José Luis Uribarri Grenouillou (9 August 1936 – 23 July 2012) was a Spanish television presenter and director for TVE. He was the Spanish commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on 18 occasions between 1969 and 2010. He was widely known as ''La voz de Eurovisión'' (''The Voice of Eurovision'') in Spain.

Biography

Early career

Uribarri was born in Ávila. After finishing school at Marist school in

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...

, he went on to study law but left in 1956 to work as a radio speaker for Radio Juventud, and then for Radio Intercontinental. He debuted in

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

(TVE) in 1958 when he participated in the contest for new talents ''Caras nuevas'', hosted by Blanca Álvarez. He was hired by TVE and established himself as one of the most popular presenters in Spain. He won a Premios Ondas in 1966. One of hist most successful shows was the musical programme ''Aplauso'', which he directed and hosted between 1978 and 1983.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1968, Spain won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in London with

Massiel María de los Ángeles Felisa Santamaría Espinosa (born 2 August 1947), professionally known as Massiel, is a Spanish pop singer. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song "La, la, la", beating the British pop singer Cliff Richard' ...

's "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

", which meant Spain would host the 1969 Contest. Regular Spanish Commentator until then was Federico Gallo, but Uribarri took over the job, which he continued at the 1970 Contest. Uribarri returned as the Spanish commentator between the 1974 and the 1976 Contests. After an hiatus between 1977 and 1991, he returned as commentator at the 1992 Contest and continued in the job until the 2003 Contest, which cemented his status as ''the voice of Eurovision''. He made returns again for the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and the 2010 Contest. Other than the Contest itself, Uribarri presented the Spanish national final '' Pasaporte a Dublín'' for the 1971 Contest. In 1998, he directed and wrote the four-episode documentary series ''Eurovisión Siglo XX'', which focused on the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2000 and 2001, he directed Spanish national finals '' Eurocanción 2000'' and '' Eurocanción 2001''. He also made appearances as a member of the jury in Spanish national finals. In 2009 he headed the jury at Spanish national final '' Eurovisión 2009: El retorno'', and he was a member of the Spanish jury as well at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

Late career

In November 2010 Uribarri began working for Catholic-oriented television channel 13 TV hosting film programme ''Nuestro Cine''. As a result, it was confirmed on 8 February 2011 that Uribarri would not return to provide the Spanish commentary for the 2011 Contest, as he stated that he wanted to concentrate on his projects for 13 TV. It was announced on 2 March of that year that

José María Íñigo José María Íñigo Gómez (4 June 1942 – 5 May 2018) was a Spanish journalist, radio and television presenter, and stage and screen actor. Biography Career Born in Bilbao, Íñigo began his professional career in his hometown as he was hi ...

would fulfill the role as Spanish commentator.

Death

Uribarri suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on 18 July 2012. He died on 23 July 2012 in a hospital in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

.Muere José Luis Uribarri, el presentador que hizo historia en Eurovisión
/ref> He was 75.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Uribarri Luis, Jose 1936 births 2012 deaths Spanish Roman Catholics Spanish television presenters Spanish television personalities Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest People from Ávila, Spain