Spare a thought for our friends in Spain. They’ve participated in 59 contests, and what have they to show for it? Two wins – in consecutive years. And the only winning country whose only wins were before 1970. That’s over 50 years ago.
We know they’ve tried. Runners-up four times between 1971 and 1995 and a best-ever score of 125 points. one of that quartet of second places fell to today’s birthday girl Karina (née María Isabel Llaudes Santiago), and for two short years she had Spain’s highest-ever score. Her song is sometimes forgotten by those online surveys we’ve all answered, but this her song is as much a classic as any Spanish entry. And there’s a very mysterious hole at the bottom of her posh Eurovision frock. By the way, she got two maxima when they called the scores in. And a note to RTVE. If you want to win again, maybe this is the way to go.
Karina is 74 today.
Feliz cumpleaños, Karina!