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http://users.pandora.be/diggiloo/pic/1983/se1.jpg

Country: Sweden
Year: 1983
Title: Främling
Title in English: Stranger
Performed by: Carola Hagqvist
Lyrics: Monica Forsberg
Music: Lasse Holm
Points: 126
Ranking: 3rd

Carola Maria Hagqvist was born on September 8th 1966 in Stockholm. Revealed on a TV Talent Show in 1977 at age 11, Carola first hit stardom in 1982 when she recorded a record with swedish heavy metal band Standby. Then in 1983, at age 16, she took part on the Swedish MelodiFestivalen where her song "Främling" wa sthe runaway winner. That Swedish final was watched by 6,1 million viewers, that is 84% of the Swedish population, a record yet to be broken. "Främling" also remains the only million-selling single in Sweden.

http://svt.se/content/1/c6/34/45/40/carola385.jpg

The ESC 1983 took place in Munich and is remebered for its stage which Terry Wogan called "the world's biggest electric heater". It was the first where singers used wireless microphones. Marléne Charrell, the presenter, did the flower arrangements that formed flags of the countries (as opposed to the traditional postcards), took part in the interval ballet act and presented the show in French, English and German, not without making several mistakes. 20 countries took part: Greece, France and Italy returned but Ireland withdrew due to financial problems in RTE. The songs styles were divided in the classic (for example, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland, Cyprus, France and Italy) and upbeat modern (Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Finland to name a few). In the end, the classic song won was Luxmebourg won with Parisian singer Corinne Hermés singing "Si la vie est un cadeau", ahead of Israel represented by the late Ofra Haza (who had a hit in 1988 with "Im nin alu") and her upbeat song "Hai" and Sweden with the first opus of ESC legend Carola. But the biggest shock came from Spain where Flamenco singer Remedios Amaya was unable to get a single point.

Carola appeared very youthful with a black top with a gyraph print and white trousers. "Framling" was one of the huge favourites but it settled for third, collecting 126 points:
12 - Norway and Germany
10 - Finland, Greece and Denmark
8 - UK, Italy, Israel and Austria
7 - Turkey and Cyprus
6 - France
5 - Switzerland
4 - Belgium and Portugal
3 - Netherlands
2 - Spain
1 - Yugoslavia
Only Luxembourg didn't give any points.

http://users.pandora.be/diggiloo/pic/1991/se1.jpg http://users.pandora.be/diggiloo/pic/2006/se1.jpg

As you all now Carola would return to the ESC in 1991 winning it with "Fangad av en stormvind" (famously developping a wind machine addiction) and in 2006 with "Invincible" coming up in fifth. She continued to have a successful career as a singer both on record and on stage musicals like "The sound of Music" and "Les Miserables". But she is also a tabloid target for marrying the leader of a Norwegian dissident preacher with who she ahd a son Amadeus and her alleged accusations of being homophobic that she always denied.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Carolatv3.jpg/220px-Carolatv3.jpg

http://www.eurovisioncovers.co.uk/s83.jpg

ESC Performance:


Perfoming at the Swedish final:


The english version "Love isn't love"



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Not a bad song but her 1991 and 2006 songs are far better!

 

I actually prefer this to the 91 song. Yes, it sounds bit out-dated but still good stuff never-the-less. Should have won that year.

 

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