Australia’s Eurovision Jury named
Five Australians from varied sectors of the local music business have been selected to represent Australia as part of the Eurovision Song Contest'sglobal jury.
Selected by SBS, the panel will be chaired by music exec Amanda Pelman, who over her 30-year career signed Kylie Minogue to Mushroom Records, co-managed Jimmy Barnes, co-produced the Long Way To The Top touring show and co-founded Melodian Records with Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum.
“All the Artists who appear on Eurovision are totally unique – not just in displaying the nuances of their specific nationalities, but in getting a grip on the ART of show business,” said Pelman in a statement. “Everything is over the top and fun filled. I wish the music industry would embrace more of this humour and joie de vie!"
Joining Pelman on the jury will be Today Show entertainment reporter, Smooth FM host and musical performer Richard Wilkins, artist Danielle Spencer, radio/television presenter Ash London (Today Network) and Bluejuice frontman, music journalist and Music NSW Education Officer Jake Stone.
Stone has experience on both sides of the local industry fence having written for Rolling Stone, hosted a show on triple j with Bluejuice bandmate Stavros Yiannoukas and penned critically acclaimed records like 2009’s Problems and 2011’s Company.Stone said in a statement:“From being in a band people thought was weird enough to compete in Eurovision, to actually being officially asked to judge Eurovision for Australia, it's been a dizzying and completely unexpected ride so far.”
Votes from the 40 global Eurovision judging panels will account for 50% of the total score, however jury members and public voters cannot vote for their own countries. Find out how to vote.
Local entrant Guy Sebastian will perform his track Tonight Againto an audience of around 195 million people in the grand final on Saturday May 23 at Wiener Stadthalle arena. The 48-hour Sydney recording session with his band was filmed by SBS and posted here.
“I’m deeply honoured to be part of the Australian jury,” said Richard Wilkins. “Just a shame we can’t vote for Guy. But tell your rellies in Europe to vote 1 Australia!”
Eurovision has been broadcast on SBS for more than 30 years. The broadcast service will air the two semi-finals and the grand final live on May 20, May 22 and May 24 at 5am, hosted by Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang.
The delayed broadcast of the semi-finals will be aired on SBS One on May 22 and May 23 from 7:30pm with the grand final aired May 24 from 7:30pm.