Unless you watched the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, you probably haven't heard of Jonatan Cerrada. He entered the contest singing for France, despite the fact that he is actually Belgian with Spanish roots. Jonatan also has the most fabulous hair to be found in the world of pop, narrowly beating Jimmy Jansson into second place. Well, until he went and shaved it all off, but the less said of that, the better. Jonatan came to notice in France when he won the French version of Pop Idol and thereafter was selected to represent France at the Contest.
If you saw the contest itself, then you surely haven't forgotten the white suit and the rather scary woman on stilts. Or the fact that Jonatan
should have won, but instead wound up with 40points staring 15th position on the scoreboard in the face. But it didn't stop him going on to release his successful debut album, Siempre 23, and following it up with the equally successful La Preuve du Contraire. By way of an introduction to Jonatan, check out the videos below.
A chaque pas - The Eurovision 2004 performance. I think here we can all agree that on hair style alone, he should have walked the competition. Given it was a special occasion, he managed to achieve an even more voluminous effect than usual.
Rien ne me changera - Anybody who wishes to see Jonatan frolicking around in the desert getting sweaty by a campfire and smearing himself with what looks like oil would be well advised to check out this clip, from his first album.
Je voulais te dire que j'attends - Not quite sure about the thinking behind this clip for one of his singles from the first album. Jonatan appears to be playing the role of a peeping tom, watching the woman in the flat opposite, obsessing over her, keeping a secret stash of photographs of her in his bedroom. Look out for the court injunction soon, Jonatan.
Elle etait si jolie - Unfortunately you can't buy his performance here, duetting with fellow Pop Idol contestant Thierry Amiel.
Labels: 2004, a chaque pas, amiel, cerrada, contest, eurovision, france, jonatan, rien ne me changera, song, thierry, video
And you thought Betty Boo was the only popstar to dress up in leopardskin print? Think again. Two wrongs don't make a right, but think back to 1996, the year of Gina G. You might recall one of her rivals, Layla, a dark horse in the final of the Great British Song Contest. She pipped through the semis and into the final, making a bold leopard-printed statement and drawing attention to her rather ropey live performance of Gotta Find Love. Having said that, the song wasn't 
half bad. Like thousands of others, I couldn't bring myself to vote for anything dressed in fake animal print. It just brought back too many memories of gaudy Bet Gilroy. Layla sank without trace in Britain, making it quite difficult to track down any images to accompany a blog entry on her. How very thoughtless.
