A Swede who lives in Finland and who is lost in Euroland - the wonderful world of Eurovision
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Saturday, February 12, 2011

The shadow of Ralph Siegel

If you're not a too freshly baked eurofan, you must have heard the name Ralph Siegel on a number of occasions through the years.

It is a bit hard to understand today, but once upon a time he used to be a bit of a genious. He produced many hits for his own recor label and others and then set his mind on winning Eurovision.

He wrote catchy songs, worked out new concepts, designed clever gimmicks, auditioned specially designed vocal groups and managed to get really good placings for Germany who, until then, had been more ignored and overlooked than anything else at the ESC.

After a fabulous string of placings (4 - 2 - 2), his fourth consecutive German entry finally won in big style. Most people thought this would be it and that Ralphie would now retire gracefully.

But no.

Already in 1987 he was back at Eurovision, and since then it has been downhill all the way. Slowly, to start with. From good placings, to a bit lower, to not so good right down to bad. And now the man refuses to give up.

Since German television no longer wants his songs, he sends them to any broadcaster willing to select them (against better knowledge). In 2009, he wrote the entry of Montenegro and failed to reach the final.

Last night one of his songs failed to even make it to the top 16 in Malta. Not surprisingly, may I add. The former legend had already stated he had written the song for Lena last year, implying the song had been rejected only because he wrote it.



Domenique - I'll Follow The Sunshine (Malta NF 2011)

Does anyone think Lena would have won with this song in Oslo?

Whatever happened to quality control? What can be more sad than a gifted composer/producer turning himself into a joke like this?

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