Udo Jürgens
Udo Jürgens was already a big star when he first competed in Eurovision for his Austria in 1964. He didn't win, but got the biggest hit after the contest, both with his own version and with covers in various languages. He was back again the year after, and this time he almost competed for another...
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Eva Santamaria
An argument in Los Angeles led to the creation of the perhaps most modern song to have taken part in Eurovision until that time, but the road that led Eva Santamaria there was quite a surprise. Hear what she has to say about the orchestral arrangement of the song, about it becoming a feminist...
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Merethe Trøan
The "plump chicken from Trondheim" tried to reach Eurovision already at 14 years old, but had to wait another seven years until she finally succeeded with the unusually structured banger "Visjoner". We get to listen to the way too long and extremely different demo that was accepted to Melodi…
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Baccara 2.0
Two years ago Emil spoke to Maria Mendiola and Cristina Sevilla from (one of the constellations of) Baccara. Since then they have gone viral, made a comeback on the charts and published new music, but on a much sadder note Maria alas passed away in 2021. Emil and Cristina have a new conversation,...
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Hersi Matmuja
When Albanian singer Hersi Matmuja finally won Festivali i Këngës on her fourth attempt the usual revamp of the song started. How much of a say did she have in this process and why didn't she like the final version? Was it only because it didn't bring her out of the semi-final at Eurovision? How...
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Robin Bengtsson
He was the guy who came on from backstage and gave working out in a suit a face, but the musical career of two meter Swedish hunk Robin Bengtsson started earlier than that. An alumn of the Idol franchise, he got his first chance to compete in Melodifestivalen in 2016 and won it already on his...
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John Ballard part II
Established in the business with successes like Ace of Base in his catalogue, John Ballard started to get invited to participate, mainly as a lyricist, on various projects for Eurovision by Dimitris Kontopoulos. He grants us full access to all the various shenanigans that takes place to create a...
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John Ballard
He has finished top ten four times out of five attempts in Eurovision, but never for his home country nor for the country where he has lived for over 40 years. Who is John Ballard? The legendary lyricist behind such songs as "Hold Me" and "You're the Only One"? In this first episode we find out…
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Mrs Einstein
We continue the story of Eurovision 1997 that started in the episodes with Icelandic Paul Oscar and Katrina and the Waves with one of Katrina's vodka suppliers – Marjolein Spijkers from the Dutch group Mrs. Einstein. The theatrical group was selected to perform all of the entries in the Dutch...
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The Roop
Snubbed on a very good chance to win in the cancelled 2020 contest, The Roop fought their way to another victory and finally got to grace the Eurovision stage in 2021. But these were not the first times they have tried out for Eurovision, neither as The Roop nor in other constellations, even…
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Magdalena Tul
Following a streak of missed finals for Poland, hopes were higher when Magdalena Tul and the song "Jestem" became popular with the fans and was generally predicted to proceed to the final when she was to perfom first in the first semi final in 2011. The reality became quite the opposite, though,...
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Frans
Having had a huge hit already at seven years old, Frans Jeppsson Wall surprised the Swedish audience when he, almost forgotten, suddenly appeared in Melodifestivalen ten years later with the first ever song he had written as an "adult". What was it like breaking as a child star, did he even get...
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Alon Amir Part II
We continue to listen to the fascinating adventures of Alon Amir in the world of Eurovision, starting in a bed together with Anne-Marie David. Our first stop is Moscow in 2009 with two political artists and a political song which he pressured the jury to get selected. He hated the city but the...
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Alon Amir
Most of us Eurovision fans dream of one day playing some minor part to contribute to or nestle your way into our beloved contest, be it by submitting songs, doing volunteer work at an event or why not starting your own podcast about the topic? Alon Amir from Israel managed to do this for the…
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Lise Haavik
People all over the world often have a hard time separating the Scandinavian countries, and honestly, who can blame them when we have people like Lise Haavik, who was born and raised in northern Norway, moved to Denmark to study economics, formed a band and a marriage with Danish artist John...
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Sandra Reemer
Sandra Reemer was one of the dutch great and competed three times in Eurovision during the 1970's. Alas, she is no longer with us so instead we have invited her brother, Frenk Reemer, who has been close to his sister during all the years and is also working on a book about their family. Let's…
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Petri Laaksonen part II
This is the second part of the interview with Petri Laaksonen, in which our hero finally learns that you don't always win every time you take part. After winning on his first two attempts, Petri continued to submit songs to the Finnish pre-selection, so many that he claims that he is the composer...
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Petri Laaksonen part I
The young student Petri Laaksonen was totally inexperienced as a songwriter, but after some encouragement from his teacher he decided to try to take part in the Finnish pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Without any connections in the music business, he found lyricist Veli-Pekka Lehto...
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Jon Ola Sand
He used to be the coolest guy in every Eurovision, but don't you want to hear about when Jon Ola Sand got really angry during the broadcast? Or why he was so dissatisfied in Birmingham in 1998? Much happened during his ten years as the Executive Supervisor for Eurovision, and already before that…
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ABBA part II
Most of us believe that ABBA became a huge success all over the world immediately after they won Eurovision 1974, and although their winning entry "Waterloo" made a big impact on the charts all over the world and their manager "Stikkan" Andersson was well prepared to launch them it wasn't really…
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ABBA
In 1974, a Swedish group changed Eurovision and music forever, but the story of ABBA did not in any way start there. All four members of ABBA, or five if you include manager and lyricist Stig "Stikkan" Anderson, had their respective careers, in Agnetha's case it was even "international", before...
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Manuela Bravo
Manuela Bravo participated for Portugal in 1979, which by many fans is considered to be a really good year, but still she managed to give Portugal one of its best results ever until their victory in 2017. Born from a musical family, she started her career at only five years old, and sixteen years...
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Martina Majerle
With the same origins as the 1993 Croatian representative Put, Martina Majerle has gone on to grace the Eurovision stage with her presence more times than any other Balkan singer, and for three different countries nonetheless. Often in cooperation with legendary songwriter Andrej Babic, she has...
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Paschalis Arvanitidis Πασχάλης Αρβανιτίδης
Paschalis Arvanitidis became a huge star in Greece already with the group The Olympians in the 1960's and then went solo, and even had a brief career in Germany with Leo Leandros, the father of Vicky Leandros. So when he teamed up with three other successful solo artists (Robert Williams, Bessy…
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Egon Egemann
Way before Alexander Rybak fiddled his way to victory, an Austrian guy brandishing a white violin represented Switzerland with a song about his love for his instrument. The song was allegedly written by his Swiss wife, but was that really entirely true? In this episode with Egon Egemann we will...
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Orna Datz אורנה דץ
Eurovision 1991 went down in history due to the tied score between Sweden and France, so that the winner had to be decided by tiebreaker. What many tend to forget is that Israel with the song "Kan" was also in the mix, and in fact held the lead for much of the voting process. Since this happens…
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Jüri Pootsmann
What is the next natural step when you have won Pop Idol, gotten a song from legendary Stig Rästa and won both the jury and the televote in the Estonian national selection? Well, finishing dead last in the semifinal of Eurovision, of course! Or maybe not, but that is the way it happened for young...
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Gunvor
We often hear about the success stories from Eurovision, but Gunvor Guggisberg, now Gunvor Meyer, shows us that despite being treated really roughly by the media and finishing last place with zero points, you can go on to have a great life with a family, your own dance school and a still-going...
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Christer Björkman part II
How could a Swedish Eurovision representative with one of the worst results ever for the country get to be in charge for the entire show for two decades? How did his job affect his friends and family, not least his husband/tuft-of-grass Martin Kagemark, who himself is a talented singer who had to...
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Christer Björkman
Christer Björkman is such a huge Eurovision fan that he lied his way into the audience of Eurovision 1991 in Rome, and made someone else pay. He had tried to reach Eurovision for much longer than that, though, since he had unsuccessfully submitted songs from the mid 80's onward (we get to learn...
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Moran Mazor מורן מזור
Moran Mazor's participation in 2013 can be seen as just yet one of the failed attempts to reach the final that Israel was living through a four-year stretch of, but in this episode we will learn that there is so much more to this "fat girl with glasses", as she humorously describes her former…
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Charmed
It's an extremely wild ride when the three party girls from Norway reunite for this episode. Though 21 years have passed, they are still as funny and crazy as they were in Stockholm 2000. They give us the entire unfiltered story from how they were formed, how they got the song (we get to hear the...
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Fabrizio Faniello
In the flirtiest interview ever on this show, Emil takes on Fabrizio Faniello, the guy who competed twice for Malta with varying results. We finally learn why the performance of "I Do" failed so miserably, how many and which of Fabrizio's songs were originally submitted to Melodifestivalen, about...
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Matia Bazar
Matia Bazar are known to the Eurovision audience for their appearance with "Raggio di luna" in 1979, but they have been a musical force to reckon with for many years, both in Italy and abroad, and has sold millions of records all over the world. Since their beginnings in 1975 up until present day...
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Hazal Selçuk
Hazal Selçuk was only 16 years old but born from an impressive family consisting of both musical royalty and regular royalty. Most notable was of course her father Timur Selçuk, who both composed and energetically conducted the classic song "Bana bana", with which Hazal and the group Pan competed...
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Sarai Tzuriel שרי צוריאל
Sarai Tzuriel was one of the best knows faces in Israel when she was asked to become the female part of the duo to perform "Yavoh yom" in the Israeli national selection in 1986, together with the composer of the song, Moti Giladi, although she was primarily known as an actor and show host, as was...
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Marion Rung
Marion Rung started her career at only 15, and it is still going on 60 years later. For 33 of those years she actually held the record for the best Finnish result in the Eurovision, from 1962 when she debuted in the contest at only 16 with the entry "Tipi-tii" which she then beat herself in 1973...
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Thomas Forstner
In 1989 he came from nowhere and made an impact with a song by Dieter Bohlen, and two years later he returned and faced a very different outcome. How did Thomas Forstner get this opportunity? Why didn't he continue his co-operation with Dieter Bohlen and how was he treated by the composers in…
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Linda Martin
Season 3 of the podcasts kicks off with Eurovision royalty, lady Linda Martin, who beside her victory and second place in Eurovision have competed in the Irish national final an additional seven times, many of them with her band Chips in the 1970's. After making her first appearance in Eurovision...
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Michael James Down part II
These are special times and therefore it is time for a very special episode. Right now the artists and composers who will be competing in the Eurovision are getting all the attention, but what about those who almost made it, but not quite? Michael James Down has competed with 45 different songs…
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Michael James Down
These are special times and therefore it is time for a very special episode. Right now the artists and composers who will be competing in the Eurovision are getting all the attention, but what about those who almost made it, but not quite? Michael James Down has competed with 45 different songs…
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Rafał Brzozowski
What is actually the journey for a song written by Swedish songwriters to reach a big Polish artist and then to get internally selected? Why hasn't he published his gigantic hit "Tak blisko" in English, how many of the neon signs from the music video will accompany him to Rotterdam and how many...
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Lesley Roy
How come Lesley Roy was chosen in the first place last year and how did she take the cancellation and was it a no-brainer to say yes to compete this year? Why was it so important to work with Max Martin and why does Ireland struggle hard these days to finish in the top? And why Swedish composers?...
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Jendrik
He is almost the definition of positivity, both in his expression and his message, but still he receives a huge amount of hate. What does he think about this and has he got any useful tips and tricks to share on how to handle it? We will also learn about the amount of chaos we can expect on stage...
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Eden Alene עדן אלנה
Eden Alene is back for Israel and we are of course curious about a lot of things. Why is there no Amharic in this year's entry? Will she break Maja Blagdan's record? Does she have a personal favorite among this years songs? And why was her song from last year - "Feker libi" - so important?…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Eurovision Legends is the biggest podcast about the Eurovision Song Contest. Emil Löfström invites songwriters, artists and other important people from the world of the Eurovision Song Contest for a warm and lighthearted conversation about their Eurovision adventures and careers. How did the songs originate, what happened behind the scenes, who ought to have won the contest and what did the song demos sound like? This and much more in this award-nominated podcast that goes out globally over the internet and on British broadcast radio.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
HOSTED BY
Emil Löfström
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Eurovision Legends have?
Eurovision Legends currently has 149 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Eurovision Legends about?
Eurovision Legends is the biggest podcast about the Eurovision Song Contest. Emil Löfström invites songwriters, artists and other important people from the world of the Eurovision Song Contest for a warm and lighthearted conversation about their Eurovision adventures and careers. How did the songs...
How often does Eurovision Legends release new episodes?
Eurovision Legends publishes regularly with 149 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Eurovision Legends?
You can listen to Eurovision Legends on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Eurovision Legends?
Eurovision Legends is created and hosted by Emil Löfström.
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