| Eurovision Song Contest 2006 | |
|---|---|
| Country | Greece |
| National selection | |
| Selection process | National Final 60% Tele-Voting/SMS 40% Judging panel |
| Selection date(s) | March 14, 2006 |
| Selected entrant | Anna Vissi |
| Selected song | "Everything" |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 9th, 128 points |
Anna Vissi represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with her song "Everything". The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT), internally selected Vissi to represent the country at the contest, which took place in Athens after Greece's win at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou. "Everything", composed by Nikos Karvelas and written by Anna Vissi herself, was selected on March 14, 2006 at a national final by a combination of a televoting/SMS vote (60%) and expert jury (40%). At Eurovision, Vissi placed 9th, receiving 128 points.
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 marked Greece's twenty-seventh participation in the Contest since its first entry in 1974.[1] It won for the first time at the previous contest in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou,[2] and had been placed third twice up to the Contest: 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.[3] 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.[4]
The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry.[5] From 2001 to 2003, ERT held a national final with several artists, but for 2004 and 2005, it selected high-profile artists internally and set up national finals to choose their song. ERT continued the internal selection of the artist for 2006 and subsequently held a national final to select the song.
On August 6, 2005, MAD TV reported that Despina Vandi was "seriously considering" representing Greece in 2006 and would be or possibly already had been proposed to by ERT to be the Greek entrant.[6] Vandi had been asked previously to represent the country at the 2005 contest, but declined, fearing a bad result while her international career was going well.[7] A few months later on December 12, 2005, Star Channel announced that ERT would soon officially propose to a different artist, Anna Vissi, to be the representative. Vissi said in reply that she "never [excludes] a Eurovision Song Contest participation as long as everything is organized well".[8] She had participated in the contest twice before: in 1980 with "Autostop" for Greece and in 1982 for Cyprus with the song "Mono I Agapi", placing 13th and 5th respectively.[9] An official announcement was not made soon after as no agreement could be made at the time, but one month later on January 24, 2006, Vissi was officially announced as the artist for 2006.[10][11] A few days later in an interview with the press, she said "finally [a decision is made], I want to go to Eurovision too much". She said the reason that the final decision took so long to be announced was because she was still debating entering; using opinion polls along with talking to her usual collaborators.[12] It was also announced that the Vissi would sing either four or five songs live at the national final to choose her song.[13]
The date of the final was set for March 14, 2006 and took place at club Votanikos; broadcast live as a television program titled Feel the Party.[14][15] The show was hosted by Giorgos Capountzides and Zeta Makripoulia from the Greek television series Sto Para Pente and included a recap of Greece's entries from 1974 to 2005.[16][17] Past entries such as "Mathima Solfege", "Stop", "I Anixi", and "I Would Die for You" were shown on a large screen along with a video message by 2006 Eurovision host Maria Menounos, while Sakis Rouvas, Elena Paparizou, and Nana Mouskouri all sent personal messages via satellite.[18][19] During the show, guest acts representing other countries partaking in Eurovision performed their entries and they included: Fabrizio Faniello of Malta with "I Do", Sibel Tuzun of Turkey with "Süper Star", Mihai Traistariu of Romania with "Tornerò", Christine Guldbrandsen of Norway with "Alvedansen", and Annet Artani of Cyprus with "Why Angels Cry".[20]
Four candidate songs were decided on for Vissi to sing at the national final by ERT: "Who Cares About Love" which was written and composed by Nikos Karvelas, "Everything" which was also composed by Karvelas, with lyrics by Anna Vissi, "Welcome to the Party" which was composed by Dimitris Kontopoulos with lyrics by Dimitris S, and "A Beautiful Night" which was written and composed by Pegasos (Antonis and Dimitris Papavomvolakis).[21] "Everything" is described as a ballad, while the three others are more upbeat.[14]
The winning song was chosen by the public through televoting and a jury weighted at 60% and 40% of the result respectively. The jury panel was made up of Mimis Plessas, Antonis Andrikakis, Dimitris Starovas, Themos Anastasiadis, Christina Politi, Evangelia Piskera, Antonis Karatzikos, Rena Kapitsala, and a ninth vote was split between Sietse Bakker of ESCToday and Fotis Konstantopoulos of Oikotimes.[14][18]
"Everything" was proclaimed the winner after receiving 47.79% of the total vote, representing over 200,000 televotes. She received 55.66% of the vote from the viewers and 35.98% from the jury. "Welcome to the Party" placed second with 26.32% (27.69% from the viewers; 24.27% from the jury), 13.72% (7.25% from the viewers; 24.43% from the jury) for "Who Cares About Love" in third place, and 12.6% (9.39% from the viewers; 16.32% from the jury) for "A Beautiful Night" which placed last. Vissi stated that she liked all four songs, and after seeing the results, pledged to sing "Everything" "from the heart and give all her best for Greece".[18][19]
| Draw | Song | Composer | Televoting (60%) | Jury (40%) | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Beautiful Night" | Pegasos (Antonis & Dimitris Papavomvolakis) | 16.32% | 9.39% | 12.16% | 4th |
| 2 | "Who Cares About Love" | Nikos Karvelas | 7.25% | 24.43% | 13.72% | 3rd |
| 3 | "Welcome To The Party" | Dimitris Kontopoulos (Lyrics by Dimitris S.) | 27.69% | 24.27% | 26.32% | 2nd |
| 4 | "Everything" | Nikos Karvelas (Lyrics by Anna Vissi) | 55.66% | 35.98% | 47.9% | 1st |
Before her appearance at the contest, Vissi went on a promotional tour, singing her song in several Eurovision countries. The first stop was Moscow on March 25, 2006, Greek Independence Day, and she attended a reception at the Greek embassy. She stayed for three days and gave seven television appearances, three newspaper interviews and posed for several magazines.[22] Following Russia, Vissi traveled to Malta and then Cyprus where she performed at a large club in Nicosia.[23] Cyprus was followed by Albania, where she appeared at the "Albania Awards Kult", an awards show, and also gave a few interviews. The next stop was Serbia and Montenegro, followed by Romania.[22] By the end of April, Vissi had visited Sweden where she gave several more interviews to the local press.[24] Bosnia and Herzegovina was next at the beginning of May, followed by Belgium on the fourth. She met with Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Panteleimon of Belgium to whom she offered an autographed copy of her CD single "Everything" after having spoken to the media. Vissi then attended a reception at the Greek embassy before meeting up with Belgium entrant Kate Ryan with whom she visited a chocolate museum.[25] After Belgium, Vissi returned to Greece for a break before leaving for Israel, the last stop on the tour, where she remained for ten days.[26]
On April 25, 2006, Vissi re-released her most recent album at the time, Nylon, as Nylon: Euro Edition to include the four tracks from the national final and to coincide with the ongoing international promotional tour. At the same time, "Welcome to the Party" had entered the American market, already being played on some radio stations.[27]
At a press conference on May 16, Anna Vissi thanked her fans and God for everything that had been given to her. She also explained how important the competition was to her saying that she "really, really [wants] to win" and she also received several gifts from journalists and fans.[28]
"Everything" was considered a favorite at the contest, placing in the top three in a majority of fan polls and first in online betting houses.[29] British commentator for the semi-final stated that "she's massive in Greece, she's even bigger than the country itself".[30] "None of the rehearsals were attended by so many people as Anna Vissi's", noted Sietse Bakker, one of the jury members from the national final, "not only a large amount of fans and journalists took seat in the arena [...] but the president of Greek broadcaster ERT also entered the arena to see how 'his' artist was doing".[28]
As the winning country of the 2005 edition, Greece was automatically qualified for the final of the 2006 contest, and was drawn to present its song 16th on the night of the final, after the United Kingdom and before Finland.[10][31]
At the final, held on May 20, 2006, Anna Vissi appeared on stage surrounded by a fog effect created by dry ice. She was alone on the large stage and wore an exclusive Jean Paul Gaultier black and white outfit with black leggings. By the end of the song, she was down on her knees singing.[32] Her choreography for the final was arranged by Mia Michaels. Although considered a favorite, a ninth place finish was all Vissi could manage. She received the maximum 12 points from Bulgaria and Cyprus, 10 from Belgium and Romania, eight from Albania, Armenia, Germany, and Malta, seven from Macedonia and the United Kingdom, six from Serbia and Montenegro, five from France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, four from Sweden and Turkey, three from Lithuania, two from Belarus, and one from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Moldova, and Slovenia; in total, receiving 128 points.[33] The ninth place finish guaranteed Greece a place in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.[34]
The day after the contest, Vissi could be seen crying in front of cameras while recounting her experience, but thanking the Greek public for all their love and support.[34] She soon re-released Nylon again as a dual disc with music videos, and also a remix of "Everything" by Valentino and Siganos.[35] Since the second re-release of Nylon in autumn 2006, Vissi had not released any new material until October 29, 2008, when she released the song "To Parelthon Mou" (my past) as the lead soundtrack single for the Greek movie Bank Bang.[36] On December 9th, 2008 she released the album Apagorevmeno which was certified 2X Platinum in Greece and 3X Platinum in Cyprus.[37]
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