Country Denmark Language Danish Lyricist(s) Keld Heick | Artist(s) Tommy Seebach Band Composer(s) Tommy Seebach Conductor Georg Keller | |
"Under stjernerne på himlen" ("Under the stars of the sky") was the Danish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, performed in Danish by the Tommy Seebach Band.
Seebach wrote the song as a lullaby to his daughter, and his family encouraged him to suggest it as a finalist for the Danish final in 1993, where it won. In the international finale the song was performed fifth on the night, following Switzerland's Annie Cotton with "Moi, tout simplement" and preceding Greece's Keti Garbi with "Eladha, Hora Tu Fotos". At the close of voting, it had received 9 points, placing 22nd in a field of 25.
The disappointing result at this Contest, coupled with the expansion of the Contest following the collapse of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, meant that Denmark was relegated from competing in the 1994 contest, causing them to miss a finale for the first time since 1977. The media reacted poorly to this, putting the blame on Seebach personally, which his son later revealed was one of the main reasons for his father's descent into alcoholism and depression, which led to his divorce and ultimately his early death ten years later. Although Seebach had become sober at the time, the many years of heavy drinking had caused permanently damaged his heart, which led to the deadly heart attack in 2003.
It was succeeded as Danish representative at the 1995 Contest (to which Denmark had been invited) by Aud Wilken with "Fra Mols til Skagen".
Rasmus Seebach version
Rasmus Seebach rerecorded his father's song again. The track is included in Rasmus' second album Mer' end kærlighed and was released in October 2011 as a single reaching #3 in the Hitlisten, the Danish Singles Chart.