In a break from our usual programme of birthdays, it’s a random one today to keep you on your toes. And not just any old randomness. It’s a random winner.
Back in the 1990s, Europe couldn’t get enough of a certain Ireland off its west coast. Win after win after win: Why Me? in 1992, In Your Eyes in 1993 and Rock ’n’ Roll Kids in 1994. It was as if the contest would always be held at 20.00 local time.
However, in 1995, some said that Ireland didn’t want to win, so they deliberately didn’t pick the best song in its national final. That is speculation rather than established fact. The documented controversy was whether Ireland’s chosen song, Dreamin’ by Belfast singer Eddie Friel, was too similar to Julie Felix’s earlier song Moonlight. RTÉ kept the entry after consulting music and legal experts.
Whatever the reason, Ireland finished 14th in Dublin with 44 points. So what happened instead? Along came Norway with Secret Garden, who won the Eurovision Song Contest at Dublin’s Point Theatre on 13 May 1995 with 148 points, after performing fifth in the running order.
And who was in Secret Garden? Rolf Løvland, a Norwegian composer and pianist, and Fionnuala Sherry, an Irish violinist from County Kildare who had also spent ten years as a member of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. So Ireland had a hand in the winning act, even if it had not officially supplied the winning entry.
The song was Nocturne, and if you don’t know the word(s) sung, you can always hum along. That is because it was predominantly instrumental, with only a very brief vocal passage: a decidedly unusual Eurovision winner.
Ireland’s run of three consecutive victories had ended, but the country won again in 1996, making four wins in five contests. In 1995, though, the trophy belonged to Norway, with an Irish violinist helping Secret Garden carry it off.
