France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 62 times since its debut at the first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the first contest, and has been absent from only two contests in its history, missing the 1974 and 1982 contests. Along with Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, France is one of the "Big Five" who are automatically allowed to participate in the final because they are the five biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). France has won the contest five times.
| France | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member station | France Télévisions (1993–present) |
| National selection events | National final
Internal selection
|
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 62 |
| First appearance | 1956 |
| Best result | 1st: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977 |
| External links | |
| French broadcaster page | |
| France's page at Eurovision.tv | |
 France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | |
France first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. Three more victories followed in the 1960s, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un Premier Amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962 and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. France's fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant". France have also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins (1957), Catherine Ferry (1976), Joëlle Ursull (1990) and Amina (1991), who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break.
After reaching the top five in 24 contests in the 20th century, France has had less success in the 21st century, only making the top five twice, with Natasha St-Pier fourth in 2001 and Sandrine François fifth in 2002. France finished last for the first time in 2014, when Twin Twin received only two points. France have failed to reach the top 10 in 15 of the last 17 contests, the exceptions being Patricia Kaas, who was eighth in 2009, and Amir, who was sixth in 2016.
Organisation
Several French broadcasters have been used to present Eurovision in the country, formerly RTF (1956–64), ORTF (1965–74), TF1 (1975–81) and Antenne 2 (1983–92). Since 1993, France Télévisions has been responsible for France's participation in the contest, with the final being broadcast on France 2 (1993–98, 2015–present) and France 3 (1999–2014), and the semi-final which France votes in broadcast on France 4 (2005–10, 2016–present) and later France Ô (2011–15). The semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast. The viewers which were close enough to Monaco, were able to see the semi-final via TMC Monte-Carlo. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year, by France Inter from 1971 to 1998 and since 2001, France Bleu (also 1976). In 1982, RTL Radio transmitted the contest due to the country's absence that year.
France has often changed the selection process used in order to find the country's entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection (occasionally a combination of both formats) has been held by the broadcaster at the time.
Contest history
France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision, winning the contest five times, coming second four times and coming third seven times. However, France has only hosted the Eurovision contest three times (1959,1961, 1978).[1] France was ranked first in number of victories (either alone or tied with other countries) without interruptions from 1960 to 1993. Moreover, Amina was close to victory with the song "Le Dernier qui a parlé..." in 1991, when she finished in joint first place (with the same number of points as Sweden). Therefore, the 'countback' rule applied, but both countries had an equal number of twelve points (four lots), but the victory went to Sweden, when France had fewer 10-point scores. Today, with the new rules, France would have won the competition, because they received points from more countries than Sweden. One year before, France was also close to winning with Joëlle Ursull performing Serge Gainsbourg's song "White and Black Blues". The song finished in equal second place with Ireland's entry.
However, in recent years, the French results have been somewhat disappointing. Since 1998, when the televoting was invented, France has almost always been in the bottom-10 countries in the final, coming 18th (2003 and 2008), 19th (1999), 22nd (2006, 2007 and 2012), 23rd (2000, 2005 and 2013), 24th (1998) and 25th (2015). France finished in last place, for the first time in their Eurovision history, in 2014 with only 2 points.
Yet, France have had some good results during the 21st century. In 2001, Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came 4th for France with her song "Je n'ai que mon âme", being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the 2002 contest, when Sandrine François came 5th with "Il faut du temps" and received the Marcel Bezençon international press award for the best entry of that year. Finally, the positive experience with Sébastien Tellier in 2008 created considerable interest among the French show business for the contest, which resulted in the fact that Eurovision is seen now in the French media as a great advertising campaign and it has been decided that big names will represent France in the future. With these ambitions, the French superstar Patricia Kaas represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Kaas is one of the most successful French-speaking singers in the world and she has sold over 16 million records worldwide.[2] She ended in 8th place. Kaas received the Marcel Bezençon artistic award, which was voted on by previous winners and presented to the best artist. In the 2016 Contest in Stockholm, Sweden, Amir with his song, "J'ai cherché", ended in 6th place and broke a 40-year record by scoring the most points in France's Eurovision history, by scoring 257 points in the final. France did not have the opportunity to compete in Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam because the contest was cancelled due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.[3]
Absences
Since their debut in 1956 France has only missed two contests, in 1974 and 1982. In 1974, after selecting a singer and song to represent them at the contest, France withdrew after the President of France Georges Pompidou died in the week of the contest.[4] If they had participated in the contest, France would have been represented by Dani with the song "La vie à vingt-cinq ans".
In November 1981, TF1 declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for 1982, with the head of entertainment, Pierre Bouteiller, saying, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in. Eurovision is a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as "drivel"]."[5] Antenne 2 took over the job due to public reaction of TF1's withdraw, hosting a national final to select their entry as well, from the 1983 contest.
France and the "Big Five"
Since 1999, four particular countries have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final, regardless of their positions on the scoreboard in previous Contests.[6] They earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU. These countries are the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. Due to their untouchable status in the Contest, these countries became known as the "Big Four". Italy returned to the contest in 2011, thus becoming part of a "Big Five".[7][8]
Contestants
1 |
Winner |
2 |
Second place |
3 |
Third place |
◁ |
Last place |
X |
Entry selected but did not compete |
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Cannes | Palais des Festivals | Jacqueline Joubert |
| 1961 | |||
| 1978 | Paris | Palais des Congrès | Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone |
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m) |
Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Press Award | "Il faut du temps" | Rick Allison (m), Patrick Bruel (m&l), Marie-Florence Gros (l) | Sandrine François | 5 | 104 |  |
|
| 2009 | Artistic Award[lower-alpha 3] | "Et s'il fallait le faire" | Anse Lazio, Fred Blondin | Patricia Kaas | 8 | 107 |  |
|
| 2011 | Composer Award | "Sognu" | Daniel Moyne (m), Quentin Bachelet (m), Jean-Pierre Marcellesi (l), Julie Miller (l) |
Amaury Vassili | 15 | 82 |  |
|
| 2018 | Press Award | "Mercy" | Émilie Satt (m&l), Jean-Karl Lucas (m&l) | Madame Monsieur | 13 | 173 |  |
Winner by OGAE members
| Year | Song | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | "J'ai cherché" | Amir | 6 | 257 |  |
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
| Year | Head of delegation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2002–2012 | Bruno Berberes | |
| 2013–2015 | Frederic Valencak | |
| 2016–2018 | Edoardo Grassi | |
| 2019 | Steven Clerima | |
| 2020–2021 | Alexandra Redde-Amiel |
Commentators and spokespersons
Since their debut in 1956 French television have sent their best television presenters and entertainers including Pierre Tchernia, Léon Zitrone, Robert Beauvais, Olivier Minne, Michel Drucker, Patrick Sabatier and Laurent Boyer. Every year until 1979 Monaco shared the French commentary.
| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Semi-final | |||
| 1956 | Michèle Rebel | No semi-finals | No spokesperson | |
| 1957 | Robert Beauvais | Claude Darget | ||
| 1958 | Pierre Tchernia | Armand Lanoux | ||
| 1959 | Claude Darget | Marianne Lecène | ||
| 1960 | Pierre Tchernia | Armand Lanoux | ||
| 1961 | Robert Beauvais | |||
| 1962 | Pierre Tchernia | André Valmy | ||
| 1963 | Armand Lanoux | |||
| 1964 | Robert Beauvais | Jean-Claude Massoulier | ||
| 1965 | Pierre Tchernia | |||
| 1966 | François Deguelt | |||
| 1967 | Pierre Tchernia | |||
| 1968 | ||||
| 1969 | ||||
| 1970 | ||||
| 1971 | Georges de Caunes | No spokesperson | ||
| 1972 | Pierre Tchernia | |||
| 1973 | ||||
| 1974 | Did not participate | |||
| 1975 | Georges de Caunes | Marc Menant | ||
| 1976 | Jean-Claude Massoulier | |||
| 1977 | Georges de Caunes | |||
| 1978 | Léon Zitrone, Denise Fabre | Patrice Laffont | ||
| 1979 | Marc Menant | Fabienne Égal | ||
| 1980 | Patrick Sabatier | |||
| 1981 | Denise Fabre | |||
| 1982 | Andre Torrent | Did not participate | ||
| 1983 | Léon Zitrone | Nicole André | ||
| 1984 | ||||
| 1985 | Patrice Laffont | Clémentine Célarié | ||
| 1986 | Patricia Lesieur | |||
| 1987 | Patrick Simpson-Jones | Lionel Cassan | ||
| 1988 | Lionel Cassan | Catherine Ceylac | ||
| 1989 | Marie-Ange Nardi | |||
| 1990 | Richard Adaridi | Valérie Maurice | ||
| 1991 | Léon Zitrone | Daniela Lumbroso | ||
| 1992 | Thierry Beccaro | Olivier Minne | ||
| 1993 | Patrice Laffont | |||
| 1994 | Laurent Romejko | |||
| 1995 | Olivier Minne | Thierry Beccaro | ||
| 1996 | Laurent Broomhead | |||
| 1997 | Frédéric Ferrer & Marie Myriam | |||
| 1998 | Chris Mayne, Laura Mayne | Marie Myriam | ||
| 1999 | Julien Lepers | |||
| 2000 | ||||
| 2001 | Marc-Olivier Fogiel, Dave | Corinne Hermès | ||
| 2002 | Marie Myriam | |||
| 2003 | Laurent Ruquier, Isabelle Mergault | Sandrine François | ||
| 2004 | Laurent Ruquier, Elsa Fayer | No broadcast | Alex Taylor | |
| 2005 | Julien Lepers, Guy Carlier | Peggy Olmi | Marie Myriam | |
| 2006 | Michel Drucker, Claudy Siar | Peggy Olmi, Eric Jean-Jean | Sophie Jovillard | |
| 2007 | Julien Lepers, Tex | Peggy Olmi, Yann Renoard | Vanessa Dolmen | |
| 2008 | Julien Lepers, Jean-Paul Gaultier | Cyril Hanouna | ||
| 2009 | Cyril Hanouna, Julien Courbet | Yann Renoard | ||
| 2010 | Cyril Hanouna, Stéphane Bern | Audrey Chauveau | ||
| 2011 | Laurent Boyer, Catherine Lara | Audrey Chauveau, Bruno Berberes | Cyril Féraud | |
| 2012 | Cyril Féraud, Mireille Dumas | Amaury Vassili | ||
| 2013 | Marine Vignes | |||
| 2014 | Cyril Féraud, Natasha St-Pier | Elodie Suigo | ||
| 2015 | Stéphane Bern, Marianne James | Mareva Galanter, Jérémy Parayre | Virginie Guilhaume | |
| 2016 | Marianne James, Jarry | Élodie Gossuin | ||
| 2017 | Stéphane Bern, Marianne James, Amir | |||
| 2018 | Stéphane Bern, Christophe Willem, Alma | Christophe Willem, André Manoukian | ||
| 2019 | Stéphane Bern, André Manoukian | Sandy Héribert, André Manoukian | Julia Molkhou | |
Photogallery
André Claveau in Hilversum (1958)
Guy Mardel in Naples (1965)
Dan Ar Braz in Oslo (1996)
Jonatan Cerrada in Istanbul (2004)
Les Fatals Picards in Helsinki (2007)
Sébastien Tellier in Belgrade (2008)
Patricia Kaas in Moscow (2009)
Jessy Matador in Oslo (2010)
Amaury Vassili in Düsseldorf (2011)
Amandine Bourgeois in Malmö (2013)
Lisa Angell in Vienna (2015)
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Madame Monsieur in Lisbon (2018)
Bilal Hassani in Tel Aviv (2019)
See also
- France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- France in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
- France in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.
Notes
- The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, as only the winner was announced. The official Eurovision site lists all other songs as being placed second.
- The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Voted by previous winners.
References
- "History by Events". Eurovision Song Contest.
- kabaretkaas.com
- "Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled". Eurovision Song Contest.
- History - Eurovision Song Contest 1974 Eurovision.tv
- 1982 Eurovision source in French
- O'Connor, John Kennedy (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest 50 Years The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. ISBN 1-84442-586-X.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2009-05-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Fulton, Rick (2007-05-14). "The East V West Song Contest". Daily Record. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
- "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- Klier, Marcus (18 May 2009). "The Eurovision 2009 Marcel Bezençon Awards". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- "Here are the winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2018!". eurovision.tv. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- Cobb, Ryan (21 April 2017). "Analysing ten years of OGAE voting: "Underneath the fan favourite bias is a worthwhile indicator"". escxtra.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- Jordan, Paul (28 January 2018). "Find out who is on Germany's global team for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- Granger, Anthony (24 September 2019). "France: Edoardo Grassi new Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- Farren, Neil (4 October 2018). "France: Steven Clerima Revealed as New Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- Farren, Neil (6 December 2019). "France: Steven Clerima Steps Down as Head of Delegation". eurovoix.com.
- Jiandani, Sanjay (22 June 2020). "France: France 2 confirms participation at ESC 2O21 with national final". ESCToday. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "FRANCE 2019 : Stéphane Bern, André Manoukian et Sandy Héribert aux commentaires". eurovision-fr.net (in French). 20 March 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- Herbert, Emily (26 April 2019). "France: Julia Molkhou Revealed as Eurovision 2019 Spokesperson". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
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