(Photograph courtesy of Plixid.com)

Who will represent France at Eurovision 2013 in Malmo? Well that decision was confirmed yesterday by France 3 – National Broadcaster.

An internal committee of French Music experts including – writers, composers, lyricists, singers and managers – met and decided that the best candidate to represent La Belle France would be female soloist Amandine Bourgeois.

Born in 1979, Amandine came to fame at the 6th winner of the French Pop Idol series “Nouvelle Star” in 2008.

She has had 2 albums released

• 2009: 20 m²
• 2012: Sans amour mon amour

Amandine studied music theory at age 7 and the flute at the Nice Conservatory at age 9. At 16 she formed her own rock group and thus began her musical career. She has performed with many bands like – Gold, Tess Group and Zia and has performed in several Musicals in France – The Cast (2005) and The Wall (2006)

Following her win on Nouvelle Star in 2008 she released her first album “20 m²”. It was received well by the press and the public though they had expected more rock music to be present on the album.

The album sold well and in the sales chart in France it peaked at number 5, number 2 on the French down load chart, number 8 in Belgium and number 22 in Switzerland.

One of her singles is ” L’Homme De La Situation” – well we do hope that Amandine is the “Woman for the Situation and the Eurovision Job”. Her musical style seems to be a mix of rock, folk, blues and funk. Could this be an indication of the route France is taking for 2013?

(YouTube Video Courtey of abourgeoisVEVO)

What do we know about the French song at Eurovision 2013 and the France Gall Connection?

Well it has been revealed that Amandine will perform the song “L‘enfer et moi” or “Hell and I” which we hope is not a reference to her forthcoming Eurovision experience. The song is written by Boris Bergman and composed by David Salkin.

Boris Bergman is of Russian origin and was born in the United Kingdom in 1944. His Eurovision connections are there in various degrees. One of his first songs that he wrote was “Nocturne” (no not the Norwegian winner of 1995 but) for French artist Eva in 1967. Throughout his career he has composed songs for diverse artists from Richard Anthony, Dalida Marie Laforet, Nana Mouskouri to the 1965 Eurovision winner France Gall ( with songs like The Roaring Twenties , The Manila and Revolution , Shakespeare and Worse ). 

(YouTube Video Courtesy of Claudus1943)

Can France go higher than their 22nd place at Eurovision 2012? Here is Anggun performing with some familiar Eurovision contestants from across the years and the continent.

(YouTube Video Courtesy of Philip Wester)

We will await more information from France 3 as to when they will premier “L‘enfer et moi” or “Hell and I”. Stay tuned.

Source France 3