Leon (born Jürgen Göbel, 4 April 1969,

Lippetal Lippetal is a municipality in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Lippetal is located north and south of the river Lippe between the cities of Lippstadt () and Hamm (). Lippetal is situated at the northern ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

) is a German singer, best known for his participation in the 1996

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, when he was controversially eliminated at the pre-selection stage.

Career

Leon had taken part in the 1996 German Eurovision selection with the song "Planet of Blue", which had gained a comprehensive victory in a public televote. It was a very contemporary,

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-influenced song which had been expected to do well in the contest. The 1996 Eurovision Song Contest was to take place in

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on 18 May. Hosts

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were given an automatic place in the contest, but as 29 other countries were chasing the 22 remaining places, it was decided to hold an audio-only pre-qualifier on 29 March where a jury from each country would listen to all the songs and vote in the normal ESC manner, with the bottom seven songs being eliminated. To universal surprise, "Planet of Blue" finished 24th in the voting, and failed to qualify for the contest. However, the song has remained popular among fans of the contest, placing 249th out of over 1,600 Eurovision songs in the 2021 edition of ESC250, a renowned fan vote run by the Belgian website Songfestival.be. The unexpected result caused consternation in Germany and left the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

facing the situation where its largest contributor at the time had to miss the contest. To avoid a re-occurrence in future years, the EBU introduced the controversial "Big Four" rule whereby Germany, along with

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and

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(later become "Big Five" with

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's return in 2011) as the largest contributors, would be guaranteed a place in the Eurovision final each year. Undeterred by disappointment, Leon returned to the German Eurovision selection in 1997 with "Schein (meine kleine Taschenlampe)", which finished second.ESC National Finals database 1997
/ref> He remains active and continues to release new material.

Discography

Singles *1996: "Planet of Blue" *1996: "Loving You" *1996: "Follow Your Heart" *1997: "Schein (meine kleine Taschenlampe)" *1998: "Hast du Ihn geküsst" *1998: "Bloss so'n Flirt" *1999: "Mayday Mayday" *2001: "Donde vas" *2004: "Mi amor" *2005: "C'est passeé" *2006: "Den Mond berühren" *2007: "Schau in mein Herz" *2008: "Soleil Bonjour" *2009: "C'est fini, ma chérie" Albums *1996: ''Leon'' *1998: ''Einfach verknallt''

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon 1969 births Living people People from Soest (district) German male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Germany Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1996