Country Luxembourg Selected entrant Jean-Claude Pascal Final result 1st, 31 points | Selection process Internal Selection Selected song "Nous les amoureux" 1961 • 1963► | |
Luxembourg was represented by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal, with the song '"Nous les amoureux", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen internally by broadcaster RTL and went on to bring Luxembourg their first Eurovision victory.
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Following its victory "Nous les amoureux" became a moderate success in Francophone markets, but made no impact in other parts of Europe. The 1961 runner-up from the United Kingdom proved to be a far greater international commercial success, as did the song from Italy which had finished fifth. Pascal would return to Eurovision 20 years later, again on behalf of Luxembourg, but with much less success.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Pascal performed 14th in the running order, following Denmark and preceding the United Kingdom. In the voting the United Kingdom's The Allisons took an early lead, which they held almost to the end. With three national juries left to vote, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg were tied on 21 points. Luxembourg then gained 10 points from the final three juries against just 3 for the United Kingdom, making "Nous les amoureux" the winner by a 7-point margin. The Luxembourgian jury could not be accused of tactical voting, as they had awarded 8 of their 10 points to the United Kingdom – which the United Kingdom jury reciprocated with a zero.
Voting
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.