Eurovision Song Contest Wiki
Eurovision Song Contest Wiki


The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition held on 23 April 1983 at the Rudi Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich and hosted by Marlene Charell due to Nicole's win the previous year in Harrogate. 20 nations competed in this contest: France was back after its second channel Antenne 2 (now known as France 2) took over broadcasting the competition when TF1 withdrew, and Italy and Greece also returned after a time away. Noticeably absent this time was Ireland, who did not participate due to strike action at their main channel RTE. The 1983 contest was also the first time it was broadcast in Australia and has gained a huge fan following ever since, leading Australia to compete themselves in 2015 onwards.

Several hit songs came out of this contest: Ofra Haza's second-place song was a massive European hit, as was Danijel's song for Yugoslavia and Carola's song for Sweden. For the latter, it was the first of her three Eurovision appearances.

The contest was won by Corinne Hermès for Luxembourg with the song Si la vie est cadeau. It gave Luxembourg an outright fifth win, a feat later matched by the United Kingdom in 1997 and The Netherlands in 2019, and eventually beaten by Ireland in 1994 and Sweden in 2015.

Participants[]

Draw Country Artist Song Language Translation Place Points
01 France Guy Bonnet Vivre French Living 8 56
02 Norway Jahn Teigen Do Re Mi Norwegian -- 9 53
03 United Kingdom Sweet Dreams I'm Never Giving Up English 6 79
04 Sweden Carola Främling Swedish Stranger 3 126
05 Italy Riccardo Fogli Per Lucia Italian For Lucia 11 41
06 Türkiye Çetin Alp & The Short Waves Opera Turkish -- 19 0
07 Spain Remedios Amaya ¿Quién maneja mi barca? Spanish Who sails my boat? 19 0
08 Switzerland Mariella Farré Io così non ci sto Italian I don't like it this way 15 28
09 Finland Ami Aspelund Fantasiaa Finnish Fantasy 11 41
10 Greece Christie Stasinopoulou Mou les Greek You tell me 14 32
11 The Netherlands Bernadette Sing Me a Song Dutch -- 7 66
12 Yugoslavia Danijel Džuli Croatian Julie 4 125
13 Cyprus Stavros & Constantina I agapi akoma zi Greek Love is still alive 16 25
14 Germany Hoffmann & Hoffmann Rücksicht German Consideration 5 94
15 Denmark Gry Johansen Kloden drejer Danish The planet's spinning 17 16
16 Israel Ofra Haza Hi Hebrew Alive 2 136
17 Portugal Armando Gama Esta balada que te dou Portuguese This ballad that I give to you 13 33
18 Austria Westend Hurricane German -- 9 53
19 Belgium Pas de Deux Rendez-vous Dutch Meeting 18 13
20 Luxembourg Corinne Hermès Si la vie est cadeau French If life is a gift 1 142

Trivia[]

  • 1983 features some similarities to the 1991 contest eight years later:
    • Both editions feature Carola with a microphone/sound failure.
    • In both Greek entries, a saxophonist bungled his notes.
    • Both had hosts whose command of another language was not up to par, and therefore made the voting go on longer than expected. Because of this, the 1983 contest was the first contest to go over three hours.
    • Both top threes featured Carola, Israel with a patriotic song, and a French-language song.
    • Both runners-up from the previous year would write a song for someone else this year.
    • Baby Doll participated in Jugovizija this year, coming in 6th with the song "Rudi".
Eurovision Song Contest
Editions
19561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Countries
AlbaniaAndorraArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBelarusBelgiumBosnia and HerzegovinaBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzechiaDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGeorgiaGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandIsraelItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaMoldovaMonacoMontenegroMoroccoThe NetherlandsNorth MacedoniaNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSerbiaSerbia and MontenegroSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTurkeyUnited KingdomUkraineYugoslavia
Winning Songs
RefrainNet Als ToenDors, mon amourEen beetjeTom PillibiNous les amoureuxUn premier amourDanseviseNon ho l'etàPoupée de Cire, Poupée de SonMerci, ChériePuppet on a StringLa, La, LaBoom Bang-a-BangVivo CantandoUn jour, un enfantDe TroubadourAll Kinds of EverythingUn banc, un arbre, une rueAprès ToiTu Te ReconnaîtrasWaterlooDing-a-DongSave Your Kisses For MeL'Oiseau et l'enfantA-Ba-Ni-BiHallelujahWhat's Another YearMaking Your Mind UpEin bißchen FriedenSi la vie est cadeauDiggiloo DiggileyLa Det SwingeJ'aime La VieHold Me NowNe Partez Pas Sans MoiRock MeInsieme: 1992Fångad av en stormvindWhy Me?In Your EyesRock 'n' Roll KidsNocturneThe VoiceLove Shine a LightDivaTake Me To Your HeavenFly on the Wings of LoveEverybodyI WannaEveryway That I CanWild DancesMy Number OneHard Rock HallelujahMolitvaBelieveFairytaleSatelliteRunning ScaredEuphoriaOnly TeardropsRise Like a PhoenixHeroes1944Amar pelos doisToyArcadeZitti e buoniStefaniaTattooThe CodeWasted Love
Specials
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision's Greatest HitsEurope Shine a Light
Aspects of Eurovision
CommentatorEuroClubEurovision VillageExecutive SupervisorFlag ParadeGrand PrixGreen RoomHead of DelegationInterval ActNational FinalNational JuryOfficial RulesOpening CeremonyPre-PartiesPre-Song PostcardsReference GroupRest of the World VoteRunning Order DrawSemi-FinalsScoreboardSpokespersonTelevotingVoting Systems
Miscellaneous
Big FiveCurse of 43Curse of Number TwoCurse of GreenDouze Points!ESCRadio AwardsESC Top 250Eurovision AgainEurovision National BroadcastersEurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaFounding SevenLGBT visibilityLynda WoodruffMarcel Bezençon AwardsNul PointsOGAERecordsStand-insThe Reorder BoardTie SituationTop Scoring SongsVoting DiasporaWinner's CurseWithdrawn SongsYou're a Vision Award