Luxembourg

Le Luxembourg

Debut – 1956

Last Appearance – 1993

Broadcaster – RTL

Best Result – Winner (1961, 1965, 1972, 1973, 1983)

Highest Score – 142 points (1983)

Worst Result – 21st (1987 – 4 points)

Despite it’s tiny size, Luxembourg are one of the most successful Eurovision nations with five wins in total.  They also hosted it four times, only declining to host the 1974 Contest due to being unable to afford hosting a second consecutive contest (the BBC hosted it in Brighton instead).

They relied on internally selecting foreign performers and composers, mainly from France, although a handful of their singers were Luxembourgish natives. Prior to their withdrawal in 1993, Luxembourg had only been absent on one occasion in 1959.

1950’s and 1960’s

Luxembourg’s two entries in the inaugural 1956 contest were “Ne crois pas” and “Les amants de minuit”, both performed by Michèle Arnaud.

The first two decades of the Eurovision Song Contest saw a mixed bag of results for the tiny principality, a trend they saw throughout their participation. In 1958 and 1960 they had two consecutive last place results in the Contest, only to win their first victory in 1961 with “Nous les amoureux” (performed by Jean-Claude Pascal). The ’60s saw a second victory for Luxembourg, this time with France Gall performing “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” in 1965.

Luxembourg scored two more top 5 results during the decade: in 1964 with “Dès que le printemps revient” (performed by Hugues Aufray), and in 1967 with “L’amour est bleu” (performed by Vicky Leandros); both finishing 4th.

1970’s

Like the previous decade, the ’70s started with a last place finish. But this run of bad luck was not to last… In 1972, Vicky Leandros won the Contest with her second Eurovision entry “Après toi”. The following year in 1973, Luxembourg won for the second consecutive time on home soil with another ballad “Tu te reconnaîtras”, this time performed by Anne-Marie David. Both songs are still considered amongst the greatest songs to have ever won the Contest.

For the rest of the decade, Luxembourg had another run of mixed results, including two consecutive 5th place results in 1974 with “Bye Bye I Love You” (performed by Ireen Sheer), and in 1975 with “Toi” (performed by Geraldine).

1980’s

Thankfully for Luxembourg, the ’80s did not start with another last placed result, but rather a midtable result instead. In 1983, Luxembourg scored their fifth and final victory, with Corinne Hermès performing the power ballad “Si la vie est cadeau”.

The decade saw a typical mixed bag of results, sinking to their lowest ever position in 1987; but also seeing top 5 results in 1986 with “L’amour de ma vie” (performed by Sherisse Laurence) finishing 3rd, and in 1988 with “Croire” (performed by Lara Fabian) finishing 4th, which would be the last time that Luxembourg reached the top 10.

1990’s

The 1990s saw them run into a disappointing run of results in the lower half of the scoreboard, culminating in 1993 when their 20th place finish meant that they were ‘relegated’ from taking part the following year, and have not participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since. Their last entry was Modern Times performing “Donne-moi une chance”.

Any chance of them coming back?

Pretty slim. RTL have expressed a lack of interest in returning to the contest and currently have no intention of doing so, although OGAE Luxembourg have been campaigning for their return in recent years.