Jan Smit: famous since age eleven!

Many people in The Netherlands know Jan Smit for a long time already. Not a surprise: Jan is from Volendam, a town northwards from Amsterdam. This fisherstown is known from it’s many musical talents. Three Eurovision participants come from Volendam: Bernadette, Maribelle and 3JS. Jan Smit became a star when he was 11 years old. He sang “Ik zing dit lied voor jou alleen” about a grandmother who passed away. Jantje Smit (little Jan Smit) as his stage name was in these days, stole many grandmothers’ hearts.

In fact, lots of people in the Netherlands made fun of Jantje Smit. They didn’t take the boy too serious. People who want to make fun of him now still speak about Jantje Smit. But…. maybe it is a little bit too easy. Let us take you back to the 1st of january 2001, when a fire in a pub in Volendam made an end to the lives of 14 youngsters, of Jan’s peer group. Jantje Smit performed at the memorial service, while some of these youngsters were good friends of him. He sang “Ave maria”. If you can do thát in this situation, you are capable of something….


This is “Ave Maria”, but not the memorial service

Jantje became Jan and is now involved in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2011; as a commentator, but also as a member of the selection commitee since 2014.

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Blast from the past: Germany 1967

We know a lot about Eurovision and we want to share this knowledge with you! Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today, we go back to 1967 when Inge Brück represented Germany with the song “Anouschka”. Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest Germany has a long Eurovision history, having competed since 1956 and won twice: in 1982 with Ein bißchen Frieden (Nicole) and in 2010 with Satellite (Lena). Being part of the “Big Five”, Germany is always in the final. Recent entries have had mixed success. In 2022, Malik Harris sang Rockstars and ended up 25th with 6 points. In 2023, Lord of the Lost performed Blood & Glitter, finishing 26th (last) with 18 points. The year after, Isaak represented Germany with Always on the Run, placing 12th with 117 points, a much stronger showing. For 2025, Germany was represented by Abor & Tynna with Baller. They were selected through the national competition Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland? and finished 15th in the final, scoring 151 points. Internal selection for Germany Germany selected their song internally. 145 songs were submitted to the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), the broadcaster responsible for the German entry. The winning song was sung by Inge Brück. The titles of the top-3 are known: Anouschka (lyrics and music by Hans Blum) Die Nacht hat viele Gesichter (lyrics and music by Fred Strittmatter) Das Glück dieser Welt (lyrics and music by Hubert Wolf) Inge Brück Inge Brück, born on 12 October 1936 in Mannheim, Germany, passed away on 8 September 2025 in Meschede, at the age of 88. She began her career in the 1950s as a singer with the Erwin Lehn dance orchestra, where pianist Horst Jankowski discovered her talent. After a television appearance with Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff she was offered a record contract. In 1957, she scored her first hit with “Peter, komm heut’ abend zum Hafen”, the German version of Green Door, which reached number seven in the German charts. Her international breakthrough came in 1966 when she won the International Song Festival in Brazil with the song Frag den Wind. A year later, in 1967, German broadcaster NDR internally selected her to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with the song Anouschka. She finished in shared eighth place with 7 points. After Eurovision, Brück increasingly turned to acting. In 1970 she starred in the ZDF television series Miss Molly Mill, playing the lead role of a cleaning lady turned amateur detective. The show was a huge success, often attracting more than 20 million viewers per episode. From the 1970s onwards, she shifted her focus to religious music and joined the group Künstler für Christus (“Artists for Christ”), together with other well-known German performers such as Katja Ebstein and Peter Horton. Inge Brück leaves behind a rich legacy: as a popular singer of the radio and television era, as an actress on screen, and later as a performer of religious music. Her voice and versatility made her a beloved figure in German culture. Anouschka Anouschka was the German entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 in Vienna, performed by Inge Brück. The song was written and composed by Hans Blum. It finished in eighth place, scoring seven points. Musically, Anouschka followed the classic schlager style that was popular in Germany during the 1960s. The arrangement featured a melodic, light orchestral backing, with a clear emphasis on Brück’s warm and emotional vocals. The song had a gentle rhythm and a traditional structure, making it easy to follow and appealing to a broad audience of the time. The lyrics told a story of longing and heartbreak. The singer addresses Anouschka, a woman who left, and asks why she had to go, leaving behind sadness and emptiness. The combination of its melodic charm and emotional theme gave the song a nostalgic quality, typical of many Eurovision ballads of the era.  

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Blast from the past
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Blast from the past: Germany 1967

We know a lot about Eurovision and we want to share this knowledge with you! Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today, we go back to 1967 when Inge Brück represented Germany with the song “Anouschka”. Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest Germany has a long Eurovision history, having competed since 1956 and won twice: in 1982 with Ein bißchen Frieden (Nicole) and in 2010 with Satellite (Lena). Being part of the “Big Five”, Germany is always in the final. Recent entries have had mixed success. In 2022, Malik Harris sang Rockstars and ended up 25th with 6 points. In 2023, Lord of the Lost performed Blood & Glitter, finishing 26th (last) with 18 points. The year after, Isaak represented Germany with Always on the Run, placing 12th with 117 points, a much stronger showing. For 2025, Germany was represented by Abor & Tynna with Baller. They were selected through the national competition Chefsache ESC 2025 – Wer singt für Deutschland? and finished 15th in the final, scoring 151 points. Internal selection for Germany Germany selected their song internally. 145 songs were submitted to the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), the broadcaster responsible for the German entry. The winning song was sung by Inge Brück. The titles of the top-3 are known: Anouschka (lyrics and music by Hans Blum) Die Nacht hat viele Gesichter (lyrics and music by Fred Strittmatter) Das Glück dieser Welt (lyrics and music by Hubert Wolf) Inge Brück Inge Brück, born on 12 October 1936 in Mannheim, Germany, passed away on 8 September 2025 in Meschede, at the age of 88. She began her career in the 1950s as a singer with the Erwin Lehn dance orchestra, where pianist Horst Jankowski discovered her talent. After a television appearance with Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff she was offered a record contract. In 1957, she scored her first hit with “Peter, komm heut’ abend zum Hafen”, the German version of Green Door, which reached number seven in the German charts. Her international breakthrough came in 1966 when she won the International Song Festival in Brazil with the song Frag den Wind. A year later, in 1967, German broadcaster NDR internally selected her to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with the song Anouschka. She finished in shared eighth place with 7 points. After Eurovision, Brück increasingly turned to acting. In 1970 she starred in the ZDF television series Miss Molly Mill, playing the lead role of a cleaning lady turned amateur detective. The show was a huge success, often attracting more than 20 million viewers per episode. From the 1970s onwards, she shifted her focus to religious music and joined the group Künstler für Christus (“Artists for Christ”), together with other well-known German performers such as Katja Ebstein and Peter Horton. Inge Brück leaves behind a rich legacy: as a popular singer of the radio and television era, as an actress on screen, and later as a performer of religious music. Her voice and versatility made her a beloved figure in German culture. Anouschka Anouschka was the German entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 in Vienna, performed by Inge Brück. The song was written and composed by Hans Blum. It finished in eighth place, scoring seven points. Musically, Anouschka followed the classic schlager style that was popular in Germany during the 1960s. The arrangement featured a melodic, light orchestral backing, with a clear emphasis on Brück’s warm and emotional vocals. The song had a gentle rhythm and a traditional structure, making it easy to follow and appealing to a broad audience of the time. The lyrics told a story of longing and heartbreak. The singer addresses Anouschka, a woman who left, and asks why she had to go, leaving behind sadness and emptiness. The combination of its melodic charm and emotional theme gave the song a nostalgic quality, typical of many Eurovision ballads of the era.  

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