Following a disappointing result in 2005,
Austrian broadcaster ORF chose not to enter the 2006 contest in
Athens. Despite this, two of the entries in last year's contest
(Germany and Finland) became huge hits in Austria and now after a
one year break, Austria is back in the competition. There was
speculation as to how the Austrian entry would be chosen, until
February 20th when ORT announced that their entry in Helsinki would
be performed by Eric Papilaya a recent finalist on the popular
"Starmania" casting show.
The child of an Indonesian father and an
Austrian mother, Eric Papilaya was born on June 9th 1978 in
Vöcklabruck and grew up in Laakirchen in Northern Austria. By 15
Eric was performing as a member of the band Milk who's musical
style was influenced by people like Jamiroquai and Söhnen Mannheims.
In autumn of 2006 Eric decided to audition of
the third series of "Starmania". Under the name of
"Ric" he became one of the stars of the television show,
with his song selection, which included everything from the Whitney
Houston version of "I Will Always Love You" to Tom Jones'
"It's Not Unusual" to Lordi's Eurovision winner
"Hard Rock Halleujah" showcasing his talent as a
versatile live performer. He also got to show his songwriting
talents, performing one of hios own compositions.
Despite
losing out to eventual winner Nadine Beiler, Eric's live
performances gained him plenty of attention and the interest of the
the management company who had made a big star of a previous
"Starmania" finalist Christina Stürmer. It was therefore
not a huge surprise when ORF offered the Eurovision ticket to Eric,
despite his lack of international experience or a previous history
of successful recordings.
The songwriting team
behind this year's Austrian entry have spent many years in the
music industry. Greg Usek has worked as a producer, engineer,
composer and musician predominently in the electronic field. His
international breakthrough came in 2000, when he and his partner
producer Sergio Flores were given the opportunity to produce Kylie
Minogue's comeback single "Spinning Around". The single
became a worldwide success, climbing to number one in the UK
charts. There followed remixes for Tom Jones & Heather Small,
Enrique Iglesias, Atomiic Kitten and several other artists, helping
to consolidate Greg's status as an internationally acknowledged
producer.
Lyricist Austin Howard is a singer,
producer, and songwriter. He founded the band Ellis, Beggs &
Howard in 1987 with former Kajagoogoo member Nick Beggs. The band
received a Diamond Award for "Best New Group" for their
first album "Homelands". After leaving the band,
Austin continued to work with international artists, most recently
with Joss Stone on her hugely successful "Mind, Body and
Soul" album. Austin is currently developing new entertainment
programmes for the BBC.
The Austrian entry was
originally written for American singer Anastacia , but her break
from recording due to a cancer scare meant that the song sat on the
shelf. As well as representing Austria in Eurovision in Helsinki,
the song is also the official anthem of this year's "Life
Ball" in Vienna in May. The "Life Ball" is one of
Europe's biggest charity events, having raised millions of euro for
those impacted by AIDS.
The preview video which
ORF submitted to promote the song gives prominence the the red
ribbon, which is the international symbol of the the fight against
AIDS and HIV.
Austria was one of the five lucky
countries to be given a "wildcard" in the draw, and chose
the #27 slot in the running order, meaning that it will be the
penultimate song in this year's semi-final.
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AUSTRIA @ EUROVISION