Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi chose to hold a national final this year after efforts to find a big-name artist for an internal selection failed. The artists involved were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta. The national final took place February 28, 2007, and was called "Eurovision 2007". Each artist choose a song, and performed it in their own way. The winner was Sarbel with the song "Yassou Maria" which was chosen via 50% televoting and SMS voting and 50% jury voting.
Background
Prior to the 2007 Contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-seven times since its first entry in 1974, winning in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou, and being placed third twice: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique and in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. 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, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. From 2004 to 2006, ERT had selected high-profile artists internally and set up national finals to choose the song, while for 2007 it held a televised national final to choose both the song and performer. As every other year since his first participation in the 2004 contest, ERT asked Sakis Rouvas to represent Greece but he did not accept.
Before Eurovision
Ellinikós Telikós 2007
Ellinikós Telikós 2007 was the Greek national final developed by ERT to select Greece's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.Competing entries
The three artists involved in the national final were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta.Sarbel performed "Yassou Maria", with lyrics by Mack and composed by popular Greek-Swedish composer team Alex Papaconstantinou and Marcus Englof who had previously written music for 2005 winner Elena Paparizou. Sarbel described the song as "a whole new style within itself" because of its Pop, Latin, and touch of ethnic Greek sounds. Sarbel was accompanied on stage by four female dancers. He wore black leather pants, and a silver shirt. There were blue lights and fire in the background. The choreography was complex which led to some problems with his microphone.
Tamta performed the ballad "With Love", composed by Eurovision veteran Nikos Terzis with lyrics by Posidonas Giannopoulos. The song included ethnic Balkan sounds in addition to the main melody and a part of the song was in Greek. Tamta went on stage with 2 male dancers and had a stage act with pyrotechnics. She wore a white dress with while glove and a white hood. The background was orange-yellow. The male dancers used red ribbon-flags on stage. The video wall in the background showed the words "love" and "happiness" in different languages. The song had a microphone glitch in it mid-way when one of the dancers stepped on a wire. Although she did not win the Greek selection, she would get her ticket to Eurovision twelve years later representing Cyprus with the song “Replay.”
Christos Dantis performed "No Madonna", a song composed by himself with lyrics by Natalia Germanou. Together in 2005, they also composed the winning Eurovision song "My Number One" for Elena Paparizou. The song was rock-dance with an ethnic Greek twist. Christos Dantis was accompanied by 5 female dancers with blond wigs made to resemble Madonna. The stage show included a fog machine and the song's lyrics written on the video wall talking to the audience. He wore a black suit on stage, then later a shiny black jacket. The female dancers mid-way in the song removed their skirts. The song also had a microphone glitch in it.
Final
The final took place on 28 February 2007 at the Athinon Arena Music Hall in Athens at 9:00 PM CET, hosted by Fotis Sergoulopoulos and Maria Bakodimou. It was broadcast live by ERT, ERT World, and a webcast via the ERT website by 8 other countries. Three songs competed and the winner was chosen by televoting and an "expert" jury. At the end of the show, "Yassou Maria" performed by Sarbel was revealed to be the winner, receiving 39.69% of the overall votes.Interval acts during the show included a number of the 2007 contest representatives, which included Swiss participant DJ Bobo, Cypriot participants Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas, Belarus participant Dmitry Koldun and Bulgarian participants Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov. Greek interval acts included Natasa Theodoridou, Michalis Hatzigiannis, and Despina Olympiou. Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas were also guests at the show but did not sing. The hosts also provided comedy skits, an award show to past entries, and information on past acts.
At Eurovision
competed with Yassou Maria in the Eurovision Final in Helsinki, Finland on May 12, 2007. Greece was not required to sing in the semi-final as Anna Vissi, Greece's entry at the 2006 contest, reached ninth place.During a draw, Greece was assigned a running order of 10 in the contest. Sarbel appeared after 4 ballads, and before 1 disco song. He went on stage with 4 girls with short dresses. They used the same dance routine as the Greek National Final, but with minor changes. Those changes included the end part, which used ribbons attached to the girls skirts during the end bridge, with Sarbel acting as sort of a puppeteer. Later the ribbons were used to make a heart around Sarbel and the girls at the very end.
Greece's entry for the 2007 contest finished in 7th place with 139 points, 1 point ahead of Armenia and 6 points behind Belarus. With changes to the format of the competition coming into effect for 2008, Greece would have to compete in one of two semi-finals for qualification into the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. As Greece was not the winner of the 2007 Contest and was not a member of the Big Four, other results in the previous contest no longer pre-qualified nations to the final of the forthcoming contest.
Points awarded to Greece
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |