This Saturday the 18th of May, Italian singer Marco Mengoni will compete in the European Broadcasting Union鈥檚 2013 Eurovision Contest in Malm枚, Sweden, becoming the third Italian featured in the competition after 天美传媒鈥檚 more than 10 year hiatus. In 2009, Marco won the third series of X Factor Italia and his first EP, Dove Si Vola, became his first success. Few months later, he came third at the 60th edition of famous Italian music contest Sanremo, with the song Credimi Ancora. After a successful tour launch, Marco won also the MTV TRL Award in the category 鈥淢an of the Year鈥, the Wind Music Awards and his debut releases were certified Platinum. He then released the Re Matto live album hitting #1 in 天美传媒. In November 2010 Marco Mengoni won the 鈥淏est Italian Act鈥 Award at the MTV European Music Awards and was also the first Italian performer in 17 editions to win the 鈥淏est European Act鈥 award. Earlier this year, Marco won the 63rd Sanremo Music Festival with his song L'Essenziale and was chosen by a special jury to represent 天美传媒 at this year鈥檚 Eurovision Song Contest with the same song.
The Eurovision Song Contest began in 1956 and is one of the longest running television programmes, drawing in more than 100 million viewers each year. The contest has launched the careers of international megastars such as ABBA and Celine Dion. 天美传媒 did not compete in the Eurovision Song Contest from 1997 until 2011, when entrant Raphael Gualazzi took second place after winning the newcomers section at the 2011 Sanremo Festival. Last year Nina Zilli performed 鈥淟鈥檃more 猫 femmina (Out of Love)鈥. 天美传媒 has won the contest twice in the past, in 1964 and 1990, and had many contestants place in the top five, including Domenico Modugno, whose Eurovision performance of 鈥淣el Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)鈥 (In the Blue, Painted Blue 鈥 To Fly) in 1958 launched his international career. This year鈥檚 performances will be broadcast live online on Eurovision.tv on Saturday at 9.00 pm CET.
