| Year: | 1958 |
| Country: | France |
| Flag Variant: | 1830 |
| Preselection: | Artist: Internal selection Song: National final |
| Preselection Date: | 7 February 1958 |
| Entrant: | André Claveau |
| Song: | Dors, mon amour |
| Final Result: | 1st, 27 points |
France participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958, held in Hilversum, Netherlands. André Claveau with the song "Dors, mon amour" was selected as the nation's entry following an internal selection as well as a national final held on 7 February 1958. At the contest, held on 12 March 1958, France won with 27 points.
The 1958 contest marked France's third appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest, having participated yearly since the first contest in .[1] Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) internally selected André Claveau to sing for France, with the song being selected in a national final. A few weeks prior to the national final, RTF asked 20 record labels to send their best songs. 15 songs were submitted, and RTF chose five of them for the national final.
The music show Et voici quelques airs was used as the national final. It took place on 7 February 1958 at 20:25 CET and lasted 33 minutes.[2] [3] It was produced by Claude Dagues and hosted by . Five songs were presented. They were sung by one of their songwriters, with the exception of "Musique magique", sung by singer Jocelyne Jocya.
The interval acts included and Christiane Legrand performing "Marjolaine", performing "Buenas noches, mi amor", André Claveau performing "Toi l'amour" and Daniele George performing "Mandoline amoureuse".[4]
A jury consisting of 13 music and television professionals decided the winner: Jean Marsac (jury president), Emmanuel Robert, Paul Peyre,,, Armand Lanoux,,,,, Jacques Seignette, Paul Durand and Eddie Barclay. Only the winning song and the runner-up were announced by jury president Jean Marsac.
André Claveau then performed the winning song, holding a large sheet of paper with the notes and lyrics in front of him as he didn't know the song by heart.
| + Participants and results[5] [6] | |||||
| R/O | Performers | Song | Songwriter(s) | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Dumont | "Parigi Roma" | |||
| 2 | René Denoncin | "Helena" | René Denoncin, Roger Desbois | 2 | |
| 3 | Jocelyne Jocya | "Musique magique" | André Popp, Henri Contet | ||
| 4 | Hubert Giraud | "Dors, mon amour" | Hubert Giraud, Pierre Delanoë | 1 | |
| 5 | André Richin | "Tape dans tes mains" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 took place at AVRO Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands on 12 March 1958.[7] Claveau sang third on the night of the contest, following the Netherlands and preceding Luxembourg. At the close of the voting he received 27 points, placing first of 10 countries, and giving France their first victory at the contest.
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to their favourite song.
The members of the French jury were: Armand Lanoux (jury president), Henri Torrès, Jean Marsac, Renée Faure, Jean Delannoy,, Jo Bouillon, Line Renaud, Jean Sablon and Henri Jeanson.[8]
The French jury's voting was supervised by Paul Peyre, RTF director of television programming.