Sometimes though, they go on to win and/or achieve huge international fame and success. It’s these underdogs-turned-success-stories that are often the most beloved by fans and have come to form a vital part of Eurovision folklore and its continued popularity.
Each year, millions tune in to the show in the hopes of sniffing out the unlikely performer who’ll go on to blow us all away. We wonder who this year’s could be? (And hope it’s Australia!)
Conchita Wurst
Conchita Wurst (Source: Eurovision.tv)
Thankfully though, the haters were clearly outweighed by the fans, many of whom knitted or handmade their very own Conchita beards in admiration and support. Since then, she’s gone on to achieve International super-stardom, becoming one of the few Eurovision stars to achieve cross-over fame in the United States, where she has since walked quite a few A-list red carpets. Rise Like a Phoenix, Out of the Ashes, she did!
Dana International
Dana International (Source: 60th.Eurovision.tv)
Orthodox Jews and conservatives in her home country tried to prevent her from participating as they deemed it unfit that a transsexual should represent Israel. Dana got the last laugh though, performing in a stunning parrot-feathered jacket designed for her by John-Paul Gaultier, she took out the top prize and went on to release multiple albums becoming one of the most famous transsexual pop icons in the world.
Lordi
Lordi (Source Eurovision.tv)
Clearly, Lordi’s uniqueness in a contest usually dominated by power-ballads and dance-pop tunes was an advantage, as they stormed to the top with a massive 292 points. This was the highest score ever at the time as they won by a 30 point margin.
ABBA
ABBA (Source: Eurovision.tv)
Indeed, the group is still raking in the royalties thanks to movies such as Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and of course, 2008’s Mamma Mia! which became the highest-grossing film of that year. Not bad for a group who were knocked back at their first attempt to get into Eurovision!
Buranovskiye Babushki
The legendary Buranovskiye Babushki (Source: Eurovision.tv)
Their success meant that they were able to achieve their goal of raising enough money to rebuild the village church in their hometown of Buranovo.
Riverdance
Riverdance at Eurovision (Source: RTÉ)
To everyone’s surprise, that’s exactly what the dancers, led by Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, managed to do, with the conclusion of their performance being met with rapturous applause by the Eurovision audience.
After that, the seven minute performance was turned into a multi-million dollar stage show that went on to tour the world, raking in an estimated $667 million, touring over 46 countries and selling over 10 million DVDs. Now that’s a long shot that paid off!
Celine Dion
Celine Dion back when she was still a budding star (Source: RTÉ) Source: EBU
The song went on to win – but just by an eyelash. Celine beat out the UK entry, Scott Fitzgerald, singing 'Go', by just one point – one of the closest wins in the history of the competition. The rest, as they say, is history.
Three years later Celine rose to prominence voicing the English-language theme song for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast before skyrocketing to international success with her many power ballads including 'The Power of Love' and THAT Titanic theme song – 'My Heart Will Go On'.
These days she has a residency in Vegas after having shifted over 200 million albums worldwide, earning her an estimated personal net worth of over $820 million.
Massiel
It’s been alleged though that the Spaniard's unlikely win was in fact the result of corruption. A 1998 Spanish documentary titled 1968: I Lived the Spanish May alleges that Spain’s then-leader, fascist dictator Francisco Franco, rigged the contest that year via a series of bribes so that Spain could claim all the glory and give their international image a much-needed boost.
"I've lived with this number two thing for so many years, it would be wonderful if someone official from the Contest turned around and said: 'Cliff, you won that darn thing after all,'" a now ‘Sir’ Cliff told the Guardian in 2008.
Charlotte Nilsson
The song however bore an uncanny similarity to Sweden’s most famous entry of all-time – ABBA, which Eurovision voters clearly found endearing, because they crowned her the winner of the competition that year!
Secret Garden
Interestingly the victors, Secret Garden, were in fact an Irish-Norwegian duo comprised of Norwegian Rolf Lovland and violinist Fionnuala Sherry who originally planned for their song 'Nocturne' to be purely instrumental, but they then added in a grand total of 27 words as lyrics in order that it comply with Eurovision rules.
Since then, they’ve gone on to their own success, with Rolf’s song 'You Raise Me Up' going on to become one of the most-covered songs in Modern pop history, performed by the likes of Josh Groban, Westlife and Il Divo.
