| Eurovision Song Contest | |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Final: | 3 May 1986 |
| Presenters: | Åse Kleveland |
| Musdirector: | Egil Monn-Iversen |
| Director: | John Andreassen |
| Exsupervisor: | Frank Naef |
| Exproducer: | Harald Tusberg |
| Host: | Norwegian: [[NRK|Norsk rikskringkasting]]|i=unset (NRK) |
| Venue: | Norwegian: [[Grieg Hall|Grieghallen]]|i=unset Bergen, Norway |
| Winner: | "French: [[J'aime la vie]]|i=unset" |
| Vote: | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Entries: | 20 |
| Map Nosemis: | Y |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norwegian: [[NRK|Norsk rikskringkasting]]|i=unset (NRK), the contest was held at Norwegian: [[Grieg Hall|Grieghallen]]|i=unset on 3 May 1986 and was hosted by previous Norwegian contestant Åse Kleveland.
Twenty countries took part in this year's contest with and deciding not to participate and and returning. also competed for the first time this year.
The winner was with the song "French: [[J'aime la vie]]|i=unset" by Sandra Kim. Belgium was the last of the original 7 countries that had competed in the first contest to win. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner. Current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kim's record will never be broken. The lyrics of her song implied that Kim was 15 years of age, but after the contest, it was revealed that she was actually 13., who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but was not successful.
The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests - Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise and Prince Haakon Magnus were all in attendance.
By 1985, Norway had received the unwanted distinction of being "the nul points country," receiving 0 points three times and coming in last six times. When they finally won the 1985 contest, it was a source of pride among the Norwegian population, and the national broadcaster, NRK, took full advantage of being able to showcase Norway and its achievements in front of over 500 million television viewers. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the next year's contest at the Norwegian: [[Grieg Hall|Grieghallen]]|i=unset in Bergen, turning down other bids from capital Oslo, and main cities of Stavanger, Sandnes and Trondheim. Bergen is the northernmost city to have ever hosted the Eurovision Song Contest.
As this was the first time Norway hosted a Eurovision Song Contest, NRK commissioned a lavish budget for the event, turning Norwegian: Grieghallen|i=unset into a Viking-esque "ice palace" for the live show, complete with white and pastel neon lights for the stage. In addition, NRK also had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenter Åse Kleveland for her opening number. The prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 pounds (6.8 kg), is still available for viewing at NRK's costuming department at Norwegian: [[Marienlyst]]|i=unset in Oslo.
Åse Kleveland, a well-known folk guitarist and singer, who was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians and a former Eurovision entrant in, sang the multilingual "Welcome to Music" as the opening act, incorporating English and French primarily, in addition to other European languages. BBC commentator Terry Wogan, at the close of Kleveland's number, dryly remarked, "Katie Boyle (a former Eurovision host for the UK) never sang, did she?"
During her opening remarks, Kleveland said of Norway's road in the contest, "For those of you who have followed Norway's course through the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, you will know that it has been quite thorny, in fact. So, imagine our joy when last year we finally won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway, and to Bergen."
The intersong videos introducing each participant, traditionally named 'postcards' were for the only time, represented as actual picture postcards sent from the artists to your own nation. Each video began with clips of various scenic views of a part of Norway, which then 'flipped' to reveal a message of greeting, written in the language of the upcoming song, alongside details of the title, author and composer. The postage stamp on each card (a representation of a genuine Norwegian postage stamp) was linked to the theme of the video content. The postcard then 'flipped' back to the picture side, where the performing artist had been superimposed onto the image. After the video, Åse Kleveland gave details of the entry and introduced the conductors in a mix of English and French, reading from cards represented by the flag of the upcoming country.
The main interval act presented featured Norwegian musicians, a hitherto unknown young woman outside of Norway, Sissel Kyrkjebø and the musician Steinar Ofsdal, accompanied by Norwegian national broadcasting orchestra, Kringkastingsorkesteret (KORK). They opened with the traditional song of the city of Bergen, Udsikter fra Ulriken (also known as "Nystemte'n"), and presented a number of familiar tunes while showing the sights and sounds of Bergen area. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such as accordion, recorder and hardingfele. This was Kyrkjebø's first performance on an international event, which served as the starting point for a consolidated international career years later.
competed for the first time, as the national broadcaster RÚV had finally cemented their satellite television connections with the rest of Europe.[1]
withdrew, as the contest coincided with Holy Saturday on the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar.[2] Their entry would have been "Wagon-lit" (Βάγκον λι), performed by Polina, who was backing vocalist of Elpida at the 1979 contest (Elpida represented Cyprus this year). Prior to their withdrawal, they were set to be 18th in the running order between and . Italian broadcaster RAI, on the other hand, decided not to send any delegation to Bergen.
| + Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1986[3] [4] [5] | |||||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) | Conductor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORF | Timna Brauer | "German: Die Zeit ist einsam|i=unset" | German | Richard Oesterreicher | |||
| RTBF | Sandra Kim | "French: [[J'aime la vie]]|i=unset" | French | Jo Carlier | |||
| CyBC | Elpida | "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Tora zo|i=unset" (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Τώρα ζω) | Greek | Martyn Ford | |||
| DR | Lise Haavik | "Danish: Du er fuld af løgn|i=unset" | Danish | John Hatting | Egil Monn-Iversen | ||
| YLE | Kari | "Never the End" | Finnish | Kari Kuivalainen | Ossi Runne | ||
| French: [[France 2|Antenne 2]]|i=unset | Cocktail Chic | "French: Européennes|i=unset" | French | Jean-Claude Petit | |||
| BR | Ingrid Peters | "German: Über die Brücke geh'n|i=unset" | German | Hans Blum | Hans Blum | ||
| RÚV | ICY | "Icelandic: Gleðibankinn|i=unset" | Icelandic | Magnús Eiríksson | Gunnar Þórðarson | ||
| RTÉ | Luv Bug | "You Can Count On Me" | English | Kevin Sheerin | Noel Kelehan | ||
| IBA | Moti Giladi and Sarai Tzuriel | "Hebrew: Yavo Yom|i=unset" (Hebrew: יבוא יום) | Hebrew | Yoram Zadok | |||
| CLT | Sherisse Laurence | "French: L'Amour de ma vie|i=unset" | French | Rolf Soja | |||
| NOS | Frizzle Sizzle | "Dutch; Flemish: Alles heeft ritme|i=unset" | Dutch | Harry van Hoof | |||
| NRK | Ketil Stokkan | "Romeo" | Norwegian | Ketil Stokkan | Egil Monn-Iversen | ||
| RTP | Dora | "Portuguese: Não sejas mau p'ra mim|i=unset" | Portuguese | Colin Frechter | |||
| TVE | Cadillac | "Spanish; Castilian: Valentino|i=unset" | Spanish | José Maria Guzmán | Eduardo Leiva | ||
| SVT | Lasse Holm and Monica Törnell | "Swedish: E' de' det här du kallar kärlek|i=unset" | Swedish | Lasse Holm | Anders Berglund | ||
| SRG SSR | Daniela Simons | "French: Pas pour moi|i=unset" | French | Atilla Şereftuğ | |||
| TRT | Turkish: [[Klips ve Onlar]]|i=unset | "Halley" | Turkish | Melih Kibar | |||
| BBC | Ryder | "Runner in the Night" | English | ||||
| JRT | Doris Dragović | "Željo moja|i=unset" (Жељо моја) | Serbo-Croatian | Zrinko Tutić | Nikica Kalogjera |
| + Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1986[6] | ||||||
| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "French: L'Amour de ma vie|i=unset" | 117 | 3 | |||
| 2 | "Željo moja|i=unset" | 49 | 11 | |||
| 3 | Cocktail Chic | "French: Européennes|i=unset" | 13 | 17 | ||
| 4 | "Romeo" | 44 | 12 | |||
| 5 | Ryder | "Runner in the Night" | 72 | 7 | ||
| 6 | ICY | "Icelandic: Gleðibankinn|i=unset" | 19 | 16 | ||
| 7 | Frizzle Sizzle | "Dutch; Flemish: Alles heeft ritme|i=unset" | 40 | 13 | ||
| 8 | Turkish: [[Klips ve Onlar]]|i=unset | "Halley" | 53 | 9 | ||
| 9 | Cadillac | "Spanish; Castilian: Valentino|i=unset" | 51 | 10 | ||
| 10 | "French: Pas pour moi|i=unset" | 140 | 2 | |||
| 11 | and Sarai Tzuriel | "Hebrew: Yavo Yom|i=unset" | 7 | 19 | ||
| 12 | Luv Bug | "You Can Count On Me" | 96 | 4 | ||
| 13 | "French: [[J'aime la vie]]|i=unset" | 176 | 1 | |||
| 14 | "German: Über die Brücke geh'n|i=unset" | 62 | 8 | |||
| 15 | Elpida | "Greek, Modern (1453-);: Tora zo|i=unset" | 4 | 20 | ||
| 16 | "German: Die Zeit ist einsam|i=unset" | 12 | 18 | |||
| 17 | and Monica Törnell | "Swedish: E' de' det här du kallar kärlek|i=unset" | 78 | 5 | ||
| 18 | "Danish: Du er fuld af løgn|i=unset" | 77 | 6 | |||
| 19 | Kari | "Never the End" | 22 | 15 | ||
| 20 | Dora | "Portuguese: Não sejas mau p'ra mim|i=unset" | 28 | 14 |
Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1986 contest are listed below.
Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before number of 176 points (that record remained seven years until the 1993 contest, with Ireland scoring 187 points), an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2023, still ranks 8th among all Eurovision winners.
| + Detailed voting results[9] [10] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| scope="col" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 117 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| Yugoslavia | 49 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| France | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 44 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 72 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 2 | |||||||
| Iceland | 19 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 40 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Turkey | 53 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Spain | 51 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Switzerland | 140 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 10 | |||
| Israel | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 96 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| Belgium | 176 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 12 | ||
| Germany | 62 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Cyprus | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 78 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||
| Denmark | 77 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | ||||||||
| Finland | 22 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 28 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | ,,,, | |
| ,,,, | ||
| 3 | ,, | |
| 2 | , | |
| , | ||
| 1 | ||
| + Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries | ||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORF | FS1 | Ernst Grissemann | [12] [13] | |
| RTBF | RTBF1 | [14] | ||
| BRT | TV1 | Luc Appermont | ||
| CyBC | RIK | [15] | ||
| DR | DR TV | Jørgen de Mylius | [16] | |
| KNR | KNR | [17] | ||
| YLE | TV1 | [18] | ||
| Finnish: {{ill|Rinnakkaisohjelma|fi|lt=2-verkko | ||||
| French: [[France 2|Antenne 2]]|i=unset | Patrice Laffont | [19] | ||
| RFO | French: {{ill|Tempo (French TV channel)|fr|Tempo (RFO)|lt=Second canal de RFO | [20] | ||
| ARD | German: [[Das Erste|Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen]]|i=unset | [21] [22] | ||
| RÚV | Icelandic: [[RÚV (TV channel)|Sjónvarpið]]|i=unset, Icelandic: [[Rás 1]]|i=unset | [23] | ||
| RTÉ | RTÉ 1 | Brendan Balfe | [24] | |
| RTÉ Radio 1 | Larry Gogan | [25] | ||
| IBA | Israeli Television, Hebrew: {{ill|Reshet Gimel|he|רשת ג' | [26] | ||
| CLT | French: [[RTL9|RTL Télévision]]|i=unset | [27] | ||
| RTL plus | ||||
| NOS | Dutch; Flemish: [[NPO 1|Nederland 1]]|i=unset | [28] [29] | ||
| NRK | Norwegian: [[NRK1|NRK Fjernsynet]]|i=unset, NRK P1, NRK P2 | Knut Bjørnsen | [30] [31] | |
| RTP | RTP1 | [32] | ||
| TVE | TVE 2 | Antonio Gómez Mateo | [33] [34] | |
| SVT | TV1 | Ulf Elfving | ||
| SR P3 | Jacob Dahlin | |||
| SRG SSR | TV DRS | [35] | ||
| TSR | [36] | |||
| TSI | [37] | |||
| TRT | Turkish: [[TRT 1|TRT Televizyon]]|i=unset | Gülgün Baysal | [38] [39] | |
| BBC | BBC1 | Terry Wogan | [40] [41] | |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ray Moore | |||
| JRT | [[RTS1 (Serbian TV channel)|TV Beograd 1]]|i=unset, TV Titograd 1 | [42] | ||
| TV Koper-Capodistria | [43] | |||
| TV Novi Sad | [44] | |||
| TV Sarajevo 1 | ||||
| TV Skopje 1 | ||||
| TV Zagreb 1 | Ksenija Urličić | [45] | ||
| + Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries | |||||
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBS | SBS TV | [46] | |||
| ČST | ČST2 | [47] | |||
| ETV | [48] | ||||
| MTV | MTV1 | [49] | |||
| JRTV | JTV2 | [50] | |||
| TP | TP1 | [51] | |||
| CT USSR | Programme One | [52] | |||
