Norway was represented by

Anita Skorgan Anita Skorgan (born 13 November 1958) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in (14th), (11th) and with Jan Teigen in (12th). She was also a backing singer at the and contests, and co-wrote th ...

, with the song "Casanova", at the

1977 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organise ...

, which took place on 7 May in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. "Casanova" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

on 28 February. This was the first of three Eurovision appearances (and a further uncredited fourth) for Skorgan.

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 1977

The

1977 was held at the studios of broadcaster

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, hosted by

Vidar Lønn-Arnesen Vidar Lønn-Arnesen (born 22 June 1940) is a Norwegian singer, radio presenter and television presenter. He was born in Lardal and grew up in Horten. He started his career as a local entertainer and pirate radio personality in the 1950s. From 1960 ...

. The Orchestra was conducted by Carsten Klouman. Six songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by voting from six regional juries. Other participants included former Norwegian representatives

Kirsti Sparboe Kirsti Sparboe (born 7 December 1946) is a Norwegian musical performer and an actress. Most of her musical career has been built on participation in the widely-popular Eurovision Song Contest in which she competed three times and scored a grand ...

(1965, 1967 and 1969),

Odd Børre Odd Børre Sørensen (born 9 August 1939, in Harstad) is a former Norwegian pop singer. He was better known by his stage name of Odd Børre. Internationally, he is best known for the song "Stress" that he performed in the Eurovision Song Contest ...

(1968) and

Benny Borg Benny Borg (born 13 November 1945) is a Swedish singer and composer. He was born in Gothenburg, but moved to Norway in 1968, and was married to Kirsti Sparboe from 1972 to 1978. He is known for his cooperation with the Dizzie Tunes, and with Gr ...

(1972).

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Skorgan performed 5th in the running order, following

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and preceding

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Like the previous year's Norwegian entry "

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by ...

", "Casanova" was an uptempo song with a disco-style arrangement, but for a second year the national juries showed that this was not the type of song they were looking for. At the close of voting "Casanova" had picked up only 18 points, placing Norway joint 14th (with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) of the 18 entries. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.ESC History - Norway 1977
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Postcards controversy

On the night of the broadcast, many viewers wondered why they were merely shown panning shots over the audience in between the songs, rather than the postcard-style clips of the next performers which had become traditional in the 1970s. It later transpired that the planned postcards had been filmed by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

during a night out for all the performers at a London nightclub, but when they were previewed NRK had objected as in several of the clips Skorgan could be seen drinking alcohol – at 18 years old she was below the age for legal alcohol consumption in Norway (although not in the United Kingdom) – and behaving in a manner which NRK deemed inappropriate. The Swedish delegation also complained that their performers had been caught on film conducting themselves in a less than exemplary way. As there was insufficient time or opportunity left to film a different set of postcards for all the participating countries, the BBC was left with no option but to scrap them completely.

Voting

References

External links

Full national final on nrk.no
{{Melodi Grand Prix (Norway)

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...