The hosts of Unser Lied für Lissabon, the German selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 have been revealed by NDR.
Linda Zervakis and Elton have been revealed as the two presenters of Unser Lied für Lissabon, the German selection process for Lisbon. Linda is currently a news presenter for ARD, having started off as a presenter on children’s television.
Elton is well known on German television as the sidekick to Stefan Raab, having worked with him on TV Total from 2001 to 2015. Between 2006 and 2015, he was also the Green Room host for the Bundesvision Song Contest. In both 2004 and 2010 Elton traveled to the Eurovision Song Contest to present from the contest for TV Total.
Elton commented that;
Not only because of my ESC experience with Max Mutzke in Istanbul and Lena in Oslo and Dusseldorf, I’m well prepared for the national preselection, also as a football fan I’m an expert when it comes to singing for points!
The finalists in Unser Lied für Lissabon are:
- Xavier Darcy – 22 year old singer songwriter
- Ryk – 28 year old composer, singer and producer. Previously performed under the name FOXOS
- Ivy Qainoo – 25 years old, Winner of the first series of the Voice of Germany in 2012
- Michael Schulte – 27 years old, YouTube star having had over 50 million views and 1.2 million Spotify streams per month
- Natia Todua – 21 years old, Winner of the Voice of Germany in 2017
- VoXXclub – Munich based “new folk music” group
Up to 15 German and international songwriters, composers and producers will now create songs together with the six acts in a three-day songwriting camp. Based on the material that is created, it is then decided together which song is the right one for whom and how it can be staged.
Source: Eurovision.de
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
Germany was one of seven countries to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. The country has taken part in every contest since then, apart from in 1996 when they failed to make it through the qualifying round. To date Germany has won the contest twice, the first time being in 1982 when Nicole sang “Ein Bisschen Frieden” in Harrogate, which later became a global hit. Germany didn’t win again until 2010, when Lena sang “Satellite” in Oslo. She received 9 sets of 12 points, scoring 236 points overall. Germany has not placed above second last in their last participation’s.