Intoduction

The French broadcaster France 3 has made an internal selection this year. An expert group of 12 people have chosen Amandie Bourgois to represent France in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö with the song “L’Enfer Et Moi”. 

Amandie was born in 1979 in Angoulême in the province Charente Maritime, Western France. The influence of music she enjoyed from early childhood has her father and stepfather have been musicians as well. She studied the German flute at the music conservatory in Nice, as a teenager she founded her first rock group. Beside her music career Amandie has also learned something solid at the College of Hotel Management, she worked in Britain and on the Balearic Islands, after that she moved back to Toulouse where she appeared in several musicals. In 2008 she participated in the French Pop Idol called “Nouvelle Star”, where she made the first place. 

One year later she released her first studio album called “20m²” in the style of the 70’s, which received golden status in France. After her victory at the “Nouvelle star” a record contract has been offered to her where she should have sung only covers songs. She denied with the statement that it’s not her temper. Therefore she performed with The Scorpions, and has opened concerts of Johnny Hallyday in the Royal Albert Hall in London. Her second album “Sans Amour Mon Amour” has been recorded in the famous Abbey Studios in London 2012. Most songs are written by herself and her partner Guillaume Soulan. 

Her song for the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö is called “L’Enfer Et Moi” (Hell And Me). This is a quite rocky tune in the Motown style of music. Of course the French entry will be sung in the French language. In the previous year France did not shape up very well and France should have chosen a really outstanding song. “L’Enfer Et Moi” is a great song though, but a bit too ordinary to receive enough attention among the high competitiveness. Maybe this song has to be heard several times to convince, but unfortunately not after first listening. France belongs to the Big 5 countries and will directly start in the grand final on May 18th.  

Interesting to know is that the composer Boris Bergman has also composed the entry of Monaco 1973 “Un train qui part” (8th) and 1975 “Une chanson c’est une letter” (13th place). 

History

Participations: 57

Debut: 1956

Biggest success: 5x 1st place “Dors Mon Amour” by André Claveau in 1958, “Tom Pillibi” by Jacquline Boyer in 1960, “Un Premier Amour” by Isabelle Aubret in 1962, “Un Jour, Un Enfant” by Frida Boccara in 1969, “L'oiseau Et L'enfant” by Marie Myriam in 1977, 6x 2nd place “Le Temps Perdu” by Mathé Altéry in 1956, “Il Est Là” by Dany Dauberson in 1956, “La Belle Amour” by Paule Desjardins in 1957, “Un, Deux, Trois” by Catherine Ferry in 1976, “White And Black Blues” by Joelle Ursull in 1990, “C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé Qui A Raison” by Amina in 1991, 7x 3rd place “Oui, Oui, Oui, Oui” by Jean Philippe in 1959, “N'avoue Jamais” by Guy Mardel in 1965, “Il Doit Faire Beau Là-bas” by Noëlle Cordier in 1967, “La Source” by Isabelle Aubret in 1968, “Il Y Aura Toujours Des Violons” by Joël Prévost in 1978, “Je Suis L'enfant-soleil” by Anne-Marie David in 1979, “Humanahum” by Jean Gabilou in 1981, 7x 4th place, 2x 5th place, 2x 7th place, 5x 8th place, 3x 10th place

France is participating since the very first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. This year in Malmö it’s going to be the 57th participation; France has withdrawn in 1974 and 1982. Nevertheless there were five winning songs, six second places and seven third places, unfortunately the biggest successes can be found in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and in recent years the outcome is getting less. France is famous for its chansons and ballads, but also French pop tunes have been presented lately like “Divine” by Sébastian Tellier (19th rank in 2008) and “Allez Olla Olé” by Jessy Matador (12th rank in 2010) which have been found in the international charts as well.

Even with big names like Patricia Kaas, Natasha St. Pierre or Patrick Fiori could not bring another victory for France. In 1977 Marie Myriam convinced the juries with “L'oiseau Et L'enfant”, this was the last big victory in Eurovision, and that’s more than 30 years ago! As France belongs to the Big 5 countries, it is set automatically for the final like Germany, UK, Spain and Italy.