31 May – Someone took you away from me

For many performers, Eurovision gets into their blood. Many deny it, but plenty would love to come back and have another chance at singing in front of 100 million people, even if it’s just for three minutes. For them, it could be six or, for even fewer, nine.

Today’s birthday boy Anthony ‘Toni/Tony’ Cetinski was there at the start of Croatia’s Eurovision journey. He also tried again in Dora 2021. In his one appearance on the big stage, in 1994, he’d already beaten people we’d see at subsequent Eurovisions. He beat 20 – yes, 20 – other songs in Dora 1994, so mixing it with 24 other songs in Dublin wouldn’t be a problem, right? Well, in a tough contest he scored a 12, a 10 and a five. It’s quite something to be a country’s favourite song. And Toni/Tony had achieved Croatia’s first maximum. So if you live in Zagreb, you should be proud of him.

Toni is 52 today.

Sretan rođendan, Toni!