Denmark was represented by

Tommy Seebach Tommy Seebach (14 September 1949 – 31 March 2003), born Tommy Seebach Mortensen in Copenhagen, Denmark, was a popular Danish singer, composer, organist, pianist and producer. He is best known as front man of Sir Henry and his Butlers and for n ...

, with the song "Disco Tango", at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 31 March in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. "Disco Tango" was chosen as the Danish entry at the

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (), also known as Melodi Grand Prix or simply DMGP, is an annual music competition organised by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) since 1957, which determines the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The f ...

on 3 February, and was the first of Seebach's three Eurovision appearances for Denmark. The 1979 DMGP is notable for the participation of two of Denmark's three Eurovision winners,

Grethe Ingmann Grethe Ingmann (born Clemmensen; 17 June 1938 – 18 August 1990) was a Danish singer. She started her career at 17, when she temporarily performed as a singer of the Malihini Hawaiians pop quartet. Soon after she sang with the Danish guitarist ...

and the

Olsen Brothers Olsen Brothers ( da, Brødrene Olsen) are a Danish rock/pop music duo, formed by brothers Jørgen (born 15 March 1950) and Niels "Noller" Olsen (born 13 April 1954), both from Odense, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. They formed their ...

Before Eurovision

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 1979

The

1979 was held at the DR TV studios in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, hosted by Jørgen Mylius. 17 songs took part with the winner being decided by votes from eight regional juries. The main voting resulted in a tie for first place between "Disco Tango" performed by

and "Alt er skønt" performed by

Bjarne Liller Bjarne Bent Rønne Pedersen, known as Bjarne Liller (25 September 1935 – 6 September 1993), was a Danish jazz musician and singer-songwriter. Biography Liller was born on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. He got his breakthrough as a banjo player and sing ...

. The tie was resolved after a revote, which was won by "Disco Tango" performed by

. Rasmus Lyberth performed in Greenlandic, and Annika Hoydal in Faroese.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Seebach performed 3rd in the running order, following

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and preceding

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Among the backing singers was

Debbie Cameron Deborah (Debbie) Cameron (born September 14, 1958 in Miami, Florida) is a Danish-American singer of Bahamian descent who has had a career in music in Denmark. Her career started in 1976, when she was awarded the prize "Most promising student" ...

, with whom Seebach would perform as a duo in the 1981 Eurovision. At the close of voting "Disco Tango" had received 76 points, placing Denmark 6th of the 19 entries. The Danish jury awarded its 12 points to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

.ESC History - Denmark 1979
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Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1979

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979

Eurovision 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 pri ...