| Eurovision Song Contest 1986 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | Grieghallen Bergen, Norway |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Scrutineer | Frank Naef |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) |
| Director | John Andreassen |
| Executive producer | Harald Tusberg |
| Musical director | Egil Monn-Iversen |
| Presenter | Åse Kleveland |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 20 |
| Debuting countries |  Iceland |
| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries | |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song |  Belgium"J'aime la vie" |
| 1985 ← Eurovision Song Contest →1987 Event page at eurovision.tv  | |
TheEurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1986 atGrieghallen inBergen, Norway, and presented byÅse Kleveland. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasterNorsk rikskringkasting (NRK), who staged the event after winning the1985 contest forNorway with the song "La det swinge" byBobbysocks!. Kleveland had also representedNorway in 1966.
Broadcasters from twenty countries participated in the contest, withGreece andItaly deciding not to enter,Yugoslavia andNetherlands returning, andIceland competing for the first time.Turkey achieved their best result in the contest up to this point.
The winner wasBelgium with the song "J'aime la vie" bySandra Kim. Belgium was the last of the original 7 countries that had competed in the first contest to win. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner. Current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kim's record will never be broken. The lyrics of her song implied that Kim was 15 years of age, but after the contest, it was revealed that she was actually 13.Switzerland, who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but was not successful.[citation needed]
The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests—Crown Prince Harald,Crown Princess Sonja,Princess Märtha Louise, andPrince Haakon Magnus were all in attendance.
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By1985, Norway had received the unwanted distinction of being "thenul points country", receiving 0 points three times and coming in last six times. When they finally won the 1985 contest, it was a source of pride among the Norwegian population, andNorsk rikskringkasting (NRK) took full advantage of being able to showcase Norway and its achievements in front of over 500 million television viewers. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the next year's contest at theGrieghallen inBergen, turning down other bids from capitalOslo, and main cities ofStavanger,Sandnes, andTrondheim. Bergen is the northernmost city to have ever hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. About 450 journalists have covered the event.[1]
As this was the first time a Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Norway, NRK commissioned a lavish budget for the event, turningGrieghallen into aViking-esque "ice palace" for the live show, complete with white and pastel neon lights for the stage. In addition, NRK had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenterÅse Kleveland for her opening number. The prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 pounds (6.8 kg), is still available for viewing at NRK's costuming department atMarienlyst inOslo.
Åse Kleveland, a well-known music and celebrity at the host country, also was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians at the time and had representedNorway in 1966 at Eurovision, sang the multilingual "Welcome to Music" as the opening act, incorporating English and French primarily, in addition to other European languages. BBC commentatorTerry Wogan, at the close of Kleveland's number, dryly remarked, "Katie Boyle (a former Eurovision host for the UK) never sang, did she?"
During her opening remarks, Kleveland said of Norway's road in the contest, "For those of you who have followed Norway's course through the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, you will know that it has been quite thorny, in fact. So, imagine our joy when last year wefinally won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway, and to Bergen."
The intersong videos introducing each participant, traditionally named 'postcards' were for the only time, represented as actual picture postcards sent from the artists to your own nation. Each video began with clips of various scenic views of a part of Norway, which then 'flipped' to reveal a message of greeting, written in the language of the upcoming song, alongside details of the title, author and composer. The postage stamp on each card (a representation of a genuine Norwegian postage stamp) was linked to the theme of the video content. The postcard then 'flipped' back to the picture side, where the performing artist had been superimposed onto the image. After the video, Åse Kleveland gave details of the entry and introduced the conductors in a mix of English and French, reading from cards represented by the flag of the upcoming country.
The main interval act presented featured two Norwegian musicians: one was the previously unknown outside Norway 16 year-oldSissel Kyrkjebø and the musicianSteinar Ofsdal, accompanied by the NRK radio orchestra,Kringkastingsorkesteret (KORK). They opened with the traditional song of the city of Bergen,Udsikter fra Ulriken (also known as "Nystemte'n"), and presented a number of familiar tunes while showing the sights and sounds of Bergen area. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such asaccordion,recorder, andhardingfele. This was Kyrkjebø's first performance on an international event, which served as the starting point for a consolidated international career years later.
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| Eurovision Song Contest 1986 – Participation summaries by country | |
|---|---|
A record number of broadcasters submitted entries for the contest, and it was expected that twenty-two countries would participate in the event. This would have surpassed the previous record of twenty participating countries which competed in1978,1981, and1983. TheNetherlands andYugoslavia both returned after a one-year absence, andIceland made its first ever entry. Of the countries which had participated in theprevious year's event onlyItaly opted not to compete in this event. However, only twenty countries ultimately participated, as theHellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), which had already selected the song "Wagon-lit" performed byPolina to representGreece, made a late decision to not compete due to the event falling onHoly Saturday in theEastern Orthodox calendar.[2][3]
The contest featured one artist who had previously competed at Eurovision:Elpida representingCyprus had previously representedGreece in 1979.[2]
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) | Conductor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Austria | ORF | Timna Brauer | "Die Zeit ist einsam" | German |
| Richard Oesterreicher |
| Belgium | RTBF | Sandra Kim | "J'aime la vie" | French |
| Jo Carlier [fr] |
 Cyprus | CyBC | Elpida | "Tora zo"(Τώρα ζω) | Greek |
| Martyn Ford |
 Denmark | DR | Lise Haavik | "Du er fuld af løgn" | Danish | John Hatting [da] | Egil Monn-Iversen |
 Finland | YLE | Kari | "Never the End" | Finnish | Kari Kuivalainen | Ossi Runne |
 France | Antenne 2 | Cocktail Chic | "Européennes" | French |
| Jean-Claude Petit |
 Germany | BR[a] | Ingrid Peters | "Über die Brücke geh'n" | German | Hans Blum | Hans Blum |
| Iceland | RÚV | ICY [is] | "Gleðibankinn" | Icelandic | Magnús Eiríksson [is] | Gunnar Þórðarson [is] |
 Ireland | RTÉ | Luv Bug | "You Can Count On Me" | English | Kevin Sheerin | Noel Kelehan |
 Israel | IBA | Moti Giladi andSarai Tzuriel | "Yavo Yom"(יבוא יום) | Hebrew | Yoram Tzadok | |
 Luxembourg | CLT | Sherisse Laurence | "L'Amour de ma vie" | French |
| Rolf Soja |
 Netherlands | NOS | Frizzle Sizzle | "Alles heeft ritme" | Dutch |
| Harry van Hoof |
 Norway | NRK | Ketil Stokkan | "Romeo" | Norwegian | Ketil Stokkan | Egil Monn-Iversen |
 Portugal | RTP | Dora | "Não sejas mau p'ra mim" | Portuguese |
| Colin Frechter |
 Spain | TVE | Cadillac | "Valentino" | Spanish | José María Guzmán | Eduardo Leiva [sv] |
 Sweden | SVT | Lasse Holm andMonica Törnell | "E' de' det här du kallar kärlek" | Swedish | Lasse Holm | Anders Berglund |
 Switzerland | SRG SSR | Daniela Simons | "Pas pour moi" | French | Atilla Şereftuğ | |
 Turkey | TRT | Klips ve Onlar | "Halley" | Turkish | Melih Kibar | |
 United Kingdom | BBC | Ryder | "Runner in the Night" | English |
| No conductor |
 Yugoslavia | JRT | Doris Dragović | "Željo moja"(Жељо моја) | Serbo-Croatian | Zrinko Tutić [hr] | Nikica Kalogjera [hr] |
About 450 journalists have covered the event.[1] The trophy was made by Arne Valen at the Bergen Steinsenter.[6]
The contest took place at 21:00CEST,[7] and was hosted byÅse Kleveland, who had representedNorway in 1966.
| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | Sherisse Laurence | "L'Amour de ma vie" | 117 | 3 |
| 2 | Yugoslavia | Doris Dragović | "Željo moja" | 49 | 11 |
| 3 | France | Cocktail Chic | "Européennes" | 13 | 17 |
| 4 | Norway | Ketil Stokkan | "Romeo" | 44 | 12 |
| 5 | United Kingdom | Ryder | "Runner in the Night" | 72 | 7 |
| 6 | Iceland | ICY | "Gleðibankinn" | 19 | 16 |
| 7 | Netherlands | Frizzle Sizzle | "Alles heeft ritme" | 40 | 13 |
| 8 | Turkey | Klips ve Onlar | "Halley" | 53 | 9 |
| 9 | Spain | Cadillac | "Valentino" | 51 | 10 |
| 10 | Switzerland | Daniela Simons | "Pas pour moi" | 140 | 2 |
| 11 | Israel | Moti Giladi andSarai Tzuriel | "Yavo Yom" | 7 | 19 |
| 12 | Ireland | Luv Bug | "You Can Count On Me" | 96 | 4 |
| 13 | Belgium | Sandra Kim | "J'aime la vie" | 176 | 1 |
| 14 | Germany | Ingrid Peters | "Über die Brücke geh'n" | 62 | 8 |
| 15 | Cyprus | Elpida | "Tora zo" | 4 | 20 |
| 16 | Austria | Timna Brauer | "Die Zeit ist einsam" | 12 | 18 |
| 17 | Sweden | Lasse Holm andMonica Törnell | "E' de' det här du kallar kärlek" | 78 | 5 |
| 18 | Denmark | Lise Haavik | "Du er fuld af løgn" | 77 | 6 |
| 19 | Finland | Kari | "Never the End" | 22 | 15 |
| 20 | Portugal | Dora | "Não sejas mau p'ra mim" | 28 | 14 |
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1986 contest are listed below.
Finland – Solveig Herlin[9] Iceland – Guðrún Skúladóttir[10] Sweden – Agneta Bolme Börjefors[11] United Kingdom – Colin Berry[2]The winning song, Belgium's "J'aime la vie", received points from every jury (Belgium received five sets of 12 points; every country awarded Belgium at least five points except for Germany, which gave them just one point). Belgium was the leader in the voting from the results of the second jury out of twenty, in the longest winning stretch during voting since1974. Switzerland was behind Belgium in nearly every part of the voting, but Belgium had a commanding lead from the very beginning. Traditionally some juries give high points to the host country's entrant, but this did not happen this year; no jury gave Norway's song "Romeo" more than six points out of a possible 12.
Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before number of 176 points (that record remained seven years until the 1993 contest, with Ireland scoring 187 points), an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2023, still ranks 8th among all Eurovision winners.
Total score | Luxembourg | Yugoslavia | France | Norway | United Kingdom | Iceland | Netherlands | Turkey | Spain | Switzerland | Israel | Ireland | Belgium | Germany | Cyprus | Austria | Sweden | Denmark | Finland | Portugal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contestants | Luxembourg | 117 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||
| Yugoslavia | 49 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| France | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 44 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 72 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 2 | |||||||
| Iceland | 19 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 40 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Turkey | 53 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Spain | 51 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Switzerland | 140 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 10 | |||
| Israel | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 96 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| Belgium | 176 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 12 | ||
| Germany | 62 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Cyprus | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 78 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||
| Denmark | 77 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | ||||||||
| Finland | 22 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 28 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Belgium | Finland, France, Ireland, Portugal, Turkey |
| Switzerland | Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden | |
| 3 | Ireland | Austria, Denmark, Spain |
| 2 | Luxembourg | Germany, Norway |
| Sweden | Iceland, Switzerland | |
| 1 | Germany | United Kingdom |
| Turkey | Yugoslavia | |
| Yugoslavia | Cyprus |
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[14]
The contest was reportedly broadcast in Greece and Jordan; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union viaIntervision; and in Australia, Gibraltar, and South Korea, with an estimated maximum audience of 600 million viewers and listeners.[7][15][16][17] 44 television and radio stations have reportedly broadcast the contest.[1] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | SBS | SBS TV[e] | [58] | |
 Czechoslovakia | ČST | II. program [cs][f] | [59] | |
 Greenland | KNR | KNR[g] | [60] | |
 Hungary | MTV | MTV1 | [61] | |
 Italy | Telepordenone [it] | [62] | ||
 Jordan | JRTV | JTV2 | [63] | |
 Poland | TP | TP1[h] | [64] | |
 South Korea | KBS | 1TV[i] | [65] | |
 Soviet Union | CT USSR | Programme One[j] | [67] | |
| ETV[j] | [66] | |||
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| National selections |
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