Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song "", composed by Fred Bekky, Rony Brack, and Bobott, with lyrics by Jo May and Bobott, and performed by Dutch singer Stella. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Walloon (RTBF), selected its entry through a national final. This was Stella's third appearance at Eurovision: She had appeared as part of the group Hearts of Soul for the and of Dream Express for . As a solo singer, she had also taken part in the .
Before Eurovision
National final The selection of the Belgian entry took place during five episodes of the popular music programme . The show was broadcast weekly on Sundays, and the five episodes between 24 January 1982 and 21 February 1982 were dedicated to selecting the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1982. The competition consisted of three heats, a semi-final, and a final. (RTBF) held all the shows at its studios in Brussels, hosted by Pierre Collard-Bovy, and the songs were all presented in pre-recorded videos.
Competing entries A 12-member jury with people from the television and radio industry, journalists, and representatives from SABAM selected 18 entries out of 156 submissions.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Baxter "Plus personne n'y croit" Chrome 17 "Intuition" Claude Michel "Si par bonheur" Cologne Intime "Boomerang" Charles Roguery Cricha "Lucifer" Eddy Pascal "Même" Eddy Pascal Frank Michael "Toi simplement toi" Freddy Nieuland "Les mots chantent" Freddy Nieuland Gala "Patati patata" Jean-Luc Gardian Isabelle Rigaux "Partir" Jacky Lafon "On l'appelle chanson d'amour" Joseph Cioppa "Vivons l'amour de demain" Joseph Cioppa Nicole Mery "Quelle surprise" Pascal Amory "Slow en tendresse" Serge Mohimont "Au fond de ma mémoire" Serge Mohimont Shema "Mon joujou" Stella "Si tu aimes ma musique" Tiziano "Par amour"
Heats The heats took place on 24 January, 31 January, and 7 February 1982 and were broadcast for 30 minutes from 17:30 (CET). Six competing acts performed in each show and the top two as decided by televoting advanced to the semi-final. Televoting was only open for just over an hour and the results of each show were announced in a short show at 19:24 (CET) on the day of each heat.
+ Heat 1 – 24 January 1982 Artist Song Result 1 Stella "Si tu aimes ma musique" Qualified 2 Joseph Cioppa "Vivons l'amour de demain" Qualified 3 Frank Michael "Toi simplement toi" 4 Shema "Mon joujou" 5 Cricha "Lucifer" 6 Freddy Nieuland "Les mots chantent" + Heat 2 – 31 January 1982 Artist Song Result 1 Claude Michel "Si par bonheur" Qualified 2 Gala "Patati patata" 3 Pascal Amory "Slow en tendresse" Qualified 4 Chrome 17 "Intuition" 5 Nicole Mery "Quelle surprise" 6 Eddy Pascal "Même"
+ Heat 3 – 7 February 1982 Artist Song Result 1 Tiziano "Par amour" Qualified 2 Cologne Intime "Boomerang" 3 Baxter "Plus personne n'y croit" Qualified 4 Jacky Lafon "On l'appelle chanson d'amour" 5 Serge Mohimont "Au fond de ma mémoire" 6 Isabelle Rigaux "Partir"
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 14 February 1982 and was broadcast for 30 minutes at 17:30 (CET). The six entries which had qualified from the heats competed and the top four entries as decided by televoting advanced to the final. Televoting was only open for just over an hour and the results of the semi-final were announced in a short show at 19:24 (CET) on the same day.
+ Semi-final – 14 February 1982 Artist Song Result 1 Claude Michel "Si par bonheur" 2 Stella "Si tu aimes ma musique" Qualified 3 Pascal Amory "Slow en tendresse" 4 Joseph Cioppa "Vivons l'amour de demain" Qualified 5 Tiziano "Par amour" Qualified 6 Baxter "Plus personne n'y croit" Qualified
Final The final was held on 21 February 1982 and was broadcast for 30 minutes at 17:35 (CET). The winning song was chosen by the same 12-member jury panel which had selected the 18 songs from the received submissions and the results of the final were announced in a short show at 20:10 (CET) on the same day.
+ Final – 21 February 1982 Artist Song Place 1 Stella "Si tu aimes ma musique"1 2 Baxter "Plus personne n'y croit" 2 3 Tiziano "Par amour" 3 4 Joseph Cioppa "Vivons l'amour de demain" 4
At Eurovision On the night of the final Stella performed 11th in the running order, following and preceding . At the close of the voting "" had received 96 points, placing Belgium 4th of the 18 entries. Although the song did not receive any 12 points votes (the highest were 10 from and Spain), it achieved the distinction of being only the eighth song in Eurovision history to that date (and only the third non-winner) to receive points from every other participating country (excluding the 1971-1973 contests where each country had to award a minimum of 2 points to every song). The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to .
Voting
+ Points awarded to Belgium Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Belgium Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References