Introduction

• Participant(s): Tom Leeb
• Song: Mon Alliée (The Best In Me)
  
• Writer(s): Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, John Lundvik, Tom Leeb, Amir Haddad & Lea Ivanne
• Composer(s): Peter Boström, Thomas G:son & John Lundvik
• Broadcaster: TF
  
• Social media:          
  
• Team review: 

This year the French national final did not take place anymore. Too disappointing was the result from Tel Aviv, only the 16th place. Therefore the broadcaster France 3 has made an internal selection. And the choice felt to the popular comedian, actor, singer and songwriter Tom Leeb. This handsome guy seemed to be the perfect representative for France in Rotterdam. The song has been composed by the Swedish team Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, John Lundvik. This appears a bit strange, as France has a great music scene with great composers and writers and Swedish composers have been organized to compose the French song.

Tom Leeb was born in Paris in 1989. He is the song of the comedian Michel Leeb. Tom went to New York for five years to study theatre, film and singing. He played “Mrs Doubtfire” together with his father in the theatre and appeared in the serial “Sous le soleil de Saint-Tropez”. In 2014 he founded the comedy duo Kevin & Tom . Tom also acted in the movies: “A summer in the Provence” and “Papillion”. Beside of his acting career Tom has always made music. His first single “We Are Too Late”  has received over 25 million clicks on YouTube.

Have a look what Tom is singing:

• “Go On”
  
• "Sia P!nk - Waterfall" (Cover by Fanny Leeb and Tom Leeb)

What is really touching is that Tom’s sister, who is also a singer - is suffering from cancer and he wrote the song “Fearless” for her. Here is the sister Fanny Leeb.

The song “Mon Alliée - The Best In Me” is a dramatic ballad. The first version of the song was even filmed on the illuminated Eiffel Tower. That did not sound French at all. The revamped version, which is the official video clip is a lot smoother and gentle. Here the songs comes closer what Tom Leeb is usually singing. With this version he would have made a great impression. It’s also interesting to see that a French song is not only composed by Swedes, it’s also half English. It’s still unclear if Tom will get another chance in 2021 to represent France.

History

Debut: 1956
Participations: 64
Victories: 5
Top 10: 38
Chances for Top 10: 59%

France belongs to the founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest from the first year 1956. This year in Rotterdam it should have been the 64th time for France! But everything is cancelled due to the Corona pandemic.

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. In the last 30 years France struggled with good placings, this is due to the increasing amount of participating countries, televoting and sometimes the bad choice for the right entry by the French broadcasters. Since 2016 Amir could achieve a 6th rank in Stockholm with “J’ai Cherché” and the years after a good rank in the middle could be made.

A Top10 position France could be reached 38 times within six decades, so approximate chance to get a good placement overall is about 59%.

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. Here France was on the right way to success.

Even with big names like Patricia Kaas, Natasha St. Pierre or Patrick Fiori France could not bring another victory. In 1977 Marie Myriam convinced the juries with “L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant”, this was the last big victory in Eurovision and super hit all over Europe, and that’s more than 40 years ago! As France belongs to the Big 5 countries, it has a fix place in the Grand Finals like Germany, UK, Spain and Italy. Last year Bilal could not bring France’s position higher than the 16th place.

Biggest successes

• 5x 1st place
  “Dors Mon Amour” | André Claveau (Hilversum 1958)
  “Tom Pillibi” |Jacqueline Boyer (London 1960)
  “Un Premier Amour” |Isabelle Aubret (Luxembourg 1962)
  “Un Jour, Un Enfant” |Frida Boccara (Madrid 1969)
  “L'oiseau Et L'enfant” |Marie Myriam (London 1977)
• 6x 2nd place
  “Le Temps Perdu” |Mathé Altéry (Lugano 1956)
  “Il Est Là” |Dany Dauberson (Lugano 1956)
  “La Belle Amour” |Paule Desjardins (Frankfurt 1957)
  “Un, Deux, Trois” |Catherine Ferry (The Hague 1976)
  “White And Black Blues” |Joelle Ursull (Zagreb 1990)
  “C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé Qui A Raison” |Amina (Rome 1991)
• 7x 3rd place
  “Oui, Oui, Oui” |Jean Philippe (Cannes 1959)
  “N'avoue Jamais” |Guy Mardel (Naples 1965)
  “Il Doit Faire Beau Là-bas” |Noëlle Cordier (Vienna 1967)
  “La Source” |Isabelle Aubret (London 1968)
  “Il Y Aura Toujours Des Violons” |Joël Prévost (Paris 1978)
  “Je Suis L'enfant-soleil” |Anne-Marie David (Jerusalem 1979)
  “Humanahum” |Jean Gabilou (Dublin 1981)

Video Nostalgia

• “Comé-comédie“ | Betty Mars
  Rank 11, Edinburgh 1972
  
  
• “Chanteur De Charme” | Gérard Lenorman
  Rank 10, Dublin 1988
  
  
• “Où Aller“| Marie-Line
  Rank 24, Birmingham 1998