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| Nicole |
Today, The Grandma has been talking with The Watsons about Nicole, the German singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest representing their country in 1982 singing Ein bißchen Frieden.
Germany has officially participated in every Eurovision Song Contest since its beginning in 1956, except in 1996 when its entry did not qualify past the audio-only pre‐selection round, and consequently was not seen in the broadcast final and does not count as one of Germany's 63 appearances. The final is broadcast in Germany on ARD flagship channel, Das Erste. Germany has won the contest twice, in 1982 and 2010.
Before talking about Dima Bilan, The Grandma has offered a new Cambridge Key English Test A2 Example to The Watsons.
Nicole Seibert, (born 25 October 1964, Saarbrücken, Germany) is a German singer. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song Ein bißchen Frieden, A Little Peace, which also reached the top of the UK Singles Chart.
Nicole represented West Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 where she performed the song Ein bißchen Frieden, with music by Ralph Siegel and lyrics by Bernd Meinunger and Paul Greedus.
The song won the contest and when she reprised the song after the end of the contest voting, she performed parts of the song in English, French, and Dutch along with the original German.
In 1983, she made the second place, behind the Hungarian band Neoton Família, at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with the Ralph Siegel/Robert Jung song So viele Lieder sind in mir.
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| Nicole & Ein bißchen Frieden |
Nicole was also the winner of the German Schlagerparade in 1991 with the song Ein leises Lied.
The full English version of the song A Little Peace went on to be the 500th number one single in the UK Singles Chart. Full versions in French, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, Slovene, Russian, Polish, and Hungarian with Neoton Família have also been recorded.
In October 2010, she released her album, 30 Jahre mit Leib und Seele, a best-of compilation album on her 30th anniversary.
In the BBC4 Programme Eurovision at 60 she described her emotions when she realised that Israel had awarded her the full 12 points for her song. She went on to say how much it meant to her, with our history, and was subsequently invited to Jerusalem to perform, in the midst of the conflict with Lebanon.
Ein bißchen Frieden is a song in German, written by prolific German Eurovision-writing duo Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger for the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, held in Harrogate, United Kingdom.
It was performed by
17-year-old German high-school student Nicole, resulting in Germany's
first win at the Eurovision Song Contest by a record margin of 61
points, setting a new record for the largest winning margin that lasted
until the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. Nicole's single is still the
only Eurovision entry to top the sales charts in every territory it was
released in.
More information: Eurovision TV
Ein bißchen Frieden was the eighteenth and final song performed during the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. At the close of voting, it had received 161 points, placing first in a field of 18.
The performance was unlike most other Eurovision entrants in that Nicole performed while seated on a stool, playing a white acoustic guitar and accompanied by a backing group which included a harpist. The gentle ballad describes a wish for world peace, with the lyrics sung in first person, and also describes the beauty of the natural world.
After winning the
contest, Nicole performed the reprise in four different languages:
German, English, French and Dutch. She decided on the spur of the moment
to do this, to the bewilderment of her backing group. She later
released recordings in five additional languages across Europe: Danish,
Italian, Russian, and a German-English-Dutch combination and a
German-English-Italian combination.
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| Nicole won Eurovision in 1982 |
It topped the charts in many countries, selling more than three million copies, and the English version was the last Eurovision winner to top the charts in the United Kingdom.
The English version also holds the honour of becoming the 500th British Number One.
The song was chosen in an internet poll conducted by the European Broadcasting Union in 2005 as one of the 14 most popular songs in the history of the Eurovision, and was one of the entrants in the Congratulations 50th anniversary concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, held in October 2005.
Although Nicole was not at the concert, it was re-enacted by dancers equipped with white guitars and a live orchestra as the original footage was shown in the background. Ein bißchen Frieden finished as the seventh most popular song in the history of the contest.
It was succeeded as German representative at the 1983 Contest by Hoffmann & Hoffmann with Rücksicht.
More information: ESC Today
In 1982 Ein bißchen Frieden was covered in Slovene, Croatian, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, and Finnish.
In 1996, the Swedish techno/folk/bluegrass band Rednex, known for their hit Cotton-Eye Joe around that time, did a cover of Ein bißchen Frieden, also played in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The song has since been rendered in English as A Little Peace recorded by Daniel O'Donnell for his 1997 album I Believe, and in Dutch as Een Beetje Vrede recorded by Kathleen Aerts for her 2009 album In Symfonie.
Monica Forsberg wrote lyrics in Swedish as En liten fågel, and the song became popular among dansband groups. It was recorded in Swedish by Stefan Borsch on his 1982 album En liten fågel as well as releasing it as a single the same year and Mats Bergmans on his 2004 album Vänd dig inte om. It was also recorded by Ingmar Nordströms on 1982 album Saxparty 9.
German techno-punk band DAF released Ein bißchen Krieg, A Bit Of War as a response to the supposed sentimentality of the song.
More information: Wiwi Blogs
Wie eine Blume am Winterbeginn
Und so wie ein Feuer im eisigen Wind
Wie eine Puppe, die keiner mehr mag
Fühl ich mich an manchem Tag.
Just like a flower at the beginning of winter
And just like a fire in an icy wind
Just like a doll that nobody wants anymore
That's how I feel on some days.
Und so wie ein Feuer im eisigen Wind
Wie eine Puppe, die keiner mehr mag
Fühl ich mich an manchem Tag.
Just like a flower at the beginning of winter
And just like a fire in an icy wind
Just like a doll that nobody wants anymore
That's how I feel on some days.
Nicole
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