NAPLES 1965

The 1965 Eurovision Song Contest in Naples saw a winner from Luxembourg again that later turned out to be a worldwide success and made its winner – France Gall – a popular singer all over Europe.

Italy and its national broadcaster RAI hosted this year’s contest for the first time. The number of participants was the highest ever as 18 countries took part. After a year of absence, Sweden returned to the competition and Ireland debuted. Belgium, Germany, Finland and Spain all scored nul points while Luxembourg won for the second time with the highly controversial Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son sung by teenager France Gall which later went on to be a massive hit in almost all European countries.

Swedish participant Ingvar Wixell performed his song -originally called Annorstädes Vals – in English instead of Swedish while all the other participants sang in their native languages. This incident led to a rule demanding all participants should perform their songs in their respective national languages.

For the first time, the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast not only by the European Broadcasting Union, but also by Intervision, its Eastern European counterpart.

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