Robert Cogoi

Robert Cogoi, born Mirko Kogoj, was a Belgian singer and songwriter of French chanson, best known for representing Belgium at the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest. He is on the site for his roots: he was born on 25 October 1939 in Châtelet, in the Belgian province of Hainaut, to Slovene parents, and the Slovenian Wikipedia calls him a Belgian-Slovenian singer. He lived and worked in Belgium all his life and died on 14 May 2022 in Lobbes, also in Hainaut.

Before music he trained as an electromechanical technician at the Université du Travail in Charleroi. A singing competition in 1961 brought him a contract with Philips and work with Radio Luxembourg. On 22 April 1962, at the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend, he took the stage name Robert Cogoi and won the Grand Prix International des Variétés with "Si un jour". The song sold 100,000 copies in France and earned him a gold disc, and more hits followed: "Je serais mieux chez moi", "Je m'sens très seul" and "Prends ma guitare".

In 1964 the Belgian broadcaster RTB chose him internally for Eurovision, the first time since 1956 that Belgium's entry was not picked by a vote. In Copenhagen on 21 March he sang his own song "Près de ma rivière", which received two votes, from Monaco and Portugal, and shared tenth place among sixteen entries. The song still became a gold record.

He kept releasing singles and albums until the end of the 1960s, and in Canada "L'église", "Pas une place pour me garer" and "Je m'sens très seul" were smaller hits. In 1976 he composed for and acted in the Belgian film Les arpents dorés, and in 1982 he wrote "Les Diables Rouges vont en Espagne", the official song of Belgium's national football team for the World Cup in Spain. In the early 2000s he sat on the board of the Belgian authors' society SABAM, he was honoured with the Order of the Crown, and in 2005 he made a guest appearance at the Belgian Eurovision final. The playlist gathers his chansons.