Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest

Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in 1959. The country's only win in the contest came in 1971 when Séverine performed "Un banc, un arbre, une rue". In 1972, Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined. As of 2020, Monaco is the only microstate which has won the contest.

Monaco
Member station	TMC
National selection events	Internal selection 1959–1979 2004–2006
Participation summary
Appearances	24 (21 finals)
First appearance	1959
Last appearance	2006
Best result	1st: 1971
Worst result	Last: 1959, 1966
Nul points	1966
External links
Monaco's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved by François Deguelt, who finished third in 1960 and second in 1962. Romuald also finished third in 1964. Severine's victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years. The others were achieved by Romauld (who returned to place fourth in 1974), Mary Christy who was third in 1976, Michèle Torr, fourth in 1977 and Caline & Olivier Toussaint who were fourth in 1978. After participating in 1979, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years.

Monaco is the only country to have internally selected all of their participants. While some countries organise televised national finals, it is believed that TMC does not have enough money to organise national finals.

Monaco returned to the contest for three years from 2004 to 2006 but failed to qualify for the final on all three occasions. The Monegasque broadcaster then withdrew from the contest, stating that regional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final.[1][2]

History

Marjorie Noël performing "Va dire à l'amour" in Naples

Monaco participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and 1979. Afterwards the country withdrew from the contest for financial reasons. It only returned in 2004, 25 years after its last participation.[3] It withdrew again in 2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years.[4]

Monaco won the contest in 1971, with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue", performed by Séverine.[5] The Monegasque victory is rather particular in the history of Eurovision as neither the songwriter, the singer, nor director were from the country they represented, something which also was the case with four of Luxembourg’s five victories. Séverine even declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the video-clip was filmed there.[6] Séverine's producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, even after suing him.[7] Nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest.[8]

Monaco's next best placing is second place, which it has achieved once in 1962. It has placed third three times, in 1960, 1964 and 1976; and last twice, in 1959 and 1966.[9] Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Austria, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and San Marino.

Host country

Monaco never organised the contest. After winning in 1971, the country decided to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show, setting the date in June rather than early spring.[10] However, because of a lack of funds and material, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, which accepted to organise the contest. Because TMC wanted the show to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never succeeded. Monaco left it up to the EBU.[11] The EBU asked Spain and Germany, who respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but the countries were not interested in organising the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh.[10]

Absence

Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004–2006. During their three year return, all the artists representing the country, Maryon (2004), Lise Darly (2005) and Séverine Ferrer (2006), failed to qualify to the finals. TMC did broadcast the 2007 contest, making the country eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but TMC decided against it.[12][13]

TMC had announced that it was possible Monaco would return to the contest in 2009 after a two-year absence, following talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organiser of the contest, as well as new voting measures implemented in the contest that year.[14] Despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009.[15] The EBU announced they would work harder to bring Monaco back into the Contest in 2010 alongside other lapsed participants.

Former head of the Monégasque delegation Philippe Boscagli has accused certain countries of geopolitical voting, alleging the existence of Eastern European, Nordic and Old European voting blocs, henceforth hindering Monaco's chances for qualification. With regards to the non-qualification of the Monégasque entry in 2006, "La Coco-Dance", he claimed that the audience voted more for the show than the song. Furthermore, TMC is now part of the TF1 Group, the leading private broadcaster in France, and is now available everywhere in France. TMC programs no longer revolve around the principality. As TF1 Group being the biggest competitor to the French public channels, it is very unlikely that TMC will again broadcast the contest. When TMC did so between 2004 and 2006, its audience was much smaller than the one of the French public channel. In those years, it was the government and the municipality of Monaco who chose the contestant and funded the delegation, while it is usually the responsibility of a broadcaster or a producer.[16]

Contestants

Due to the country's very small size, all Monaco's entrants came from outside the principality, although French-born Minouche Barelli, who represented the principality in 1967, shared her time between Paris and Monaco, acquired Monegasque citizenship in 2002, and died in the principality on 20 February 2004 at the age of 56.[17]. The large majority of the participant were French, with also one Yugoslavian, Tereza Kesovija, and one Italian, Mary Christy (born Marie Ruggeri). Several singers selected to represent Monaco are key figures of the French scene, such as Françoise Hardy and Michèle Torr. Luxembourg, another small country, also sent a great number of French artists to the contest. At the 1967 contest, the Monegasque entry, "Boum Badaboum", sung by Minouche Barelli, was written by Serge Gainsbourg. He had already composed the winning entry in 1965, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall for Luxembourg.[18] Jean Jacques, who represented Monaco in 1969, was the first child to take part in Eurovision. He was 12.[19]

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place

Year	Artist	Language	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1959	Jacques Pills	French	"Mon ami Pierrot"	11 ◁	1	No semi-finals
1960	François Deguelt	French	"Ce soir-là"	3	15
1961	Colette Deréal	French	"Allons, allons les enfants"	10	6
1962	François Deguelt	French	"Dis rien"	2	13
1963	Françoise Hardy	French	"L'amour s'en va"	5	25
1964	Romuald	French	"Où sont-elles passées"	3	15
1965	Marjorie Noël	French	"Va dire à l'amour"	9	7
1966	Téréza	French	"Bien plus fort"	17 ◁	0
1967	Minouche Barelli	French	"Boum-Badaboum"	5	10
1968	Line & Willy	French	"À chacun sa chanson"	7	8
1969	Jean Jacques	French	"Maman, Maman"	6	11
1970	Dominique Dussault	French	"Marlène"	8	5
1971	Séverine	French	"Un banc, un arbre, une rue"	1	128
1972	Peter McLane & Anne-Marie Godart	French	"Comme on s'aime"	16	65
1973	Marie	French	"Un train qui part"	8	85
1974	Romuald	French	"Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va"	4	14
1975	Sophie	French	"Une chanson c'est une lettre"	13	22
1976	Mary Christy	French	"Toi, la musique et moi"	3	93
1977	Michèle Torr	French	"Une petite française"	4	96
1978	Caline & Olivier Toussaint	French	"Les jardins de Monaco"	4	107
1979	Laurent Vaguener	French	"Notre vie c'est la musique"	16	12
2004	Maryon	French	"Notre planète"	Failed to qualify		19	10
2005	Lise Darly	French	"Tout de moi"			24	22
2006	Séverine Ferrer	French, Tahitian	"La Coco-Dance"			21	14

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2005	Philippe Boscagli	[20]

Commentators and spokespersons

From 1959 to 1970, Monaco did not have its own commentators in the festival, Télé Monte Carlo used French commentary instead (RTF 1959–1964 and ORTF 1965–1970). From 1971 until 1979, and between 2004 and 2006, TMC did broadcast the contest with its own commentators, but they were French. As TMC had been available in the South-East of France since the 1980s and by digital terrestrial television throughout the country since 2005, French audience was able to watch the Eurovision Song Contest on both France 3 and TMC in 2004, 2005 and 2006 (the semi-final of 2004 only on TMC though).

Year	Commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1959	Claude Darget	Unknown
1960	Pierre Tchernia
1961	Robert Beauvais
1962	Pierre Tchernia
1963
1964	Robert Beauvais
1965	Pierre Tchernia
1966	François Deguelt
1967	Pierre Tchernia
1968
1969
1970
1971	Georges de Caunes	No spokesperson
1972	José Sacré
1973	Hélène Vida
1974	Carole Chabrier	Sophie Hecquet
1975	José Sacré	Carole Chabrier
1976	Hélène Vida
1977	Georges de Caunes
1978	José Sacré
1979
1980–2003	No broadcast	Did not participate
2004	Bernard Montiel and Génie Godula	Anne Allegrini
2005
2006	Bernard Montiel and Églantine Eméyé	Églantine Eméyé
2007	Unknown (final)	Did not participate
2008–2019	No broadcast

References

1. Kasapoglou, Yiorgos (2006-12-12). "Monaco withdraws". ESCToday. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
2. Viniker, Barry (2006-12-14). "Monaco - it's not the money!". ESCToday. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
3. "Eurovision Song Contest 1980 | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. 1980-04-19. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
4. "Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Semi-Final | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
5. "Eurovision Song Contest 1971 | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. 1971-04-03. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
6. John Kennedy O'Connor (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest. 50 Years. The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. p. 47.
7. Jean-Pierre Hautier (2010). La folie de l’Eurovision. Brussels: Éditions de l’Arbre. p. 37.
8. Jan Feddersen and Ivor Lyttle (2005). Congratulations. 50 Years of The Eurovision Song Contest. The Official DVD. 1956-1980. Copenhagen: CMC Entertainment. p. 7.
9. "Monaco | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
10. "Seeking out more about the 1972 contest? | News | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
11. John Kennedy O'Connor (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest. 50 Years. The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. p. 48.
12. Kuipers, Michael (26 December 2006). "Monaco to show Eurovision 2007". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
13. Floras, Stella (6 December 2007). "Monaco will not return in 2008". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
14. Kuipers, Michael (2008-11-19). "Monaco back in Moscow?". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
15. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (2008-11-27). "San Marino & Monaco out?". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
16. Paredes, Adrien (18 May 2011). "Eurovision?: Monaco, 40 ans plus tard" [Eurovision? Monaco, 40 years later]. Monaco Hebdo (in French). Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
17. "Minouche Barelli, chanteuse", Le Monde 27. February 2004.
18. Jan Feddersen and Ivor Lyttle (2005). Congratulations. 50 Years of The Eurovision Song Contest. The Official DVD. 1956-1980. Copenhagen: CMC Entertainment. p. 12.
19. John Kennedy O'Connor (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest. 50 Years. The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. p. 37.
20. "Monaco decides on participation next week". ESCToday. 18 September 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2019.

External links

• Points to and from Monaco eurovisioncovers.co.uk