Merci, Udo!
Jürgens in 1966: “Never again Song Contest”
First a curse, then a blessing - winning the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg was Udo Jürgens' international breakthrough. But he didn't want to be on stage at all.
The year 1966 was actually one of pure frustration for the ambitious Udo Jürgens at the Grand Prix. Although the composer and singer's career finally took off thanks to his collaboration with German music publisher Hans R. Beierlein, the Carinthian had to settle for 5th place in his first appearance at the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, his song "Warum nur, warum" in the English version "walk away" (interpreted by Matt Monro) became a global hit; in France, the song even reached number one in the charts.
Despite the frustration, Udo Jürgens took on the challenge of the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson again the following year - this time in Naples.
The manager practically had to force Jürgens
The result was 4th place - another bitter defeat for Udo Jürgens. And he swears to himself: "Never again Song Contest!" The fact that he competed a third time in 1966 was solely thanks to his manager Beierlein - who practically forced him to do so. And even stopped "his" musician from leaving Luxembourg again on the day of the contest. The Carinthian didn't even notice that the "Bild" newspaper appeared on the front page that day with the line "Udo Jürgens - without a chance". His manager buys all the copies available at the time - and has Udo's hotel phone blocked.
What finally follows that evening is red-white-red music history: with "Merci, Chérie", the Carinthian enchants the audience, the international jury and finally makes it onto the winner's podium at his third attempt. And secured the first Austrian victory at the Eurovision Song Contest.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.