By 1958 the contest had already established itself as a successful annual event and had begun to attract a following throughout the continent. The one thing that the competition had not achieved was to produce a major international hit, and given the contest's remit was to select the best popular song of the year, that was quite a disappointment. However the third Eurovision Song Contest was about to change that and in a most spectacular way.

For the 1958 contest, a new arrangement was put in place, that the previous year's winner had the honour of staging the event. This was something of a dubious honour, given that until relatively recently the host broadcaster had to pay most of the cost of staging the show, however with some notable exceptions, this arrangement has continued until today.

Following the victory of "Net Als Toen" in 1957, the Dutch broadcasting network NTS took responsibility for hosting the event and the venue they chose may not have been an obvious choice to anyone living outside of the Netherlands. The rural town of Hilversum, is twenty miles south-east of Amsterdam and it is surrounded woodland, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages. To this day it remains one of the smallest towns to host the competition. The reason why Hilversum was chosen to stage the contest, is that is is that it is locally known as "Media City" and is the traditional centre of Dutch radio and television. Indeed those with old style radios will tell you that Hilversum was a familiar name on the dial. Today the area has a population of just over 80,000, but back in 1958 over 100,000 lived in Hilversum, thanks not only to broadcasting, but also because the town was a thriving agricultural centre.

The venue chosen for the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, was the AVRO-Studio (above), a typically modern if rather anonymous building, which is still in use today. By current standards the venue, a television studio, was very small, and the layout of the stage was quite similar to the previous year's contest, using a staircase to introduce the performers.

For the the third year in a row, a different evening was chosen for the event, and following a Sunday in 1956, and a Thursday in 1957, the 1958 show was staged on Wednesday March 12th.

All seven original countries that participated in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, returned once again and they were joined by Austria and Denmark, which had enjoyed very mixed fortunes with debut entries in 1957. The one country that didn't return was the United Kingdom. Following a disappointing result a year earlier, the BBC decided to give the 1958 competition a miss. However following the U.K.'s withdrawal, Sweden decided to enter the contest for the first time and once again ten countries competed in the competition.

Seven countries held national selections to choose their Eurovision songs and once again Italy sent the winner of the popular San Remo festival as its entry. 1958 was also the first (and so far the only) occasion where two former winners of the contest came back to compete with 1956 winner Lys Assia returning for Switzerland and 1957 winner Corry Brokken returning for the Netherlands. While betting on the contest as we know it today was unknown back in 1958, the Italian song "Nel blu dipinto di blu" co-written and sung by Domenico Modugno, which was already topping the local chart and beginning to attract attention beyond Italy's borders was widely mentioned as the one to watch, in advance of the show.    

Following the second performance of the Italian entry, for technical reasons, and a very brief interval, it was down to the voting sequence. Once again countries voted in reverse order to the performance order, something which was apparently done to speed the show, as the first country to vote could not give points to the last song to be performed, they could complete their votes in time to be called in. The voting method was the same as used in 1957 with each country having ten jury members, each awarding one vote to their favourite song.  

The voting in 1958 can best be described as quite erratic with large swings in the order caused by some juries having very strong favourites. Sweden's debut entry took an early lead, but when Austria awarded 7 of its 10 votes to France, the French entry jumped into pole position. After four juries had voted, France and Italy were tied, but when the Danish jury sensationally gave 9 of its 10 points to France, it was obvious that the French song "Dors Mon Amour", was the one to beat. The Italian entry drifted backwards in the second half of the voting as Switzerland staged a late run. 

With only one jury left to vote, the result was delicately poised. France had 21points, just one ahead of Switzerland. The last vote was from Italy, and given the Italian flavour of the Swiss entry, many might have thought that it would be Switzerland that would triumph once again. However ignoring every other country, Italy awarded 6 points to France and just four to the Swiss, giving the French their first Eurovision victory.   

Without a doubt the biggest disappointment of the night was the home entry from the Netherlands, with 1957 winner Corry Brokken scoring only a single point and sharing last place with Luxembourg.    

Below you can find a table with the votes as they appeared after each country voted. 

"Dors Mon Amour" was chosen by regional juries as the French Eurovision entry in a national final staged in February 1958, although very little is known about that final.

André Claveau was a very well known singer and film star before his Eurovision Song Contest victory. André was born in Paris on December 15th 1915. having originally trained as an operatic singer, he initially perused a career as a graphic designer specializing in jewelry design. 

His career in popular music began in 1936 where he won a talent show organised by a Parisian radio station. For the next six years André entered a series of music festivals, achieving several top prizes. Finally in 1942 he is spotted by successful impresario Marc Duthyl who become his manager. Despite the war, over the next few years André's musical career goes from strength to strength.   

In 1947 he made his film debut, starring in "Le Destin s'amuse" and over the next decade as his local popularity grew, he would go on to star in several other films, sometimes playing himself, meanwhile continuing to have string of hit records in the French speaking market.

Today André is best remembered for the songs "Marjolaine" (Marjoram), "Domino" as well as the French hit recordings of the songs "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" and the universally popular "Happy Birthday". André was one one of France's biggest stars of the 1950s and so it was no surprise when he represented the country at the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, where he brought the French their first Eurovision victory. "Dors Mon Amour" went on to be a big hit in France and in the French speaking countries, but unusually for a Eurovision winner, it was not recorded in any other language and failed to make any significant impact beyond the Francophone territories. In terms of international chart success, "Dors Mon Amour" was comprehensively overshadowed by the Italian entry, which finished 3rd in Hilversum.

During the 1960s André's velvet voice remained quite popular on French radio, but his film career came to an end in 1960. He retired at the end of the 1960s and was rarely seen again. He passed away on July 4th 2003.

The composer of "Dors Mon Amour" was Pierre Delanoë born in Paris in 1918, under the name of Pierre Leroyer. Pierre originally studied economics and became a tax inspector in pre-war France. After the war, he and formed a long-lasting musical partnership with the famous French musician, songwriter and singer Gilbert Becaud. As well as co-writing serveral of Becaud's hits, Delanoë wrote hits for other famous stars of the era like Edith Piaf, Tino Rossi and Hughes Aufrey. In 1959 his song "The Day That The Rains Came" reached #1 in the U.K. chart, when covered by Jane Morgan.

"Dors Mon Amour" was the first of six Eurovision entries with lyrics composed by Pierre Delanoë. In 1961 he co-wrote the Monegasque entry "Allons, Allons Les Enfants" (10th). In 1963 Nana Mouskouri performed "A force a prier" for Switzerland (8th). Returning for his native France in 1967, "Il doit faire beau là-bas" finished 3rd. In 1973 a youthful Patrick Juvet finished 12th for Switzerland singing "Je vais me marier, Marie". In 1975 "Et Bonjour a toi l'artist" finished 4th for France and finally in 1980 he teamed with those other serial Eurovision songwriters Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger for the Luxembourg entry "Le Papa Penguin" finishing 9th. Pierre Delanoë wrote Eurovision entries for four countries placing him in a unique position.  However this was not his last involvement in the contest, as in 1982 he wrote the French lyrics for the winning German entry; "Ein bißchen Frieden". 

Delanoë as wrote songs for several French films but today he is possibly best remembered as the man who wrote the lyrics for L'ete Indien" a massive 1975 hit for Joe Dassin, a song which is considered one of the greatest French songs of all time.

The composer of "Dors Mon Amour" is Hubert Giraud born in 1920 in Marseille. Having lost his father at just five years old Giraud was advised to take up a wind instrument as a cure for asthma, by his family doctor. Hubert so successfully took up the harmonica that he started playing with local bands and ended up playing the famous Hot Club de France with the renowned bandleader and jazz musician  Django Reinhardt.  In 1941 takes up the guitar and flees the Nazi invasion of France in favour of South America where he plays with the famous Ray Ventura orchestra. The latin rhythms which he discovers on that continent would have a lasting impact on his music.

Returning to France, Giraud turns to composing and in 1950 is rewarded with the first of a string of hits. Over the next thirty year Giraud's compositions will sell millions of copies and provide hits for singers such as Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Sacha Distel, Jacquline Boyer, Claude Francois, France Gall, Nicole Croisille and most especially the famous French singer Dalida for whom he writes several big hits including the famous "Gipsies". Giraud also wrote the score to several French films in the 1950s and 60s.

Like his co-songwriter Pierre Delanoë, Hubert Giraud went on to write several other Eurovision entries. In 1959 he composed the French entry "Oui, oui,oui,oui, oui" finishing 3rd and in 1960 he finished 3rd with Monaco's song "Ce soir-là". In 1961 Giraud and Delanoë teamed up for Monaco (10th) and for France in 1967 (3rd). In 1971 Giraud composed "Pomm, pomme, pomme" for Luxembourg (13th) and Giraud made his final appearance as a composer in 1979 when Anne-Marie David sung "Je suis l'enfant-soleil" into 3rd place for France. With one winning song and four others which finished in the Top 3, Giraud has one of the most successful track records in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. Giraud was also involved at the beginning of the career of another Eurovision winner when in 1982 he composed the winning song ""Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi" sung by Celine Dion at 1982 Yamaha Festival in Tokyo.

The conductor of "Dors Mon Amour" in Hilversum was the famous French band-leader Franck Pourcel, who conducted a total of 23 Eurovision entries between 1956 and 1972.