It's May 2005, and as unlikely as it might have seemed just 15 years earlier, the 50th Eurovision Song Contest is being staged in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, deep within the former Soviet Union. Following the victory of Ruslana and "Wild Dances" in Istanbul in 2004, a revolution in the host country and one of the biggest feats of organisation in the competition's history, an unprecedented 39 countries competed over two night's in the biggest Eurovision Song Contest ever. 

Just like in 2004, the Saturday night final was preceded by a semi-final, broadcast earlier in the week. The top ten countries that qualified from that semi, joined the top ten countries from the 2004 final, and the "Big 4" of France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom on stage in the Kyiv Sports Palau on May 21st. For the second year in a row, Greece started as the favourite, but Switzerland, Malta and Norway were also considered has having a strong chance in a very open contest. Indeed so unpredictable was the competition that three of the pre-contest favourites; Iceland, Belarus and Netherlands hadn't even made it out of the semi-final.        

The first two songs set the pattern for the evening, with Hungary's return to Eurovision combining elements of the previous year's Ukrainian winner mixed with "Riverdance" and the U.K. also went down the ethnic route with a song that sounded more Middle Eastern than British. It also used the first of many drums which would become a theme of the evening. 

The third entry from Malta was a complete contrast, a 1980's style big ballad sung by Chiara, returning to Eurovision after her narrow defeat in Birmingham. Next up was a complete drum and oil barrel ensemble from Romania and then another throwback to the 1980's from Norway, except theirs was of the rock songs of the decade, complete with over the top make-up.     

After that is was one novelty act after another. Whirling dervishes from Turkey, drumming grannies from Moldova, toy fiddle from Albania, giant mirror boxes from Cyprus. Eurovision had certainly come a long way in five decades, but whether it was heading in the right direction was clearly debatable. Two entries that stood out from the pile where the Israeli song which was one of the strongest ballads heard in the contest for many years and Ukraine's revolutionary rap anthem that seemed completely out of place, even in this freakishly gimmick ridden show. When the favourite from Greece  took the stage it was certainly slick and polished, even if "My Number One" was a little unchallenging musically. In an increasingly open bordered competition, it was sung by Helena Paparizou, who hailed from Sweden. Not long after came an Estonian girl band singing for Switzerland, and again justifying the bookmakers faith in it.    

After an interval which included a gymnastic display, the longest voting sequence in Eurovision history began. First the fourteen countries eliminated in the semi cast their votes. It was impossible to see an early trend as the first nine countries awarded their top points to different songs. However one the fourteen countries had votes it was clear we could be in for a major surprise. The completely unfancied Latvian song led from Switzerland, Romania and Norway. The Greek favourite was down in 8th, but with the voting being so tight it was a comparatively small 23 points behind the leader. As the voting progressed Greece gathered momentum as Latvia faltered with Malta making a last minute run, but falling short. The Romanian entry eventually finished third.

After almost 30 years of entering the Eurovision song contest Greece had finally won. "My Number One", a very simple pop song had triumphed, thanks in no small measure to a very memorable and very Greek dance routine. The song had already been a massive hit in Greece and Cyprus, and after its Eurovision win, it also did well in place like Turkey, and Helena Paparizou's native Sweden. However the song failed to make any impact on most of the major European countries and wasn't commercially released on single in countries like Ireland, the U.K. and France. However people from those countries who spent their summer holidays in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey in 2005 apparently heard the song song quite a lot.      

Helena Paparizou who grew up in Sweden, having been born into a Greek immigrant family. Helena's artistic talents became apparent from an early age, and she began her training in singing, dancing and acting while she was still at school. The significant turning point in Helena's life was the creation of Antique, a group she set up with her childhood friend Niko Pagadonakis at the age of 17.  Almost immediately, Antique signed their first record contract with the then newly founded record label Bonnier in Sweden. Their debut single ‘Opa Opa’ became a huge hit. It reached number one in the singles charts and gained gold status. Following that success, Antique released their debut album, and later in 2001 came the first major step in their international career, when they represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest. They performed ‘I Would Die For You’ in Copenhagen and after starting as pre-contest favouries had to settle third place. 

However Antique's performance in the Eurovision Song Contest turned "I Would Die For You" into a big international hit (far bigger than the two songs which finished ahead of it in Copenhagen). In turn this led to a successful career which included several platinum albums, a European tour, and collaborations with many highly successful artists from Greece and abroad. Despite Antique’s great success, the group’s journey came to an end in 2003. Making one of her most difficult decisions ever, Helena decided to pursue a solo musical career. This brought her into contact with Sony Music with whom she signed her first contract as a solo artist.

In December 2003, Helena Paparizou released her first solo single, ‘Anapandeetes Klisis’ (‘Missed Calls’), a song that was written especially for her by famous singer-songwriter, Christos Dantis. That song became a major hit and remained at the top of the Greek airplay charts as well as the sales charts for a very long time, reaching gold status. During the winter of 2003-2004, Helena appeared alongside one of Greece's biggest male singing stars, Antonis Remos, at Studio Pireos night club. In spring 2004, Helena released her first solo album ‘Protereotita’ (‘Priorities’) from which ‘Antithesis’, ‘Anamnisis’, ‘Katse Kala’, ‘Stin Kardia Mou Mono Thlipsi’ became major hits. Her success brought her to Fever Music night club where she performed the winter season 2004-2005 alongside Eurovision 2004 star Sakis Rouvas and Giorgos Mazonakis.

Despite her success in Greece, Helena was not the first choice to represent Greece in Kyiv. The job was first offered to Greek star Despina Vandi, but her management could not agree terms with Greek television. ERT then turned to Helena and she performed three potential Eurovision songs for Greek television viewers and a combination of an expert jury and televoting chose "My Number One" written by Natalia Germanou and Christos Dantis, which scored over 66% of the available votes.

Following her Eurovision win., Helena surprisingly decided to concentrate almost all of her promotion work in Sweden. While this paid off when "My Number One" shot to the top of the Swedish charts, her failure to promote the song in other countries meant that the song made little impact elsewhere. Helena's 2005 album (also called "My Number One") also made little impact outside of Greece, Cyprus and Sweden. The follow-up single "The Light In Our Soul" was recently released, and failed to match the limited impact of the Eurovision winner.