What’s another year for Larry?
LARRY GOGAN doesn’t believe in the Curse of Eurovision — and he should know. He has been covering the contest since before Johnny Logan was a boy.
Ever since Terry Wogan handed over the reins two years ago to Graham Norton as the BBC’s commentator, Larry has become the veteran among the thousands of journalists gathered in Oslo for Europe’s annual song-fest.
“There are 2,600 of us here,” he says with the excited air of a rookie who can’t believe he gets paid for doing something he loves.
Although he wasn’t there to announce Dana’s success in 1970 (“way before my time”), he has been commenting on the contest since 1978, alternating between radio and television.
“Terry started covering Eurovision in the early ’70s, a bit before me, but this is my 31st contest and there is nobody here that has been doing it as long as that.”
Then in that charmingly self-deprecating way of his, he adds: “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
As for the so-called ‘Curse’, which supposedly leads singers to sink without trace after they have performed at the contest, Larry, who has won more radio awards than you could shake a microphone at, is having none of it.
“A lot of people say that but it simply isn’t true. Look at ABBA, for instance. Their career was launched following their win for Sweden in 1974 with Waterloo.
“ABBA went on to be one of the most successful bands of all times. Mind you, they produced more fantastic songs which is why they still sound so fresh today.
“They produced great radio songs that have lasted down the years. They were happy songs, catchy songs, songs you could play on any radio programme.
“Even today you could still turn to ABBA to brighten your day, but it was the Eurovision that got them started.”
It looks like I might have got Larry started.
“Dana did well, too, from Eurovision when she won with All Kinds of Everything. She made a very successful career as a singer since she won in The Hague.”
So how about Johnny Logan, didn’t he disappear into the woodwork? “Not at all. Johnny Logan is the only singer to have won the contest twice and he is still going strong. He is still big in Germany, for instance, and he is huge in Turkey.”
Another winner who subsequently achieved fame was Celine Dion, who won the contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi, though her international singing career came some years later.
Larry is a great man for statistics. “Ireland has won the contest seven times — that’s more than any other country. The UK and France have each won it five times. Johnny Logan won with What’s Another Year in 1980 and Hold Me Now in 1987.”
The Euro veteran is on the money. A quick perusal of the song contest website reveals Logan is also one of only five songwriters to have written more than one winning entry (Hold Me Now, 1987 and Why Me? 1992, performed by Linda Martin). This distinction makes Logan the only person to have three Eurovision victories to his/her credit, as singer, songwriter or both.
This year’s entrant, Niamh Kavanagh, has the chance to equal his record as singer as she faces the onerous task of restoring Ireland’s pride. The country’s solid reputation as a seven-times winner has been eroded after a run of dismal results, blamed as much on political voting as on a succession of lacklustre entries, not least Dustin the Turkey. Niamh sings a wistful ballad with shades of My Heart Will Go On, and a soaring key change complete with the flute thought lost on the Titanic.
It’s not beyond imagination that she will do a Johnny Logan on it and win… again.
“I think this is our best chance in years. She is a great performer and in the semi-final she got by far the biggest applause of the night. I think she will be helped, too, by the change in the voting structure where half the points are allocated by juries. This is designed to prevent the political voting which had become apparent in recent years with neighbouring countries giving each other top marks, regardless of the merits of the song.”
This time round Larry will assume the role of ‘roving reporter’ rather than giving a live commentary on RTÉ 2fm. “I’ll be dipping in and out of programmes on radio, so you’d never know where I might turn up.”
The Larry Gogan show airs on 2fm Monday to Friday from 3-4pm.
Eurovision will be screened tonight on RTÉ 1 at 8pm
