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1978
VENUE

Palais des Congres, Paris

ENTRIES

20

HOSTS

Denise Fabre

Leon Zitrone

DEBUTS

None

1978 saw the first contest to be presented by a duo, a combo which these days seems to have become the norm. Leon Zitrone entered Eurovision history as the first male presenter since the very first contest twenty-two years earlier, in whose footsteps such illustrious names as Ronan Keating, Morten Harket and Sir Terry Wogan would follow. Greece and Turkey competed together for the first time and Denmarks return after a dozen years upped the field to a new record of twenty.  

The first two entries were a double whammy:  Colm Wilkinson, on his way to becoming a major musicals star, gave it loads for Ireland, and then second up was Jahn Teigen, with a performance not so much over the top as over the horizon. Teigen gained notoriety for 'nul pointing', although many songs had scored zero before and would do later. His was however the first blank for eight years and the first under the current scoring system. (From 1971 to 1973 the scoring system made it impossible to score zero).

Not learning from the fate of Silver Convention the previous year, another hit girly disco act was entered for Luxembourg. Baccara were at the peak of their powers in 1978 but could finish no higher than 7th with their thinly-veiled clone of "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie".  Co-Co's UK entry managed the distinction of being our first ever entry to miss the top ten (although in hindsight of course far worse was to come).  Amidst it all Israel took the crown in only their sixth contest pipping two big male-sung French language ballads.    

Ireland Born To Sing Colm Wilkinson  5
Norway Mil Etter Mil Jahn Teigen  20
Italy Questo Amore Ricchi E Poveri 12
Finland Anna Rakkaudelle Tilaisuus Seija Simola 18
Portugal Dai-Il-Dou Gemini  17
France Il Y Aura Toujours Des Violons Joël Prévost 3
Spain Bailemos Un Vals José Vélez 9
United Kingdom The Bad Old Days Co-Co 11
Switzerland Vivre Carole Vinci  9
Belgium L'Amour Ça Fait Chanter La Vie Jean Vallée 2
Netherlands 'T Is O.K Harmony 13
Turkey Sevince Nazar 18
Germany Feuer Ireen Sheer 6
Monaco Les Jardins De Monaco Caline And Olivier Toussaint 4
Greece Charlie Chaplin Tania Tsanaklidou 8
Denmark Boom-Boom Mabel 16
Luxembourg Parlez-Vous Français Baccara 7
Israel A-Ba-Ni-Bi Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta 1
Austria Mrs Caroline Robinson  Springtime 15
Sweden Det Blir Alltid Värre Framåt Natten Björn Skifs 14
WINNER:

Israel

Izhar Cohen A-BA-NI-BI

by

Izhar Cohen &

The Alphabeta

 

voting

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