# Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Wer Liebe lebt" written by Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl, and Eva Richter, and performed by Michelle. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), organised the national final Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001 in order to select their entry for the contest. The national final took place on 2 March 2001 and featured twelve competing acts with the winner being selected through two rounds of public televoting. "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle was selected as the German entry after placing first in the top three during the first round of voting and ultimately gaining 36.6% of the votes in the second round.
As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 19, Germany placed eighth out of the 23 participating countries with 66 points.

## Background

Prior to the 2001 Contest, ARD had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Germany forty-four times since its debut in 1956. It has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having appeared in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for 1996 when it was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In in 2000, the German entry "Wadde hadde dudde da?" performed by Stefan Raab placed fifth out of twenty-four competing songs scoring 96 points.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ARD organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1996, ARD had delegated the participation in the contest to its member Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. The broadcaster organised a multi-artist national final in cooperation to select its entry for the 2001 contest.

## Before Eurovision
### Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001 was the competition organised by NDR to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. The competition took place on 2 March 2001 at the Preussag Arena in Hanover, hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and broadcast on Das Erste as well as in Switzerland on SF 2. Twelve acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote. The national final was watched by 9.23 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 27.4%.

#### Competing entries

12 acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of the German Phono Academy from proposals received from record companies, while an additional act, Lesley, Joy and Brigitte, was provided by the Swiss-German broadcaster SF DRS which organised an online casting round titled song2001. Joy Fleming had represented Germany in 1975. The thirteen participating acts were announced on 9 January 2001 with one of the entries, "0190" written by Thomas Hubert Kopp and Edgar Fehse and to have been performed by Love Rocket, being disqualified prior to the competition due to NDR rejecting the group's intended stage performance.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Balloon | "Techno Rocker" | Markus Binapfl, Gordon Delay, Gerd Lehmkuhl, Oliver Goedicke, Oliver Lübbering |
| German Tenors | "A Song for Our Friends" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger |
| Illegal 2001 | "Ich weiß es nicht" | Thomas Lötzsch, Fiete Schlüter, Fred Sonnenschein, Jewns Liebscher, Christian Warkocz |
| Kevin | "Playing On My Mind" | Lutz Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Mary Susan Applegate |
| Lesley, Joy and Brigitte | "Power of Trust" | Guido Craveiro, Jason Homan |
| Lou and Band | "Happy Birthday Party" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger |
| Michelle | "Wer Liebe lebt" | Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl, Eva Richter |
| Münchener Zwietracht feat. Rudolph Moshammer | "Teilt Freud und Leid" | Wolfgang Köbele, Hans Greiner |
| Soultans | "Set Me Free" | Tony Hendrik, Karin van Haaren |
| Tagträumer | "Träumen und hoffen" | Mike Pro, Andy Jonas, Susanne Kemmel |
| Wolf Maahn | "Better Life" | Wolf Maahn |
| Zlatko | "Einer für alle" | Bob Arnz, Christoph Siemons |

#### Final

The televised final took place on 2 March 2001. The winner was selected through two rounds of public televoting held in Germany and Switzerland. In the first round of voting, the top three entries were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle, was selected. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured the German group Ballhouse, the German singer Millane Fernandez performing her song "Boom Boom", the German duo Modern Talking performing their song "Win the Race" and the German duo Rosenstolz performing their song "Total Eclipse" together with English singer Marc Almond.
First Round – 2 March 2001 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | German Tenors | "A Song for Our Friends" | — | 4 |
| 2 | Münchener Zwietracht feat. Rudolph Moshammer | "Teilt Freud und Leid" | 2.3% | 10 |
| 3 | Soultans | "Set Me Free" | — | 8 |
| 4 | Michelle | "Wer Liebe lebt" | 22.2% | 1 |
| 5 | Balloon | "Techno Rocker" | 2.8% | 9 |
| 6 | Tagträumer | "Träumen und hoffen" | — | 7 |
| 7 | Illegal 2001 | "Ich weiß es nicht" | — | 5 |
| 8 | Lesley, Joy and Brigitte | "Power of Trust" | 22.1% | 2 |
| 9 | Zlatko | "Einer für alle" | 3.7% | 6 |
| 10 | Wolf Maahn | "Better Life" | — | 12 |
| 11 | Kevin | "Playing On My Mind" | — | 11 |
| 12 | Lou and Band | "Happy Birthday Party" | 18% | 3 |
Second Round – 2 March 2001 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Michelle | "Wer Liebe lebt" | 36.6% | 1 |
| 2 | Lesley, Joy and Brigitte | "Power of Trust" | 34.7% | 2 |
| 3 | Lou and Band | "Happy Birthday Party" | 28.7% | 3 |

## At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 12 May 2001. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 2001 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The 23 participants were made up of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the 12 countries with the highest average scores between the 1996 and 2000 contests competed in the final. As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the contest. During the allocation draw on 9 November 2001, Germany was drawn to perform in position 19, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Estonia. Germany finished in eighth place with 66 points. The 2001 contest marked the only occasion on which two performers participated under identical names: the singer from the Netherlands was also called Michelle.
In Germany, the show was broadcast on Das Erste which featured commentary by Peter Urban. The show was watched by 8.44 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 36.9 per cent. NDR appointed Axel Bulthaupt as its spokesperson to announce the top 12-point score awarded by the German televote.

### Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the contest.