Eurovision Song Contest 1989

Eurovision Song Contest 1989
The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, following Céline Dion's victory at the with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), the contest was held at Palais de Beaulieu on 6 May 1989 and was hosted by Swiss model Lolita Morena and journalist Jacques Deschenaux.
Twenty-two countries took part in the contest with returning after having been disqualified the year before.
The winner was with the song "Rock Me" by Croatian band Riva. This was the only victory for Yugoslavia before its breakup. they are still the last act to win the contest performing last.
Location
Lausanne is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and the capital and biggest city of the canton of Vaud. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (or simply ). It faces the French town of , with the Jura Mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located northeast of Geneva.
, a convention and exhibition centre, was chosen to host the 1989 contest. The centre includes the 1,844 seat concert, dance and theatre hall. Inaugurated in 1954, the is the biggest theatre in Switzerland. The Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Hall 6 + 7 of the , to the right from the main hall and the theatre.
Participating countries
Two of the performers, Nathalie Pâque and Gili Natanael were respectively 11 and 12 years old at their time of competing. Due to bad publicity surrounding their participation, the European Broadcasting Union introduced a rule stating that no performer would be allowed to take part before the year of their 16th birthday. This rule remains in place to the present day.
Each performance (except Austria, Iceland and Germany) had a conductor who led the orchestra. Unlike in most years and like in 1988, the conductors took their bows after each song, not before.
Returning artists
Contest overview
The previous year's winner, Céline Dion, opened the show with a mimed performance of her winning song and a mimed performance of her first English-language single, "Where Does My Heart Beat Now". The song became a top ten hit in the US a year later - effectively launching her into international success.
The United Kingdom's Ray Caruana, lead singer of Live Report was outspoken about coming second to what he considered a much less worthy song. They had been defeated by 7 points.
At the end of the show, Riva performed their winning song "Rock Me" in English, rather than Serbo-Croatian.
Spokespersons
Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1989 contest are listed below.
Erla Björk Skúladóttir
Eileen Dunne
Agneta Bolme Börjefors
Colin Berry
Detailed voting results
Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. There was also a change of rule in case of a tie; prior to 1989, both countries would perform their songs again until a final decision was made; this never happened. From 1989 onwards, if there was a tie at the end of the voting, the country that scored the most twelves would be declared the winner. If there was still a tie, the winner was the country that scored the most tens. And if there still was a tie after that, both countries would be declared joint winners.
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
Broadcasts
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
See also
Eurovision Young Dancers 1989
Notes
References
External links
1989
Music festivals in Switzerland
1989 in music
1989 in Switzerland
Events in Lausanne
May 1989 events in Europe
20th century in Lausanne