3 months ago

Date: 13 May 1995 - Host Venue: Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Presenter: Mary Kennedy - Conductor: Noel Kelehan; Proinnsías Ó Duinn (during the interval act)
Directed by John Comiskey - Executive supervisor: Christian Clausen
Executive producer:John McHugh - Host broadcaster: Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)
Opening act :Video montage commemorating the history of the Eurovision Song Contest for its 40th edition. Interval act: Lumen

The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan's win at the 1994 contest in Dublin, Ireland with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids".

It was held on 13 May 1995 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The presenter was Mary Kennedy. This year's competition was the last with only one host until 18 years later in 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. This contest broke the chain of victories that Ireland enjoyed in 1992, 1993, and 1994. This was Ireland's 3rd year in succession to host the contest - and to mark the 40th show, it was opened with a 4-minute retrospective showing images from the contest's history. The Norwegian group Secret Garden[a] was the winner of this contest with the mostly instrumental song, "Nocturne". Incidentally, Secret Garden's violinist was Fionnuala Sherry, who is Irish.

It was Johnny Logan's birthday that night, but according to host Kennedy, "He wouldn't say which one!" Nonetheless, the audience sang "Happy Birthday" for him, assisted by the orchestra.

Heavy favourites to win the contest, according to bookmakers, were Sweden with the pop-ballad "Se på mig" and Slovenia, presented by Darja Švajger‘s entry “Prisluhni mi”. Other countries in contention for the win were Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Spain, and the eventual winner, Norway. The winning song was something new at Eurovision in that it contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos. The United Kingdom contributed a modern rap number, while the previous year’s runner-up, Poland, went for something that completely contrasted with their début entry.

After the voting was completed, Norway was the winner with 148 points, followed by Spain's "Vuelve conmigo" with 119 points, and Sweden gaining 100 points.

Starter List:

Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Poland Justyna "Sama" Polish 18 15
02 Ireland Eddie Friel "Dreamin'" English 14 44
03 Germany Stone & Stone "Verliebt in Dich" German 23 1
04 Bosnia and Herzegovina Davorin Popović "Dvadeset prvi vijek" Bosnian 19 14
05 Norway Secret Garden[a] "Nocturne" Norwegian 1 148
06 Russia Philipp Kirkorov "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" (Колыбельная для вулкана) Russian 17 17
07 Iceland Bo Halldórsson "Núna" Icelandic 15 31
08 Austria Stella Jones "Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt" German 13 67
09 Spain Anabel Conde "Vuelve conmigo" Spanish 2 119
10 Turkey Arzu Ece "Sev" Turkish 16 21
11 Croatia Magazin & Lidija "Nostalgija" Croatian 6 91
12 France Nathalie Santamaria "Il me donne rendez-vous" French 4 94
13 Hungary Csaba Szigeti "Új név a régi ház falán" Hungarian 22 3
14 Belgium Frédéric Etherlinck "La voix est libre" French 20 8
15 United Kingdom Love City Groove "Love City Groove" English 10 76
16 Portugal Tó Cruz "Baunilha e chocolate" Portuguese 21 5
17 Cyprus Alexandros Panayi "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) Greek 9 79
18 Sweden Jan Johansen "Se på mig" Swedish 3 100
19 Denmark Aud Wilken "Fra Mols til Skagen" Danish 5 92
20 Slovenia Darja Švajger "Prisluhni mi" Slovene 7 84
21 Israel Liora "Amen" (אמן) Hebrew 8 81
22 Malta Mike Spiteri "Keep Me In Mind" English 10 76
23 Greece Elina Konstantopoulou "Pia prosefhi" (Ποια προσευχή) Greek 12 68