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2010
- September
- August
- July
- June
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May
- A statement from Andrew
- Oz Blog: The winner is revealed...
- The last Dorothy mission....
- Oz Blog: The Final Countdown
- Danielle you are Dorothy… and here comes Dangerous Dave as Toto!
- Danielle is your Dorothy!
- Danielle, Lauren and Sophie have a go at Polo!
- The winning Dorothy to release charity single
- Sierra meets the Dorothys!
- Oz: Blog: Andrew makes his final choice and the final three are revealed
- Oz Blog: The Fantastic Four
- Bombay Dreams Movie Announcement
- Andrew to appear on The Graham Norton Show
- Andrew meets Bobby...
- Oz Blog: The second sing-off
- Oz Blog: A Dorothy Cull...
- We’re off to see The Wizard of Oz!
- From Nancy to Dorothy: A message from Sam and Niamh
- Oz Blog: An Emotional Goodbye
- Oz Blog: An audience with the Lord
- Andrew and the Dorothys get ready for their close up...
- An Over the Rainbow update from Andrew
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April
- Andrew gets ready for next week's Over The Rainbow
- It's Toto time for Andrew...
- Oz Blog: Standing ovations as we say another goodbye
- Oz Blog: A chorus of Angels...
- Oz Blog: Another sad goodbye...
- Behind the scenes at Over The Rainbow
- Oz Blog: Making a Song and Dance
- Oz Blog: It's goodbye to another of our Dorothies...
- Oz Blog: A Class Act
- Oz Blog: The first Dorothy flies over the rainbow
- Oz Blog: The first live show... and the public get to choose
- West End Story: What Nancy, Joseph and Maria Did Next
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March
- Oz Blog: 20 become 10...
- Oz Blog: Over The Rainbow kicks off with weekend special
- Behind the scenes on "Wetten, Das?"
- Filming the Over The Rainbow trailer
- Andrew’s off to see the Wizard… and revisiting the South Bank Show
- BBC ONE Follows the Yellow Brick Road, Over the Rainbow
- The South Bank Show Revisited
- Andrew and Katherine Jenkins on Dancing On Ice
- February
- January
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2009
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- May
- April
- March
- February
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January
- Your Country Does Need You! Jade is the winner
- We meet Eurovision's Bucks Fizz
- And then there were three...
- Unbreak our Eurovision hearts
- The Eurovision zoo...
- Chris Moyles The Musical?
- Triumphant night for TV's Nancy
- A Lulu of a Eurovision
- Double whammy Grammy
- Grammy Award Winner joins Andrew in his quest for Eurovision glory
- Lee Mead's final performance as Joseph in the West End
- The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber sets new record
- Your Country Needs Them...
- The first instalment from our Eurovision blogger
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2008
- December
- November
- October
- September
- July
- June
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May
- Rachel leaves I'd Do Anything semi final
- Andrew to receive Woodrow Wilson Award
- It's goodbye Niamh!
- Andrew and the Nancy's meet Celine Dion
- I'd Do Anything Results: Sunday 11th May
- The Phantom of the Opera goes digital!
- Andrew's speech to the House of Lords
- I'd Do Anything Results: Sunday 4th May
- Could Jenna be Nancy?
- April
-
March
- I‘d Do Anything: Blog 1
- A Tribute Concert for Steven Pimlott
- Thank you to chinamusical.net
- Playbill Unmasks Phantom Lyricist
- Michael Ball Meets Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Andrew Lloyd Webber to be ‘American Idol‘ mentor
- I'd Do Anything begins on BBC1
- Andrew and Madeleine set the record straight
- Andrew's Special Award from SOLT
- February
- 2007
- 2006
21st January 2009
Unbreak our Eurovision hearts
More from our Eurovision blogger Mark Cook.
When asked to write the lyrics for the UK entry for this years Eurovision Song Contest, Diane Warren knew little of this great cultural institution.
“I had heard of the contest and knew that Abba won it but you don’t see much about it in the US. I’ll be doing some more research when I get back to LA,” she says. “But it was such an honour to be asked to write with Andrew. How could I say no to that?”
She has in fact worked with many singers who have taken part in Eurovision: she is currently working with 1969 UK winner Lulu, and has helped last years Russian victor, Dima Bilan. She also wrote the Grammy winner “Because You Loved Me” for 1988 contest winner Celine Dion. This apart from writing songs for the likes of Elton John, Tina Turner and Barbra Streisand.
Given Diane’s history, with such songs as Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart” and LeAnn Rimes “How Will I Live,” the smart money is on the UK song – to be revealed in the final of Your Country Needs You on January 31 – being a ballad. But she is sworn to secrecy about the work in progress, except to reveal that it has a title. “I came up with it while singing the chorus,” she says.
Diane rarely collaborates with other composers but, of working with Andrew, she says: “Its kind of scary collaborating with someone with such a great reputation. I’ve been working on endless cigarettes, coffee and fear,” she jokes. “But it’s been a lot of fun as well, like two worlds coming together, and you can hear that in the song. Its a great opportunity to come up with a song that will stand the test of time. I’m getting quite obsessed about it.”
The final song will need to suit all three acts that end up in the final – not an easy task. “Those left at the moment are very good, all so different. The song will be arranged to suit any of them. But thats the thing about great music, it transcends all genres,” says Diane, who has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
So how has she adapted to the three-minute limit on Eurovision songs, coming up with a lyric so quickly, and the fact that it has to appeal to a very mixed audience who may only hear it once? “That suits me. I like my songs to be instant. You shouldn’t have to tell the listener that they will get it next time they hear it.”
The choice of Diane Warren as songwriter has caused controversy in some quarters: some have complained that a British person should have been used. To which Andrew replies: “Under Eurovision Song Contest rules, provided I have written the music, I am free to choose a songwriter of any nationality. My first instinct was, of course, to approach a UK lyricist but the people I had in mind simply weren’t available at the right time. I want the UK to have the best possible chance of securing victory at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and I cant think of anyone better qualified than Diane Warren to help me write the song.”
It’s not unusual. US R&B star Timbaland helped Dima Bilan to victory last year and the UKs last winner, Katrina in 1997, was also American-born. Greece last year entered a singer who was clearly raised in the US and before that a performer who, though from a Greek family, had lived most of his life in Finchley! This year Ireland’s Ronan Keating has a song in the Danish final 12. And, of course, Canadian Celine Dion sang for Switzerland, appropriately wearing an outfit modelled on an avalanche and belting it out with all the subtlety of an airport-size bar of Toblerone.
But despite Diane’s recent acquaintance with Eurovision, she plans to go to the contest in Moscow, aware that the UK hasn’t been doing too well of late. “I think our song will change all that,” she says firmly.
Mark Cook (watching Eurovision since 1967)
Mark Cook is a journalist and theatre critic for the Guardian Guide and The Big Issue



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