100 Days. 100 Songs. The Big Eurovision Countdown.

The 7th of February marked exactly 100 hundred days until Eurovision, it seems fitting to celebrate this by counting down 100 days with 100 songs. The last sixty three years has brought us nearly eighteen hundred fantastic, and unique Eurovision entries that some will love, whist others might not like so much. Each day we will bring you a song, and give you details on how it performed at the contest, but also information on the artist, and find out what happened next? Join us on this journey as we countdown from day 100 to 1 where we will have another 43 songs to add to this list.

Day 94 - Niamh Kavanagh - "In Your Eyes" For Ireland 1993

The year was 1993, and the contest was in its 38th year. The show this year would be on home soil for Ireland, after Linda Martin would win the year before with, "Why Me"? Spain, Luxembourg, and Israel were the only countries to win the contest back to back. Could Ireland create more history on the 15th May 1993?, and be another one to join this list? You bet they could. This contest would be one of the most unique in the history of the competition. Firstly, that it was being hosted in Millstreet, a town that only had a population of 1500. This being the smallest place that the contest had ever been too, and one of the remotest up until then. Secondly, the contest was expanding, with more and more countries than ever wanting to to get involved in the competition.

The show would be held in the Green Glens ArenaMillstreet, Cork, and be hosted by Fionnuala Sweeney. A job which she would do extremely well, despite many difficulties in getting the votes from some countries. Especially war torn Bosnia who were still in the midst of a crisis there. It was a night that saw 25 countries compete, and the last time the votes would be received by telephone. Yugoslavia would no longer compete, in its wake three new nations would arise and join the contest. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia would all compete for the first time. Malta who should have voted first, ended up voting last creating a real cliff hanger at the end, and in all the excitement host Fionnuala would wrongly declare Ireland having 12 points from the Dutch Jury instead of Portugal. It was a show that saw the top two countries from the year before, be the top two countries in the over all leader board this year (Ireland and the United Kingdom).

Ireland placed their bets on Niamh Kavanagh for a fifth win this year. She would sing a gentle ballad, called, "In Your Eyes" which was pitted against pre-contest favourite Sonia with her uptempo pop song "Better The Devil You Know". It was a case of the two red heads going for the win. Ultimately it would be Niamh who would emerge triumphant to an exuberant home crowd. She would score 187 points, 23 more than the United Kingdom. Most of the night had seen these two artists change positions for the top spot. What was impressive, is that Niamh scored points from every jury with Italy, Switzerland, Malta, Sweden, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, and Norway all awarding her the maximum 12 points. Check the song out here:

Who Is Niamh Kavanagh?

Niamh Kavanagh was born on the 13th February 1968, and is 50 years old. She was born in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland, and it would appear music was in her blood, as her father was also a singer. Before entering the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, she would do many things musically, with her most successful attribute being a lead and backing vocalist on the film soundtrack for The Commitments in songs such as "Destination Anywhere" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". It would be the Eurovision, that would open up a whole new world for her. The song itself went to number one in Ireland, and made it to number 23 in the UK charts, and made the top 100 in Germany, and the Netherlands. The singer is married, and has two children.

What Happened After Eurovision?

The win would mean that the singer became instantly famous in Ireland. The singer has released 6 singles with varying degree's of success. "It's For You" in 2010 would be her most successful post Eurovision debut single, reaching number 8 in the Irish charts. The singer would also record 2 albums. "Flying Blind" was released in 1995, and "Together Alone" in 1998. She has been prominent with Eurovision since her debut at the contest, appearing on many shows, national finals, and was even was the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. In 2010 she would try for a second win for Ireland at the contest. This time though, the talented singer could only achieve a 23rd place scoring 25 points. Since this she has been heavily involved with Ireland's Junior Eurovision, having being made a judge for the countries junior national final in 2015. She even appeared in Taylor Hynes music video, "IOU" as his fictional mother for his junior entry last year. She is well regarded by many, and is still involved in music today.

Did you like Niamh's entry in 1993? Do you think Sonia should have won instead? 1993 was great year for music. Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.