COPENHAGEN 1964

The Eurovision Song Contest of 1964 in Copenhagen saw an unrivaled first Italian victory with a song performed by the only 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti who had already won the Italian San Remo Festival with her entry Non Ho l’Età. The 1964 Eurovision Song Contest took place in the famous Tivoli in Copenhagen. This year, the event was highly political and there were demands that the right-wing dictatorships in Spain and Portugal should be excluded from the contest. There was even some trouble during the contest as just before the Belgian entry, a man entered the stage holding a banner saying “Boycott Franco and Salazar”. He was quickly removed from the stage though.

As in the three years before, 16 countries participated in the competition. Portugal made its debute, and Sweden chose not to enter the contest. Germany, Portugal and Switzerland each scored zero points for the first time. In the case of Portugal, it was the first time in the history of the contest that a newcomer did not receive any points at all. Italy celebrated its first victory with the song Non Ho l’Età, performed by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti. Gigliola would also take part in 1974 and would become the host of Eurovision Song Contest of 1991, together with Toto Cutugno.

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