World Song Contest

With the Eurovision Song Contest fever growing, this edition of the World Song Contest brought us some entries which didn't succeed to represent their country in the event. For the first time, and this was an exception, an ESC song even took part. Romania's entry was submitted before the national final and was then allowed. If the song finally won the ticket to Athens, it didn't help Romania to win here.

For the first time, top 3 of the previous edition was automatically qualified for the final. Turkey also qualified as the winner of "The Winner Knows It All". This could have been a disadvantage. Only Iceland didn't reach the top 20, while Turkey and Belgium were good for a top 10 position. For the 31 remaining entries the fight began in the qualifying round. Once again, and despite some good critics, Germany and Lithuania failed to reach the final, as well as Austria and Portugal. But the disappointment came from the Netherlands which missed the final for the first time.

Big stars were once again part of the show. Italy only managed to avoid the last position in the final, despite being represented by Eros Ramazzotti. Nelly Furtado for Canada reached the 13th position and Massive Attack came 12th for the United Kingdom. Only Pink, for the USA, reached the top 10. The contest wasn't repeating itself after Madonna and Céline Dion's victories.

After a closed race with Slovenia, France and Monaco, Russia took the crown for the third time after WSC .05 and WSC .08. This time, it was with Vitas, who represented Russia for the second time, and the song Krikon Zhuravlinim.

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THE WINNER

Country: Russia
Artist(s): Vitas
Song: Krikon Zhuravlinim

Born Vitaliy Vladasovich Grachyov on 19 February 1979, Vitas was raised in Odessa, Ukraine. He showed an interest in music from an early age. The young Vitaliy's grandfather taught him to play accordion, and he began writing songs as a child. He later studied music more formally. He attended an art school in Odessa and as a teenager appeared in various theatrical productions. Vitas rose to fame in Russia in December 2000 with hit Opera No. 2, which was notable for use of Vitas' surprisingly high-pitched and energetic use of falsetto. His concert program Philosophy of Miracle premiered at the State Kremlin Palace on 29 March 2002, establishing a record for Vitas as the youngest artist ever to perform a solo concert at this prestigious venue. A DVD of this concert was released. He also presented his fashion collection "Autumn Dreams" on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace in 29 September 2002. Vitas presented his second solo program "The Songs of My Mother" in the Rossia Concert Hall, Moscow in November 2003. Two albums were released on the same year: "The Songs of My Mother" and "Mama". "The Songs of My Mother" included the songs which are considered to be the gold reserves of Russian pop-music while "Mama" included several new songs composed by Vitas. Both albums were a dedication to his mother who died in 2001. Other albums followed, including A Kiss as Long as Eternity in 2004 and Return Home in 2006. In October 2007, Vitas was signed with American company Gemini Sun Records. Gemini Sun has released the Audio Visual Connect Series Vitas compilation CD + DVD set featuring 8 music videos with the corresponding songs also on audio CD, plus a bonus audio track. In 2008, Vitas was the only foreign artist to sing at the Beijing Olympics kickoff concert in July. He also released his single Light of A New Day, a 40-minute track of vocalization and instrumentation with no lyrics.