The 1961 Eurovision Song Contest set a participation record with 16 countries, including three debuts, and produced a winning song later reinterpreted as addressing homosexual love.
Key Facts
- Edition
- 6th Eurovision Song Contest
- Date
- 18 March 1961
- Participating countries
- 16 (record at the time)
- Winner
- Luxembourg – 'Nous les amoureux'
- Performer
- Jean-Claude Pascal
- Debut countries
- Finland, Spain, Yugoslavia
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
France's Jacqueline Boyer won the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Tom Pillibi', obligating French broadcaster RTF to host the following year's contest. France had previously hosted in 1959, also at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, making it the first country to host on two separate occasions.
Held on 18 March 1961 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes and presented by Jacqueline Joubert, the contest featured a record 16 competing nations. Luxembourg's entry 'Nous les amoureux', performed by Jean-Claude Pascal and composed by Jacques Datin with lyrics by Maurice Vidalin, won the competition, with the United Kingdom placing second and Switzerland third.
Luxembourg secured its first Eurovision victory, beginning a run that would eventually reach five wins. The winning song, while not understood as such in 1961, was later reinterpreted as addressing homosexual love — a subject that would have been considered taboo at the time. The contest's expanded field of 16 countries reflected the event's growing reach across Europe.
Work
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
The 1961 contest marked Luxembourg's first Eurovision win and introduced three new participating nations; the winning song was later recognised as an early, if implicit, expression of homosexual love in mainstream European entertainment.