Jessica back for Eurovision
Pop Idol loser Jessica Garlick was hoping for success second time around today as Britain’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The 21-year-old is joint favourite to win the competition tonight in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
Garlick was the second Pop Idol finalist to be voted off the ITV1 talent show after her performance of the Shakin’ Stevens number Merry Christmas Everyone.
She won her way to Eurovision with the song Come Back, which won 68% of the votes in the Song For Europe competition.
Come Back is written by Birmingham airline pilot Martyn Baylay and produced by Bill Padley and Jeremy Godfrey, the team behind the Atomic Kitten hit Whole Again.
Garlick has been getting advice from Pop Idol winner Will Young since she was picked for the contest.
Until she began promoting the single around Europe, she had never been abroad before.
Estonia won the contest last year by a sizeable margin with the song Everybody, performed by Tanel Padar and Daven Benton.
Estonia lies on the Baltic Sea and is around a quarter of the size of Britain, with a population of under two million.
It was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War then was forcibly merged with the USSR, gaining independence in 1991.
The country is an increasingly popular holiday destination for European and North American tourists, with around four million visitors per year.
The Estonian football team were responsible for one of the most bizarre episodes of Euro 2000 when they failed to turn up for a qualifier against Scotland in Tallinn because of a dispute over the kick-off time.
