Biography
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Born
20 April 1947 (age 77)
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Born In
Vansbro Municipality, Dalarna, Sweden
Björn Skifs (born April 20, 1947 in Vansbro, the province of Dalarna, Sweden) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, actor and screenwriter.
Björn Skifs formed his first musical group, the Slam Creepers in 1963. Slam Creepers split in 1969, and Skifs went on to form a new band, Blåblus, in 1972. As Blue Swede the band had a No.1 hit on Billboard in 1974 with a cover on Hooked on a Feeling. Björn Skifs left the band in 1976 to pursue a solo career.
He did the role of The Arbiter on the original studio album for Chess.
Povel Ramel gave him his award Karamelodiktstipendiet in 1984.
Björn Skifs represented Sweden twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, in the 1978 contest and the 1981 contest. In 2000 he hosted Melodifestivalen, the Swedish heat of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1978 - Paris
Entry for Sweden
Performer: Björn Skifs
Song title: Det blir alltid värre framåt natten
Song writer(s):
Song composer(s): Peter Himmelstrand
Sang in Position: 20
Final Positon: 14
Total Points: 26
For the third time in Eurovision Song Contest history, the event was held in France. After having hosted the two previous contests in Cannes, French Television decided to host it in the capital Paris. A record of 20 countries participated this year.
Denmark returned to the contest after 11 years of absence. Turkey also participated, and no country withdrew from the previous year. For the first time, the show was presented by two persons, Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. It was the first time contest was broadcast live in Dubai.
Israel won the song contest for the first time with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta. The country received five consecutive 12 point votes, which is still a Eurovision Song Contest record. Israel's Head of Delegation, Rivka Michaeli, admitted though that they hadn't been satisfied with Cohen's song. Michaeli said it was only because all the other entries were "so absolutely awful" that Cohen had won the national heats. When it was obvious that Israel would win, the broadcasting company of Jordan stopped the live broadcast claiming they had technical difficulties. A day later they presented the song from Belgium - which came second - as the winning song.
Norway did not get a single vote, which was unique for the new voting system, but that fact would be repeated several times in the future. Big European stars participated in the contest this year, despite all achieving only moderate success. Italy's Ricchi & Poveri, only ending up 12th, went on to have a major success in Europe as part of the later wave of Italo-Pop. The popular singer for Germany, Ireen Sheer, also took part for the second time and came 6th beating Spain's disco queens Baccara who sang for Luxembourg into 7th position.
Eurovision Song Contest 1981 - Dublin
Entry for Sweden
Performer: Björn Skifs
Song title: Fångad I En Dröm
Song writer(s):
Song composer(s): Björn Skifs, Bengt Palmers
Sang in Position: 20
Final Positon: 10
Total Points: 50
For the second time, the Eurovision champion winner, Ireland, was the host for the event which took place in Dublin. In 1981, the total amount of participating countries was 20 once again equalling the record set three years earlier in Paris. Morocco withdrew after their first participation, and Italy decided to stay at home as well because the interest in the country had diminished. Yugoslavia returned to the contest after five years of absence, so did Israel after the county had missed out on one contest. Finally, Cyprus made its Eurovision debut. It was also the first year Egypt's television viewers could follow the contest live on television.
The opening sequence of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest showed 'old Ireland' blending into 'modern Ireland' with shots of Celtic ruins, cliffs, castles, edited together with close-ups of art and shots of planes, waterfalls, people in the park, children feeding birds, traditional door knockers, front doors, architecture and horse races. The sequence ended with a map of Europe on a globe which span round to reveal the Eurovision logo.
The United Kingdom's entry Making Your Mind Up by the group Bucks Fizz won the 1981 contest after a close race with Germany's entry Johnny Blue by Lena Valaitis. Bucks Fizz was specially formed for the Eurovision Song Contest and had created a memorable show act when the 2 guys in the group ripped off the skirts of the 2 girls, revealing a shorter skirt underneath. To date, it is seen by many as one of the most memorable moments in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. Bucks Fizz continued their career all over Europe with many hitsongs during the 1980s, like The Land Of Make Believe and My Camera Never Lies.
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