The 1972 Eurovision winner from Luxembourg APRES TOI covered by Bles Bridges in Afrikaans as GLO IN DIE LEWE.
Tag Archives: Bles Bridges
EUROVISION COVER – DIESER TRAUM DARF NIEMALS STERBEN (English)
Atlantis 2000 sang for Germany at the 1991 Eurovision song contest. Bles Bridges of South Africa covered it in English and had a huge hit with NEVER ENDING DREAM.
ANDREAS MARTIN
This morning ESCCovers got a very sad e-mail.
“Do you remember Andreas Martin? About one month ago, his wife disappeared and has not been found since then. Now, also the public do not know about Andreas Martin. Some say he is in a psychiatric clinic”.
We know and love Andreas so much, from about 1984 when we discovered him and he songs. He took part for example in the German Eurovision selection in 1989 with HERZ AN HERZ which ended 4th that year.
South African music fans may not know Andreas as a singer, but many of his songs have become classics in Afrikaans covered by especially BLES BRIDGES – the most know is Andreas song ABSCHIED VON DEN STERNEN which Bles sang as REIK NA DIE STERRE.
Other fantastic songs of Andreas include SOLO TU (which Manie Jackson covered), AMORE MIO and DER HIMMEL KANN WARTEN.
After the death of two German schlager icons, CHRIS ROBERTS and ANDREA JURGENS, we cannot afford to loose another one.
DIE ANDER KANT VAN ROEM/THE OTHER SIDE OF FAME
What has people like Carike Keuzenkamp, Rina Hugo, Janita Claassen, Anneli van Rooyen, Patricia Lewis, Bles Bridges, Ge Korsten, Manuel Escorcio, Fanie de Jager, Jannie Moolman, Andre Schwartz, Guillaume, Tobi Jooste, Cole van Dais, David Fourie, Min Shaw, Groep 2, Amanda Luyt, Andriette Norman, Barbara Ray, Alan Garrity, Romanz, Sonja Herholdt, Sunette Bridges, Jurie Els, Corlea Botha and many more in common? Yes they are all South African recording artists but each one of them has at least COVERED one song originally composed by German composer RALPH SIEGEL. Ralph is the most known Eurovision composer and will be in Kyiv, Ukraine in May 2017 with his 25th Eurovision entry. Ralph has won Eurovision once – in 1982 when Nicole sang his song EIN BISSCHIEN FRIEDEN. The previous 3 years he had been 4th, 2nd and 2nd with his songs. Over the years he has written Eurovision entries for Germany (his home country) but also Luxembourg, Switzerland, Montenegro and San Marino.
Ralph has asked Roy van der Merwe, the president of Eurovision South Africa and the owner of the website ESCCovers, to make him compilation CD’s with his songs by South African artists. Roy has identified 100 such covers he is aware of and it will be recorded on various compilations to be handed to Ralph in Kyiv to celebrate the fact that Ralph is there with his 25th entry and also it is the 25th Eurovision in a row Roy will be attending.
During next week the compilation CD’s will be recorded and at this stage it looks like there will be at least 4 different ones
1 – EIN BISSCHIEN FRIEDEN
As there are 14 covers of this song, they will all appear on one compilation
2 – DIE ANDERKANT VAN ROEM
This is the title of Patricia Lewis’s ralph cover and will feature lesser known covers
3 – ‘N DAG MET RALPH
This comes from the title ‘n Dag met Maria which is the title of a Jurie Els song of Ralph
4 – EK IS BAIE LIEF VIR JOU
This comes from the title of one of the very first Ralph songs covered in South Africa – in the middle 70’s and originally sung by Min Shaw
62 COVERS UNTIL KIEV – DAY 25 (Germany 1991)
GERMANY 1991
Never ending dream – Bles Bridges
Dieser traum darf niemals sterben – Atlantis 2000
62 COVERS UNTIL KIEV – DAY 18 (Germany 1990)
GERMANY 1990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNu-81M8rLw
Let me love you – Bles Bridges
Frei zu leben – Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac
62 COVERS UNTIL KIEV – DAY 9 (Iceland 1991)
ICELAND 1991
Nina – Bles & Ashleigh Bridges
Nina – Stefan & Eyfi
MANIE JACKSON – SPECIAL COVER
On Manie Jacks0n’s gospel CD is one special track
LEEF VIR HOM (Live for him)
It is the Afrikaans cover of a big Bles Bridges English hit, FIGHT FOR LOVE but originally a hit for UDO JURGENS, the composer in German.
This cover was done for Udo but he passed away tragically before we would give it to him. But hopefully all UDO fans will enjoy the song.
SPECIAL CD FOR VIENNA
We have another special CD for Vienna. It is called ICELAND IDOLS and it feature Icelandic euro songs covered in South Africa. The CD was a once off copy in Copenhagen but I had requests for more so a limited amount have been done and will be available in Vienna. Thanks again to R O W member Gerry of the USA for doing such a beautiful cover.
EUROVISION 60th CELEBRATION – SONG 49 of 60
Today is the turn of one of my favourite songs from Eurovision, ICELAND 1991 and their song NINA by STEFAN and EYFI. The Afrikaans cover is my favourite of any cover done in South Africa. It is sung by BLES BRIDGES who tragically died 15 years ago, Until recently this was the biggest seller of any cover in South Africa and compared to the Icelandic population, it accounts to that 1 out of every 2 Iceland people would have bought a copy.
