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Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Participating broadcaster	France Télévision
Country	France
National selection
Selection process	Eurovision 1999: la sélection
Selection date(s)	2 March 1999
Selected artist(s)	Nayah
Selected song	"Je veux donner ma voix"
Selected songwriter(s)	Pascal Graczyk; René Colombies; Gilles Arcens; Luigi Rutigliano;
Finals performance
Final result	19th, 14 points
France in the Eurovision Song Contest

France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Je veux donner ma voix", written by Pascal Graczyk, René Colombies, Gilles Arcens, and Luigi Rutigliano, and performed by Nayah. The French participating broadcaster, France Télévision, selected its entry for the contest through the national final Eurovision 1999: la sélection organized by France 3.

Twelve songs competed in the national final on 2 March 1999 where "Je veux donner ma voix" performed by Nayah was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote.

As a member of the "Big Four", France automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing during the show in position 10, France placed nineteenth out of the 23 participating countries with 14 points.

Background

Prior to the 1999 Contest, France Télévision and its predecessor national broadcasters, had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing France forty-one times since RTF's debut in 1956.^[1] They first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962, and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Their fifth – and so far latest – victory came in 1977 with "L'oiseau et l'enfant" performed by Marie Myriam. They have also finished second four times, with "La Belle Amour" by Paule Desjardins in 1957, "Un, deux, trois" by Catherine Ferry in 1976, "White and Black Blues" by Joëlle Ursull in 1990, and "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison" by Amina in 1991, who lost out to Sweden's "Fångad av en stormvind" by Carola in a tie-break. In 1998, they finished in twenty-fourth place with the song "Où aller" performed by Marie Line.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, France Télévision organised the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcast the event in the country. For 1999, the broadcaster opted to delegate the selection of its entry to France 3; since 1993, France 2 had been responsible of selecting the entry and broadcasting the contest in France, however, they were unable to broadcast the 1999 contest due to its date conflicting with the French Rugby League Championship. The French broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose its entry in the past. From 1988 to 1998, the broadcaster opted to internally select its entry. The 1999 French entry was selected via a national final which featured several competing acts, marking the first time since 1987 that a national final was organised to select the French entry.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Eurovision 1999: la sélection

Eurovision 1999: la sélection was the national final organised by France 3 to select the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. A two-member selection committee consisting of former RTL Head of Musical Programming Monique Le Marcis and M6 music programmer Catherine Régnier selected twelve entries to compete the national final from 600 submissions, and songs in Arabic (Israhn), Basque (Kukumiku), Breton (Alex) and Hebrew (Anath) were also featured in addition to French.^[3]

The national final took place on 2 March 1999 at the L'Olympia in Paris, hosted by Julien Lepers and Karen Cheryl and was broadcast on France 3. The twelve finalists performed their entries together with an orchestra conducted by Réné Coll and the winner, "Je veux donner ma voix" performed by Nayah, was selected by the combination of public voting via telephone and Minitel (50%) and a jury panel (50%).^[4] The jury panel consisted of Gilbert Bécaud, Marie Myriam, Jocelyne Béroard, Lââm, Sandy Valentino, Richard Cocciante, Jean-Pierre Bouryayre, Laurent Petitguillaume, Jean-Michel Boris and Jean Réveillon. The rankings of each half were used to calculate the result; hence, the song with the lowest total won. There was a tie for first place between Ginie Line and Nayah; however, Nayah won as she received the most votes from the public.^[3]^[5] The national final was watched by 4.996 million viewers in France with a market share of 20.6%.^[6]

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury		Televote		Total	Place
Draw	Artist	Song	Votes	Points	Votes	Points	Total	Place
1	Alex	"Les droits de l'âme"	58	7	4,497	2	9	4
2	Karine Trécy	"Euroland"	44	11	482	11	22	12
3	Caractère	"Douce"	90	2	1,438	7	9	5
4	Nathalie Marine	"C'est souvent ça l'amour"	66	6	1,680	6	12	6
5	Pedro Alves	"Plus jamais, Never More"	89	3	3,725	3	6	3
6	Anath	"Go Ahead"	58	7	1,186	8	15	7
7	Kukumiku	"Irradaka"	48	10	1,084	9	19	10
8	Ginie Line	"La même histoire"	94	1	3,457	4	5	2
9	Mo and La Gazo	"Gazoline"	72	5	378	12	17	9
10	Nayah	"Je veux donner ma voix"	85	4	11,521	1	5	1
11	Israhn	"Ihtidael"	50	9	862	10	19	11
12	Uni.T	"Euro Song"	26	12	2,153	5	17	8

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, on 29 May 1999. According to the Eurovision rules, the 23-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the previous year's winning country and host nation, the seventeen countries which had obtained the highest average points total over the preceding five contests, and any eligible countries which did not compete in the 1998 contest. As a member of the "Big Four", France automatically qualified to compete in the contest. On 17 November 1998, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and France was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Denmark and before the entry from the Netherlands.^[7]^[8] France finished in nineteenth place with 14 points.^[9]

In France, the contest was broadcast on France 3 as well as on a 3 hour and 5 minute delay via TV5 with commentary by Julien Lepers.^[10] The French spokesperson, who announced the French votes during the show, was Marie Myriam who won the contest for France in 1977. The France 3 broadcast reached 4.2 million viewers within France, representing a 27.9% market share.^[11]

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to France and awarded by France in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Portugal in the contest.

Points awarded to France^[12]
Score	Country
12 points
10 points
8 points	Norway
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points	Ireland Lithuania Turkey
1 point

Points awarded by France^[12]
Score	Country
12 points	Portugal
10 points	Israel
8 points	Germany
7 points	Croatia
6 points	Bosnia and Herzegovina
5 points	Turkey
4 points	Estonia
3 points	Sweden
2 points	Belgium
1 point	Slovenia

References

^ "France Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
^ "France 1999". mylittleworld.nfshost.com. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b "La France et ses sélections : 1999". EAQ (in French).
^ "Les entretiens de l'EAQ : Nayah". L'Eurovision au Quotidien (in French). 31 October 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
^ ""Nationale finale Frankrijk 1999"". www.eurovisionartists.nl. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
^ "Primetimes - Mars 1999". audiencestv.com (in French). Retrieved 29 April 2024.
^ "Rules of the 44th Eurovision Song Contest, 1999" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
^ "44th Eurovision Song Contest" (in French and English). European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 March 2001. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
^ "Final of Jerusalem 1999". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
^ "Samedi 29 mai" [Saturday 29 May]. TV8 (in French). Zofingen, Switzerland: Ringier. 27 May 1999. pp. 20–25. Retrieved 2 July 2022 – via Scriptorium.
^ "Primetimes - mai 1999". audiencestv.com (in French). Archived from the original on 13 February 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Jerusalem 1999". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.