Whether you love it or hate it, it's the time of year when the UK and the rest of Europe is in the grip of Eurovision fever.
Although we were one of the shortlisted cities to host the competition this year - on behalf of last year's winners Ukraine - Manchester sadly missed out to Liverpool. Still, that doesn't mean we won't be celebrating this year's contest, with many from the region making the short trip down the M62 to revel in the Eurovision atmosphere.
And, for those wanting to stay closer to home, there's plenty of options to catch Eurovision including huge screens in Piccadilly Gardens and, of course, the celebrations in Manchester's Gay Village. So as we anticipate which country will be Eurovision winners this year, we've taken a look back at Greater Manchester's links to the competition.
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From Stockport rappers to morose musical royalty, below is a list of six Greater Manchester links to the Eurovision Song Contest through the years. If you can think of any others, let us know in the comments below.
Daz Sampson
Stockport's own Daz Sampson, 48, is best known for representing the UK in Athens in 2006 with schoolroom rap song Teenage Life. Sadly, he only managed to finish 19th that year.
However, this wasn't Sampson's only foray into Eurovision. in 2019, alongside fellow British singer Nona, they attempted to represent Belarus in the competition with the song Kinky Boots. The effort was not selected for the live final, who instead opted for ZENA and her song Like It, which placed 24th.
Sampson tried again to represent Belarus in 2021 alongside singer Katya Ocean with a song called Give You Love, but again missed out on the song being selected.
Song: Cry Baby
The song 'Cry Baby' was the United Kingdom's entry to the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest performed by Liverpool pop act, Jemini. The song has gone down to be one of only two UK entries to have achieved the dreaded 'nul points'.
Although its performers hailed from Merseyside, the song was actually written by Salford songwriter Martin Isherwood. The Salfordian composer dreamt up the tune while he was sitting on a train headed for Liverpool.
Isherwood, who has been Head of Music at Paul McCartney's prestigious Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts school since 2001, was so excited about the track that when he got to the station he sang the ditty down the phone to record it on his answering machine.
Sadly, it was not to be, as the song became the first ever English language song to receive no points. Although this may not have been solely the song's fault, as Jemini's off-key performance at the final was hampered they said by not being able to hear the backing track due to a technical fault.
Morrissey
Yes, you read that right. The sardonic singer of legendary Manchester band, The Smiths, Morrissey was once pegged to represent the UK at the annual musical celebration of everything high camp.
Best known for songs like Girlfriend In A Coma and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, the glum Manchester star was in talks with the BBC to write an entry for the competition in 2007. Following Stockport rapper, Daz Sampson's 19th placing in 2006, the Stretford singer spoke out in an interview saying: "I was horrified but not surprised to see the UK fail again.
"There's a question I keep asking myself - why didn't they ask me? It keeps going round in my head."
But it wasn't to be. Just weeks after the BBC confirmed they were in discussions with Morrissey, the proposed collaboration fell through. A spokeswoman for the corporation said: "Obviously a lot of artists express interest in Eurovision and we express interest in a lot of artists. We approach quite a few of them but on this occasion, it just did not work out.
"We can confirm he will not be taking part." Alas, what might have been.
Lyn Paul
Wythenshawe's very own Lyn Paul placed second in Eurovision back in 1972 as a member of The New Seekers. Their song Beg Steal Or Borrow was just pipped by Luxemburg's soaring ballad, Après Toi.
After leaving The New Seekers, Lyn went on to have a successful solo singing career before moving into musical theatre and acting. Paul has appeared as a semi-regular character, Freda Danby, in ITV's Emmerdale as well as episodes of Doctors and In Deep for the BBC.
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Salford
As well as Salford composer Martin Isherwood's song Cry Baby representing the UK in 2003, the city itself has a big connection to Eurovision. Salford was made the official home of the United Kingdom’s BBC Eurovision HQ last year, with results from the UK jury vote being delivered by AJ Odudu from MediaCity.
"AJ calling from Salford…for the first time ever from Greater Manchester," she proudly declared as host Graham Norton chuckled. AJ then awarded the sought-after douze points to Sweden.
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Simon Webbe
Simon Webbe, member of boyband Blue hails from Moss Side in Manchester. Blue represented the UK in the competition in 2011 with the song I Can.
It was a respectable showing with the song coming in 11th place, having amassed 100 points. However, that was nowhere near Azerbaijan's winning song Running Scared, performed by Ell and Nikki, which took top spot with 221 points.
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