Kaas disappointed at Eurovision 8th

Chanteuse’ Et s'il fallait le faire fails to strike judges and voters at Moscow

SINGER Patricia Kaas is disappointed with her 8th place at the Eurovision Song Contest after her song Et s'il fallait le faire (And if it had to be done) received 107 points.

Kaas counts Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin among a strong following of fans in this year’s host nation.

Such is her Russian fanbase that she promoted her last album Kabaret on a 14-date tour of the country before launching it in France.

The 42-year-old singer said: “Looking on the bright side, we’re eighth which is a good place – and it’s a long time since France had this many points.”

France last won the competition in 1977 with Marie Myriam’s L'oiseau et l'enfant and the last time a French-language song won was Céline Dion’s Ne partez pas sans moi (Don’t leave without me) for Switzerland in 1988.

Kaas sang in French following a row over last year’s entry by Sébastien Tellier which was almost entirely in English.

STORY: French Eurovision debut - in English

“That’s life. Perhaps it was the song, perhaps it was the language or perhaps people wanted something else,” she said.

Eurovision was watched by 5.7 million people in France – a record since 1999.

France’s performers are normally chosen by the public channel France 3, without a vote but following the Tellier row, this year the channel passed on the decision to record label federation SACEM.