Men line up for Eurovision glory

by Michael Osborn
BBC News Online entertainment staff

See a selection of James Fox's Eurovision rivals

This year's Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place on Saturday in Istanbul, is bigger than it has ever been and has an unusually large number of male entries.

It could produce the contest's first solo male winner since Italy's Toto Cotugno in 1990, and the United Kingdom's James Fox is a leading contender.

His song Hold On To Our Love is an uptempo ballad with flag-waving potential, while his Fame Academy days have shaped him into an experienced live performer.

The UK has never taken the Eurovision crown with a male soloist, but has produced five runners-up. Fox will have to buck the trend to go one better this time around.

A bewildering 36 countries are sending entries to Turkey - 22 hopefuls will do battle for 10 places in the grand final, joining 14 nations who are there by right.

Countries who performed well last year, along with the UK, France, Germany and Spain - Eurovision's biggest financial backers - have a guaranteed place in the grand final.

See all this year's songs on the BBC's Eurovision website, including Spain's Ramon

Iceland and Norway are also entering male soloists - and they will be among the UK's direct rivals in this year's enlarged arena of Eurovision competition.

Debutant Serbia and Montenegro will have to perform in the semi-final, and they have also chosen a male singer to represent them.

Local star Zeljko Joksimovic's haunting folk song is truly distinctive - and could challenge the more conventional entries.

Male hopefuls from Spain and Greece are offering sparkling, upbeat songs and the promise of eye-catching performances, while Finland's Jari Sillanpaa has an irresistibly foot-tapping tango tune.

But this is Eurovision, and nothing can be predicted. There are a handful of female soloists who could spoil the party for the male contenders.

Could Sweden's Lena Philipsson ruin the men's chances of victory?

Sweden's Lena Philipsson finally gets her chance after years of trying to represent her country at Eurovision, and her thumping disco number is difficult to resist.

Both Romania and Belgium have gone for rousing crowd-pleasers with their female performers, while Albania's first effort rests on youth with 17-year-old Anjeza Shahini.

For the distinctive and theatrical, look to female act Ruslana from second-time entrants Ukraine, whose Wild Dances promises a spectacle.

Floorshow

Aside from gender, Europe's music fans have to choose between fast and slow songs, simple performances or dazzling floorshows.

With a bigger contest than ever before, making predictions is an imprecise science - but all will be revealed in Istanbul.

The qualifying round of the Eurovision Contest takes place on 12 May, and will be shown on BBC Three from 2000BST.

BBC News Online will be in Istanbul for the grand final on May 15, which is on BBC One from 2000BST.