The 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Dusseldorf, Germany, after Lena won the previous year, and only Germany’s second win, the first being in 1982.
Forty-three countries participated. The Grand Final took place on 14 May 2011, preceded by two semi finals on 10th and 12th of May.
The winner was Azerbaijan, the country’s very first Eurovision victory and only four years after they first entered.
AZERBAIJAN
Ell & Nikki – Running Scared – Winner
Ell and Nikki were the first male-female duo to win Eurovision since the Danish winners of 1963.
Eldar Gasimov received professional musical training and learned to play piano. He is also proficient in three languages – Russian, German and English. He studied international relations and geography and Baku Slavic University, where he currently teaches course in international relations. Nigar Jamal was born in Baku, but has lived in London since 2005. She recorded a duet with Russian Eurovision winner, Dima Bilan, in 2008.
AUSTRIA
Nadine Beiler – The Secret Is Love – 18th place
Nadine is a professional singer-song writer who divides her time between Vienna and Innsburck. In 2007, she was the youngest winner of the Austrian talent show, Starmania.
ESTONIA
Getter Jaani - Rockafeller Street – 24th place
Getter is an Estonian singer and actress, born and raised in Tallinn, and has both Estonian and Russian ancestry. She finished fourth in 2009 in the Estonian version of Pop Idol. In 2012, she announced the vote on behalf of Estonia on Grand Final night.
IRELAND
Jedwood – Lipstick – 8th place
Identical twins, John and Edward Grimes (aka Jedwood) first came to prominence in the UK on “The X Factor” in 2009. The twins won Ireland’s National Eurovision Selection two years in a row – 2011 and 2012. Here they offer a very infectiously fun and energetic performance.
MALTA
Glen Vella – One Life – failed to quality
Despite giving an excellent performance, Glen missed out on his ticket to the Grand Final by just one point. Glen studied music and theory in voice and guitar. He is a qualified vocal coach. A EuroStarz favourite, Glen wowed the audience at our 2019 event.
THE NETHERLANDS
3JS – Never Alone – failed to qualify
The trio has had a good level of success in the Netherlands since 2002. They were selected by the Dutch broadcaster, and presented five songs at National Final, the winning entry being selected by public vote.
RUSSIA
Alex Vorobyov – Get You - 16th place
Born in Tula, a city located 120 miles south of Moscow. Neither of his parents were musical, but he studied the accordion as Music College, before moving onto singing. He won a number of music competitions, and he competed in the Russian National Finals to select the county’s Eurovision entry in 2008, where he narrowly missed out to Dima Bilan. He was finally selected for Eurovision in 2011. Alex is also a successful actor, and enrolled and graduated from acting school in 2008.
SWEDEN
Eric Saade – Popular – 3rd place
Once again, Sweden shows the world how to do Eurovision well. In 2007, Eric was part of a Swedish boy band called What’s Up, which including Robin Stjernberg (himself a Eurovision participant in 2013). In 2009, he signed with Swedish record label, Roxy Recordings, as a soloist. In 2010, he got as far as the semi-finals in Sweden’s National Eurovision Finals, Melodifestivalen, but returned the next year to win the right to represent Sweden in Dusseldorf.
UK
Blue – I Can – 11th place
Blue was formed in 2000, consisted of Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe. They released four albums which achieved commercial success across Europe and in Australia and New Zealand. The quartet were internally selected by the BBC to represent the UK at Eurovision this year.
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