Country Norway Selection date(s) 8 February 1997 Selected song "San Francisco" | Selection process Melodi Grand Prix 1997 Selected entrant Tor Endresen Final result 24th=, 0 points | |
Norway was represented by Tor Endresen, with the song '"San Francisco", at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 May in Dublin. "San Francisco" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the Melodi Grand Prix on 8 March, and is mainly remembered for bringing Norway's recent run of Eurovision success – they had finished 5th, 6th, 1st and 2nd in the previous four contests – to a spectacular end.
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Final
The MGP was held at the studios of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in Oslo, hosted by Tande-P. Eight songs took part with the winner chosen by a split between televoting (60%) and an "expert" jury (40%). Endresen finally gained MGP victory at his eighth attempt. Several of the jury members were friends of Tor Endresen and told the press that "Endresen deserved to win" regardless of what song he participated with. Among the other participants was Geir Rønning, who would later represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Endresen performed third in the running order, following Turkey and preceding Austria. At the close of voting "San Francisco" had failed to pick up any points at all, the eighth time Norway had found itself at the bottom of the scoreboard at the end of the evening, and a record fourth nul-points finish. The 1997 ignominy was shared with Portugal, who had also been completely shunned by the national juries. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to France.