The participants in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 have been revealed by German tabloid BILD. Instead of three acts like in 2006 and 2007, five singers and groups will take part in the competition.
The five acts and their songs are:
- No Angels – Disap
- Marquess – La histeria
- Tommy Reeve – Only one woman
- Cinema Bizarre – Forever or never
- Carolin Fortenbacher – Hinterm Horizont (Beyond the horizon)
The No Angels are the most succesful German girl group ever. They were the winning band of the first season of Popstars back in 2000 and had many hit singles and albums before they disbanded in 2003. Most of the singers started their solo careers and had success on the charts. In 2007, four of the singers – Lucy Diakovska, Nadja Benaissa, Sandy Mölling and Jessica reunited and reached #4 on the single charts with Goodbye to yesterday. They won't be the first Popstars winning band to take part in the German national final, previously Overground (2004) and Monrose (2007) tried to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Marquess, who are fronted by Sascha Pierro who took part in the 2003 German national final, have been founded in 2006. They sing mostly songs in Spanish, like their biggest hit Vayamos compañeros, the summer tune reached #2 in Germany in 2007and remained in the top 10 for almost four months. Furthermore, the song topped the charts in Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Czech Repulic and Poland. La histeria will be the first song in a German national final ever to be performed entirely in Spanish.
Tommy Reeve is from Munich. In 2007 he released his first single On my mind that peaked at #25 in the charts. His debut album, also called On my mind, reached #38. The 27-year-old singer's music style i classic pop, mainly dealing with romantic themes.
Cinema Bizarre is a teeny glam rock band that refers to the Japanese movement Visual kei. Their first single was released in September and Lovesongs (They kill me) peaked at #9 on the charts and so did their debut album Final attraction. Their second single Escape to the stars, which samples Depeche Mode's Everything counts, did not reach the top 10.
Carolin Fortenbacher is best known forhaving playedthe leading role of Dona in the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! in Hamburg in more than 1,200 shows. As a soloist she has not made any impact on the charts yet while the German soundtrack of Mamma Mia! was very succesful, peaked at #3 on the album charts and stayed in the top 100 for almost 17 months. She will perform the only song in German in the national final.
The German national final will be held on 6th February at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, probably again hostedby Thomas Hermanns. As one of the big4 countries, Germany is directly qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.
