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 The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

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 Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

. 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 of ...

, 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 (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 The Premios Ondas (Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio ...

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

for the first time in London with

Massiel María de los Ángeles Felisa Santamaría Espinosa (born 2 August 1947), known professionally as Massiel (), is a Spanish pop and protest singer. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song " La, la, la", being the first performer ...

's " La, la, la", 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 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

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 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Eu ...

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 Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on 18 July 2012. He died on 23 July 2012 in a hospital in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

.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