Re-Union

Re-Union were a short-lived Dutch-Italian musical duo, set up in late 2003 in order to take part in the Dutch Eurovision Song Contest selection in 2004. The duo were Paul de Corte (born 28 February 1979) and Italian-born Fabrizio Pennisi (born 29 September 1979).

Pennisi was a founder member of boy band All Of Us, formed in 1998, which de Corte joined in 2001. The band split up in late 2002, but Pennisi and de Corte remained friends, and were offered the chance to perform the song "Without You" as a duo in the Dutch Eurovision heats of 2004. After passing a semi-final, they performed in the national final on 22 February, where "Without You" was chosen by a mixture of televoting and jury selection to be that year's Dutch Eurovision entry.^[1][2]

Due to the increasing number of countries wishing to participate in Eurovision, it had been decided that a semi-final qualifier would be introduced in the 2004 contest. As the Netherlands had not placed in the top 10 in 2003, they were one of the countries obliged to participate in the semi-final, which took place on 12 May in host city Istanbul. Re-Union were drawn to perform last of the 22 countries and at the close of voting had placed sixth, qualifying them for the final on 15 May.^[3] In the final however, with a less fortuitous performance draw, "Without You" got lost and could only manage 20th place of the 24 entries.^[4] Until 2013 this was the last time that the Netherlands have qualified for a Eurovision final.

"Without You" reached #12 on the Dutch chart, and in September 2004 the duo released a follow-up, "If You Love Somebody", which peaked at #36. They then went their separate ways.

References

1. ESC National Finals database 2004
2. "Eurovision 2004 album to be released as double cd -". esctoday.com. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
3. ESC History 2004 Semi-Final
4. ESC History 2004

External links

• 2004 at Dingadong.nl