Twenty years ago today, Ted Gärdestad passed away at the age of 41. At the age of 15, his music career started with his debut single 'Hela världen runt' ('All over the world'). He quickly became Sweden's first teen idol. Abba's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus produced Ted's debut album 'Undringar' ('Wonderings'), which was released on Polar Music in early 1972, with Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad providing backing vocals. All four members of ABBA continued to work with Gärdestad in throughout the 1970s.
It's no wonder, perhaps, that he ended up performing on the Eurovision stage too. He represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979. The song scored eight points and finished seventeenth out of nineteen participating entries, making it Sweden's then-second-lowest placing in the contest. The Swedish-language single became a Top 10 hit back home in Sweden and "Satellit" is regarded as one of Ted's signature tunes.
Justyna Steczkowska was born exactly 45 years ago today in Rzeszów, Poland. She comes from a big musical family, has five sisters (Agata, Krystyna, Magdalena, Maria, Cecylia) and three brothers (Pawel, Jacek, Marcin). She played violin in a family band before becoming a solo singer. In 1995, she represented Poland at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Sama' ('Alone'). The rather peculiar song was an artistic triumph but only got to 18th place. In Poland she appeared in two movies and took part in the Polish edition of 'Dancing with the stars'. In 2013, she was one of the coaches on the talent show The Voice of Poland.
One of the mysteries of Eurovision is that sometimes catchy, modern pop songs don't make it to the finals anymore. Even if they are sung by beautiful young women. Perhaps in the case of Jana Burceska, who was born 24 years ago today, there was too much focus on her private life: she announced her pregnancy before her performance and shortly after it, she was proposed to by her boyfriend Alexander and she accepted - all on air. All this took the focus away from this year's entry from Macedonia: 'Dance alone', a song written by Joacim Persson, Johan Alkanaes, Florence A. and Borislav Milanov. Although a hit in Macedonia, the song didn't qualify for this year's Eurovision final.
Gina G was born on 3 August 1970. She performed one of the most successful British Eurovision songs in terms of chart success: 'Ooh aah... Just a little bit'. It was already a top 10 hit in the UK before she even stepped on the Eurovision stage back in 1996. Therefore, expectations were pretty high once the event took place in Oslo (Norway). Unfortunately, despite the sexy dress and the excessive dancing, Gina was singing way off key and the whole dream of winning Eurovision was shattered. The song did, however, miraculously end up in eighth place in a field of 23 competitors. Gina seemed destined for a great career, but unfortunately she became entangled in all kinds of legal wrangles with her record company. She now lives in California with her husband and two children.
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