The grand final of Eurovision 2012 takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday, 26 May. As contestants slip into their tightest pants and warm up their wind machines, I'm previewing this year's hottest acts to help you decide who deserves your televote. Today's contestants include Engelbert Humperdinck--the 76-year...

The first semi-final at Eurovision 2012 takes place on May 22. To help you decide which country deserves your televote, I'm reviewing some of this year's most talked-about entries. Today's acts include Roman Lob--a German heartthrob singing a song composed by Jamie Cullum--and Valentina Monetta--a woman from San Marino who...

The first Eurovision semi-final kicks off on May 22. To help you decide which country deserves your televote, I'm previewing some of this year's most talked-about contestants. Today's acts include Nina Zilli--Italy's answer to Amy Winehouse--and Mandinga--a Cuban-Romanian funk group that mixes bag pipes with leather hot pants with electronic...

The first Eurovision semi-final kicks off on May 22. To help you decide which country deserves your televote, I'm previewing some of this year's most talked-about contestants. Today's acts include Ireland's Jedward-easily the most successful X-Factor rejects ever-and Sweden's Loreen-the odds-on favorite to win the Eurovision crown this May.

Austria:...

With Eurovision less than three weeks away, performers from Sweden to Ukraine are busy glueing on their sequins and perfecting their dance moves. 42 countries will compete, but only one can win. To help you decide which country deserves your televote, I'll be giving you the low down on some...

During auditions for the sixth season of Britain's X-Factor, Simon Cowell dismissed John and Edward Grimes as "two of the most irritating people we've had on here in a long, long time."

Since then the...

From the moment French broadcaster France 3 announced that Amaury Vassili would represent France at Eurovision 2011, Eurovision fans and opera lovers have been shouting "Ooo la la!" Amaury, the world's youngest professional tenor at...

Last year Armenia's Eurovision entry centered its stage act around a 100-lb. replica of an apricot stone. So it wasn't exactly surprising when, during today's first dress rehearsal in Düsseldorf, the Armenian delegation wheeled Emmy onto the stage in a larger-than-life boxing glove with her name spelled...

For folks living outside of Norway, the country conjures up images of well-to-do white people eating smoked fish and living large off state oil funds. But amid the sea of blonds that color foreign conceptions of the country live Sikhs and Vietnamese, Pakistanis and Poles, and a thriving community of...

On a stage where contestants sweat ambition, it's only fitting that someone would rock up singing a song called "Popular." Eric Saade, Sweden's offering at Eurovision 2011, uses his three minutes to convey his desire for pan-European stardom -- and the groupies that accompany it. "I'm trying to say that...

Photo courtesy of RTE Broadcasting

John Paul Henry Daniel Richard Grimes and Edward Peter Anthony Kevin Patrick Grimes -- the Irish twins better known as Jedward -- understand the power of self-obsession. It's a state of mind that has catapulted them from contestants on the...

Take six people with no discernible musical ability. Dress them up in clothes inspired by the Village People. Enter them in your national Eurovision contest. Watch your government fall. That, in short, sums up the journey of Homens da Luta (Men of Struggle), a Portuguese comedy troupe who have all...

Dana International, the only transsexual ever to win Eurovision, is hoping to reclaim her title in Düsseldorf. This time she's fighting with a "Ding Dong." An ode to silent prayer and personal resolve, the song sets perseverance to a mid-tempo dance beat. Its clichéd message that hope springs eternal would...

They've sold 13 million records, released 40 hit singles worldwide and collaborated with Elton John. But come May, Britain's boy band Blue will share the Eurovision stage with lesser known acts like Emmy, an Armenian who is competing with a song called "Boom Boom," and Dana...

Slovakia's Daniela and Veronika Nízlová, the singing duo better known as the TWiiNS, want to double your pleasure and double your fun at Eurovision 2011. Known for their barely-there shorts and habit of standing legs akimbo, they've never been afraid to cast subtlety...

If members of the Soviet Politburo ever produced an adult video, it might have looked something like this. In "I Love Belarus," Anastasiya Vinnikova suggests that nationalism is sexy, and that loving your motherland will get you some love from its...

Under the influence of alcohol, you might mispronounce Azerbaijan as aspiration. You wouldn't be far off the mark. A fiery patriotism makes doing well at the Eurovision Song Contest a matter of national importance, and that occasionally leaves competitors scratching their heads. In...

In just a few hours, more than 120 million viewers will tune into Eurovision, the continent-wide singing contest that has produced stars like ABBA, Celine Dione and Julio Iglesias. Before Europe's aspiring pop stars don their tightest pants and turn on the wind machines, here's your chance to get acquainted...

Choose a bad egg, and you'll end up with yolk all over your crotch. It's a lesson that officials at NTU, Ukraine's national broadcaster, learned all too well while selecting the nation's 2010 Eurovision contestant. Rather than holding a public vote (de rigeur in Eurovision Nation), NTU's director made an...

Opponents of Turkey's bid to join the E.U. portray it as an alien culture with social and religious beliefs that are decidedly un-European. Following his election as French president in 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy said Europe "must give itself borders" and declared that Turkey "has no place" in the organization. In...