Norway's Melodi Grand Prix all 21 songs releaved

As Norska's Melodi Grand Prix turns 50.

All the 21 songs for MGP were revealed this week,an unusual star-studded MGP-songwriter list .The MGP will celebrate 50 years, and the final will take place on Saturday 6th Febuary at Olso Spektrum. Its an interesting list featuring Frederik Kempe he sprinkles his Melodi-stardust over a Norsk entry for the very first time. Mira Craig is back with a tear-jecker that made her cry when she first heard the song Live! - Mira wrote 'Hold on be strong' in 2008.

Take a look here at the full list, strange to see all the songs are in english except just one tune in norwegian!

1. The touch, music & lyrics: Rolf Løvland

2. Tokyo night, music & lyrics: Aggie Peterson

3. Don't want to lose you again, music & lyrics: A1- Ben Adams, Mark Read, Christian Ingebrigtsen, David Eriksen

4. Rewind love, music & lyrics: Julian Berntzen

5. Life is here today, music & lyrics: Arne Hovda

6. My heart is yours, music & lyrics: Hanne Sørvaag & Fredrik Kempe

7. Don't stop, music & lyrics Mariann Thomassen & Lars Erik Westby

8. I'll take you high, music & lyrics: Mira Craig

9. Be good to me, music & lyrics: Tommy LaVerdi & Peter Ställmark

10. Make my day, music & lyrics: Merethe LaVerdi

11. Jealous couse I love you, music: Laila Samuelsen, Alexander Kronlund og Lucas Hilbert, lyrics: Laila Samuelsen, Alexander Kronlund

12. European girl, music: Matias Tellez, lyrics: Håkon Njøten & Axel Vindenes

13. Primadonna, music: Lene Alexandra Øien og Jarl Aanestad, Lene Alexandra Øien, Jarl Aanestad og Simon Walker

Yes, boobs are back!- in the shape of Lene, she sung 'Sillycone Valley' in MGP 2008

14. Synk eller svøm (Sink or swim), music & lyrics: Gaute Ormåsen, Laila Samuelsen & Kim Bergseth 15. Rocketfuel, music & lyrics: Elisabeth Carew & Thomas Eriksen

16. The best of me is you, music & lyrics: Heine Totland, Hans Petter Aaserud & Arne Hovd

17. Barracs on the hill, music: Fred Endresen, lyrics: Olaf Øwre

18. The Dragontower, music: Arnt Obsidian Grønbech, lyrics: Arnt Obsidian Grønbech, Torbjørn Schei, Vegar Larsen og Robin Isaksen

19. Give it to me, music & lyrics: Alexander Stenerud

20. Yes man, music & lyrics: Simone Larsen, Simen Eriksrud & Bjørn Johan Muri

21. Million Dollar Baby, music & lyrics: Robin Nordahl, Frode Andersen & Gerard James Borg

We will find out the list of artists from NRK as soon as next week..stay tuned

Duncan James and his prayer for Eurovision 2010

- Duncan shows the sign of ' Molitva' ESC 07 -with a hope he will sing for his country

This is 'Duncan James', he is former star from U K Boyband 'Blue'

he has been named as more than likely the singer who will represent UK in Oslo 2010. The BBC have been in talks with Gary Barlow (from 'Take That') as next year's choosen songwriter for the Uk entry. If the news story, is correct. This will be the first time in history the BBC have choosen a UK entry and artist internally without any Selection TV Competition. A process Switzerland use each year to pick their enrty for Eurovision.

That seems a shame as 'Your country needs you' show was very success in 2009, when U K public voted Jade Ewan to sing 'My Time' for UK . Following this Jade came 5 th in Moscow, a fantastic comeback for her country. Another singer rumoured to return

to sing for UK was James Fox, who we felt would have been an excellent internal choice

from the beeb!

Wishing N Hoping N Praying.. are they gonna make it for 2010 - The wait is almost over.

As we head for towards December more Artists will be confirmed for Melodifestivalen 2010- In fact svt will release the names from next Monday 30 th November with the first 15 Artists. Very often the songs and even songwriters have a few artists lined-up for the idea choice.

so many names & Melodifestivalen regulars could be waiting n wishing that phone would ring

as we speak.

One exciting rumour we have heard is a strong contender is-Linda Bengtzing, who is said to be singing one of the english 2010 songs. Linda has always been popular with up beat swedish songs in Melodifestivalen. She grew out of the TV show Fame Factory in 2004, then in 2005 she performed 'Alla flickor' a huge popular song and hit that year. Yet of her 3 songs entered in the contest, 'Jag ljuger så bra' (see clip) must be the most favourite, it finished in 7th place in Globen Final 2006.

Linda Bengtzing always gives 110% in her performances and singing english this time could be a golden opportunity for her..

Meanwhile we have a new joker revealed last week, but don't hold your breath .. he is Salem Al Fakir, with the song a self penned 'Keep on walking' he is rather successful in sweden. Yet we have never heard of him, Salem's father is from Syria, he has played the violin since the age of 4. Hmmm..is anyone thinking same as

me? a Rybak Factor part 2 perhapes?

Come on Svt give us some more exciting jokers please?

Over in Moscow the rumours are we may well see Dima Bilan return to the local selection contest, this would be his third Eurovision entry for mother Russia. He is rather massive and could so easily win a place in Oslo next year. And Dima would be chasing ireland's Johnny Logan double Eurovision win in the 80's

Go Dima.....

Netherlands after 34 years have won a Eurovision Title again!

it was back in Stockholm 1975, that the group Teach-in sung & won Eurovision Song Contest.

with 'Ding-a-Dong' see here

Since then in recent times The Netherlands have struggled to even make the Final, in fact it was back in

Eurovision 2004 when Re-Union sung 'Without You' & gave Holland a 20th place in the final.

Now at long last things are turning around for the dutch, and about time- its only a

Junior Eurovision Winning title but hey, its a massive step in the right direction.

Out of 13 countries last night saw a new victory for Holland.

The song is real fun called 'Click,Clack' Ralf wrote the song - No, he does not play the fiddle, but he

does tap instead- well done Ralf.

And Netherlands see you next in Oslo...

BEST Melodifestivalen Winners of past decade!

That's right the decade is now ticking away. In Melodifestivalen terms it has seen
this TV Annual song contest grow to be a MASSIVE annual spectacular

of what is certainly the
cream of Swed' Talent of the artists & songwriters.

Over a month ago now, we asked -What is your
favourite Winner of Melodifestalen in past 10 years?

Here is the final POLL finding...

Winner- LENA PHILIPSSON 'Det gor ont' - 51 %

2nd - CHARLOTTE PERRELLI 'Hero' 32 %

=3rd CAROLA 'Evighet' 19 %

=3rd MARLENA ERNMAN 'La Voix' 19 %

= 5th Friends- 'Listen to your Heartbeat'

& Afro Dite's 'Never Let you go' got 9 %

Other winners The Ark, Martin Stenmarck,

FAME & Roger Pontare- only gained 2% each

of the Winner poll votes.

So it was a case of real Diva-Battle where Lena Ph won over Carola, Malena & Charlotte.

Still this is only Mf Winners be sure to vote still for The Super 12-

Top favourite Melodifestivalen Song of the decade. In the side bar now.

Charlotte has a second chance with 'Hero' in the Super 12 Poll
'see you there?'

1979 The Dooleys another Abba-esque 70's FLASHBACK!!!

Recently on the Blog... we had a look at Abba 70's rivals Brotherhood of Man- who

followed the swedes to Eurovision fame, plus a string of hits in the Fernando' vain.

Read more here and here

In the seventies, a disco-pop band calling themselves-

The Dooleys!!

In Britian

& Europe the eight piece family group

had a solid string of male-vocal hits ' Think I'm gonna fall in love with you'

'Honey I'm Lost' 'A rose has to die' and 'Love of My Life' The band

found a regular spot on the disco dance halls of the time.

Then suddenly for no reason,

the two girls took vocal-control, with the top 3 hit 'Wanted'

This song looked and

sounded very much like an unused track from Abba's 1979 Voulez Vous LP.

The Dooleys continued with a whole album simular to the big hit, called

'Chosen Few This album

has recently been remastered on cd on Cherry Red lable. This Cd /LP it is well worth

a re-visit.

While The Dooleys never did enter Eurovision Song Contest, this may

have been as they did a cover of Olivia's Song for Europe 74 song

'Hands across the Sea' (when it failed to make it- The year 'Long Live Love'

was choosen for UK!) This was The Dooleys debut single that met very little success.

Here is the 'Wanted' clip-

only thing missing is some blond hair dye!

Agnes chats on Manchester News about her new Brit Success

One artist from Melodifestivalen 2009- has gone on to find even greater success overseas. 'Love Love Love' finished in 8th place. As well as a Top 4 hit in Sweden.

Yet Agnes had a lot more to offer from her third Album release 'Dance Love Pop'

this gave her a massive UK

hit with 'Release Me' released in May - the single have now sold more than

350,000 copies in UK and will be among the year's biggest sellers after peaking at No: 3.

Down under in Australia 'Release Me' made

No: 6 as well as No: 5 over in Germany.

Agnes new single is another dance classic of her ballad ' I need you now' and has a fantastic

Cahill Club Mix New mix & video..

Scandipop did a funtastic interview with Agnes you can read that here.

PLUS here is Agnes on Manchester News U K - proving again she is the brightest

star international from Melodifestivalen We Luv you Agnes, & hope to see you

down-under soon.

...And the first ever MELODIFESTIVAL Web Joker is MiSt!

- it was on 'Godmorgon Sverige' at 8.45 am

Today, the Winning web-joker was made public-

so it looks like the other 2 web entry's in the final 3,

just MiSt ed out !!

Måns is Back...for Melodifestivalen 2010

Svt have released the names of the celebrity host for the new season of

Melodifestivalen contest 2010. Last year gave us the wonderful Petra's one woman

show in Mf 2009.

Måns Zelmerlöw is back, but not with a schlager tune like 'Cara Mia' or 'Hope & Glory' He will follow in famous footsteps of Charlotte Perrolli & Lena Philipsson, both have previously been host to

Melodifestivalen shows in the past.

Måns is not the only host, we have two more newcomers, and it looks like Måns will be in full training for his new gig. The reason is his co-stars...... Christine Meltzer Lind, is a female swedish comedian and Dolph Lundgren. Yes, the actor who made his name in Rocky VI movie in the 1985. Dolph will be seen on the Swedish small & Big screen, as he will star again with Sylvester Stallone & Jason Statham in 'The Expendables' action Movie in 2010. Its so great to have- The Måns back in 2010,

well, it just would not be Melodifestivalen without him.

Norway's Det Swinge ...Songwriter comeback for MGP 2010 ?

Rolv Løvland, is the songwriter who took Norway from Last place to

the Top place in Eurovision Song Contest 85 with Bobbysocks. Rolv repeated even

more Eurovision glory in 1995 with his newly formed band Secret Garden.

As 'Nocturne' won for Norway in 1995.

Now this songwriter with so much Norwegian Gold is rumoured to try for a

third time in MGP 2010. Plus Mira Craig who wrote

the hugely popular 'Hold On be Strong' in 2008, is due to try again to represent Norska.

Full details of artists for MGP will be revealed in December, for the moment the rumours

continue to fly

We are hoping Rolv brings us something like 'La Det Swinge' as it remains

one of the best loved Eurovision winners of the past. In fact both the Bobbysocks

ladies, Hanne Krogh & Elisabeth Andreassen will be on tour in Norway this christmas,

yet separately - surely, one more oncore of the '85 classic will be overdue?

Shirley Clamp's 'Min kärlek' leads the way !

Miss Shirley Clamp takes an early lead now in the Super 12
Poll to find MeLODIFESTIVALeN Song Of The Decade.
'Min kärlek' (My Love) was the runner-up in the Melodifestivalen 2005.

Shirley famously began in 2001 as a backing singer to a Greek artist/group Antique.
A duo who was lead by Helena Paparizou ( who herself won for Greece Eurovision 2006 with "Number One" )

This song is often regarded as pure Schlager of recent times see
'Min kärlek' performance in 2005.

Adam Sandahl Grupp gets our Joker vote ; )

Melodifestivalen's New Webjoker entry, has now been narrowed down to

8 songs and Web clip artists. On first viewing the enry's all look and sounded very amateurish

.. to be honest, so many of them sounded like they did not have a chance

to even qualify for 2nd chance. .. so we waited for the final 10, now two songs

have been knocked out! One song stands out among the rest, and I know you are

thinkin' -its got alot to do with the semi nude camera man in the mirror. (see the clip-to find out more!)

Actually the song is rather excellent as well 'Karleken vander allt' The other swedish -Johan Skoog tune, is a not bad at all, I don't mind that one.

as well Siberia - however they sounds too much like an Eastern European entry, and the fact

they have no visuals in the video is a real disadvantage for them. (update- Siberia's song is out already-shame!)

Not long to go now til 12 th Nov when SVT will finally reveal the winner

and Melodifestivalen's first ever Web Joker... meanwhile, there is still time to vote for Adam Sandahl Group

A1 take on Norway's Melodi Grand Prix 2010

Christian from A1

A1 the boyband are set for a comeback in Decemeber with some comeback concerts at the Christiania Theater in Oslo. Now it has also been confirmed they will be competing in

Norway Melodi Grand Prix 2010. Certainly they will be hot favourites to win. Christian Ingebrigtsen is from Siggerud, Oslo, Norway and with Brit boys Ben Adams & Mark Read, they are the three original band members, Paul Marazzi was the fourth member back in 1999, who quit the band

back in 2002. Shortly after this the band broke-up.

Since then Ben Adams has been part of Celebrity Big Brother. While Christian had a successful solo album in Norway in 2003 'Take Back Yesterday'

Christian wrote one of the best MGP entry's in 2008- 'Eastern Wind' sung by Torstein Sodal- Let's hope he will do the same for A1 in 2010.

They had big success in the U K charts with two number #1s and eight top 10 hits, including a great version of A-ha's 'Take on Me'. In fact they did better in UK than in Norway.They won "British Breakthrough Act" at Brit Awards 2001. Plus A1's manager is Tim Byrne, who was responsible for Steps UK success!

-Here is a photo shoot for Norway's own Red Nose Day recently, and new single 'Take you home' playing during their Tea break- bless...

Search Update - MELODIFESTIVALeN Song of the DECADE

Nanne Grönvall Leads the vote- in

wonderful company of Shirley Clamp too

Have you voted yet - just pick your two favourites.

'there's a new sensation, a dancable solution.. ' called Whore's Mascara

New York underground band Whore's Mascara have just released their new single "Monogamous,"

which is set to storm on the glam-pop world.

This New York Village Band are described as

post-electroclash neue wave eurotrash coked-up dance party!

With their own brand Electro Trash Pop

that certainly brings together we think elements of Human League, Army of Lovers & Alcazar.

They do make the Sisscor Sisters sound like Nuns! They may not be ready

for Eurovision or Melodifestivalen just yet but check out the Vid' see what you think?

if you like the single be sure to give the whole album a spin at the Whore's Mascara site

Darin is in- For MELODIFESTIVALEN 2010 he is the first Joker !

Darin's song in Melodifestivalen 10 will be 'Out of My Life' wrote by Tony Nilsson and Henrik Janson.

The same two writers who gave us ‘The Queen’, by Velvet Darin has also confirmed that it’s a

mid tempo ballad. Tony has wrote two other confirmed songs in the competion "Doctor Doctor' & 'Headlines' See list of other tunes here

Here is the Star, creating all the buzz- with a few choosen svenska words.

first a Splash Tour Now Less BUCKS, More Fizz- With a new Platimum CD

The Original Buck Fizz band have been performing in U K on their Splash tour recently- and we have heard some excelllent reviews of the new show.

At last bringing back Jay Aston to the Fizz fold.

Its sad as many of us overseas fans won't get a chance to see more than the odd u-tube clips.

But don't dispare a new Box-set called 'the Platinum Collection' has a release date of 16th Nov 2009- this is a 4 Cd set of 73 tracks, of Hits, some rare B sides + unreleased song all in one Remastered set. With so much in this CD set, this Sounds a lot like the 80's Hi-Fi Ads they did way back when...

LESS Bucks, MORE FIZZ..( it was a Sharp ad) Anyone remember that one?

Here is the low down on the track-lists of all 4 discs....

Disc 1

Making Your Mind Up I'd Like To Say I Love You Cold War London Town Taking Me Higher I Used To Love The Radio Easy Love Talking In Your Sleep Shine On Oh Suzanne (Cheryl Lead Original Version)Took It To The Limit Tears On The Ballroom Floor (Original Version) Running Out Of Time You & Your Heart So Blue (Original Version) Another Night (Original Version) Love Dies Hard When We Were At War 20th Century Hero (Album Version) Rules Of The Game

Disc 2

Land Of Make Believe When The Love Has Gone 10.9.8.7.6.5.4 Alibi Are You Ready Piece Of The Action She Cries (Album Version) Love In A World Gone Mad (Rca Version)Thief In The Night Now Those Days Are Gone Here's Looking At You Magical (The Rock Mix) I Do It All For You Midnight Reservation Where Do I Go Now January's Gone One Way Love Run For Your Life

Disc 3

My Camera Never Lies Breaking Me Up (Extended Version) Censored Young Hearts Indebted To You (Album Version) If You Can't Stand The Heat Invisible Don't StopThe Right Situation What Am I Gonna Do? Yo Se Que Es Amor (It's Got To Be Love) One Of Those Nights One Touch (Don't Mean Devotion) Stepping Out Lady Of The Night What's Love Got To Do With It Shot Me Thru The Heart Heart Of Stone

Disc 4

Every Dream Has Broken Braking And Entering It's All For Jan When We Were Young Getting Kinda Lonely Surrender Your Heart Golden Days Don't Pay The Ferryman (Live) Identity Now You're Gone Where The Ending Starts Evil Man Pulling Me Under One Touch Too Much Oh Suzanne (Jay Aston Extended Version) I Hear Talk (7" Version) You Love, Love Heart Of Stone (2009 Acoustic Version)

Here is a flashback to Rules of the game one of the best vids the Fizz did! back when Jay's hair was bigger than big