Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969

Belgium was represented by Louis Neefs, with the song "Jennifer Jennings", at the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in Madrid. Neefs was chosen internally to be the Belgian representative, and the song was chosen in the national final on 22 February. Neefs had previously represented Belgium in the 1967 contest in Vienna.

Eurovision Song Contest 1969
Country Belgium
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal selection
Song: Nationale Finale Eurovisiesongfestival
Selection date(s)Artist: December 1968
Song: 22 February 1969
Selected entrantLouis Neefs
Selected song"Jennifer Jennings"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Paul Quintens
  • Phil van Cauwenbergh
Finals performance
Final result7th, 10 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1968 • 1969 • 1970►

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

In December 1968, BRT announced that they had internally selected Louis Neefs to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969.[1]

Nationale Finale Eurovisiesongfestival

Nationale Finale Eurovisiesongfestival was the national final format developed by BRT in order to select Belgium's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1969.[2]

Competing entries

Following the announcement of Neefs as Belgian representative, a song submission period was opened where composers were able to submit their songs until 24 January 1969. 127 songs were received by the broadcaster at the end of the deadline, and on 28 January 1969, six were selected for the national final.[2]

Final

The final was held on 22 February 1969 from 9:05 to 10:00 CET at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels and was hosted by Jan Theys. Six songs competed in the contest, with the winner being decided upon by a 7-member jury panel who each chose their favourite song. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included Barry Ryan and Noëlle Cordier.[1][2]

Final – 22 February 1969
Draw Song Songwriter(s) Points Place
1 "Dans mooie vlinder" Ke Riema, André van Steyvoort 0 2=
2 "Vanessa, I Love You" Phil van Cauwenbergh, Paul Quintens 0 2=
3 "In elke lente" Jan Marcken, Jean Evans, Frans van Dyck 0 2=
4 "Regenweer, regenweer" Eddy van Mouffaert 0 2=
5 "Zo wondermooi" Co Flower, Hans Flower 0 2=
6 "Jennifer Jennings" Phil van Cauwenbergh, Paul Quintens 7 1

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Neefs performed 10th in the running order, following Sweden and preceding Switzerland. Neefs is remembered for his quirky performance, which involved throwing his arms in the air in an apparently random manner. At the close of the voting "Jennifer Jennings" had received 10 points (3 from the United Kingdom, 2 from Norway, Spain and Switzerland and 1 from the Netherlands), placing Belgium joint 7th (with Ireland) of the 16 competing entries. The result matched Neefs' 7th place in 1967. The Belgian jury awarded its highest mark (3) to joint contest winners Spain.[3]

Voting

References
  1. "Nationale finale van het Songfestival 1969".
  2. Vermeulen, André (2021). Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong. 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisiesongfestival. Leuven: Kritak. ISBN 978-94-014-7609-6. OCLC 1240241113.
  3. ESC History - Belgium 1969
  4. "Results of the Final of Madrid 1969". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
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