Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 by Constantinos Christoforou and the song "Ela Ela ". Constantinos was born in the town of Limassol, Cyprus. At the age of seventeen, he became the first Cypriot artist to achieve triple platinum sales, with an album that was recorded in Cyprus and not in Athens where the core of the music industry is located. Constantinos has already represented Cyprus twice - solo in 1996 with 'Mono Gia Mas" and as lead singer of the group ONE with "Gimme" in 2002. In 2003, Constantinos started his solo career with the albumI Agapi Sou Paei. He immediately reached No. 1 in the Greek airplay charts and the album reached gold sales in Cyprus. Constantinos is also a very successful songwriter and lyricist and he has composed songs for the most famous Greek singers. In September 2004 he released his second solo album ‘Idiotiki Parastasi’. The album became gold in Cyprus immediately and is a huge radio hit in Greece.
Before Eurovision
National final
The final was held on 1 February 2005 at the Monte Caputo Nightclub in Limassol, hosted by Tasos Trifonos and Eleni Manousaki. All songs were performed by Constantinos Christoforou and the winning song, "Ela Ela", was chosen by a combination of televoting and a seven-member jury. The jury consisted of Ruslana, Evridiki, Dimitris Korgialas, Dafni Bokota, Evi Papamichael, Sokratis Soumelas and Nikos Nikolaou. The former three also performed during the final as guest performers.
At Eurovision
Constantinos was joined by Elena Patroklou, who already represented Cyprus in 1991 where she ended up 9th with her song "S.O.S". Cyprus automatically qualified to the grand final, because it was on the top 12 last year. He performed 9th, following Albania and preceding Spain. Cyprus ended 18th with 46 points. As Cyprus failed to reach top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in semi-final of the 2006 Contest. The spokesperson who revealed Cyprus's votes for other countries was Melani Steliou, a CyBC host.
