Introduction

• Participant(s): Katerine Duska
• Song: "Better Love"
  
• Writer(s): Katerine Duska, David Sneddon
• Composer(s) : Katerine Duska, Leon of Athens, David Sneddon, Phil Cook
• Broadcaster: EPT
• Social media:      
• Team review: 

This is the 40th Greek entry in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest! Congratulations Greece! Since 1974 Greece is a well-established Eurovision country with one big victory. This year the Greek hopeful is the 30 years old singer Katerina Duska, who is born in Montreal, Canada 1989.

The singer has been chosen by the Greek broadcaster ERT in unison. This is probably due to her unique voice which reminds a lot to the one from Amy Winehouse. The dark timbre and sophisticated attitude seemed to be a good representative for Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest.

When Katerine was a teenager she moved to Athens with her family. In 2015 she released her first album “Embodiement” and her first single “Fire Away” has been used for an ad in the Canadian television. In Katerine’s music career has also been working with the Swedish musician Albin Lee Meldau and has performed in prestigious venues and festivals across Europe such as The O2 Academy, Rockwave Festival, SNFCC, Megaron Concert Hall and Sofar Sounds/Amnesty International's global festival Give a Home.

The song “Better Love” has been unveiled in March and received a lot of positive reactions. The promo video looks very professional and elaborated. It doesn’t sound Greek at all it has a very international approach and could come from anywhere. The style of music could be described as indie pop with a strong chorus and interesting rhythm. Katerine’s dark voice mainly appears in the verses in the chorus her voice can climb the scale for some octaves.

With this contemporary and approachable entry Greece can be proud to have one of the most serious entries in this year’s ESC.

History

• Debut: 1974
• Participations: 40
• Victories: 1
• Finals: 37
• Top 10: 18
• Chances for Top 10: 46%
• Chances for Final: 81% (since 2004)

Greece is celebrating its 40th entry in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1974! In the first year Greece was not often seen among the favourites, but thanks to televoting since the beginning of the new Millennium, Greece has often been found on the top of the tableau and reached many top 10 positions including one big victory by Helena Paparizou with “Number One” in 2005.

It’s natural as there are many Greeks living all over Europe and of course they will vote for Greece. Since the Semi Finals have been established, Greece has mostly passed them and this could guarantee a place in the Grand Finals, beside of in Stockholm 2016 and Lisbon 2018, where the Greek entry failed to qualify for the Grand Final. Furthermore Greece could achieve eight Top10 places within ten years! In the 36 years of participation, Greece could reach a Top10 place 18 times, so statistically there is a 45% chance for Greece achieving a very good place and furthermore to qualify for the final is at 81%!

The Greeks have always dreamed to win the ESC, the dream came true when the Greek-Swedish superstar Helena Paparizou sang her “Number One” in Kiev, 2005. This outstanding contribution was celebrated like a storm back in Greece and even beyond and Helena is still a super star in Greece and Sweden, where she was born. This victory was truly deserved as there were former years with really unfair low placements. The juries have been quite strict with Greek entries in former years. But one jury was always very loyal with Greece – it was and still is Cyprus. The famous 12 points have always been exchanged heavily between these countries. That’s why Greece never had zero points at the end. Over the years the Greek entries have become very contemporary and combine the traditional folkloristic roots and many of them became summer hits in the Mediterranean.

Biggest successes

1x 1st place

Helena Paparizou - "My Number One" (2005)

3x 3rd place

Antique - "Die For You" (2001)
Sakis Rouvas - "Shake It" (2004)
Kalomira - "Secret Combination" (2008)

Video Nostalgia

• “Ellada, Hora Tou Fotos” | Kaiti Garbi , Rank 11, 1974, Brighton
  
• “This Is Our Night” | Sakis Rouvas , Rank 7, 2009, Moscow
  
• “Oneira Mou” | Yianna Terzi , Rank 14 (Semi Final), 2018, Lisbon