Swiss singer Michael von der Heide was knocked out of the Eurovision song contest on Thursday evening.
This content was published on
1 minute
The performer from St Gallen sang his own composition, Il pleut de l’or, (It’s raining gold) at the semifinal in Oslo.
Von der Heide was up against favourites like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Israel, Ireland, Denmark and Turkey. Performers from Georgia, Romania and two surprises – Cyprus and Ukraine – made the finals.
Those singers will compete on Saturday against the ten best performers from the first semifinal as well as Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Norway.
After DJ Bobo, Paolo Meneguzzi and the Lovebugs, “Gold-Michi” was the fourth Swiss participant in a row unable to make it past the opening stage of the contest.
The last Switzerland-born performer to make it to a top slot was in 1991, when Sandra Simó, now Studer, made it to the fifth round. She sat on the jury this year.
Initiated by the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union in 1956, Eurovision is one of Europe’s most popular annual music events. Switzerland has only won twice, the last time in 1988 when it was represented by Canada’s Céline Dion.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Lovebugs aim for success at Eurovision
This content was published on
The “Swiss Britpop” group are somewhat unusual Eurovision participants – not a glittery skirt or monster mask in sight – but therein, the group hopes, lies their appeal. The five Basel musicians, who make up one of Switzerland’s most successful bands, will be singing The Highest Heights, the title track from their newest album. They…
This content was published on
Meneguzzi’s pop ballad, Era Stupendo, is one of a record 43 acts hoping to do their country proud on Saturday. There are two schools of thought regarding the Eurovision Song Contest. One sees the annual competition as a shameless celebration of camp and kitsch that makes you despair for the future of humanity. The other…
This content was published on
On Tuesday the Federal Democratic Union (FDU) handed in a 49,000-signature petition to the government condemning DJ Bobo’s “Vampires Are Alive” as an affront to people’s religious convictions. The controversy is something of a setback for the former baker’s apprentice who is a household name in Switzerland and known for his squeaky-clean image. The 39-year-old,…
This content was published on
The contest, which took place on Saturday night and featured 24 countries, was won by Greece’s Helena Paparizou with the song My Number One. Vanilla Ninja had come through the semi-finals to qualify strongly for the 50th Eurovision contest, with bookmakers tipping them as one of the favorites to win the competition. The four-piece Estonian…
This content was published on
It’s a long time since Switzerland has had a Eurovision Song Contest hit. It’s hoped that Michael von der Heide will ring in the changes in Oslo this year with his song, ‘It’s raining gold’, chosen from 60 possible titles. The competition will be held at the end of May. (SF1, swissinfo.ch 6.01.2010)
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.