Obituaries

In memoriam: Armando Gama

Sad news again: yesterday, january 17th, Armando Gama passed away. Armando Gama represented Portugal in th 1983 Eurovision Song Contest. He reached the 13th place. Armando Gama was a Portuguese singer-songwriter, musician and baritone opera singer. Gama grew up in Angola and lived there until the age of 17. Upon moving to Portugal in 1971, he scored the first of many nr 1 hits on the Portuguese music charts. In his four-decade music career, he has sold over five million records in Portugal alone. Armando Gama died of cancer in Lisbon. He was 67 years old.

Carmela Corren passed away

Today we’ve received the sad news that Israeli singer Carmela Corren passed away. Corren, whose real name was Carmela Bizman, was born in Tel Aviv in 1938. In the sixties she built up a career in the German speaking countries. In 1962 she took part in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. “Eine Rose aus Santa Monica” only received one vote, but became a huge hit in the charts afterwards. A year later, Austrian broadcaster ORF invited her to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest. She did, with the song “Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder”. The song reached the 7th place in the contest in London. Carmela Corren remained popular in the German speaking countries in the early 1960s. She also played in a lot of German movies. However, her career faded after that time. She made several albums in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, also one in Hebrew. Carmela Corren lived in Florida, USA. She withdrew from showbusiness, but every now and then she performed at Jewish folk festivals. Corren was 83 years old.

Armenian singer Hayko Hakobyan dies at age 48 from COVID-19

Hayko Hakobyan, who represented Armenia in 2007, sadly passed away today, 29 September 2021. Hayko reached the age of 48 years old. The ”Anytime you need” singer caught COVID-19 earlier this year. The first news about his hospitalisation hit the newsstands around 21 September 2021. Today the news reached us that Hayko has tragically died from the complications. Shushan Danielyan, chief of staff at Yerevan State Medical University has conformed the information.

Curt-Eric Holmquist passed away

On the 21st of July Göteborgs Posten announced the sad news that Eurovision Conductor Curt-Eric Holmquist passed away on the 20th of July. The Eurovision fans may know him from his work for Lotta på Liseberg, where many Eurovision artists perform their songs and his work for achieving the Swedish Eurovision victory with Herreys and the song ‘Diggiloo Diggiley’ in 1984. The following year when the Eurovision Song Contest was coming to Gothenburg, Holmquist was the musical director of the show. In total he conducted seven songs for Eurovision. Curt-Eric Holmquist was 73 years old.

John Lawton (Les Humphries Singers) passed away

Today the news was announced that on june 29 of this year, John Lawton passed away. Uriah Heep, the band were Lawton was a member of, published the news today. Lawton was a member of Uriah Heep between 1976 and 1979. This is what he was most wellknown for. After that, he also sang in bands like Rebel, Zar and Gunhill and made a couple of solo albums. Lawton was known for many musical styles, like rock ‘n’ roll, blues and heavy metal. Before Uriah Heep, he also sang in Lucifer’s Friends and… he was a member of the Les Humphries Singers. That’s where the Eurovision connection pops up: he was one of the six Les Humphries Singers who entered the Eurovision stage in 1976. They became 2nd in the German final. However, the winner was disqualified, and that gave the Singers the opportunity to sing their “Sing sang song” at the contest in The Hague. John Lawton was 74 years old.

In memoriam Franco Battiato

The sad news reached us that Franco Battiato passed away. Battiato has been active in the Italian music scene for a very long time. In the 1960s he was initially a protest singer, but later switched to romantic repertoire. In the 1970s he looked more for experimental music. It was in 1984 that he took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, together with Alice. The ballad “I treni di tozeur” was a special composition: at the end some opera singers sang along. The song became an international hit. Battiato went on steadily and made a total of 44 albums. He cooperated with among others Angelo Branduardi in the song “Il sultano di Babilonia e la prostituta’. Battiato also had a short political career as a minister in the Sicily region. In 2019 he stopped singing. Battiato died after a long illness at the age of 76.

Svante Thuresson passed away

The sad news came to us that Svante Thuresson passed away on May 10th. The news was announced yesterday. Thuresson, together with Lill Lindfors, represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest of 1966 with the song “Nygammal vals eller hip man svinaherde”. They achieved second place, until ABBA’s victory the best score for Sweden. Svante Thuresson started his career in the early 1960s in the group Gals & Pals. After the Eurovision Song Contest he started a solo career. He released no less than 22 albums, mainly with jazz repertoire. Twice later he took part in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national final for the Eurovision song contest: in 1977 and in 2007. Thuresson died after a long illness at the age of 84. photo credtis: Frankie Fouganthin, Wikimedia Commons