Let's stay in Belgium 1987, but go back a few months to the Belgian national final. Interest was high and BRT put on a good show with many strong candidates in what must rank as one of the best Belgian national finals ever.
Of course the Flemish needed to impress - their entries had done rather badly all through the eighties, while the walloons had managed three consecutive top five placings - including a victory.
Now BRT had to follow up the victory and, as the head of delegation would say in Brussels, be visitors in their own country. (1987 is the only Eurovision ever where the hosting broadcaster did not have its own entry - RTBF hosted the event, BRT sent in the participating entry.)
In Eurosong 1987 one of the hot favourites to win was young Bart Kaëll, who took part for the second time after a few years of struggle in the business.
Bart Kaëll - Carrousel (Belgium NF 1987)
His self-penned entry is nothing short of a mega schlager - the kind that eats its way inside your head and stays there until you feel the need to go and take a shower. Too bad for Bart, there was a second, even stronger, song of the same genre in the running. Liliane Saint-Pierre was sent to Brussels, where she managed an 11th place.
Liliane Saint Pierre - Soldiers Of Love (Belgium 1987)
Bart didn't have to stay sad for long - Carrousel turned out to be a big hit and the real start of a career that still goes on.
And to add something juicy at the end - these days he is in a long-standing relationship with Luc Appermont, the very presenter who introduces him in the clip above. (At least if Wikipedia is to be trusted.)
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