Amerivision Song Contest 1981

Amerivision Song Contest 1981
Amerivision Song Contest 1981
Dates
Final	September 19 1981
Host
Venue	Queen's Hall; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Presenter(s)	Martina Rodgers
Host broadcaster	Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT)
Participants
Number of entries	17
Debuting countries	Costa Rica
Returning countries	Bahamas; Bolivia; Ecuador
Non-returning countries	American Virgin Islands; Bermuda; Chile; Netherlands Antilles; Suriname
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their ten favourite songs
Winning song	United States; "Bette Davis Eyes"
	Amerivision Song Contest

The Amerivision Song Contest 1981 was the twenty-sixth edition of the annual Amerivision Song Contest, organised by the American Broadcasting Union (ABU) and host broadcaster Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT). The edition was hosted in Queen's Hall, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, as the country earned the right to host the contest by winning the previous edition.

This edition saw the debut of Costa rica and the return of Bahamas, Bolivia and Ecuador, however, the number of withdrawals were even greater, American Virgin Islands and Bermuda both withdrew for the first of many times, Suriname withdraw after the disappointing last place in the previous contest, the Netherlands Antilles once again had withdrew due to a lack of budget, and the most surprising of all was the withdrawal of Chile from the contest, that was never given a clear reason, but it's largely believed that a contributing factor was Pinochet's public distaste of the program.

Host picking

Only one venue bidded to host the event and it was automatically chosen because of that. The venue was expanded from 1,200 seats to 1,700.

Participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	English title
Argentina	Dicon TV	Trix	"Showdown"	English
Bahamas	PTB	T-Connection	"Everything Is Cool"
Barbados	CBC TV 8	Dennis Bovell	"Bettah"
Bolivia	Bolivia TV	Kjarkas	"Sempre he de adorarte"	Spanish	"I Will Always Adore You"
Brazil	Globo	Almir Sater	"Estradeiro"	Portuguese	"Highwayman"
Canada	CBC	Saga	"On the Loose"	English
Colombia	Canal 1	Los Carrangueros de Ráquira	"Julia, Julia, Julia"	Spanish
Costa Rica	Repretel 6	Los Alegrisimos	"Licenciado"		"Licensed"
Dominican Republic	RDTV4	Wilfrido Vargas & Sandy Reyes	"Siempre peleando"		"Always Fighting"
Ecuador	Ecuavisa	Jatari	"Boquita de cereza"		"Little Cherry Lips"
Jamaica	JBC	Michael Prophet	"Hold on to What You Got"	English
Mexico	Las Estrellas	Estela Nuñez	"Te acuerdas?"	Spanish	"Do You Remember?"
Puerto Rico	Telemundo	José Feliciano	"I Wanna Be Where You Are"	English
Trinidad and Tobago	TTT	Billy Ocean	"Stay the Night"
United States	NBC	Kim Carnes	"Bette Davis Eyes"
Uruguay	Canal 10	Sylvia Meyer	"Hoy a pesar de ser hoy"	Spanish	"Today Despite Being Today"
Venezuela	Venevisión	Pablo Milanés	"El prégon de las flores"	Spanish	"The Proclamation of the Flowers"

Returning artists

Bolded years represend that the artist was the winner on the year in question.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
T-Connection	Bahamas	1978
Billy Ocean	Trinidad and Tobago	1974 (As part of Scorched Earth)

Contest overview

Winner

Results of the Amerivision Song Contest 1981
R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Venezuela	Pablo Milanés	"El prégon de las flores"	15	15
2	Dominican Republic	Wilfrido Vargas & Sandy Reyes	"Siempre peleando"	6	17
3	Colombia	Los Carrangueros de Ráquira	"Julia, Julia, Julia"	12	16
4	United States	Kim Carnes	"Bette Davis Eyes"	145	1
5	Ecuador	Jatari	"Boquita de cereza"	33	12
6	Uruguay	Sylvia Meyer	"Hoy a pesar de ser hoy"	54	9
7	Puerto Rico	José Feliciano	"I Wanna Be Where You Are"	76	5
8	Bolivia	Kjarkas	"Sempre he de adorarte"	38	11
9	Jamaica	Michael Prophet	"Hold on to What You Got"	51	10
10	Costa Rica	Los Alegrisimos	"Licenciado"	26	14
11	Argentina	Trix	"Showdown"	59	7
12	Brazil	Almir Sater	"Estradeiro"	72	6
13	Mexico	Estela Nuñez	"Te acuerdas?"	30	13
14	Bahamas	T-Connection	"Everything Is Cool"	57	8
15	Trinidad and Tobago	Billy Ocean	"Stay the Night"	130	2
16	Barbados	Dennis Bovell	"Bettah"	81	4
17	Canada	Saga	"On the Loose"	101	3

Detailed voting results

Detailed voting results of the Amerivision Song Contest 1981
		Total score	Venezuela	Dominican Republic	Colombia	United States	Ecuador	Uruguay	Puerto Rico	Bolivia	Jamaica	Costa Rica	Argentina	Brazil	Mexico	Bahamas	Trinidad and Tobago	Barbados	Canada
Contestants	Venezuela	15		1	6		6								1			1
	Dominican Republic	6				1													5
	Colombia	12	4				5			2		1
	United States	145	8	10	3		8	12	12	1	10	10	10	12	12	10	7	8	12
	Ecuador	33	3	2	5			3	1	5	4		2	2		2		4
	Uruguay	54	6			4			10	12	2		12	3			3	2
	Puerto Rico	76	12	12				2		6		12	7	4	2	4	6	5	4
	Bolivia	38		6	12			5	3			3	3			5			1
	Jamaica	51	5	5	4	6			6				4	5		6	4	3	3
	Costa Rica	26			8	2			2	4					4			6
	Argentina	59	1	7	2	3	10	10			5				10	3	1		7
	Brazil	72	7		7	5	12	8	4	10	1	6			3	1	2		6
	Mexico	30		3	1		2				6	7	5	1			5
	Bahamas	57				8	4	1		7	3	2	1	7	5		10	7	2
	Trinidad and Tobago	130	10	8		12	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	6	12		12	10
	Barbados	81	2	4		7	3	4	5	3	12	4		6	7	8	8		8
	Canada	101			10	10	1	7	8		7	5	6	10	8	7	12	10

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
5	United States	Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay
3	Puerto Rico	Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela
3	Trinidad and Tobago	Bahamas, Barbados, United States
2	Uruguay	Argentina, Bolivia
1	Barbados	Jamaica
	Bolivia	Colombia
	Brazil	Ecuador
	Canada	Trinidad and Tobago