Eurovoix looks back at the singers, performers, conductors and songwriters who took to the Eurovision stage we lost in 2024.
It’s the final days of 2024 and as we look forward to a new year of opportunity we also look back at the Eurovision Song Contest stars that we lost during this past year. We look back and remember those who passed in 2024.
Guy Bonnet – He participated three times in the Eurovision Song Contest as a singer and songwriter for France, passing at the age of 78 in January. He composed ‘La source’ for Isabelle Aubret which finished 3rd in the 1968 contest in London. In 1970 he was selected to represent France with ‘Marie-Blanche’, finishing 4th out 12 entries in Amsterdam. He would return 13 years later to the contest again to represent his country with ‘Vivre’, he placed 8th out of 20 entries in Munich.
Joe Cutajar – Joe Cutajar passed away in March at the age of 83. The singer was best known for representing Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 alongside Helen Micallef. Joe and Helen were the last artist to perform fully in Maltese with “L-imħabba” at the Eurovision Song Contest placing 18th with 48 points in Edinburgh.
Humphrey Campbell – Humphrey Campbell died in March at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer. Humphrey Campbell was born on February 26 1958 in Moengo in Suriname. In 1973, he won a music competition in Suriname, the price for which was a chance to tour in Europe. He stayed in the Netherlands afterwards and lived the rest of his life there.
In 1992, Humphrey represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with “Wijs me de weg”. He finished ninth with 67 points. Ruth Jacott, who would represent the Netherlands the following year, was a backing vocalist for him. When Ruth went to Eurovision, Humphrey returned as a backing vocalist. The two would become a couple until their divorce in 2011.
Kátya Tompos – Kátya passed away at the end of May at the age of 41 after a battling with a rare form of cancer since 2022. Kátya Tompos was born on March 13 1983 in Budapest. She starred in her first film in 2001, and went on to star in 20 films such as “Question in Details” (2010), “Coming Out” (2013) and “Most van most” (2019). She acted in several theatre productions, including in the National Theatre of Hungary. She also won seven Best Actress awards in Hungary and internationally, including the award for the Best Actress at the New York Film Awards in 2022.
In 2009, Kátya was selected to represent Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest with “Magányos csónak”. She was selected after the original choice, “If You Wanna Party” by Márk Zentai, was found to be plagiarised. However, Kátya declined going to Eurovision as she was participating in eight plays in three different theatres at the time, leaving no time to prepare for Eurovision. Zoli Ádok was then selected to represent Hungary at Eurovision 2009 with “Dance With Me”.
Harry van Hoof – Both composed and conducted Dutch entries in the Eurovision Song Contest, died at the age of 81.
Harry van Hoof, was best known to Eurovision fans as a conductor of over fifteen Dutch Eurovision entries, Harry van Hoof was an established composer and conductor working with a variety of artists in the Netherlands.
During his career, he conducted the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972-79, 1986, 1988-1990 and 1992 to 1994. He also arranged the Dutch entries in 1972, 1973 and 1976, as well as working on the Netherlands’ winning entry in 1975 “Ding-a-dong”.
Françoise Hardy – Passed at the age of 80 in early June after a long battle with laryngeal cancer. Françoise Hardy was born on January 17 1944 in Paris. She began her career as a singer in 1961. In 1962, she released her debut LP, which included her breakthrough hit “Tous les garçons et les filles”. She became one of the leading figures in the yé-yé wave, a style of pop music that originated in France in the 60’s.
Françoise went on to release 28 albums in total, her last “Personne d’autre” being released in 2018. In addition to her native French, she also recorded in English, Italian and German. In 2006, she received the Grande médaille de la chanson française award given by the Académie Française, in recognition of her music career. She has been considered a fashion and music icon since the 60’s and is one of best-selling French artists of all time.
Alongside her singing career, Françoise also acted in some films, despite not wanting an acting career. Later in life, she focused on a career as an astrologer and author.
In 1963, Françoise was selected to represent Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest in London. She finished 5th with “L’amour s’en va”.
Colin Gibb – Colin represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, died at the age of 70 in June. The singer was part of Black Lace, who were selected in 1979 to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision with “Mary Ann”. Black Lace placed seventh in Jerusalem scoring a total of 73 points.
Black Lace would go on to have a global hit in 1984 with “Agadoo”. The song would chart across the world and reach number 2 in the United Kingdom charts.
Ekaterina Shklyaeva – Member of the memorable Eurovision representatives Buranovskiye Babushki, Ekaterina Shklyaeva passed away at the age of 86 in July. She was of one six members of the group that represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku with “Party for Everybody”.
The Buranovskiye Babushki finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, having previously finished third in the Russian selection in 2010 with “Dlinnaja-dlinnaja beresta i kak sdelat’ iz nee ajšon”. In Baku, the group received points from every participating country apart from Switzerland and received 12 points from Belarus, they also received 10 points from five countries.
Nenad Nakić – In September Nenad Nakić who was part of the Eurovision 1989 winning group Riva passed away at the age of 74.
Nenad was a musician and composer from Zadar who was best known for being the bassist of Riva. Riva were chosen to represent Yugoslavia in Lucerne by winning Jugovizija 1989 by 1 point. At the contest in Switzerland, they would go on to win with 137 points, 7 points ahead of runners-up the United Kingdom.
Following his time in Riva, Nenad would contribute to events in Zadar setting up a number of festivals and events in the city.
Göran Fristorp – Former Swedish Eurovision participant and singer, Göran Fristorp, died at the age of 76 in September. Together with Claes af Geijerstam, the duo won Melodifestivalen in 1973 and later went on to represent Sweden at Eurovision 1973 in Luxembourg, where they finished fifth with the song, “You’re Summer”.
After the contest the duo split up to focus on their solo careers. Göran Fristorp competed in Melodifestivalen five times between 1974 and 1978, and continued to release music in the decades to follow.
Martin Lee – The lead singer of Brotherhood of Man died at the age of 77 in October. The musician, whose real name was Martin Barnes, was part of the group that won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom in 1976. The winning song, “Save Your Kisses for Me”, became a major hit single both in his home country and across Europe in the wake of their win.
Martin Lee joined Brotherhood of Man in 1972, three years after the group was formed. In 1976, he sang lead vocals on “Save Your Kisses for Me”, the song that would go on to win Eurovision that year for the United Kingdom in The Hague, Netherlands.
The song was a huge success, reaching number one on the singles charts in 31 countries. “Save Your Kisses for Me” is the biggest selling winning single in Eurovision’s history, and achieved an average of 9.65 out of 12 points from Eurovision’s voting countries – the highest ever under the 1975-2015 voting system.
Alongside “Save Your Kisses for Me”, Lee was a prolific singer with the group, and had the honour of winning three Ivor Novello awards as a songwriter. One of his bandmates, Sandra Stephens, became his wife in 1979 – they were happily married for 45 years.
Emre Tukur – Pianist and former member of Klips ve Onlar, Emre Tukur passed away at the age of 55 in October. The musician who represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 in Bergen, was best known as an accomplished pianist and taught the instrument in Turkey.
Klips ve Onlar competed in Eurovision 1986 with “Halley”, they placed 9th in Norway scoring 53 points. Emre would go on to try to represent Turkey at the contest two more times in 1988 and 1989.
Dickie Rock – Dickie Rock, the singer who represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, died at the age of 88. Rock performed “Come Back to Stay” at the contest, held in Luxembourg, finishing in joint-fourth place with 14 points.
Dickie Rock became one of the most successful singers in Ireland during the 1960s, often performing as one of the frontmen in the Miami Showband. As part of the Showband between 1963 and 1972, Rock had seven number one singles in Ireland.
In 1966, he was selected to represent Ireland at the 11th Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. Performing “Come Back to Stay”, he finished in joint-fourth place with Belgium at the competition. The song became another number one single in Ireland for the artist.
Rock continued to tour well into his eighties, only retiring from live performing in 2021 due to hearing problems.
Selami Karaibrahimgil – The Turkish musician and performer Selami Karaibrahimgil passed away last week at the age of 80. He was a member of the group Modern Folk Trio as well as working for the Turkish Ministry of Tourism between 1972 and 2009.
Modern Folk Trio performed over 400 concerts across their career releasing over 25 albums. The group rose to prominence internationally in 1978 when they competed in the Seoul Song Contest, at the contest they were awarded the ‘Best Performance’ award. In 1981 they would win the Turkish national final for Eurovision with Ayşegül Aldinç with the song “Dönme Dolap”, they finished 18th in Dublin scoring 9 points.
Joe Grech – Joe Grech the first singer to represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest has died on December 30th the age of 90.
Joe Grech who represented Malta on its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971 has passed away. Joe was born in 1934 and rose to prominence in Malta during the 1960s after being the first singer to win the Malta Song Festival in 1960. He would go on to be chosen to represent Malta at contests and festivals across Europe.
In 1971 he won the first Maltese Eurovision selection ‘Song For Europe 1971’ with the song “Marija l-Maltija”. Of note was that the selection at the time was only to pick the song with Joe not guaranteed to be the singer to go to Eurovision.
Image source: Daniel Stridh
