As we all know , Austria won the 2025 edition of the Eurovision Song contest in Basel, with JJ and “Wasted Love”. Which means that next year, we will be travelling to somewhere in Austria for the 2026 edition of our beloved contest. JJ’s victory in Basel was the third victory for Austria at the contest , with previous wins being in 1966, with Udo Jurgens and “Mercie Cherie “and again in 2014 when Conchita Wurst took victory for the nation with “Rise like a Phoenix ” in Copenhagen, Denmark.

With this in mind, we at Eurovision Ireland, decided it would be interesting to create a series , looking back over the years at previous Austrian acts and how they fared in the contest , in the years that Austria have taken part . Today, in Part 4 of our series, we will look at the years 1966, 1967 and 1968

1966 -Udo Jurgens “Merci Cherie

1966 saw Udo Jurgens participate once again for his country, this time with the song “Merci Chérie”. This time, it was third time lucky and he won the contest for Austria in Luxembourg city . Udo is one of few acts to have represented his country three consecutive times. It would be 48 years before Austria would win the contest again. Udo Jurgens sadly passed away in December 2014, just short of 5 months to the Eurovision contest being hosted in Vienna again , following Conchita Wurst’s victory for Austria in Copenhagen in 2014.

1967 Peter Horten “Warum es hunderttausend sterne gibt ?”

Peter Horten took the honour of representing the host nation in Vienna at the 1967 contest .Sadly he did not achieve the results of he previous years and the host nation finished 14th with just 2 points ! Sandie Shaw took victory for the UK with “Puppet on a String “.Peter was an Austrian guitarist , singer, composer and writer . He passed away in September 2023, shortly after his 82nd birthday.

1968 Karel Gott “Tausend Fenster”

Karel Gott took the honour of representing Austria at the 1968 contest in London,UK with his song “Tausend Fenster”. He was of Czech nationality and has made a name for himself in the Czech music scene in his early years . He finished in 13th place with 2 points Karol Gott passed away in 2019 .

In part Five of our series on past Austrian participants, we will focus on the years 1971 ,1972 and 1976You can see Part One, covering the years 1957,1958 and 1959 HERE , Part 2 covering the years 1960.1961 and 1962 HERE and Part 3 covering the years 1963, 1964,1965 HERE .In the meantime , let us know what you think about Austria at Eurovision by either leaving us a comment in the comments box , or you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and X .

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source: Eurovision Ireland, ORF , Wikipedia

Visual Source : YouTube.