Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Wer Liebe lebt" written by Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl and Eva Richter. The song was performed by Michelle. The German entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark was selected through the national final Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 2 March 2001 and featured twelve competing acts with the winner being selected through two rounds of public televoting. "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle was selected as the German entry for Copenhagen after placing first in the top three during the first round of voting and ultimately gaining 36.6% of the votes in the second round.

Eurovision Song Contest 2001
Country Germany
National selection
Selection processCountdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001
Selection date(s)2 March 2001
Selected entrantMichelle
Selected song"Wer Liebe lebt"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Gino Trovatello
  • Matthias Stingl
  • Eva Richter
Finals performance
Final result8th, 66 points
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2000 2001 2002►

As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 19, Germany placed eighth out of the 23 participating countries with 66 points.

Background edit

Prior to the 2001 Contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956.[1] Germany has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 2000, the German entry "Wadde hadde dudde da?" performed by Stefan Raab placed fifth out of twenty-four competing songs scoring 96 points.

The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Since 1996, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. The broadcaster organised a multi-artist national final in cooperation to select the German entry for the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest.[2]

Before Eurovision edit

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001 edit

 
The Preussag Arena in Hanover was the host venue of Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision 2001 was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. The competition took place on 2 March 2001 at the Preussag Arena in Hanover, hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and broadcast on Das Erste as well as in Switzerland on SF 2.[3] Twelve acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote. The national final was watched by 9.23 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 27.4%.[4]

Competing entries edit

12 acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of the German Phono Academy from proposals received from record companies, while an additional act, Lesley, Joy and Brigitte, was provided by the Swiss-German broadcaster SF DRS which organised an online casting round titled song2001. Joy Fleming represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975.[5][6] The thirteen participating acts were announced on 9 January 2001 with one of the entries, "0190" written by Thomas Hubert Kopp and Edgar Fehse and to have been performed by Love Rocket, being disqualified prior to the competition due to NDR rejecting the group's intended stage performance.[7][8]

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Balloon "Techno Rocker" Markus Binapfl, Gordon Delay, Gerd Lehmkuhl, Oliver Goedicke, Oliver Lübbering
German Tenors "A Song for Our Friends" Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger
Illegal 2001 "Ich weiß es nicht" Thomas Lötzsch, Fiete Schlüter, Fred Sonnenschein, Jewns Liebscher, Christian Warkocz
Kevin "Playing On My Mind" Lutz Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Mary Susan Applegate
Lesley, Joy and Brigitte "Power of Trust" Guido Craveiro, Jason Homan
Lou and Band "Happy Birthday Party" Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger
Michelle "Wer Liebe lebt" Gino Trovatello, Matthias Stingl, Eva Richter
Münchener Zwietracht feat. Rudolph Moshammer "Teilt Freud und Leid" Wolfgang Köbele, Hans Greiner
Soultans "Set Me Free" Tony Hendrik, Karin van Haaren
Tagträumer "Träumen und hoffen" Mike Pro, Andy Jonas, Susanne Kemmel
Wolf Maahn "Better Life" Wolf Maahn
Zlatko "Einer für alle" Bob Arnz, Christoph Siemons

Final edit

The televised final took place on 2 March 2001. The winner was selected through two rounds of public televoting held in Germany and Switzerland.[9] In the first round of voting, the top three entries were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Wer Liebe lebt" performed by Michelle, was selected.[10] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured the German group Ballhouse, the German singer Millane Fernandez performing her song "Boom Boom", the German duo Modern Talking performing their song "Win the Race" and the German duo Rosenstolz performing their song "Total Eclipse" together with English singer Marc Almond.[11][12][13]

First Round – 2 March 2001
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 German Tenors "A Song for Our Friends" 4
2 Münchener Zwietracht feat. Rudolph Moshammer "Teilt Freud und Leid" 2.3% 10
3 Soultans "Set Me Free" 8
4 Michelle "Wer Liebe lebt" 22.2% 1
5 Balloon "Techno Rocker" 2.8% 9
6 Tagträumer "Träumen und hoffen" 7
7 Illegal 2001 "Ich weiß es nicht" 5
8 Lesley, Joy and Brigitte "Power of Trust" 22.1% 2
9 Zlatko "Einer für alle" 3.7% 6
10 Wolf Maahn "Better Life" 12
11 Kevin "Playing On My Mind" 11
12 Lou and Band "Happy Birthday Party" 18% 3
Second Round – 2 March 2001
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Michelle "Wer Liebe lebt" 36.6% 1
2 Lesley, Joy and Brigitte "Power of Trust" 34.7% 2
3 Lou and Band "Happy Birthday Party" 28.7% 3

At Eurovision edit

The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 12 May 2001.[14] The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 2001 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The 23 participants were made up of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the 12 countries with the highest average scores between the 1996 and 2000 contests competed in the final.[15] As a member of the "Big Four", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the contest. During the allocation draw on 9 November 2001, Germany was drawn to perform in position 19, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Estonia.[16] Germany finished in eighth place with 66 points.[17] The 2001 contest marked the only occasion on which two performers participated under identical names: the singer from the Netherlands was also called Michelle.

In Germany, the show was broadcast on Das Erste which featured commentary by Peter Urban.[18] The show was watched by 8.44 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 36.9 per cent.[19][20] The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German televote, was Axel Bulthaupt.

Voting edit

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the contest.

References edit

  1. ^ "Germany Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Countdown Grand Prix 2001". ecgermany.de (in German). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  3. ^ KG, imfernsehen GmbH & Co (2 March 2001), Deutscher Vorentscheid zum Eurovision Song Contest: Sendetermine SRF zwei (in German), retrieved 19 December 2023
  4. ^ "Advent der liebsten Blogger-ESC-Momente (22): Michelle, Marcel und Fancy". ESC kompakt (in German). 22 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Die deutsche Vorausscheidung 2001". ndrtv.de (in German). 1 December 2000. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Song2001 - Interaktives Welt Projekt fuer den Eurovision Song Contest in Kopenhagen". song2001.ch (in German). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  7. ^ ""Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision" - die Teilnehmer stehen fest". presseportal.de (in German). 9 January 2001. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Countdown Grand Prix 2001". aufrechtgehn.de (in German). 2 March 2001. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Die Schweiz ist an der deutschen Vorentscheidung beteiligt". ndrtv.de (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  10. ^ "German National Final 2001".
  11. ^ "Deutschland". www.ecgermany.de (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  12. ^ ""Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision" in Hannover / Neues Abstimmungsverfahren für noch mehr Spannung / Sendetermin: Freitag, 2. März 2001, 20.15 Uhr, im Ersten". presseportal.de (in German). 19 February 2001. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2001 - Grand Prix". ndrtv.de (in German). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Copenhagen 2001–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Rules of the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest 2001" (PDF). Myledbury.co.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Final of Copenhagen 2001". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  18. ^ "'Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision' - die Teilnehmer stehen fest" (Press release) (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 9 January 2001. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  19. ^ Quotenmeter; AGF; GfK. "TV-Reichweite des Eurovision Song Contests in den Jahren 1976 bis 2023 nach der Anzahl der Zuschauer". Statista. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  20. ^ Quotenmeter; AGF; GfK (14 May 2023). "Durchschnittlicher Zuschauermarktanteil der Übertragungen des Eurovision Song Contests in den Jahren 2001 bis 2023". Statista. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  21. ^ a b "Results of the Final of Copenhagen 2001". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.