Cyprus in The Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Cyprus In The Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 by Constantinos Christoforou and the song "Ela Ela (Come Baby)". The Cypriot National Final was held on February 1, in Limassol hosted by Tasos Trifonos and Eleni Manousaki. Prior to the national final, the Cypriot Broadcaster CyBC had internally selected Constantinos Christoforou to represent Cyprus. Constantinos performed 4 songs with the winning song being chosen by a 50/50 mixture of Televoters and a professional jury consisting of Ruslana, Evridiki and others. Constantinos was joined by Elena Patroklou, who already represented Cyprus in 1991 where she ended up 9th with her song S.O.S.

Constantinos was born in the town of Limassol, Cyprus. At the age of seventeen, he became the first Cypriot artist to achieve triple platinum sales, with an album that was recorded in Cyprus and not in Athens where the core of the music industry is located. Constantinos has already represented Cyprus twice - solo in 1996 with 'Mono Gia Mas" and as lead singer of the group ONE with "Gimme" in 2002. In 2003, Constantinos started his solo career with the album I Agapi Sou Paei (‘Love Becomes You’). He immediately reached No. 1 in the Greek airplay charts and the album reached gold sales in Cyprus. Constantinos is also a very successful songwriter and lyricist and he has composed songs for the most famous Greek singers. In September 2004 he released his second solo album ‘Idiotiki Parastasi’ (‘Private Show’). The album became gold in Cyprus immediately and is a huge radio hit in Greece.

At Eurovision, Constantinos had an elaborate performance with four huge mirrors on stage rotating through the presentation. Along with the stage props, Constantinos had backup dancers who eventually broke out the barrels and played them as drums. Backing vocals were provided by Elina Konstantopoulou who reprented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 1995.

The spokesperson who revealed Cyprus's votes for other countries was Melani Steliou, a CyBC host.