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LT United were a Lithuanian music group created in 2006 for the sole purpose of representingLithuania in theEurovision Song Contest 2006. The group entered the Lithuanian pre-selection event with the song "We Are the Winners", winning with almost twice as many votes as the runners-up, and finished 6th in theEurovision Song Contest final with 162 points.
LT United were created in early 2006 after the well-known LithuanianrockmusicianAndrius Mamontovas decided it would be a good idea to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. The group consisted of six individuals who were already well known in Lithuania, with all six having some form of musical ortelevision background. Along with Mamontovas, the other members wereMarijonas Mikutavičius, Viktoras Diawara, Saulius Urbonavičius,Arnoldas Lukošius, and Eimantas Belickas. Before joining LT United, Diawara had already represented Lithuania in the contest, finishing 13th in 2001 (seeEurovision Song Contest 2001) as part ofSkamp. The group were described by Mamontovas on LT United'sofficial website as "the musical equivalent of [a]national basketball team".
The group entered the Lithuanian pre-selection contest, dominating the scoring and receiving 32,669 points - almost double that of the second-placedInculto. After performing the song, the LithuanianPresidentValdas Adamkus invited the group to perform at Lithuania's Independence Day. The group also became the Lithuanian ambassadors for theUnited Nations' "Time to Help the Others" world development programme.
Themusic video for the song was released for public viewing on 23 March 2006 and wasdirected by Donatas Ulvydas. The video consisted of clips from their pre-selection performance, along with archive footage of the six members. The press release that accompanied the video stated that the use of archive material was to "prove the experience of each LT United member". The video received a large amount of airplay in Lithuania from March until the time of the contest in late May.
Prior to the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals, LT United refused to perform the song, deciding to wait until the semi-final itself (although a rehearsal performance was released on their official website just before it). The group also contactedradio stations acrossEurope to request the song be removed from playlists until 22 May (the day after the final). Despite this, the song became well known among those following the contest, with some annoyed at the lyrics (the statement "We are the winners, of Eurovision" appears 15 times). Some felt the song wasegotistical, although most considered the songtongue-in-cheek. When they appeared in the semi-final, there was some booing before and after their performance.
Despite that, their stage act (including Arnoldas Lukošius' manic dancing and Saulius Urbonavičius singing into amegaphone) helped the song to score 163 points, which proved to be enough to finish 5th in the semi-final. When their qualification was announced, loud boos were heard from the crowd.
Their final performance did not differ much from that in the semi-final, and despite (less prominent) booing from the crowd present inAthens, LT United managed to finish 6th with 162 points (with big points from theEnglish-speaking countries ofIreland and theUnited Kingdom, along with theirBaltic neighbours ofLatvia andEstonia, as well as fromIceland). This is Lithuania's best contest finish to date (beating their aforementioned 2001 entrants Skamp by seven places). During the final,BBC commentatorTerry Wogan likened Lukošius to the BritishcomedianHarry Hill. Contest winnersLordi jokingly quoted the song's title in the post-final press conference.
After the contest, LT United released "We Are the Winners" as a single (on the M.P.3 label), with aWorld Cup 2006 version of the song also included on the release despiteLithuania having never qualified for the World Cup. In two weeks, the single sold around 3,000 copies in Lithuania and thus went gold. Eventually, the single became platinum after selling 5,000 copies in Lithuania. It reached No. 14 on the Finnish singles chart, where it was released by Magnum Music.
Robbie Williams performed the song at a concert in the Belgian capitalBrussels, after he made jokes about the contest and their song in particular.[1]
On 11 March 2022, the group reunited on an annual awards ceremonyLietuvos Garbė, where they performed a remix of "We Are the Winners", titled "You Are the Winners, Ukraina", in support of Ukraine during the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2]
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| Preceded by | Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 | Succeeded by |
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