- Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 18 March 1961 – 20:00 CET
- Host – Venue & Location:Palais des Festivals (Palais des Festivals et des Congrès; Palace of Festivals and Conferences), Cannes, 🇫🇷 France
- Presenter (s): Jacqueline Joubert
- Musical Director: Franck Pourcel
- Director: Maurice Barry
- Executive Producer: Marcel Cravenne
- Executive Supervisor: —
- Multicamera Director: Marcelle Cravanne
- Host broadcaster: Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF)
- Interval Act: Tessa Beaumont and Max Bozzoni
- Participants – Number of entries: 16 [🇧🇪 Belgium (6ª), 🇫🇷 France (6ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (6ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (6ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (6ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (6ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (5ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (5ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (4ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (4ª), 🇲🇨Monaco (3ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (5ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (1ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (1ª),
Yugoslavia (1ª)]
- Debuting countries: 🇫🇮 Finland (1ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (1ª),
Yugoslavia (1ª)
- Return: —
- Non-returning countries: —
- Vote – Voting system: Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs. Each participating country had 10 jury members, and each jury member could award one point to one song.
- Nil Points: —
- Winning song:
“Nous les amoureux” – Jean-Claude Pascal – 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (1ª)
About. The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 returned to Cannes for the second time in two years. The number of participants began to rise as the Eurovision Song Contest became increasingly popular.
Saturday slot. Just like in 1959, the Palais des Festivals was the venue of this year’s contest. The presenter of the show was Jacqueline Joubert, who already did this task in 1959. The stage used for the show was much bigger than in previous years, and it was magnificently decorated with flowers. The number of participants of this year’s song contest rose to 16 as Spain, Yugoslavia and Finland all made their respective debuts. For the first time, the contest took place on a Saturday night which would come to be the contest’s home.
About the winner. Luxembourg had its first of 5 victories in 1961 with the song “Nous Les Amoureux” performed by Jean-Claude Pascal. Critics called the song a lullaby, but Jean-Claude Pascal was awarded 31 points in total, with the UK entry finishing second for the third year running.
Facts & figures. Germany’s entry “Einmal Sehen Wir Uns Wieder” was performed by Lale Andersen who shot to fame two decades earlier with her rendition of Lili Marleen. However, Mrs. Andersen only managed to score 3 points and 13th place.
o/r | country | participant (s) | song – translate – Language | Points | rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | 🇪🇸 Spain TVE | Conchita Bautista | Estando contigo (Being with you) Spanish | 008 | 09 |
02 | 🇲🇨 Monaco TMC | Colette Deréal | Allons, allons les enfants (Come on, come on children) French | 006 | 10 |
03 | 🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF | Jimmy Makulis | Sehnsucht (Longing) French | 001 | 15 |
04 | 🇫🇮 Finland YLE | Laila Kinnunen | Valos ikkunassa (The lights in the window) Finnish | 006 | 10 |
05 | ![]() |
Ljiljana Petrović (Љиљана Петровић) | Neke davne zvezde (Неке давне звезде, Some ancient stars) Serbo-Croatian | 009 | 08 |
06 | 🇳🇱 The Netherlands NTS | Greetje Kauffeld | Wat een dag (What a day) Dutch | 006 | 10 |
07 | 🇸🇪 Sweden SR | Lill-Babs | April, April Swedish | 002 | 14 |
08 | 🇩🇪 Germany ARD | Lale Andersen | Einmal sehen wir uns wieder (We will meet again) German, French | 003 | 13 |
09 | 🇫🇷 France RTF | Jean-Paul Mauric | Printemps, avril carillonne (Spring, April rings) French | 013 | 04 |
10 | 🇨🇭 Swizertland SSR SRG | Franca di Rienzo | Nous aurons demain (We’ll have tomorrow) French | 016 | 03 |
11 |
🇧🇪 Belgium BRT
|
Bob Benny | September, gouden ross (September, golden rose) Dutch | 001 | 15 |
12 | 🇳🇴 Norway NRK | Nora Brockstedt | Sommer i Palma (Summer in Palma) Norwegian | 010 | 07 |
13 | 🇩🇰 Denmark DR | Dario Campeotto | Angelique Danish | 012 | 05 |
14 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT | Jean-Claude Pascal | Nous les amoureux (We the lovers) French | 031 | 01 |
15 | 🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC | The Allisons | Are you sure? English | 024 | 02 |
16 | 🇮🇹 Italy RAI | Betty Curtis | Al di là (Beyond) Italian | 012 | 05 |
Participation map
Participating countries
ESC 1961 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:
The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Once again, the contest was held in the French seaside city of Cannes, having also hosted the 1959 edition. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF), the contest was held again at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on 18 March 1961 and was the first to take place on a Saturday evening, a tradition that has continued ever since (with the exception of 1962). The show was again hosted by Jacqueline Joubert, who had also hosted in 1959.
Sixteen countries participated in the contest – three more than in the previous edition; Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia all competed for the first time this year.
The winner was Luxembourg with the song “Nous les amoureux”, performed by Jean-Claude Pascal, written by Maurice Vidalin, and composed by Jacques Datin, with the United Kingdom finishing in second place for the third consecutive year.

Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes – host venue of the 1961 contest
1.Location. The event took place in Cannes, France, following the nation’s victory at the 1960 edition with the song “Tom Pillibi“, performed by Jacqueline Boyer. The selected venue was the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, built in 1949 to host the Cannes Film Festival and located on the Promenade de la Croisette along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the growth in the film festival a new building bearing the same name was opened in 1982, with the original building renamed as the Palais Croisette and subsequently demolished in 1988. It also hosted the 1959 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
2.Format. The stage used for the 1961 contest was notably larger than in previous years and was decorated with flowers. It is noticeable that during the voting, Luxembourg gave the UK eight points, and Norway also gave Denmark eight points. It was the largest number of points given to a country by a single jury since 1958, when Denmark provided France with nine points. Such a high number of points obtained by a country would not be achieved until 1970, when Ireland would receive nine points from Belgium.
3.Participating countries. Interest in the competition began to grow across Europe as three new countries participated for the first time: Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia.
3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.
- 🇪🇸 Spain – Rafael Ferrer
- 🇲🇨 Monaco – Raymond Lefèvre
- 🇦🇹 Austria – Franck Pourcel
- 🇫🇮 Finland – George de Godzinsky
Yugoslavia – Jože Privšek
- 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Dolf van der Linden
- 🇸🇪 Sweden – William Lind
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Franck Pourcel
- 🇫🇷 France – Franck Pourcel
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Fernando Paggi
- 🇧🇪 Belgium – Francis Bay
- 🇳🇴 Norway – Øivind Bergh
- 🇩🇰 Denmark – Kai Mortensen
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Léo Chauliac
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – Harry Robinson
- 🇮🇹 Italy – Gianfranco Intra
3.2.Returning artists.
Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
---|---|---|
Bob Benny | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 1959 |
Nora Brockstedt | 🇳🇴 Norway | 1960 |
3.3.Participants and results.
4.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1961:
• National Selections in 1961:
COUNTRY | EVENT | WINNER |
---|---|---|
🇧🇪 Belgium | Eurosong 1961 | Bob Benny – “September, gouden roos“ |
🇩🇰 Denmark | Melodi Grand Prix 1961 | Dario Campeotto – “Angelique” |
🇫🇮 Finland | (Finnish Selection 1961) | Laila Kinnunen – “Valoa ikkunassa“ |
🇫🇷 France | (French Selection 1961) | Jean-Paul Mauric – “Printemps, avril carillonne“ |
🇩🇪 Germany | Die Schlagerparade | Lale Andersen – “Einmal sehen wir uns wieder“ |
🇮🇹 Italy | Sanremo 1961 | Betty Curtis – “Al di là“ |
🇳🇴 Norway | Melodi Grand Prix 1961 | Nora Brockstedt – “Sommer i Palma“ |
🇪🇸 Spain | (Spanish Selection 1961) | Conchita Bautista – “Estando contigo“ |
🇸🇪 Sweden | Eurovisionsschlagern 1961 (song selection) | Siw Malmkvist – “April, april“ |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | Concours Eurovision 1961 | Franca di Rienzo – “Nous aurons demain“ |
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | A Song for Europe 1961 | The Allisons – “Are You Sure?” |
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Jugovizija 1961 | Ljiljana Petrović – “Neke davne zvezde” (Неке давне звезде) |
• Internal Selections in 1961:
🇦🇹 Austria | Jimmy Makulis – “Sehnsucht“ |
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | Jean-Claude Pascal – “Nous les amoureux“ |
🇲🇨 Monaco | Colette Deréal – “Allons, allons les enfants“ |
🇳🇱 The Netherlands | Greetje Kauffeld – “Wat een dag“ |
4.5.Connections:
Connections Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 |
|||||
# | Artist | Backing | Composers | Lyricists | Conductor |
01 | Conchita Bautista:
|
– | Antonio Figueroa Egea | Antonio Figueroa Egea | .Claes Rosendahl:
.Adolfo Ventas Rodríguez |
02 | Colette Deréal | – | Hubert Giraud:
|
Pierre Delanoë:
|
Raymond Lefèvre:
|
03 | Jimmy Makulis | – | Leopold Andrejewitsch | Leopold Andrejewitsch | Franck Pourcel:
|
04 | Laila Kinnunen | – | Eino Hurme | Sauvo Puhtila:
|
George de Godzinsky:
|
05 | Ljiljana Petrović | – | Jože Privšek:
|
Miroslav Antić | Jože Privšek:
|
06 | Greetje Kauffeld | – | Dick Schallies:
|
Pieter Goemans:
|
Dolf van der Linden:
|
07 | Lill-Babs | – | Bobbie Ericsson:
|
Bo Eneby | Thore Ehrling:
|
08 | Lale Andersen | – | Rudolf Maluck | Ernst Bader:
|
Franck Pourcel:
|
09 | Jean-Paul Mauric | – | Francis Baxter | Guy Favereau | Franck Pourcel:
|
10 | Franca di Rienzo | – | Géo Voumard:
|
Émile Gardaz:
|
Fernando Paggi:
|
11 | Bob Benny:
|
– | Hans Flower:
|
Wim Brabants:
|
Francis Bay:
|
12 | Nora Brockstedt:
|
– | Jan Wølner | Egil Hagen:
|
Øivind Bergh:
|
13 | Dario Campeotto | – | Aksel V. Rasmussen:
|
Aksel V. Rasmussen:
|
Kai Mortensen:
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14 | Jean-Claude Pascal :
|
– | Jacques Datin:
|
Maurice Vidalin:
|
Léo Chauliac |
15 | The Allisons (John Allison, Bob Allison) | – | .John Allison
.Bob Allison |
.John Allison
.Bob Allison |
Harry Robinson |
16 | Betty Curtis | – | Carlo Donida | Mogol:
|
Gianfranco Intra |
4.Voting. Each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song.
Total score
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C
o
n
t
e
s
t
a
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s
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🇪🇸 Spain | 8 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
🇲🇨 Monaco | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||
🇦🇹 Austria | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
🇫🇮 Finland | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
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9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||
🇳🇱 The Netherlands | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||
🇸🇪 Sweden | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
🇩🇪 Germany | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
🇫🇷 France | 13 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
🇨🇭 Switzerland | 16 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
🇧🇪 Belgium | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
🇳🇴 Norway | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
🇩🇰 Denmark | 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 31 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |||||
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 24 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
🇮🇹 Italy | 12 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
4.1.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1961 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
- 🇮🇹 Italy – Enzo Tortora
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – Michael Aspel
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – TBC
- 🇩🇰 Denmark – Ole Mortensen
- 🇳🇴 Norway – Mette Janson
- 🇧🇪 Belgium – Ward Bogaert
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Boris Acquadro
- 🇫🇷 France – Armand Lanoux
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Heinz Schenk
- 🇸🇪 Sweden – Roland Eiworth
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Siebe van der Zee
Yugoslavia – Saša Novak
- 🇫🇮 Finland – Poppe Berg
- 🇦🇹 Austria – Emil Kollpacher
- 🇲🇨 Monaco – TBC
- 🇪🇸 Spain – Diego Ramírez Pastor
5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.
Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | – |
---|---|---|---|
🇦🇹 Austria | ORF | Wolf Mittler | |
🇧🇪 Belgium | BRT | Dutch: Nic Bal | |
RTB | French: Robert Beauvais | ||
🇩🇰 Denmark | Danmarks Radio TV | Sejr Volmer-Sørensen | – |
Program 1 | |||
🇫🇮 Finland | Suomen Televisio | Aarno Walli | |
Yleisradio | |||
🇫🇷 France | RTF | Robert Beauvais | |
🇩🇪 Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Wolf Mittler | |
🇮🇹 Italy | Programma Nazionale | Corrado Mantoni | |
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | Télé-Luxembourg | Robert Beauvais | |
🇲🇨 Monaco | Télé Monte Carlo | ||
🇳🇱 THE Netherlands | NTS | Piet te Nuyl | – |
Hilversum 1 | |||
🇳🇴 Norway | NRK | Leif Rustad | |
NRK P1 | |||
🇪🇸 Spain | TVE | Federico Gallo | |
🇸🇪 Sweden | Sveriges TV | Jan Gabrielsson | – |
SR P1 | |||
🇨🇭 Switzerland | TV DRS | German: Theodor Haller | |
TSR | French: Robert Beauvais | ||
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | BBC TV | Tom Sloan | – |
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Televizija Beograd | Serbo-Croatian: Ljubomir Vukadinović | |
Televizija Zagreb | Serbo-Croatian: Saša Novak | ||
Televizija Ljubljana | Slovene: Tomaž Terček |
6.Notes.
- At Eurovision 1961, the winning song “April, april” was neither performed by Siw Malmkvist nor Gunnar Wiklund who won Eurovisionsschlagern 1961. Lill-Babs was internally selected to sing “April, april” in Cannes.
7.Trivial / Fun facts.
- The number of participants this year rose to 16. Spain, Yugoslavia and Finland participated for the first time.
- Germany’s Einmal Sehen Wir Uns Wieder was sung by Lale Andersen, acclaimed for her rendition of Lili Marleen 2 decades earlier.
- However, Mrs. Andersen only managed to score 3 points and a 13th place.
← Eurovision Song Contest 1960 • Eurovision Song Contest 1961 • Eurovision Song Contest 1962 → |
|
Countries (in order of appearance) |
|
Final | Spain ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Austria ⦁ Finland ⦁ Yugoslavia ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Sweden ⦁ Germany ⦁ France ⦁ Switzerland • Belgium ⦁ Norway ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Luxembourg (winner) ⦁ United Kingdom • Italy |
Artists (in order of appearance) |
|
Final | Conchita Bautista ⦁ Colette Deréal ⦁ Jimmy Makulis ⦁ Laila Kinnunen ⦁ Ljiljana Petrović ⦁ Greetje Kauffeld ⦁ Lill-Babs ⦁ Lale Andersen ⦁ Jean-Paul Mauric ⦁ Franca di Rienzo ⦁ Bob Benny ⦁ Nora Brockstedt ⦁ Dario Campeotto ⦁ Jean-Claude Pascal (winner) • The Allisons • Betty Curtis |
Songs (in order of appearance) |
|
Final | “Estando contigo” ⦁ “Allons, allons les enfants” ⦁ “Sehnsucht” ⦁ “Valoa ikkunassa” ⦁ “Neke davne zvezde” (Неке давне звезде) ⦁ “Wat een dag” ⦁ “April, april” ⦁ “Einmal sehen wir uns wieder” ⦁ “Printemps, avril carillonne” ⦁ “Nous aurons demain” ⦁ “September, gouden roos” ⦁ “Sommer i Palma” ⦁ “Angelique” ⦁ “Nous les amoureux“ (winner) ⦁ “Are You Sure?” • “Al di là“ |
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