Ralph Siegel, who keeps the record in having composed the most Eurovision Song Contest entries, has celebrated his 60th birthday on September 30th. He has already said that he wants 'to continue to try to go to the Eurovision Song Contest. It's like an addiction.'

Ralph Siegel's career in the Eurovision Song Contest is remarkable. He has written no less than 16 entries. His first try was in 1974 for Luxembourg. Bye, bye, I love you, sung by Ireen Sheer, finished equal 4th. Two years later, he wrote his first German contribution to the contest: Sing sang song by The Les Humphries Singers which only finished 15th. In 1979, he was more succesful: Dschinghis Khan came 4th in the contest and was also commercially very succesful. In 1980 he tried both for Luxembourg and Germany: Papa Pingouin, performed by Sophie & Magaly, reached a 9th place while Katja Ebstein came 2nd for Germany singing Theater. The year after he repeated his second place with Lena Valaitis and Johnny Blue.

In 1982 Ralph Siegel finally got to win the Grand Prix. Ein bißchen Frieden, performed by Nicole, and it became a hit all over Europe. So far, it's the only victory for Germany and for Ralph Siegel. Three years after his victory he wrote his third and up till now last entry for Luxembourg. Children, Kinder, enfants, performed by a group which comprised six well-known singers, but only managed a 13th place. He had to wait five years after his victory to compete again for Germany. He composed the song Laß' die Sonne in dein Herz for the group Wind which was the runner-up in 1987. Though his next entry was among the favourites, Lied für einen Freund, performed by Maxi & Chris Garden, only finished 14th in 1988. In 1990, the duo Daniel Kovac & Chris Kempers reached a 9th position with Frei zu leben. Two years after, Siegel wrote another song for Wind. Träume sind für alle da which finished 16th.

In 1994 Ralph Siegel was chosen internally to compose the German entry. The song was called Wir geben 'ne Party, and the performers were the girlgroup MeKaDo. Though they came 3rd in the contest, the song wasn't successful in Germany at all. In 1997 he composed the song Zeit, which was supposed to be sung by Esther Ofarim, who represented Switzerland in 1963. She didn't want to sing Zeit and because of that Bianca Shomburg was chosen as singer and she finished 18th in Dublin. Like Wir geben 'ne Party in 1994, Reise nach Jerusalem, the German entry in 1999, wasn't successful in Germany though it came 3rd in the contest. After a 21st place with I can't live with out music, sung by Corinna May, Ralph Siegel stated, that he didn't want to compete again. Nevertheless, he was responsible for the German entry in 2003 and Lou came 12th with Let's get happy in Riga.

In 2004, he didn't compose any entry, but he was the producer of Julie & Ludwig from Malta. Last year, he came second in the German national final with A miracle of love by Marco Matthias and Nicole Süßmilch with only a few percent in the voting between them and the winner Gracia. The way of chosing the German representative in 2006 isn't known yet, and at the moment it is not even sure if there will be a national final after a last place in Kyiv. Nevertheless, Ralph Siegel seems to want try again. Most of the lyrics to his songs were written by Bernd Meinunger, who also wrote the lyrics of the German and Swiss song in 2005 under the name John O'Flynn.