Today, the sad news came to us that Finnish singer Laila Halme passed away. Laila Halme, born Laila Soppi in the Finnish town of Jääski, was a Finnish singer and actress. She began her career in the 1950, singing in several orchestras. Her first single “Kaunis rakkaus” was released in 1959. In 1960, she released several singles and EP’s at the Philips label. In 1961 she debuted as an actress in two films: “Penkki” and “Tähtisumua”.
In 1963, she participated in Euroviisut, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song “Olen mikä olen”. She became 3rd, while the song “Muistojeni laulu” won and Irmeli Mäkelä was chosen to sing it in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, Finnish broadcaster YLE decided to let Laila Halme sing it in the international final. She did not receive any point at all. A year later, Laila Halme represented Finland in the festival of Sopot in Poland. She released a couple of singles but left showbusiness in 1967. We only saw her back in 1987, when she hosted Euroviisut. Her son Jussi Halme is also a singer, he took part in Euroviisut in 1990.
Laila Halme was 87 years old.
Singer Claude will represent the Netherlands
Singer Claude will represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Songefestival 2025 As is known, the Dutch artist, Joost Klein, was disqualified last year for alleged misconduct against a camerawoman.After that, various talks took place between the EBU and Avro Tros. Finally, at the end of November, it was announced that the Netherlands will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 after all. This afternoon at 1600 PM they announced the artist Claude via Social Media. The 21-year-old singer says he is proud to be on stage on behalf of the Netherlands in Basel in Switzerland. Claude describes his participation as a dream come true: “I feel enormously honored to represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest next year and I still can’t believe it. I’m really looking forward to it and can’t wait to let Europe hear the song.” (source AvroTros) Share
