Contestants

Eleven countries compete in the stage show. We are looking for new songs to represent Australia. Latin America, Asia and India. We are sharing the love wider, this making the show more colourful!

*Photos on this page are for illustrative purposes only.

Representing Hungary this year is Gulshani Osmapop, a Spanish citizen now living in Budapest. From the age of 12, she worked in an asparagus-packing factory in Seville. Every lunchtime, she would sing to her co-asparagus packers for tips. Like her foul-smelling urine, those days are long gone.

When she was just seventeen, a Hungarian busker walking past the factory heard her voice and within a week they had eloped to Budapest. By the time Interpol found her, the busker was dead in a kombi van and Gulshani was the top dog at a Correctional Institute for Women where she was discovered by fellow inmate and reality TV show producer Joop de Mole. Ridiculous but true.

CONTESTANT 2 – GERMANY 
NAME: Eddie Grusel’s Krankenkabinet
SONG TITLE:“KNUTCHEFLECK” 

A folky up-tempo number with an infectious beer-hall rhythm and slapstick vocal arrangement. The lyrics are about a lover’s quarrel – The German title Knutschfleck means ‘love bite.”

Singer Eddie Grusel is a big star in Schondorf, just south of Munich. He started his singing career as a dental hygienist, singing Barbara Streisand ballads to his patients until they were relaxed enough to receive small fillings without the need for a local anaesthetic, earning him the nickname Lullaby Eddie. 

His choice of song for this year’s entry is a bold one. Literally translated to “love bite”, it is based on a real-life experience involving himself, his girlfriend and a Bayern Munchen footballer. No further details have been provided.  

CONTESTANT 3 – GREECE 
NAME: Adonia Corinthi
SONG TITLE ‘YOU ARE LOVE, YOU ARE SPIRIT, YOU ARE SOUL”

A bouzouki-tinged tune evokes both the sweetness of summer romance and the bitterness of heartbreak building to an irresistible sing-a-long climax

Born Adonia Panermofo Corinthi, to Diana Rosen and Emanuel Streisand, Adonia’s father was a high school English teacher in Thessaloniki who died from complications following an epileptic seizure when Adonia was only 15 months old.

Her mother raised Adonia and her older brother, Sheldon, by working as a secretary in the Thessaloniki Public School system, but the family barely survived on the brink of poverty.

They moved in with Adonia’s grandparents to help make ends meet. Corinthi has described her childhood as painful, yet full of wonder and protein. She was shy as a child, and often felt rejected by other children because her looks were unusual. Additionally, her stepfather was emotionally abusive. She also found no support from her mother, who thought her too unattractive to pursue her dreams of show business. A bit harsh, neh?

CONTESTANT 4 – ITALY 
NAME: Elvis Bochino
SONG TITLE: “NOTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL” 

A soft, country-style rock piano ballad dedicated to Mothers worldwide. The song is clingy and classically toned, building to a passionate chorus.

Elvis was born in Milan on 16th. August 1977, the same day that Elvis Presley died. His Mother Gina (an enormous Elvis fan) was pregnant with her fourth baby and was so distraught that she fell to the Church floor and immediately went into labour. Unable to roll over and while screaming like a stuck pig, an apparition of the dead Elvis came to her in a vision. At that very moment her son was born and she named him Elvis. I’m getting emotional recounting this story. Gina was determined that her son Elvis would one day become the most famous singer in the world. Elvis lives with his Mother, as her emotional support network and her feeder in Milan. His hobbies include magic tricks, riding a bicycle and breeding cute little yappy snappy pugs. 

CONTESTANT 5 – IRELAND 
NAME: KILL KENNY ZULU
SONG TITLE: “PLASTIC HEART” 

A quirky blues filled with heartache with a New Wave twist and a good measure of Irish folk. Filled with catchy Analogue Synthesiser riffs and foot-stomping Celtic breaks.

Kiera, Enya, Aidan and Niall met in detention after their attempted bike-shed-to-the-ground-burning at their strict Irish Catholic school, St Pansies. The nuns would beat them with a paddle in the shape of a four-leaf clover. The regular beatings and their combined pain and heartache became the bedrock of their quirky blues-angst sound. Listen carefully and you will hear sounds of corporal punishment incorporated into the song with the whipping and beatings they endured. The Enya – like vocal solos represent the group’s therapy, turning tragedies into art, the true meaning of catharsis. In 2015 Niall tried to leave the group but then he suddenly didn’t.

CONTESTANT 6 – UKRAINE
NAME: Dypsomania
SONG TITLE:  “VAGABONDS” 

Free spirited (nastoykas) Ukrainian folk number sung by a foxy girl group. Arranged with evocative gypsy instrumentation and rhythms.

The group’s first release was in 2007 titled Elefante Pust’ Mirom Pravit Bovlya’ aka, “Let Elephant Love Rule the World.” The album included twenty tracks, both in English and Ukrainian, with covers of “Ebony and Ivory,” “By the Rivers of Babylon” and “Rah Rah Rasputin.”

They had a notable performance at the Kyiv venue “Blintz” on Child Protection Day in response to a court order following three days of binge drinking while on tour. These girls are not to be messed with! 

CONTESTANT 7 – UNITED KINGDOM
NAME: Kristy Creg
SONG TITLE:  “I WANT 2B SCENE” 

A fresh synth-pop blend, mixing a 60’s pom-pom queen go-go feel with a hint of Iggy Azalia. The biting lyrics are a “satire” on the desire for fame and much-needed recognition.

During the nine years since his split from the famous UK band “Pantz and Fat Bastard” (P&FB) Kristy Creg spent four years locked in a legal battle with former founding member of the band, Andy “Fat Bastard” Pattershame over songwriter’s royalties. The band rose to fame in London in the late nineties with their album “Look at Moy” which made P&FB overnight popstars. This was followed up with their album “I wanna f%*k Jill” which was savaged by the critics but did well in parts of Melbourne.  While Creg’s bravado, open drug use and general contempt for any band that wasn’t P&FB earned constant media attention, he blamed his fellow band members for his now-famous arrests each time he went on benders, removed his trousers at night clubs and begged the paparazzi to take photos. Considered now by many in the music industry to be “a real f*%king worry” Creg sees this year’s competition as his comeback opportunity. Andy “Fat Bastard” Pattershame is now working on P&O cruise ships as Music Captain or “Ocean Composer” as he prefers to be called.