Rising Like Phoenixes: Eurovision Backing Singers to Watch Written by Samantha Ross on January 15, 2015 | 4 Comments

The heroes and heroines of The Eurovision Song Contest take the stage every year, as names are etched onto the hearts of many. While it’s rare for the lead singers to return (you all know the rule… “you don’t come back again!”) look to the wings and you’ll see the backing singers. Once they’ve had a taste of the D3 experience, they’re ready to step up and fly the flag for their country once more. Samantha Ross investigates the bridesmaids heading for the musical altar.

As the first waves of the 2015 National Finals start to travel up to the Eurovision community like bubbles on a celebratory glass of prosecco, dedicated followers and fans of the Contest will undoubtedly have their wish-lists of artists that they’d like to see on the international stage this upcoming May. Will it finally be Traffic’s turn to take the wheel for Estonia? Will Latvia’s Samanta Tina ever get her moment in the sun? Who will take up Sanna Nielsen and Richard Edwards’ mantles of “if at first (or sixth, or eighth) you don’t succeed, try, try (try, try, try…) again”?

There are literally thousands of talented singers who will take a crack at this year’s competition, whether it’s by submitting a song to a National Final or begging a friend in high places for a fast-pass via an internal selection. But for today, I’d like to tip my hat to a few talented faces (and voices) who are technically Eurovision alumni already: the backing singers.

Why would a singer want to return to the madhouse that is Eurovision, and why should delegations and fans give them a shot?

Hey you, over there, in the shadows….

In a nutshell, pre-existing familiarity with how the ESC machine works, both from within a broadcaster’s individual process as well as once they hit the ground in the host city, can be a wonderful advantage. Personal connections have potentially already been made between a performer and the rest of their nation’s delegation, as well as with members of the international Eurovision community.

Instead of being overwhelmed by the never-ending cycle of preparations, rehearsals, conferences, the horde of rabid Eurovision press, and round upon round of drinks at the Euroclub, veterans familiar with the process may see the fortnight in a different light, and may possibly come better-prepared for the gauntlet to come. Also, simply put, if a backing singer had a good time on a previous experience, and the opportunity pops up to take the spotlight for yourself in front of a nine-figure audience, who wouldn’t want to hop back on the merry-go-round?

From The Ranks Of History

If you take a moment to think about it, there have been a number of singers and performers relegated to past years’ out-of-focus background shots, only to rise to the top in later editions of the ESC. Just from recent memory:

Anri Jokhadze, providing backing vocals for Diana Gurtskaya in 2008, took the reins as Georgia’s leading ‘Joker‘ in 2012.

Also for Georgia, Sopho Toroshelidze (aka Sopho 3.0) was barely seen when she sang backup for Sopho 2.0 in Oslo. However, as the lead singer for Eldrine the next year, her searing vocals brought ‘One More Day‘ into the Top Ten.

We didn’t get to hear Bledar Sejko’s vocals in Düsseldorf as he played guitar behind Aurela Gaçe, but all eyes and ears were on him and Adrian Lulgjuraj in 2013 with ‘Identitet‘.

Aliona Moon’s musical chops must have impressed Pasha Parfeny when she sang backup on ‘Lăutar‘ in 2012; the next year, he returned the favor, supporting her on stage in Malmö with ‘O Mie‘, which he had written.

Before her powerful performance in Oslo with ‘Je ne sais quoi‘ and subsequent success in Chile after her Viña del Mar victory, Hera Björk supported both Euroband and Yohanna in the two years leading up to her starring run.

Croatian-born Martina Majerle may have taken the lead role in Slovenia’s 2009 entry with Quartissimo, but she first took the Eurovision stage in 2003. Since backing up Croatia’s Claudia Beni, she has also worked with Slovenes Alenka Gotar, Maja Keuc, and Eva Boto, as well as Montenegro’s Stefan Filipović and Sergej Ćetković.

Maya Sar supported both Dino Merlin and Deen, Gor Sujian (from Dorians) backed up Eva Rivas, and Slovakia’s TWiinS even crossed the border to support Czech Tereza Kerndlová…

The list goes on and on. But who should we look to this year from Eurovision’s past cast of characters?

Malta and Belarus Promote From The Ranks

Even in these early stages of the 2015 pre-season, we’ve already witnessed a  pair of graduates from the ranks of the supporting acts: Malta’s Amber Bondin and Belarus’s Uzari. Amber has been a stalwart of the Maltese Selection since 2011’s ‘Catch 22‘. In 2012, after her ‘Answer with your Eyes‘ came in a respectable 3rd place at the national level, she joined Kurt Calleja in Baku on ‘This is the Night‘, the country’s first qualification since 2009. Since then, she’s continued her quest for a Eurovision appearance on her own terms, coming in 4th with both 2013’s ‘In Control‘ and ‘Because I Have You‘ last year.  For Amber, it looks like the 5th time was the charm, as ‘Warrior‘ nabbed top honors with both the professional jury and public televote, the first time those tallies have agreed since 2010.

Uzari (or as his Mum knows him, Yuriy Navrotskiy), who supported Anastasiya Vinnikova on ‘I Love Belarus‘ in 2011, took part in Eurofest 2012 and 2013 with ‘The Winner‘ and ‘Secret‘, respectively. Not just limiting himself to creating music for himself, Uzari also co-wrote Belarus’s Junior Eurovision entry for 2014, Nadezhda Misyakova’s ‘Sokal‘. This year, he teamed up with violinist Maimuna and took the win in Minsk with ‘Time‘.

And This Year’s Returning Warriors Include…

Iceland’s musical community has the tendency to send familiar faces to Eurovision delegations (whether that says something about the cohesive nature of the industry there or simply its size, I’m leaving for you to decide, dear reader).

I’ve mentioned Hera Björk’s upgrade from backing singer to lead, and Friðrik Ómar took the role in reverse, backing Yohanna a year after ‘This is my life‘. Any peek at any given year at the Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins shows the depth of the island’s musical pool, but I’d like to shine a particular light on two recent backing singers, both of whom will be seen at Söngvakeppnin 2015: Erna Hrönn and Pétur Örn.

Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir performed backing vocals alongside Hera Björk and Friðrik Ómar on ‘Is it true?‘, helping to bring the nation a well-deserved second silver medal. She stood beside Hera the next year with ‘Je ne sais quoi‘, making it to the final once again.

But ever since those back-to-back qualifications, Eurofans have been wanting to see her back in the delegation, ideally with a lead performer’s badge. She’s had her eye on the Icelandic prize as a soloist in her own right in the past. She failed to qualify for the Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins final in 2007 with ‘Örlagadís‘, or two years later with ‘Glópagull‘, but she made it through to the last round in 2011 with ‘Ástin mín eina‘ against tough competitors like Magni, Jógvan Hansen, Yohanna, and eventual winners Sjónni’s Friends.

She gave the contest another go with 2013’s ‘Augnablik‘, but once again failed to make it to the final round. With a voice as sweet as her smile, we look forward to the day when Erna Hrönn returns to the Press Centre. She’ll have her shot this year as a soloist, performing ‘Myrkrið hljótt‘.

Here she is with Guðrún Árný Karlsdóttir (who sang backup behind Greta and Jónsi in 2012) performing ‘Skammdegissól’ at the Hárpa Concert Hall in 2011:

Her compatriot Pétur Örn Guðmundsson has been no stranger to Eurovision since his first appearance as a backing singer behind August and Telma in 2000. Since ‘Tell Me’, he’s been behind the scenes for Silvia Night, Euroband, Hera Björk, and Greta and Jónsi.

We were disappointed to not see him on stage behind Eyþór Ingi until we realized that Pétur had actually written and composed ‘Ég á lif‘.

He’s given Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins a shot in the past as a singer, with two songs making it to the televised rounds of the 2011 competition: the sweetly understated ‘Elísabet‘ as a soloist and the classic, soulful ‘Saluhjalp‘ as a member of the locally-successful band Buff. His talents aren’t limited to musical ability; he has also made a name for himself in animated voiceover work. In Iceland, Pétur is the voice of Kermit the Frog and Mickey Mouse.

This year, he’ll be seen at the National Final, once again in a backing role, supporting Björn og félagar on ‘Piltur go stúlka’. If he makes it to Vienna, that would mark his seventh Eurovision. You’d be hard-pressed to find any other performer, Icelandic or not, with a larger collection of delegation badges on their mantle, but when will Pétur Örn get his moment to shine?

Looking eastward from Reykjavik, It’s hard to look at Ireland in recent years and not mention the lovely Leanne Moore. Originally coming to fame (and to the attention of RTÉ) through her win in the 2008 edition of ‘You’re a Star’, and subsequent number one hit on the Irish Chart, ‘On Wings‘, she’s kept herself pretty busy since.

Leanne caught the eye of Eurovision fans with her 2010 Eurosong entry ‘Does Heaven Need Much More?’. The entry may only have come in fourth place out of five entries, but that certainly didn’t stop her. Leanne was seen behind both of Jedward’s performances in 2011 and 2012 (and trust us, that’s not an easy feat) as well as Ryan Dolan’s 2013 entry, making her one of those rare individuals to make it to a Eurovision Final in three consecutive years.

In recent days, it’s been revealed that Leanne, together with Kim Hayden and Michelle McGrath, have formed a girl group named Liir, with their sights squarely set on Ireland’s 2015 Eurovision bid. Leanne wasn’t a part of the Irish delegation in 2014, when Ireland failed to qualify for the first time since 2009. Coincidence? Possibly… but if heaven doesn’t need much more, maybe Ireland’s Eurovision chances do?

Eagle-eyed watchers of the 2012 and 2013 contests may have noticed a common thread connecting Compact Disco’s ‘Sound of Our Hearts’ and ByeAlex’s ‘Kedvesem’; the lovely Helga Weber (or, if you wanted to be all Magyar about it, Wéber Helga). This lovely Hungarian caught our eye in Baku and Malmö supporting a pair of talented acts, but Helga, a former member of the band Unisex, is more than capable of standing on her own two feet.

Finally, the contest in Malmö brought us many questions when it came to the Macedonian entry. Would they be sending ‘Imperija’ or ‘Pred da se razdeni’? Would the primary lyrics be sung in English or the original Macedonian? And the lingering question for me: who was that on backing vocals? Singing alongside Eleonora Mustafovska was Nina Janeva, a very talented singer in her own right.

Ten years before producer Darko Dimitrov worked on ‘Pred da se razdeni’, he produced ‘Kraj sebe‘ for a teenaged Nina. Following the success of ‘Kraj sebe’, she joined the girl-group 4Play, which also racked up a number of local hits, including ‘Te molam ne placi‘.

Since then, she’s been successful as a solo artist, even being heavily rumored last year to have clinched an internal selection for Copenhagen. This November, we saw her take to the stage at Skopje Fest, where her song ‘Bluz za…‘ took thirteenth place overall. We’ve heard her sing pop, rock, r’n’b/ethno-fusion, and ‘bluz‘; this versatile performer has shown that she can take on any challenge, and we’re looking forward to seeing her tackle Eurovision once more.

I posed the question to my Twitter followers: which backing singer would you like to see representing their homeland in the near future? Here’s what a few of you had to say:

• @melissaecholima:Pétur Örn Guðmundsson. Think it’s about time 🙂
• @eurolemur: @ninazizic1 for sure!
• ‏@Maikeeel: Shirma Rouse.. Anouk’s backing singer from 2013 for The Netherlands…
• @syneryder: The backup singers for Solayoh? They sang at the Belarus party in 2013 & were great, don’t know names though. [According to my sources, they were Ana Mašulović, Marija Lazić, Mehmet Durmaz, Žiga Sotlar, and South African Willam Botha]

Eurovision fans love to see familiar faces, whether they’re a former lead singer trying to better a previous ESC result or a constant also-ran from a National Final. But there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of talented artists whose presence we often overlook, whose names we may never know, and who put in just as much time and effort as the singer who’s getting the prime camera angles and publicity. Some of them deserve their literal moment in the spotlight.