The one Eurovision artist that totally change my life is NICOLE. In 1981 she recorded her first two singles - FLIEG NICHT5 SO HOCH MEIN KLEINER FREUND and DER ALTE MANN UND DAS MEER. My German penfriend sent them to me saying she knows this is 100% the kind of songs I would love. And yes, she was correct. By Christmas that year she sent me membership of the NICOLE fanclub and I became the first non German speaking member of Nicole's fanclub. Things got even better in 1982 when Ralph Siegel wrote a melody, Bernd Meinunger wrote lyrics and Nicole sang EIN BISSCHEN FRIEDEN at the German Eurovision selection and won. She went on to win the 1982 song contest with this song which she recorded in many languages - German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Spanish and Russian. This is exactly what I love. Things got even better when I got an invite to attend the 1983 Eurovision song contest in Munich. I had to pay my own travel and accommodation but it did not matter. It was my first trip to Europe and of course the start of my Eurovision life and 28 further visits to the host cities. I have over 30 seven singles, 5 CD singles and 30 full CD's of Nicole and 90% of Nicole songs are fantastic. I have picked SOLEY SOLEY SOLEY which is not my most loved song but this song is special as it was written for me. The lyrics start JOHANNESBURG, ALLEIN IN EINEM FREMDEN LAND. Both Nicole and Bernd Meinunger have ties with SOUTH AFRICA in that they both own holiday homes along the Cape Town coast and they have a song publishing company called CAPE TOWN SONGS. I retired from attending Eurovision after the 2019 contest and now I probably never will physically see Nicole, Bernd Meinunger and Ralph Siegel again but I have wonderful memories. 28 Nicole songs have been covered in South Africa by local artists, almost 100 Ralph Siegel songs and around 150 Bernd Meinunger songs.