We all know now that the UK are hosting Eurovision 2023,on behalf of Ukraine , in the city of Liverpool in May and that Mae Muller will this year be representing the UK with her song ” I wrote a Song”. However, what has become of the acts who proudly flew the UK flag at past contests? ( to those wondering why we haven’t yet included Ukraine, as they were last year’s winner, worry not! we will be doing a special feature on their former participants at a later date before the contest).We at Eurovision Ireland,during the build up to the 2023 contest and in honour of the host country, have decided to bring you special editions of our Here Today, Gone tomorrow series , looking at how this year’s host country’s past acts have fared since their time at Eurovision. Today, we are turning back time all the way to 1998, to the last time that Eurovision was hosted in the UK , in Birmingham and focusing on Imaani, who represented the UK on home soil with the song” Where are You?”

About Imaani

Imaani’s full name is Imaani Saleem but she was actually born under the name of Melonie Crosdale in 1972.After leaving college and moving to London, she had a chance encounter with a music producer which led to her entering the music business.In 1995, she provided vocals on the track “Easin’ my mind by FM inc and in the album , “Beaneath the Surface” by Incognito in 1996. In 1998, Imaani took part in The Great British Song Contest , to find the UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Birmingham ,UK following the victory by Katrina and the Waves for the country the previous year, with “Love , Shine a light”. With her song “Where are you?”, Imaani won the contest convincingly via a public vote.

At Eurovision

Competing on home soil, Imaani put in a performance to do the UK proud and she came very close to achieving a back to back win for the UK , only coming seven points behind the winner, Dana International from Israel,with the song “Diva” in second place. It took until 2022 for the UK to achieve second place again with Sam Ryder and “Spaceman”.

After Eurovision

After Eurovision, “Where are you?”entered the charts , peaking at number 15.Imaani went on to provide lead vocals on Tru Faith and Dub Conspiracy’s UK garage cover of Adina Howard’s “Freak Like me”, which reached number 12 in the charts .She then went on to record with the band Incognito .Since 2005, Imaani has performed as part of the UK session organisation, The All Stars collective.In 2006, she also sang on the track “Bring me love ” by the Copyright project on Defected Records.This track had a limited release in the UK but achieved success in the Dance charts, reaching position number 5.In 2014,Imaani released her album, “Standing Tall”.

What do you think? Would you like to see Imaani perform at Eurovision again? If not as a contestant , as an interval act? Let us know what you think in our comments box below and you can also find us on FACEBOOK and TWITTER .

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source: Eurovision.TV You Tube Wikipedia