Eurovision Song Contest 1999

The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem, Israel, and presented by Dafna Dekel, Yigal Ravid, and Sigal Shachmon. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "Diva" by Dana International.

Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in the contest. , , , , , and , having participated in the 1998 contest, were absent due to being relegated after achieving the lowest average points totals over the past five contests, while actively chose not to return. Meanwhile , , , and returned to the contest, having last participated in , while made its first contest appearance since .

The winner was with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven", composed by Lars Diedricson, written by Gert Lengstrand and Marcos Ubeda and performed by Charlotte Nilsson. , , , and rounded out the top five, with Iceland achieving its best ever result and Croatia equalling its previous best. It was the first contest since that countries were allowed to perform in the language of their choice, and not necessarily the language of their country. It was also the first ever contest not to feature an orchestra or live music accompanying the competing entries.

Location

200px|thumb|[[International Convention Center (Jerusalem)|International Convention Centre, Jerusalem – host venue of the 1999 contest]]

The 1999 contest took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Diva", performed by Dana International. It was the second time that the contest was staged in Israel, following the also held in Jerusalem. The selected venue was the Ussishkin Auditorium of the International Convention Centre, commonly known in Hebrew as (), which also served as the host venue for the 1979 contest.

The prospect of the contest being staged in Israel resulted in protest by members of the Orthodox Jewish community in the country, including opposition by the deputy mayor of Jerusalem Haim Miller to the contest being staged in the city. Additional concerns over funding for the event also contributed to speculation that the contest could be moved to Malta or the United Kingdom, the countries which had finished in the top three alongside Israel the previous year. Financial guarantees by the Israeli government however helped to ensure that the contest would take place in Israel. The possibility of holding the event in an open air venue was discussed, however concerns over security led to the choice of an indoor venue for the event. A tight security presence was felt during the rehearsal week as a precaution against potential disruption from Palestinian militant groups.

Participants

Per the rules of the contest, twenty-three countries were allowed to participate in the event, a reduction from the twenty-five which took part in the and 1998 contests. 1998 participants , , , , , , and were absent from this edition. , who represented , returned to provide backing for Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl; Christopher Scicluna and Moira Stafrace, who represented , provided backing for Times Three; , who represented as a member of the group Blond, was among Charlotte Nilsson's backing vocalists; and Linda Williams, who represented the , returned as a backing vocalist for Vanessa Chinitor. Additionally, Evelin Samuel represented in this year's contest, having previously served as backing vocalist for the country .

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"

|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1999 participants

| Sürpriz

| "Journey to Jerusalem – "

| German, Turkish, English

! scope="row" |

| RÚV

| Selma

| "All Out of Luck"

| English

! scope="row" |

| RTÉ

| The Mullans

| "When You Need Me"

| English

| Bronagh Mullan

! scope="row" |

| IBA

| Eden

| "Happy Birthday"

| English, Hebrew

! scope="row" |

| LRT

| Aistė

| ""

| Samogitian

! scope="row" |

| PBS

| Times Three

| "Believe 'n Peace"

| English

! scope="row" |

| NOS

| Marlayne

| "One Good Reason"

| English

! scope="row" |

| NRK

| Van Eijk

| "Living My Life Without You"

| English

| Stig André van Eijk

! scope="row" |

| TVP

| ""

| Polish

! scope="row" |

| RTP

| Rui Bandeira

| ""

| Portuguese

! scope="row" |

| RTVSLO

| Darja Švajger

| "For a Thousand Years"

| English

| Primož Peterca

! scope="row" |

| TVE

| Lydia

| ""

| Spanish

! scope="row" |

| SVT

| Charlotte Nilsson

| "Take Me to Your Heaven"

| English

! scope="row" |

| TRT

| Tuba Önal and

| ""

| Turkish

! scope="row" |

| BBC

| Precious

| "Say It Again"

| English

| Paul Varney

Qualification

Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest, a relegation system was introduced in in order to reduce the number of countries which could compete in each year's contest. Any relegated countries would be able to return the following year, thus allowing all countries the opportunity to compete in at least one in every two editions. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 1999 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The twenty-three participants were made up of the previous year's winning country and host nation, the seventeen countries other than the host which had obtained the highest average points total over the preceding five contests, and any eligible countries which had not competed in the 1998 contest. In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries, the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order.

! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" |

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 1

| style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:left;" |

| style="background:#FFDEAD;" | 130.60

| 226 || 44 || 162 || 157 || 64

! scope="row" style="background:#CEDFF2; text-align:center; font-style:italic;" | 2

| style="background:#CEDFF2; text-align:left;" | ‡

| style="background:#CEDFF2;" | 126.50

| || 81 || || bgcolor="#AAA" | || 172

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 3

| style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:left;" |

| style="background:#FFDEAD;" | 121.80

| 63 || 76 || 77 || 227 || 166

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 4

| style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:left;" |

| style="background:#FFDEAD;" | 94.40

| 97 || 76 || 68 || 66 || 165

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 5

| style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:left;" |

| style="background:#FFDEAD;" | 83.40

| 76 || 148 || 114 || 0 || 79

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 6

| style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:left;" |

| style="background:#FFDEAD;" | 74.20

| 27 || 91 || 98 || 24 || 131

! scope="row" style="background:#FFDEAD; text-align:center;" | 7 This led to a marked increase in the number of entries which were performed in English.

Voting procedure

The results of the 1999 contest were determined using the scoring system introduced in : each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. Each participating broadcaster was required to use televoting to determine their points, with viewers able to register their vote by telephone for a total of five minutes following the performance of the last competing entry. The postcards for the 1999 contest featured animations of paintings of biblical stories which transitioned into footage of modern locations in Israel or clips representing specific themes related to contemporary Israeli culture and industries. The various locations or themes for each postcard are listed below by order of performance: The contest's opening segment also featured Izhar Cohen and Gali Atari, previous Eurovision winning artists for and attending as special guests, and the previous year's co-presenter Terry Wogan in attendance as the United Kingdom's television commentator. This marked Sweden's fourth victory in the contest, following wins in , , and , and occurred 25 years after ABBA brought Sweden its first victory. Iceland, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina also achieved their best results to date, placing second, fourth and seventh respectively.

During the presentation of the trophy to the contest winners, Dana International caused a security alert in the auditorium as while lifting the trophy she lost her balance and fell to the stage along with the winning songwriters before being helped up by security agents.

The Norwegian delegation raised an objection to the use of simulated male vocals during the performance of Croatian entry "Marija Magdalena". Following the contest this was found to have contravened the contest rules regarding the use of vocals on the backing tracks, and Croatia were sanctioned by the EBU with the loss of 33% of its points for the purpose of calculating its average points total for qualification in following contests. The country's position and points at this contest however remain unchanged.

The table below outlines the participating countries, the order in which they performed, the competing artists and songs, and the results of the voting.

{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

! scope="col" |

! scope="col" | Country

! scope="col" | Artist

! scope="col" | Song

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Points

! scope="col" | Place

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1

| Aistė

| ""

| 13

| 20

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2

| "Like the Wind"

| 38

| 12

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3

| Lydia

| ""

| 1

| 23

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4

| Doris

| ""

| 118

| 4

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5

| Precious

| "Say It Again"

| 38

| 12

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6

| "For a Thousand Years"

| 50

| 11

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7

| and Grup Mistik

| ""

| 21

| 16

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8

| Van Eijk

| "Living My Life Without You"

| 35

| 14

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9

| and Michael Teschl

| "This Time I Mean It"

| 71

| 8

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10

| Nayah

| ""

| 14

| 19

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11

| Marlayne

| "One Good Reason"

| 71

| 8

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12

| ""

| 17

| 18

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13

| Selma

| "All Out of Luck"

| 146

| 2

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14

| Marlain

| ""

| 2

| 22

|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15

| "Take Me to Your Heaven"

| 163

| 1

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16

| ""

| 12

| 21

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17

| "When You Need Me"

| 18

| 17

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18

| "Reflection"

| 65

| 10

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 19

| Eden

| "Happy Birthday"

| 93

| 5

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 20

| Times Three

| "Believe 'n Peace"

| 32

| 15

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 21

| Sürpriz

| "Journey to Jerusalem – "

| 140

| 3

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 22

| Dino and Béatrice

| ""

| 86

| 7

! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 23

| and Camille

| "Diamond of Night"

| 90

| 6

Spokespersons

thumb|upright|right|Three-time Eurovision participant [[Kirsten Siggaard announced the points from Denmark.]]

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country.

Andrius Tapinas
Hugo de Campos
Marko Rašica
Colin Berry
Mira Berginc
Osman Erkan
Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
Kirsten Siggaard
Marie Myriam
Edsilia Rombley
Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir
Marina Maleni
Pontus Gårdinger
Manuel Luís Goucha
Clare McNamara
Nirvana Azzopardi
Renan Demirkan
Segmedina Srna
Mart Sander

Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>

Televoting was used to determine the points awarded by all countries, except Lithuania, Turkey, Ireland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ireland had intended to use televoting, however technical failures at Telecom Éireann ahead of the voting window meant that the majority of calls were not registered and the country's back-up jury was utilised to determine its points.

The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order.

| colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="text-align:left; background:#F2F2F2" | Voting procedure used:<br />

! scope="col"

! style="height:2px; border-top:1px solid transparent;" |

| style="background:#A4D1EF;" |

| style="background:#EFA4A9;" |

| style="background:#A4D1EF;" |

| style="background:#EFA4A9;" |

| style="background:#A4D1EF;" |

| style="background:#EFA4A9;" |

| style="background:#A4D1EF;" |

| style="background:#EFA4A9;" |

! rowspan="23"

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Lithuania

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 13 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 2 || || || || || || || || || || 5 || || || || || 3 || 1 || || || 2

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 38 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 4 || || || || || || 2 || 10 || 2 || || || || || 10 || || 5 || || || || 5

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Croatia

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 118 || 6 || 5 || 12 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 12 || 8 || || || 7 || 1 || 7 || 4 || 2 || 1 || 6 || 6 || 8 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 8 || 3

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 38 || 5 || || 4 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 2 || 4 || || 1 || || || || || 4 || || || || || 4 || 8 || || 1 ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Slovenia

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 50 || 10 || 2 || 2 || 12 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || 1 || 6 || || || || || || 12 || || || || || 5 ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Turkey

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 21 || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 4 || || 5 || || || || || || || || || || || 12 || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 35 || || || || 7 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 6 || || || || 7 || 7 || 5 || || 3 || || || || || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Denmark

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 71 || || || 5 || || 5 || 5 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 1 || 12 || 8 || 8 || 3 || 7 || 5 || 2 || 4 || || || 6

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 14 || 2 || || || || || || 2 || 8 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || 2 || || || || || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 71 || 4 || 12 || 3 || || 8 || 3 || 5 || || 7 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 6 || || 4 || 2 || 1 || 4 || 6 || 2 || || 4 ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Poland

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 17 || 7 || || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || 4 || 6 ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Iceland

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 146 || 8 || 8 || 10 || || 10 || || 10 || 10 || 12 || || 7 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 12 || 12 || 4 || 4 || 2 || 10 || 10 || 3 || || 10

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Cyprus

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || || 2 || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || ||

|- style="background:gold;"

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Sweden

| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 163 || 3 || 7 || 6 || || 12 || 7 || 6 || 12 || 10 || 3 || 8 || 6 || 10 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 10 || 5 || 6 || 8 || 12 || 2 || 12 || 12

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 12 || || || || || || || || || || 12 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 18 || 12 || || || || 4 || || 1 || 1 || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 65 || || 6 || || || 7 || 4 || || 6 || 3 || || 2 || 3 || 8 || 1 || 7 || 5 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 5 || || 8

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Israel

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 93 || || 3 || 8 || 8 || || 1 || 3 || 2 || 2 || 10 || 4 || 10 || 1 || 10 || 3 || 8 || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 6 || 7 || 2 || 4

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Malta

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 32 || || || || 6 || 6 || || || || || || || || || 3 || || 1 || || 7 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || 7 || 1

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 140 || || 10 || 7 || 3 || 1 || 6 || 12 || 3 || 5 || 8 || 12 || 12 || 5 || || 2 || 12 || || 10 || 12 || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 10 || 7

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Bosnia and Herzegovina

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 86 || || 1 || || 10 || || 10 || 7 || 7 || 8 || 6 || 3 || 5 || 3 || || 6 || || || 12 || || || 8 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | ||

! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Estonia

| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 90 || 1 || 4 || 1 || || 3 || 8 || || 5 || 4 || 4 || 5 || 8 || 2 || || 10 || 7 || 8 || 3 || 1 || 7 || 6 || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" |

12 points

The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Germany and Sweden each received the maximum score of 12 points from five countries, with Iceland receiving three sets of 12 points, Croatia and Slovenia receiving two sets each, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and Turkey each receiving one maximum score.

The contest was reportedly watched by 150 million viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below.

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"

|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

! scope="col" | Country

! scope="col" | Broadcaster

| FM4

| Stermann & Grissemann

| style="text-align:center" |

! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |

| VRT

| TV1

| André Vermeulen and Bart Peeters

| style="text-align:center" |

| RTBF

| Jean-Pierre Hautier

| style="text-align:center" |

! scope="row" |

| HRT

| HRT 1

| Aleksandar Kostadinov

| style="text-align:center" |

! scope="row" |

| CyBC

| RIK 1

| style="text-align:center" |

! scope="row" |

| DR

| DR1

| Keld Heick

| style="text-align:center" |

! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |

| colspan="2" | ETV

| rowspan="2" | Marko Reikop

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" |

| ER

! scope="row" |

| France 3