Belgium was represented by Ann Christy, with the song "Gelukkig zijn", at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 March in Stockholm. Christy was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held on 1 March; she had previously taken part in the Belgian preselections of 1970, 1971 and 1973. Future Belgian representatives Micha Marah (1979) and Dream Express (1977) also took part.
Eurosong was the national final format developed by BRT which determined the song that would represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. This was the first edition of Eurosong, which would become the name of every BRT and VRT national final after 1975 (With the exception of 1996), and would become synonymous with the Eurovision Song Contest itself in Belgium.[1] This was also the first ever national final called "Eurosong" in the history of Eurovision Song Contest national finals, a name that would be adopted by several other countries for their national finals, such as: Ireland, Czechia, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovakia.
The first stage of the selection process consisted of seven semi-finals at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, taking part between 17 November 1974 and 16 February 1975, hosted by Staf Van Berendoncks. The format was similar to the former Belgian national final 'Canzonissima', where each semi-final had ten artists and the top three songs would be reused by their artists in the next semi-final while the other seven artists would select new songs. Songs that got top three in two consecutive semi-finals qualified to the final.[1][2][3]
BRT shortlisted eight singers and two groups for Eurosong 1975: Ann Christy, Rita Deneve, Ingriani, Micha Marah, Ann Michel, Connie Neefs [nl], Luk Bral [nl], Joe Harris, The Lollipops, and Magenta. A rule in Eurosong 1975 allowed artists to also participate with bands, causing Dream Express, Jeremiah, Road, and The Pebbles to participate as well. A total of 58 songs competed in Eurosong 1975.
Voting in the semi-finals was done by five provincial juries, each consisting of ten members of the public, five men and five women. After every show, all fifty were replaced. Since songs introduced in semi-final 9 could not get top three in two semi-finals and qualify to the final, the rules to qualify for the final were changed for semi-final 9. Songs had to receive at least 377 points, the average number of points that every song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final.[1]
The first four semi-finals were recorded on a Saturday and broadcast on the Sunday. The fifth semi-final was never recorded and broadcast due to a strike at BRT, but it still took place behind closed doors. The sixth and seventh semi-finals were broadcast live on a Saturday.[1]
Semi-final 1 - 17 November 1974
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Micha Marah
"Kom bij mij"
365
3
2
Ingriani
"Hey capitano"
336
4
3
Magenta
"Het land van friet en pils"
250
8
4
The Lollipops
"Shalala"
219
9
5
Connie Neefs
"Ik ben funny"
331
5
6
Joe Harris
"De wereld zingt een nieuw refrein"
275
7
7
Luk Bral
"Kom geef mij je kleine hand"
286
6
8
Rita Deneve
"Ben je vergeten dat ik van je hou"
377
1
9
Ann Michel
"Mijn gentleman"
340
2
Ann Christy was absent from semi-final 1 as she was abroad at the time.
Semi-final 2 - 1 December 1974
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Ann Michel
"Mijn gentleman"
401
1
2
Micha Marah
"Kom bij mij"
383
2
3
Ingriani
"Zo zacht"
316
6
4
Magenta
"Alleen je lichaam"
189
9
5
The Lollipops
"Kansas City Joe"
142
10
6
Connie Neefs
"Ook dat nog"
231
7
7
Ann Christy
"Als je eenzaam bent"
376
3
8
Joe Harris
"Sla je handen in elkaar"
321
5
9
Luk Bral
"Alleen"
226
8
10
Rita Deneve
"Ben je vergeten dat ik van je hou"
372
4
Semi-final 3 - 15 December 1974
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Ann Michel
"Alleen voortaan"
360
3=
2
Micha Marah
"Weet je waarom"
360
3=
3
Ingriani
"Dan zal ik dansen"
380
2
4
Magenta
"De dikke encyclopedie"
192
8
5
The Lollipops
"Hello Everyone, Everywhere in the World"
350
5
6
Connie Neefs
"Mijn droom"
323
6
7
Ann Christy
"Als je eenzaam bent"
413
1
8
Joe Harris
"Hou je van mij"
311
7
9
Luk Bral
"Een zonnige zondagmiddag"
156
9
Rita Deneve would have participated with the song "Maar toch blijf je de eerste" but was absent due to the birth of her son.
Semi-final 4 - 29 December 1974
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Luk Bral
"Alles wat ik heb"
269
9
2
Rita Deneve
"Vogelvrij"
314
6
3
Ann Michel
"Alleen voortaan"
359
3
4
Micha Marah
"Weet je waarom"
356
4
5
Ingriani
"Dan zal ik dansen"
375
1
6
Magenta
"Zonder geld, zonder vrouw, zonder baan"
186
10
7
The Lollipops
"Valentijn"
296
8
8
Connie Neefs
"Come On Baby"
318
5
9
Ann Christy
"Gelukkig zijn"
372
2
10
Joe Harris
"Zo was er niemand"
305
7
Semi-final 5 - 18 January 1975
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Joe Harris & Jeremiah
"Het is zo goed weer thuis te zijn"
387
3
2
Luk Bral
"Morgen zal alles beter gaan"
279
7
3
Rita Deneve
"Niemand, is er dan niemand"
337
4
4
Ann Michel
"Je hebt je vergist"
321
6
5
Micha Marah
"Zeven uur is liefde"
325
5
6
Ingriani
"Hey hey dandy"
402
2
7
Magenta
"Mens wat wil je meer"
262
9
8
The Lollipops
"My Love, Oh My Love"
220
10
9
Connie Neefs
"Leven moet je drinken"
267
8
10
Ann Christy
"Gelukkig zijn"
423
1
The fifth semi-final was not broadcast due to a strike at BRT, but it still took place.
Semi-final 6 - 1 February 1975
Draw
Artist
Song
Points
Place
1
Ann Christy & Dream Express
"Hartenbreker"
319
4
2
Joe Harris & Jeremiah
"Het is zo goed weer thuis te zijn"
325
3
3
Luk Bral
"Laat een jongenshart nooit alleen"
233
9
4
Rita Deneve
"Ciao adieu, aufwiedersehn"
317
5
5
Ann Michel
"Droomland aan zee"
272
7
6
Micha Marah
"Ik weet"
381
1
7
Ingriani
"Hey hey dandy"
378
2
8
Magenta
"Een kind van nog geen zeven"
192
10
9
The Lollipops
"Love, Love, Love"
281
6
10
Connie Neefs
"Fils à papa"
262
8
After Semi-final 6, Micha Marah withdrew "Ik weet" as she wanted to participate with a different song in semi-final 7.
The final, consisting of ten songs, took place on 1 March 1975 also at the Amerikaans Theater, hosted by Staf Van Berendoncks. Six singers were involved, with four (including Christy) performing two songs apiece. Voting was by five regional juries, each consisting of 20 members of the public, and "Gelukkig zijn" emerged the winner by a margin of almost 60 points.[1][4]
On the night of the final Christy performed 11th in the running order, following Israel and preceding Malta. Under the free-language rule in operation at the time, Christy performed the first half of the song in Dutch, before switching to English. At the close of the voting "Gelukkig zijn" had received 17 points, placing Belgium 15th of the 19 participating countries.[5][6]