Songwriter flies flag for Australia at Eurovision
An Aussie could win Eurovision this year - but it might not be Guy Sebastian.
Katrina Noorbergen, an Australian living in Berlin, is the co-writer of the Russian song A Million Voices, widely considered the best ballad at this year's song contest.
It stormed into the weekend's final after singer Polina Gagarina pulled off an impressive performance in yesterday's first semi- final.
Noorbergen, who announced on Facebook that she got engaged this week, is also one of Gagarina's backup singers. She has also written nine songs for the latest album by German singer Lena, winner of Eurovision in 2010.
The growing popularity of the Russian song this year has not gone unnoticed and it is second favourite, behind Sweden
Also through to the final were Armenia, made up of six Armenian-born singers living in different parts of the world. One of the singers is Sydney-educated Mary-Jean O'Doherty Vasmatzian, whose father was Australian and mother was a Greek-Armenian.
Six songs were cut from the competition after the semi-final, including Finnish punk band PKN, whose members are all middle-aged and have an intellectual disability.
The others to miss out were Moldova, Netherlands, FYR Macedonia, Belarus and Denmark.
The second semifinal, which will feature Sweden, begins at 3am tomorrow.
