Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 with the song "April, april", composed by Bobbie Ericsson, with lyrics by Bo Eneby, and performed by Lill-Babs. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through a national final. The song was performed once by Siw Malmkvist, once by Gunnar Wiklund in the national final. However, none of them was considered acceptable for singing in Eurovision, so SR chose Lill-Babs as its representative instead. In the contest, once more held in Cannes, she finished in 14th place (out of 16).

Quick Facts Eurovision Song Contest 1961, Participating broadcaster ...
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Participating broadcasterSveriges Radio (SR)
Country Sweden
National selection
Selection processSong: National final
Artist: Internal selection
Selection date(s)6 February 1961
Selected artist(s)Lill-Babs
Selected song"April, april"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Bobbie Ericsson
  • Bo Eneby
Placement
Final result14th, 2 points
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1960 1961 1962►
Close

Before Eurovision

Summarize
Perspective

Eurovisionsschlagern - svensk final

Siw Malmkvist singing "April, april" at the national final.

Eurovisionsschlagern - svensk final (retroactively often referred to as Melodifestivalen 1961) was the Swedish national final and it was the third time that Sveriges Radio (SR) used a national final to select their song. One singer performed the song with a large orchestra and one with a smaller orchestra. Approximately 550 songs were submitted to SR for the competition. The final was held in the Cirkus in Stockholm on 6 February 1961, broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV, but was not broadcast on radio. Siw Malmkvist won with "April, april" but Lill-Babs went to Eurovision.

More information First Performance, Second Performance ...
Melodifestivalen - 6 February 1961[1]
First Performance Second Performance Song Songwriter(s) Place Points
R/O Artist R/O Artist
1 Lars Lönndahl 6 Lily Berglund "Spela på regnbågen" Britt Lindeborg 2 71
2 Siw Malmkvist 7 Gunnar Wiklund "Vår i hjärtat" Lennart Gröhn 4 58
3 Lily Berglund 8 Lill-Babs "Stockholm" Bobbie Ericson, Eric Sandström 5 57
4 Gunnar Wiklund 9 Siw Malmkvist "April, april" Bobbie Ericson, Bo Eneby 1 78
5 Lill-Babs 10 Lars Lönndahl "Vårvinter" Bobbie Ericson 2 71
Close

At Eurovision

On the night of the final, Lill-Babs performed 7th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Germany.

At the close of the voting "April, april" had received only 2 points (from France), placing Sweden 14th of the 16 competing entries.[2]

Voting

Every participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

More information Score, Country ...
Close

References

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.