A big surprise coming from the Swiss show business: The pop/rock- band Lovebugs from Basel will represent Switzerland at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Moscow, Russia. No official confirmation has been made yet but according to the Swiss paper SonntagsBlick, this decision has been made by a jury consisting of five members appointed by Swiss television.
After the Eurovision debacles in the last years, Swiss television was searching for experienced artists with chart- potential and international appeal.
Only few artists live up to those criteria, some of them were rejected and some of them ruled themselves out but the Lovebugs are ready to take the risk, which might come as a surprise, considering the image of the band. Other than that, the initial position seems perfect: This year, the Lovebugs will be celebrating their 15th anniversary and their 10th album, Thehighest heights,is set to be released in a few days, on January 23rd precisely.
As far as their international appeal is concerned, it can be remarked that the Lovebugs already stormed the charts duetting with Norwegian singer Lene Marlin two years ago. For their new album, the Lovebugs were able to get Irish Richard Rainey on- board, the man who produced the last U2- album.
Nevertheless, a success in Eurovision is not that easy a task considering the fact that since 1991, no artist of Swiss nationality managed to reach the top 10. With the upcoming participation of the Lovebugs, the hopes are high to turn things around for Switzerland, especially the newly introduced rule of 50% jury voting is expected to help.
Avalon (duet with Lene Marlin, taken from the platinum awarded album In every waking moment)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alV9c8t_BK0 21st Century Man (first single from the new album The highest heights, to be released on Janury 23rd)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBEif7wHpgA
