Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Norway was represented by Tor Endresen, with the song '"San Francisco", at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 May in Dublin. "San Francisco" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 8 March, and is mainly remembered for bringing Norway's recent run of Eurovision success – they had finished 5th, 6th, 1st and 2nd in the previous four contests – to a spectacular end.
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 | ||||
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Country | Norway | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Melodi Grand Prix 1997 | |||
Selection date(s) | 8 February 1997 | |||
Selected entrant | Tor Endresen | |||
Selected song | "San Francisco" | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 24th=, 0 points | |||
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Melodi Grand Prix 1997
Melodi Grand Prix 1997 was the Norwegian national final that selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.
Competing entries
350 submissions were received by NRK. Eight songs were selected for the competition by a three-member jury panel. Among the competing artists, Geir Rønning would later represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.
Final
The final took place on 8 February 1997 at the Studio 2 of NRK, hosted by Tande-P. The winner was selected by a combination of public televoting (60%) and a jury panel (40%), which led to the victory of Tor Endresen on his eighth attempt at the competition.[1] The jury consisted of H.C. Andersen, Elisabeth Andreassen, Kari Gjærum, Ole Evenrud, Leif Erik Forberg and Frode Viken. Several of the jury members were friends of Endresen and Andreassen later told the press that "Endresen deserved to win" regardless of what song he participated with.[2]
Final – 8 February 1997 | |||||
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Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Percentage | Place |
1 | Marianne E. Olsen | "Min egen superstar" | Marianne Elstad Olsen, Henning Hoel Eriksen | 11.3% | 5 |
2 | Angela Kim Lewis | "So ro lille tull" | Torstein Bieler, Chris Påhlman | 14.3% | 3 |
3 | Guro Håvik | "Consensus" | Gunnar Lorentzen | 10.6% | 6 |
4 | Penthouse Playboys | "Om du elsket meg" | Kjetil Rolness, Jørn Mortensen | 12.6% | 4 |
5 | Geir Rønning | "Venter på deg" | Are Selheim | 7.0% | 7 |
6 | Beate Olsen | "Rolig" | Beate Olsen | 2.9% | 8 |
7 | Tor Endresen | "San Francisco" | Tor Endresen, Arne Myksvoll | 23.9% | 1 |
8 | Manjari | "Lys" | Rune Lindstrøm | 18.0% | 2 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Endresen performed third in the running order, following Turkey and preceding Austria. At the close of voting "San Francisco" had failed to pick up any points at all, the eighth time Norway had found itself at the bottom of the scoreboard at the end of the evening, and a record fourth nul-points finish. The 1997 ignominy was shared with Portugal, who had also been completely shunned by the national juries. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to France.[3]
Voting
Points awarded to Norway
12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
References
- ESC National Finals database 1997
- Kato M. Hansen. "Norway national final 1997" in OGAE News 56/57, 1997:19.
- ESC History – Norway 1997