Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Belgium was represented by Ann Christy, with the song '"Gelukkig zijn", at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 March in Stockholm. Christy was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held on 1 March; she had previously taken part in the Belgian preselections of 1970, 1971 and 1973. Future Belgian representative Micha Marah (1979) also took part.
Eurovision Song Contest 1975 | ||||
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Country | ||||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Eurosong | |||
Selection date(s) | 1 March 1975 | |||
Selected entrant | Ann Christy | |||
Selected song | "Gelukkig zijn" | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 15th, 17 points | |||
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Eurosong
The first stage of the selection process consisted of seven semi-finals at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, taking part between 17 November 1974 and 16 February 1975, hosted by Staf Van Berendoncks. 30 participating songs have been identified but it is believed that there were many more, possibly up to 70. The qualifiers were chosen by 5 regional juries[1][2]
Final
The final, consisting of ten songs, took place on 1 March 1975 also at the Amerikaans Theater, hosted by Staf Van Berendoncks. Six singers were involved, with four (including Christy) performing two songs apiece. Voting was by 5 regional juries and "Gelukkig zijn" emerged the winner by a margin of almost 60 points.[3]
Final – 1 March 1975 | ||||
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Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
1 | Ann Christy | "Als je eenzaam bent" | 765 | 3 |
2 | Ann Michel | "Mijn gentleman" | 598 | 10 |
3 | Joe Harris | "Het is zo goed weer thuis te zijn" | 600 | 9 |
4 | Ingriani | "Dan zal ik dansen" | 744 | 4 |
5 | Micha Marah | "Kom bij mij" | 695 | 7 |
6 | Rita Deneve | "Dans dans mama" | 727 | 6 |
7 | Ann Michel | "Alleen voortaan" | 626 | 8 |
8 | Ingriani | "Hey Hey Dandy Man" | 767 | 2 |
9 | Ann Christy | "Gelukkig zijn" | 825 | 1 |
10 | Micha Marah & The Pebbles | "'t is over" | 735 | 5 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Christy performed 11th in the running order, following Israel and preceding Malta. Under the free-language rule in operation at the time, Christy performed the first half of the song in Dutch, before switching to English. At the close of the voting "Gelukkig zijn" had received 17 points (7 from Germany, 5 from the Netherlands, 3 from Yugoslavia and 2 from Sweden), placing Belgium 15th of the 19 participating countries. It was a disappointing result for a well-performed song which had been regarded before the contest as at least a top 10 finisher. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to Ireland.[4]
Points awarded by Belgium[5]
12 points | |
10 points | |
8 points | |
7 points | |
6 points | |
5 points | |
4 points | |
3 points | |
2 points | |
1 point | |