WHILE many might not think of Scotland as having a significant involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest, the truth isn't quite that!

From 1966 up until just last year, Scotland has been involved at the forefront and behind the scenes of Europe's biggest music competition. Here’s a look at the timeline of Scotland’s contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest.

1966

Scotland’s relationship with Eurovision begins in 1966, 10 years after the competition began in Switzerland, as Kenneth McKellar sang A Man Without Love. Hosted in Luxembourg, the first ever Scottish performer came 9th out of 16 acts and it involved Kenneth changing into a kilt at the end of the song. He received points from only two countries but is one of only two artists from the UK to gain 12 points from the Irish jury.

1967

The following year, Scotland’s involvement with the song contest was more subtle, with Govan’s Bill Martin writing the UK’s winning entry Puppet On A String for Sandie Shaw.

1969

Arguably the most famous of all of Scotland’s contributions to Eurovision, Lulu came first in the 1969 contest with her song Boom Bang A Bang. Admitting that she didn’t even like the song, she told John Peel: “I know it's a rotten song, but I won, so who cares? I'd have sung 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep' standing on my head if that's what it took to win." Nonetheless, the song peaked at number 2 on the UK chart and was a massive hit throughout Europe.

1972

In this year, Scotland played the staring role in the competition as it was held in Usher Hall, presented by Scottish actress and ballet dancer Moira Shearer, and hosted juries and entrants in Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall. While the UK did not win the year prior, winners Monaco were unable to host the competition, allowing the UK to do so in their stead. The UK entry, Beg, Steal Or Borrow was performed by the New Seekers of which Scot Eve Graham was a part. Scotland’s links to the competition went beyond the venue, the artist, and the host, as Edinburgh’s Tom Fleming commentated on the BBC’s broadcast and Glasgow-born Richard Hill conducted the music for the Portuguese entry.

1975

Another case of subtle Scottish involvement, Bill Martin once again writes a song that appears in the competition. This time it’s for Luxembourg and it’s called Toi. It placed a respectable fifth place in the contest.

1978

In his final attempt at Eurovision glory, Bill Martin once again writes a song for the competition in the form of Shine It On for the UK, sung by a Glaswegian mononymously called Christian. Unfortunately, neither Scot made it through to the final competition, as the song finished 3rd in A Song for Europe, the UK’s selection contest, putting a dampener on Bill’s once brightly burning Eurovision career.

1987

In another disappointing turn for Scotland, Rikki Peebles’s song for the UK, Only The Light, finished in a measly 13th place, which was the then lowest ranking for the UK ever. The song wasn’t even popular in the UK, peaking at a disappointing 96 in the charts.

1988

The following year was more fruitful for the UK as Glasgow-born Scott Fitzgerald sang Go for the UK and came in 2nd place, losing by only one point to Switzerland’s representative, a little-known artist who goes by the name of Celine Dion. Despite this, it didn’t break the top forty in the UK, peaking at number 52.

1996

Jumping eight years into the future to 1996, Scotland’s Karen Matheson was part of France’s entry Dan ar Braz and L'Heritage des Celtes who sang Diwanit Bugale in the Celtic Breton language, which was the first song ever to do so. They placed 13th but remained famous in France.

2013

Fast-forward to 2013 and Scotland once again finds itself involved in the competition as Drumchapel’s own John Ballard writes the song Hold Me for Azerbaijan’s Farid Mammadov. It finished in second place with 234 points.

2014

John returns to the competition the following year to write the song Shine for Russia’s Tolmachevy Sisters who finished in 7th place.

2016

After a year away from the competition, John returns with the song You Are The Only One, again for Russia but this time for their entry Sergey Lazarev who placed 3rd.

2017

This year, another Scottish songwriter, this time Lawrie Martin from Ayr, has a shot writing a hit for the contest. He wrote the UK entry’s song Never Give Up On You which was performed by Lucie Jones. In typical UK fashion, it didn’t make it on to the coveted left-hand-side of the board, placing 15TH but nonetheless earning the UK ITS highest place in the competition since 2011's I Can by boyband Blue finished in eleventh place.

2018

Scotland hosts the Eurovision Young Musicians contest in Edinburgh and it’s attended by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

2019

Marking the first time Scotland has entered a Eurovision event separate to the UK, the country entered into the last-ever Eurovision Choir Contest which was held in Gothenburg in 2019. Unfortunately, the choir did not make it past the semi-finals.

2020

Scotland’s most recent involvement in the competition is courtesy of the Will Ferrell film Eurovision: A Song Of Ice And Fire. While the fictional story revolves around Iceland’s entry in the competition, a large portion of the film was shot in Scotland with the movie featuring shots of the Hydro, Edinburgh Waverley Station and Holyrood Park among other famous Scottish landmarks and sights. The film was even set in Edinburgh, which functioned as the host city for the competition in the movie (we can only wish!).

Honourable mention: 2021

Scots’ voices were used in the choir section of Icelandic entry Dadi Freyr’s song 10 Years – a loving and quirky disco-inspired tribute to his wife which ended up in fourth place.