U.K. 1968: Congratulations, ｺﾝｸﾞﾗﾁｭﾚｰｼｮﾝｽﾞ

Kyu Sakamoto (1941 - 1985) is one of the most popular singers of all times in Japan. Even though his life came to an early end in a plane crash over 20 years ago he is remembered as one of the most popular singers in Japanese pop music, and the first Japanese singer who took one of his songs to international fame.


The song Ue O Muite Arukō (上を向いて歩こう) originally from 1961, became Sukiyaki to the world and it was a world wide hit in 1963. It reached the #1 spot in the US Billboard top 100. There are many coverversions of the song including another US top 3 hit by Taste Of Honey (1981), A European hit for the Blue Diamonds who recorded Dutch and German, a version by Canadienne Lucille Starr and one by ill fated Selena (who also a tragic death, way too young, see comments).

But Sukiyaki isn't a Eurovision song, and even though Eurovision expands to the east faster than Usain Bolt, it's not likely Japan will be giving us their poing anytime soon.

So better get to the point: Kyu Sakamoto recorded a Japanese version of the happy birthday evergreen Congratulations, the #2 of the 1968 contest originally by Cliff Richard. Cliff was robbed of the first place by Massiel and her La La La and allegedly general Franco.
Sir Cliffs career is as old as Volare this year and he will kick off on a celebratory tour later this year. So Sir Cliff, here's to you, ｺﾝｸﾞﾗﾁｭﾚｰｼｮﾝｽﾞ.




EUROVISION, BIG IN JAPAN?
I've compiled another list (I love lists) of all the Japanese Eurovision covers I know of. It includes details on:
- all versions in Japanese by original Eurovision singers
- all coverversions in Japanese
- all coverversions by Japanese artists
with picture sleeves for your viewing pleasure
It has been an ongoing puzzle for several years and I don't claim it's in anyway conclusive or correct, so any additions, comments and corrections are very welcome.
You can download the file (word.doc) here: Big In Japan / Big In Japan

Lita Roza (1926 - 2008) (UPDATED)

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window? In the U.S. it was Patti Page windowshopping for a domestic animal but in the U.K. the song was a # 1 hit for Lita Roza in 1953.
She wasn't too pleased that she was remembered mostly for the cheesy doggie novelty song, as she was an acclaimed jazz and pop singer.

Lita Roza, born in 1926 in Liverpool, was the first female singer to top the U.K. charts (with doggie) and she scored two more hits with Hey There and Jimmy Unknown in the mid-50's.
In 1957 she entered the U.K. Eurovision pre-selection with the song The Way It Goes. (unreleased). She ended third in the final that was won by Patricia Bredin and her operatic song All (still holding the record for shortest ESC entry ever).
In 1959 she tried again with the song This Is My Town (Pye 7N15190) and ended 2nd. Sing Little Birdie by Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson won the U.K. selection and became the runners up in the 4th Eurovision Song Contest.
Lita Roza tried again in 1960, but her song (see update below) stranded in the first of two semi-finals.
Like any singer with an ear for a tune she recorded a version of Volare in 1958 and released it on single (PYE 7N15155) and 78rpm.

Lita Roza died two days ago aged 82. You can find out more about the singer and her life at the Lita Roza official website. You can watch a tribute here at Youtube.



UPDATE: Lita Roza preselections
Thanks to Thomas here's an update on Lita Roza's preselection songs. Different variations of the listing of early U.K. selections can be found on the web but Thomas has been digging in the BBC written archives and the results concerning Lita Roza's songs are here.
1957 The Way It Goes
Lita Roza won the first of three heats with this song written by Ronnie Booth. In the final she ended third with 18 points behind All by by the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet and by Patricia Bredin (it was performed twice) and Once sung by Pauline Shepherd. All was subsequently performed at Eurovision by Patricia Bredin and finished 7th.
1959 This Is My Town
Written by John S. Rossiter. Won the second preselection heat but was beaten by Sing Little Birdie as mentioned above.
1960 Unexpectedly
Written by Susan Morrel(l) (& possibly David Greer?). With this song Lita Roza won the first heat but the final was won by Looking High, High, High by Bryan Johnson & the George Mitchell Singers. The points or finishing order of the other songs is unknown. Bryan Johnson took his song to a 2nd place in the contest.
In other sources Unexpectedly is credited to Marion Keene but her song was Love, Kisses and Heartaches which stranded in the 2nd heat.

All Kinds Of Everything From China

2008, Beijing, Olympics, etcetera.
I'm not going to deep into the politics (or the sports for that matter) of it all here, I'm sure you'll find enough websites for that. Opening Ceremony was great, but I caught some zzzz's too.The square drummers at the start were totally amazing.
Unfortunately the TV forgot to include any televoting numbers when all the countries marched on, missed opportunity I say.
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But I did notice a complete absence of Chinese visitors to Eurocovers, when normally there is always a steady flow of friends from Beijing and Guangzhou visiting my blog.

I find it hard to imagine that a blog like Eurocovers should all of a sudden be branded dangerous to national interest, so I have to assume our Chinese friends are just to busy right now with watching the Olympics. Or relocating.


潘巧丹 - Michelle - All Kinds Of Everything (in English)
- from 2005 CD Angel Of The Morning (pic. right)
区瑞强 - Albert Au - All Kinds Of Everything (in English)
- from CD Simple Folk (2000), Albert Au is a Hong Kong cantopop singer and DJ at Radio Television Hong Kong.
胭花四乐 - Rouge Hot - Love Is Blue (in Chinese)
- from the CD Oriental Instruments Vs Occidental Music, (pictured top left). Odd version, sounds more Barok than Oriental to me, but lovely still.


and check out these earlier Eurocovers posts with Chinese related Eurocovers:
鍾玲玲 - Betty Chung - Puppet On A String
櫻櫻 - Lara and the Trailers - Puppet On A String
Sakura Teng & Quests - Puppet On A String
難得有情人 - Shirley Kwan - Le dernier qui a parlé (France 1991)
雷安娜- Annabelle Lui - Johnny Blue (Germany 1981)

Denmark 1963: Dansevise - Sinne Eeg

Danish Jazz singer Sinne Eeg has released a new version of the 1963 Eurovision winner Dansevise (Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, Denmark) on her new album Kun En Drøm. (Released last april on Red Dot Music / EMI)
You can hear the song and others on Sinne Eegs Myspace.

Sinne Eegs version of Dansevise proves again how timeless the song is and although the arrangement is far from the original, Eegs voice remarkably reminds of Grethe Ingmanns original version.

Kun En Drøm is available in Danish (online) record shops now.

More Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann at Eurocovers here.
Dansevise by Laila Kinnunen is hereand by Anne-Lie Rydé here

Eurocovers South Africa - Leandie Lombaard

South Africa is the place to be for Eurocovers these days. Several artists have released albums with one or two coverversions of mostly recent Eurovision songs.

LEANDIE LOMBAARD takes it a bit further.
She is a sixteen year old singer who just released her debut CD Wees Net…. (Don't be….) which includes reworkings of six Eurovision songs.
It's a coherent collection of fresh pop and schlager songs which are well produced. Stand out track is Net Jy (Främling) which surely deserves some airplay on the Afrikaans radio stations and has the potential to be a smash hit in any year.

I need you (English) = I love you mi vida (Spain 2007 - d'Nash)
Duiselig (Afrikaans) = Vertigo (Malta 2007 - Olivia Lewis)
Net jy (Afrikaans) = Främling (Sweden 1983 - Carola)
Mxit (Afrikaans) = Danca Comigo (Portugal 2007 - Sabrina)
Die for you (English) original by Antique, Greece 2001
Dans met my (Afrikaans) = Ven a bailar comigo (Norway 2007 - Guri Schanke)
and as a bonus track there is My Hart Brand which is an Afrikaans version of I Love You Mi Vida

The CD also includes Swedish preselection songs Samba Sambero (as: Karjoedel Kar Jy, in Afrikaans) and Under Your Spell (as: Onthou Jy Nog, Afrikaans/English) and several other songs, 15 tracks in total.

Currently the CD is only available in South Africa only, mainly at Leandie's performances, but I'll see if I can get some more details soon.
UPDATE Now Leandie has her own website where you can listen to excerpts of the songs

Some other recent releases are tenor Jannie Moolmans CD Ek Kom Huistoe which includes Vandag (Le Grand Soir, Belgium 2005), Jaycee Crauses CD Ek Weet with Steeds Verlief (Everything, Greece 2006) and Waar Is Jy (Tornero, Romania 2006) and the earlier mentioned albums by Jennifer Zamudio and Patricia Lewis.

1966: Tooong Tiki Tong - Fernando, Filippo & Suzie

A classic Eurovision moment: Milly Scott descending the stairs (Youtube) of the Eurovision stage in style, singing her tóóóng ki tong riki tong tong tong intro to the 1966 Dutch entry Fernando & Filippo. A silly tale about one bloke running off to San Antonio to get the girl another bloke was waiting for in Santiago.
But there's true eurovision history in there. Milly Scott was the first black singer ever on the Eurovision stage and it took 11 contests for it to happen. The two measly points Milly collected came from the United Kingdom and Ireland. One each.*
Milly Scott had her own TV shows in the Netherlands in the mid sixties and was asked to compete in the Dutch national final along 4 other artists, who each had 3 songs in the competition. She won the Dutch final by a huge margin, but it seemed Europe wasn't ready for Milly.
Fernando & Filippo was her only chart hit in the Netherlands but she continued as a popular singer on radio & TV. Milly Scott later worked in Sweden, Germany and the U.K..
In the 90's she made a comeback as an actress in the popular TV series Vrouwenvleugel (Womens wing, drama series about a women's prision)
Milly Scott recorded Fernando & Filippo in Dutch, Spanish and English and I know of just a handful of coververions. http://www.millyscott.nl/

Conny van Bergen (Dutch)
- on VA LP Songfestival Successen (Philips 625807)
Mayte Gaos - Fernando Y Felipe (Spanish)
- on 7"
Mayte Gaos was born in Spain but worked as a singer and actress in Mexico from age 15. She scored several hits like El Gran Tomas (Norman), Vete Con Ella (Chapell Of Love) and Susy La Coquetona.
Los Jolly’s - Fernado Y Felipe (Spanish)
- on EP (Columbia SCGE-81146)
Los Jolly's are Los Mismos
Suzie (Swedish) - Fernando och Filippo (see below)
- on EP (Sonet : SXP 4087)
+ instrumental by The Three Jacksons (Accordion)

SUZIE
Suzie (Maria Pereboom, 1946 - 2008) was born in the Netherlands, lived in Sweden and had her biggest career in Germany.

Her biggest hit in Germany was Johnny Komm which was a German translation of her first hit Johnny Loves Me. The single became a millionseller in 1964 after the b-side Du, Du Gehst Vorbei re-charted. Other hits were Max Und Moritz, Ich War Allein and Ich Will Immer Nur Dich (pictured)
In the Netherlands she had two hits only: Johnny Loves Me in 1964 and heartfelt classic De Wereld Is Leeg Zonder Jou in 1966 (which is the Dutch version of Du, Du Gehst Vorbei)

Suzie also recorded Gib Mir Mein Herz Zurück which is a German version of Quel Cœur Vas-Tu Briser?, Switzerlands Eurovision entry from 1967 originally by Géraldine (last with 0 points).
Suzie recorded in Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Danish and French.
She died in Sweden March 2008 and I'm sad to say her death went by almost unnoticed.




Read more about Suzie at Ready Steady Girls


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* In 1966 each jury gave 5,3 and 1 point to their top three

Men In Tights: Yugoslavia 1968, The Troubadours Of Dubrovnik

Here's a few coverversions of the 1968 entry from Yugoslavia: Jedan Dan by The Troubadours of Dubrovnik, Dubrovački Trubaduri to their moms.
The Eurovision performance was much talked about and the boys outfits later featured in the movie Robin Hood - Men In Tights.
In the Yugoslavian national selection the Troubadours represented TV Zagreb (Croatia)
The song ended 8th with 7 points in the (pre-douze poing system) contest in the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The medieval style folkloristic song even went on to be a minor hit in some countries including Netherlands and Belgium.
The Troubadours also recorded an English version of the song titled A Day Or Two, which was released on a flexidisc (Jugoton F-0665) in Yugoslavia and a single in Finland (Star records SW 2002). Both are amongst the rarest Eurovision releases. The original (hit) version was released in several countries on singles and EPs.

Jedan Dan has been covered a few times and I have listed details on the ones I know. But I think there should be more out there, including some from Yugoslavia. So if you have any additions, let me know.

Le Quartet de Lyon - Dim dam dam (French)
- 7"& EP (Canada Disc AZ 4429 / EP Disc AZ EP1211)
Os Keepers - Um dia (Portuguese)
- from EP Eurovisão (pictured below) which also includes La La La and Congratulations
Die Nilsen Brothers - Zeit ist Geld (German)
- from 7" (Populär 3072)
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Die Nilsen Brothers had a #1 hit in Germany 1n 1959 with their German rendition of Tom Dooley which was the #3 best selling single of the year.
Ronnie Lake - Thomas Jan (Dutch)
- b-side to 7" La La La (Spains winner) (Philips JF 333 989)
Ronnie Lake (Roel v.d. Meer) was a featured singer with Chapter II (prev. Young Ones), collectable artists from The Hague beat movement.
Lize Marke - Met Sint Jan (Flemish)
- on LP Lize Marke (1969, REGAL RECORDS 23018)
Lize Marke represented Belgium in the 1965 contest with Als Het Weer Lente Is
+ instrumental versions by Roman Butina (Hammond) and Willy Schobben (Trumpet)

Spain 1961 - Estando Contigo - La Lupe & Antoñita Moreno

Here's a little tribute to the Spanish debut entry already in the Youtube below this post. Estando Contigo by Conchita Bautista ended 8th at the contest back in 1961.
But Estando Contigo really became the evergreen it is today after Marisol adopted the song for the movie Ha llegado un ángel in 1962. You can find more about this Marisol version in Eurocovers post The Kids Are Alright part 1.
Conchita Bautista entered Eurovision again in 1965 with another classic Que Bueno, Que Bueno, but that ended with the dreaded nil poing. But watch Eurocovers for some fab Que Bueno's soon.

La Lupe (1936 - 1992) - Queen of latin soulA latin singer that has always captured my imagination is La Lupe (Lupe Victoria Yolí Raymond). A Salsa singer born in Santiago de Cuba with a typical superstar life and a tragic ending to match.
I first got to know about La Lupe after Dutch radio repeatedly played her totally crazy version of Peggy Lee's Fever as a must hear cult track.
After a while a found a great Best Of CD (including Fever) on Salsa Masters / Sony which still frequents my CD player.

La Lupe's first band was Trio Tropicuba with her then husband Yoyo Reyes but after two years she broke up with her husband and the band split up. By then she was a popular singer in Cuban clubs and her outragious style attracted many fans. But not Fidel Castro I guess, as in 1962 La Lupe emigrated to the USA: "Castro take my club, my money, my car"

In New York she worked with Mongo Santamaria and later with Tito Puente, with whom she recorded her most successful work.

But in the 70's, after she split up with Puente, things went downhill and she moved to Puerto Rico where she could still find work in TV shows and perform at concerts.
When that dried up she returned to New York, but the medical expenses for her 2nd husband had left her broke.
Come the 80's things took several turns for the worst. She was living on benefits, broke her spine in a domestic accident , hanging the curtains and her appartment burnt down.
In 1985 she reunited with with Tito Puente for a performance where she sang from a wheel chair and money was raised to pay for her medical bills.

Legend has it that La Lupe rose from her wheelchair after she was blessed by a evangelical priest. (But maybe she just put on one of her own records).
She turned to religious music and her last 4 albums testified of her love for God and all his miracles.
In 1992 La lupe died in the Bronx, survided by two children and her 2nd husband.

In her recording career La Lupe's musical styles range from popular salsa to local styles from Venezuela (Merengue), Puerto Rico and Venezuela. She wrote many of her songs herself and she covered popular songs like My Way, Unchained Melody, Ciao Amore, Fever (featured below), the Singing Nuns Dominique and the Beatles' Yesterday.
In 1971 La Lupe released the LP La Lupe en Madrid - Volumen 17 (Tico records, SLP-1229) , which seems to be her 17th LP. This includes Estando Contigo, Spains first Eurovision entry.
La Lupe en Madrid was re-issued on CD in the 90's on Fania Records. Most earlier La Lupe records are now very collectable, for the musical content but also for the fabulous artwork and photography.

I recommend you browse YouTube for some La Lupe videos and be amazed. Jean Paul Sartre loved her ('she's a musical animal'), Picasso thought she was a genius and so will you.
La Lupe compilation cds are available from most webshops but if you're lucky (and rich) you can find some goodies in the vinyl shop, latin section.


Antoñita Moreno
And as a bonus here's another Estando Contigo by a legendary singer. At least I get the impression she's legendary (she certainly looks the part,) but I haven't found out much about the singer yet. It's a version by Antoñita Moreno who is an actress and Copla singer from Sevilla, Spain. She was quite famous in the 50's but the rest you'll have to find out for yourself. Some great pictures can be found on this site. Originally released on an EP (Columbia ECGE 71475) (Thanks to Armando for the picture sleeve!)

Estando contigo (Spain 1961) - Los Soberanos

The Spanish debut entry in a feisty pop version by Los Soberanos. From their 2005 CD Maraton Yé Yé (Elefant Records AUTO-005)
More Estando Contigo soon....

2008: Anno Domenico - A few Volares from the olden days

Here's a selection of Volares from 1958

Umberto Marcato recorded at least 4 'modern' versions of Volare, but here's his original from 1958.
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Aurelio Fierro (1923 - 2005) sings Volare with his signature high voice. (pictured right)

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George de Witt (1922 - 1979), one time host of US TV show Name That Tune, croons away on an English version of Volare.

Alberto Semprini (1908-1990), heard here playing a piano version of Volare, was the original conductor of the orchestra for Domenico Modugno when he performed his song on the Eurovision stage in Hilversum, Netherlands.