Happy Canada Day, Eurovision Family! This July 1st, let’s have a look back at the Eurovision performances done by Canadians.
There’s no more appropriate way to open this throwback than to glance at the 1988 contest in Dublin, Ireland. Representing Switzerland 36 years ago, a Québécoise girl named Céline Dion took the stage for Suisse, performing the warm and buzzing pop number, “Ne partez pas sans moi”. Coming in at 137 points, just a single point ahead of the United Kingdom, Switzerland (and to no lesser extent, Canada) won the contest.
Also in 1988 was the Luxembourgish representative: Lara Fabian, who landed nearly right behind Céline at fourth place. Having Belgian origins and becoming officially a Canadian citizen in 1995, this singer represented Luxembourg with a gentle and Christmasy ballad asking for a world at peace.
Eurovision in Millstreet, Ireland, in 1993 was the first time individual independent countries applied to the show after the breakup of a previous participating entity, Yugoslavia. Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia joined the contest to start new timelines of music for themselves in a difficult post-war period. This special year of healing and unity also brought us another performer from Montréal, Annie Cotton, who took the stage for Switzerland with the accessible and melodic “Moi, tout simplement”. Again maintaining a strict code of Canadian refinement, Annie received a 3rd place result.
Another Canadian woman went on to represent France, and this was 4th-place entrant Natasha St-Pier, and her song “Je n’ai que mon âme”. Any good Eurovision fan will tell you that the 2000’s in the contest was sometimes pretty difficult to chug through in regard to overall song quality, having the occasional exception of true gems like this 2001 entry.
Most recently, in 2023, France sent La Zarra to ESC in Liverpool. Born of Moroccan parents and growing up in Montréal, La Zarra graced the Eurovision stage with the delectably disco-pop number, “Évidemment”. In case an example is needed, queen energy looks like this:
Throwing it back to 1986 next, Sherisse Laurence from the province of Manitoba performed the percussive and heartfelt “L’amour de ma vie” for Luxembourg in Bergen, Norway. Sherisse landed at 3rd place overall – an excellent result.
Slight aside, but the first Eurovision year I watched live was 2016 in Stockholm. It was in this year that I encountered the Swiss delegation’s performer, Rykka. Singing in the 2nd semifinal with the whimsical pop number “The Last of Our Kind” and sadly not making it to the final, the most serious fans of the contest view this Vancouverite’s performance as a true Eurovision deep cut. (The performance below is not from Eurovision, but from the Swiss national final.)
We’d be remiss to not talk about Katerine Duska, who represented Greece in 2019 in Tel Aviv with “Better Love”. Originally from Montréal and now calling Athens home, this elegant and impactful number about love across all boundaries landed Greece a humble 21st place, but remained in the hearts of fans for years on. (The performance below is from PrePartyES in Spain.)
Oh, Canada. Thank you for your contributions to Eurovision, and I for one am excited to see if we’ll have another Canadian representing a competing nation. Happy Independence Day, eh!