Obituaries

Vesa-Matti Loiri passed away

This week, Finnish singer and actor Vesa-Matti Loiri passed away. Loiri, who was nicknamed Vesku, was a Finnish actor, comedian, singer and musician. He is considered one of Finland’s most versatile entertainment artists. He was one of the biggest names in Finnish art and entertainment. Loiri has acted in theatre, films and television. As a comedian, he is known for television programs and movies. As a singer, Loiri gained popularity, especially as an interpreter of songs composed to Eino Leino’s poems. He has also recorded Finnish hits. In 1975, he took part in Euroviisut, the Finnish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. His song “Laulu” became 3rd. Four years later, with “Huilumies”, he was more succesful. He was chosen to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately, in the international final in Den Haag, it was not a great success. He became last. In 2014, Loiri appeared in the third season of the Finnish TV series Vain läämää. Loiri died of cancer on August 10, 2022. “He was one of Finland’s most well-known, most loved and most successful entertainment artists of all time,” music editor Ilkka Mattila describes Loiri.’s career in the death news.

Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away

Today, the sad news came to us that Dame Olivia Newton John passed away. The Dame was 73 years old. Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, but the family moved to Australia when she was only 5 years old. She returned to the UK in the sixties. She had her first hits in 1971: “If not for you” became a huge hit in several countries, followed by “Banks of the Ohio”, which became a number 1 hit in Australia. As a good friend of Cliff Richard, she was interested in participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1974 she represented the United Kingdom. Out of 6 songs, “Long live love” was chosen. She was not too happy with the choice of the British audience, who voted with postcards. However, Olivia was one of the hot favourites at the bookmakers. In the end, she became 4th. Shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest, Olivia moved to the USA. She scored no less than 5 number 1 hits, only in the years 1974 and 1975. Her worldwide breakthrough as an actress came in 1978, when she and John Travolta performed in the teenage movie “Grease”, a movie that became and still is an evergreen. The movie produced hits like “You’re the one that I want”, “Hopelessly devoted to you” and “Summer nights”. Another worldwide movie hit was “Xanadu”, two years after “Grease”. The title song was a world wide hit as well. After these two movies she scored a worldwide hit again, the song “Physical”: After “Physical” she kept on having hits, although it became more difficult for her to have worldwide top hits. The exception came in 1990, when she and John Travolta teamed up again to record the “Grease Megamix”. In total, Olivia Newton John released 26 albums, 6 live albums and several soundtracks. In 1992, Olivia had cancer for the first time. The cancer returned in 2013 and again in 2017. In 2019, Newton-John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, including for her contribution to cancer research. Since then she was allowed to call herself Dame.

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