The 1985 Eurovision Song Contest was the 30th in the series, and was held on May 4 1985, in Gothenburg, Sweden, due to the victory made the previous year by the Herreys. The contest was won by duo Bobbysocks! who represented Norway.
Bobbysocks!' win was the first of three for Norway, and host Lill Lindfors (who herself represented Sweden in 1966) congratulated the duo, following their victory by saying "I must say I am honestly happy that this happened because Norway has been last on so many times that you really deserve it!". Hanne Krogh, one of the duo, responded with "You're happy? What do you think we are?"
Before the voting, presenter Lill Lindfors, had a misnomer "wardrobe malfunction" (the stunt was deliberate) where as she went up the stage for the voting procedure, the skirt part of her dress came away, leaving her in just her underwear and the top part of her dress. She pretended to be shocked, before revealing a full-length white gown after unfastening the flaps of her dress across the shoulders much to raucous applause by the audience. Lill then took her seat to call in the votes, and nonchalantly said: "I just wanted to wake you up a little". According to The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, executive supervisor Frank Naef wasn't amused, and his wife was reportedly shocked as well.
Returning Artists[]
| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Lux |  Austria
|
1983 (as a Westend member) |
| Hot Eyes |  Denmark
|
1984 |
| Izhar Cohen |  Israel
|
1978 (Winner) |
| Al Bano & Romina Power |  Italy
|
1976 |
| Ireen Sheer |  Luxembourg
|
1974, 1978 (for  Germany)
|
| Hanne Krogh (Part of Bobbysocks!) |  Norway
|
1971 |
| Elisabeth Andreassen (Part of Bobbysocks!) | 1982 (for  Sweden, part of Chips)
| |
| Kikki Danielsson | Sweden
|
1982 (part of Chips) |
| Pino Gasparini |  Switzerland
|
1977 (part of Pepe Lienhard Band) |
| Mariella Farre | 1983 |
Voting and Results[]
Voting[]
The 1985 voting was an exciting one, with Wind, being the favourites to win for Germany. They had a pretty early lead, with Sweden and Norway keeping their lead, but by the time the United Kingdom delivered their votes (1 for Germany, 12 for Norway), Germany's lead was broken.
The voting in this contest was one of the most exciting at the time, with favourites Germany expected to win, but coming in at second place. It was very close, too, as there was a 20-point difference between Bobbysocks! and Kikki Danielsson of Sweden, in third place. Germany took a commanding lead during the first half of the voting, with Norway fifth behind the United Kingdom at the end of that half. Finally, with five juries left to cast their votes, Germany, Sweden and Norway had 87, 86 and 85 points respectively.
At that point, Sweden took their lead away from Germany, who received no points from Switzerland. Sweden was the fourth-to-last jury, and they conceded their brief lead by awarding Germany 8 points and Norway the maximum 12. With only three juries left to cast their votes, Norway kept the lead, in one of the shortest winning stretches during voting in history.
Participants[]
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Ireland
|
Maria Christian | Wait Until the Weekend Comes | English | -- | 6 | 91 |
| 02 |  Finland
|
Sonja Lumme | Eläköön elämä | Finnish | Long live life | 9 | 58 |
| 03 |  Cyprus
|
Lia Vissi | To Katalava Arga | Greek | I realized it was too late | 16 | 15 |
| 04 | Denmark
|
Hot Eyes | Sku' du spørg' fra no'en? | Danish | What business is it of yours? | 11 | 41 |
| 05 |  Spain
|
Paloma San Basilio | La fiesta termino | Spanish | The party's over | 14 | 36 |
| 06 |  France
|
Roger Bens | Femme Dans Ses Rêves, Aussi | French | Women in her dreams, too | 10 | 56 |
| 07 |  Türkiye
|
MFÖ | Didai Didai Dai | Turkish | -- | 14 | 36 |
| 08 |  Belgium
|
Linda Lepomme | Laat me nu gaan | Dutch | Let me go now | 19 | 7 |
| 09 |  Portugal
|
Adelaide | Penso em tei, eu sei | Portuguese | Thinking of you, I know | 18 | 9 |
| 10 | Germany
|
Wind | Für alle | German | For everyone | 2 | 105 |
| 11 | Israel
|
Izhar Cohen | Olé, Olé | Hebrew | Going up, and up | 5 | 93 |
| 12 | Italy
|
Al Bano & Romina Power | Magic, oh, Magic | Italian | -- | 7 | 78 |
| 13 | Norway
|
Bobbysocks! | La Det Swinge | Norwegian | Let it swing | 1 | 123 |
| 14 |  United Kingdom
|
Vikki | Love Is | English | -- | 4 | 100 |
| 15 | Switzerland
|
Mariella Farre & Pino Gasparini | Piano, Piano | German | Slowly, slowly | 12 | 39 |
| 16 | Sweden
|
Kikki Danielsson | Bra Vibrationer | Swedish | Good vibrations | 3 | 103 |
| 17 | Austria
|
Gary Lux | Kinder dieser Welt | German | Children of this world | 8 | 60 |
| 18 | Luxembourg
|
Margot, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Chris & Malcolm Roberts | Children, Kinder, Enfants | French, German, English | Children, Children, Children | 13 | 37 |
| 19 |  Greece
|
Takis Biniaris | Miazume | Greek | We are alike | 16 | 15 |
Non-Participants[]
The Netherlands and Yugoslavia withdrew from this contest, as the Netherlands had the national "Remembrance of the Dead" on that date, and Yugoslavia had the anniversary of Josip Broz Tito's death. Both countries wanted to put these events first, rather than take part in the contest. However, Yugoslavia did choose their song, but then didn't enter. The song was "Pokora" by Josip Genda and Zorica Kondza.
Trivia[]
- United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan was not in Sweden due to him recovering from illness. He did all the commentary from the BBC headquarters in London.
- Norway's victory was the lowest winning score under the current 12-point scoring system.
- Germany was such a hot favorite going into the contest that bookmakers were only offering odds against them winning.
- Switzerland's Piano, Piano was the fourth (and last) entry conducted by a woman.
