Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, its first Eurovision Song Contest victory. Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation internally selected Helena Paparizou who sang "My Number One" in Kiev, winning the competition with 230 points. The song is written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou, and composed by Christos Dantis. "My Number One" was selected through a national final on 2 March 2005, where the public and a professional jury chose it over three other candidate songs.
Background
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 marked Greece's twenty-sixth entry in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 1974. Prior to the contest, its best result was third place which was achieved twice: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique and in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas. Greece's least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. Its selection techniques have varied from national finals where the public selects the entry, to internal selections like used in 2004, where the broadcaster has complete control over the selection. For the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, ERT decided to hold a televised national final after internally selecting an artist.
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
Throughout the months preceding the national selection, rumors appeared on Eurovision news websites about which artist would be representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. ERT decided to internally select the artist, while there would be a national final for the public to choose the song.The first artist presented with an official proposal to represent Greece was Sakis Rouvas, the Greek entrant in 2004 contest. During a press conference on 15 June 2004 discussing plans for the contest, the network announced that they would like to have him represent them again if he would accept the offer. ERT was expecting an answer by mid-July but Rouvas' response did not come until the 22nd of the month. He considered it, but ultimately felt that another artist should receive the opportunity. ESCToday mentioned that Rouvas' "decision is expected to sadden Greek fans, who generally supported the idea of him competing again." ERT would continue to ask Rouvas to represent them every year until he finally accepted again in 2009.
Meanwhile, in June 2004, Anna Vissi stated that she "would go to Eurovision if she was asked to". The network kept the internal format, seeking high-profile acts. On 27 November 2004, it was reported that Despina Vandi was "ready to sign the necessary contracts" though nothing was officially announced by ERT. The rumored contract, brokered between Vandi's record label Heaven Music and ERT would have included a term that required all of Vandi's songs to be written by popular Greek songwriter Phoebus. On 28 November 2004, ERT's Eurovision spokeswoman Daphne Bokota stated that Despina Vandi and ERT were close to a deal, but had concluded that she was too expensive to send to the contest. She also said that Vandi was worried about participating in the Eurovision Song Contest while her international career was going well. "Here at ERT, we don't understand Greek artists are so insecure to participate", she stated. Bokota ended by saying that they would announce the artist within the next five to ten days and that a possible backup was Helena Paparizou.
Around the same time, Annet Artani was also reported to be a candidate. The Greek-American songwriter was still participating in Fame Story at the time and it was thought that she might pull out of the competition. On 5 December 2004, Anna Vissi was reportedly also in negotiations with ERT and on 8 December 2004, Daphne Bokota once again spoke on the issue saying that there would be a delay in the decision because of an "obstacle" within the broadcaster. On 15 January 2005, ERT held a meeting with Franz Ferdinand which was reported by Star Channel to be the front runner, but ERT soon excluded them as they had "no idea how Eurovision works and thus they proposed to compose a remake of a past song of theirs", a violation of contest rules; they were also requesting more money.
On 22 January 2005, ERT announced that they had selected Helena Paparizou, former member of the Greek-Swedish duet Antique which had represented Greece at the 2001 contest, achieving 3rd place. Deals with Artani and Vissi that were also going on at the time failed to materialize. In Vissi's case, one factor may have been scheduling issues, as during the time of the contest she was in the United States promoting "Call Me". In a press release, ERT stated that Paparizou's singing career in Sweden was "a factor which surely contributed to the final choice of Paparizou, since the 'northern' votes are considered to be important".
National final
After selecting Paparizou, ERT decided to pick four candidate songs, and host a televised national final, with the winning song being chosen by a combination of SMS and televoting and a nine-member "expert" jury panel, consisting of Mimis Plesas, Antonis Andrikakis, Kostas Tournas, Željko Joksimović, Betty Golema, Ion Stamboulis, Fotini Giannoulatou, Sietse Bakker, and Christos Liritzis.Competing entries
Out of 100 songs submitted by Greek and foreign composers, a committee made up of representatives from ERT, Sony BMG, and Paparizou, shortlisted 15 songs, and then further narrowed down to four. On a special show broadcast on 18 February 2005, titled EuroMania, the four songs, "My Number One", "OK", "Let's Get Wild" and "The Light in Our Soul" were presented to the Greek public. However, on 19 February 2006, it was revealed that "The Light in Our Soul" had been released and made available on Amazon.de by a band named "Big Alice" on 25 May 2004 and was therefore disqualified from the competition, leaving only three songs competing in the national final. According to contest rules, a song cannot be released before October 1 of the previous year. During the show, it was also announced that the choreography for all songs was arranged by Fokas Evangelinos. A second special Eurovision show was broadcast on 25 February 2005, in order to familiarize the Greek public with the artist.Final
The final took place on 2 March 2005 at the Fever Music Center in Athens, hosted by Alexandra Pascalidou. Paparizou performed all three candidate songs during the show, and the winner was chosen by a public and jury vote. Each jury member awarded each song between 1 and 10 points, with the best song receiving 10 points. 229,368 televotes and SMS votes were also cast in the final.At the end of the show, "My Number One" was revealed to be the winning song, winning both the jury and televoting result, receiving 66.47% of the overall votes.
Interval acts during the show included Greek musical group ; Dutch and Andorran 2005 contest representatives, Glennis Grace with "My Impossible Dream" and Marian van de Wal with "La mirada interior"; runner-up of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Željko Joksimović with "Lane moje", and the Swedish band Alcazar with "Alcastar".
Promotion
Before her appearance at the contest, Paparizou went on a promotional tour sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourism Organization, singing her song in several Eurovision countries.The tour started off on 12 March 2005 in Berlin, Germany, where she visited the International Tourism Exchange Show, performing "My Number One". The next stop was Moscow, Russia, where Paparizou taped a show for MTV Russia and then presented the Greek song at the International Tourism Exhibit, the largest tourism exhibit in the world. She also gave several interviews to the press and before leaving, attended a Greek Independence Day reception at the Greek embassy. Upon her return to Greece, she was greeted at the airport by fans along with the music video of "My Number One" playing on the video monitors. While in Greece, she attended the opening ceremony of the European final four for the Volleyball Champions League in Pylaia, where her song was played as she appeared on stage with cheerleaders.
On 29 March 2005, Paparizou arrived in Valletta, Malta where she signed autographs, appeared on television stations, and gave interviews to the local media. She then traveled to Serbia and Montenegro where she gave additional interviews before moving on to Andorra on 10 April 2005. She was soon in Lisbon, Portugal where she promoted not only her song, but also Greek export products, as she was sponsored by the Greek tourism industry. She also attended an international exhibition of food and drink where the song was played, while its music video was seen on a large monitor.
On 20 April 2005, Paparizou arrived in Sweden where she had started her singing career as part of Antique. She was interviewed by many of the local media outlets and could be heard on radio stations around Stockholm. Following her stay in Sweden, Paparizou flew to Istanbul, Turkey where the Greek delegation met with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who told her that it was good luck that the contest fell on her name-day of 21 May 2005. While in Turkey, she also posed for magazines and was interviewed by the media. She soon returned to Greece before leaving for a short trip to Kiev, the location of the contest.
At Eurovision
As Greece had finished the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in third place, its 2005 song was pre-qualified for the final in 2005. Greece was drawn to perform nineteenth on the night, following Croatia's Boris Novković and Lado with "Vukovi umiru sami" and preceding Russia's Natalia Podolskaya with "Nobody Hurt No One". Paparizou appeared confident on stage and her dancers prepared an extravagant show with carefully choreographed stage moves. She wore a short orange-yellow dress while the dancers wore tan colored clothing. The performance included Paparizou playing the lyra, a Greek musical instrument and the backing dancers forming the number 1 on stage. The final was hosted and commentated on Greek television by Alexandra Pascalidou, who also hosted the national final, while the spokesperson who revealed Greece's votes for other countries was Alexis Kostalas, an ERT Board member who had been the spokesperson since 1998."My Number One" won with a total of 230 points. It received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Serbia & Montenegro, Sweden, United Kingdom, and unexpectedly Turkey. The highest viewing ratings in the history of Greek television were recorded during the presentation of the pure gold trophy to Helena Paparizou by the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, with 94.2% of the Greek population tuned in.
Points awarded to Greece
Points awarded by Greece
Semi-final
Points awarded in the semi-final:| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
Final
Points awarded in the final:| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
After Eurovision
Paparizou's first words after winning the 50th Eurovision Song Contest were "We showed the modern face of Greece. I reckon that’s the face everybody loves. Europe is our home!" Upon arrival back in Greece, she was greeted by crowds of fans at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport and the National Fire Brigade created a water-jet archway for her airplane, suggestively bearing the number "001", to pass through after it had landed. On the way to ERT Studios for a welcome party for Paparizou and the Greek delegation, people were standing on either side of the road throwing rose petals along the route of Paparizou's bus. When she reached ERT Studios, she was "met with deafening applause" and after moving from sight for a few minutes, she emerged on stage dressed in the Greek flag and holding the Eurovision trophy."My Number One" did very well in the music charts, being certified platinum in Greece and gold in Sweden while climbing to number one on both charts and charting for an extended number of weeks. It also charted in other European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It was later released in the United States as a CD Single with remixes and reached number eight on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play charting for eight weeks.
''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''
Among the distinctions awarded to "My Number One" was that it was chosen among thirteen other Eurovision songs to compete in , a 50th anniversary special in 2005, just a few months after Paparizou's victory. It was the only Greek entry and one of three winners from the '00s to compete. The song closed the first round of the contest in slot 14, following 1976 winners Brotherhood of Man with "Save Your Kisses for Me." Paparizou appeared on stage during the performance, lip-syncing along with a section of the song. At the end of the first round, "My Number One" was announced as one of the five songs proceeding to the second and final round. It was later revealed that it placed fourth in the first round, with 167 points."My Number One" finished fourth in the final round, scoring 245 points. This was 15 points more than her winning score at Eurovision; however, all countries could give each song in the final no fewer than six points, meaning that unlike in Eurovision, "My Number One" earned points from all the voting countries.
Points awarded to "My Number One" (''Congratulations'')
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |