The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year. The two semi-finals took place on 10 May and 12 May 2011, while the final took place on the evening of 14 May 2011.

Forty-three countries participated in the contest, with those returning including Austria, which last participated in 2007; Hungary, which last competed in 2009; and San Marino, which last participated in 2008. Italy also returned to the Contest, marking its first participation since 1997.

The runner up was Italy, and Sweden finished in third place. Italy (2nd) and Germany (10th) were the only members of the "Big Five" to make it into the top 10, with the United Kingdom close behind at 11th place. However, out of the 25 countries who made it into the final, the remaining two of the "Big Five", France and Spain, failed to make it into the top half of the leader board coming 15th (82 points) and 23rd (50 points) respectively.

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la Chanson) is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela despite the fact that that they do not compete. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, with more than 74,000 people in almost 140 countries having watched the 2006 edition online.

Eric Saade (Arabic: اريك سعادة‎ Īrik Saʿāda, IPA: [ˈiːrik saʔaːdɐ]; Swedish pronunciation: [ˈeː.ˈrɪk sa.ˈaː.ˈdɛ]; born 29 October 1990 in Kattarp, Helsingborg, Sweden) is a Swedish singer. After two years with the boyband What's Up!, he left the group in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. Eric Saade represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany after winning the national Swedish selection Melodifestivalen 2011 with his entry "Popular". In the final Saade came in third place.

Eric Saade grew up in Kattarp, Sweden with his Swedish mother and Palestinian father. His parents divorced when Saade was four years old. He is the second oldest of eight siblings and half siblings.

When he was six years old, Saade first sang on a stage at his mother's wedding. He has been writing songs since he was 13 years old. He got his first record deal when he was 15 years old. Before starting his solo career, Saade was in the boyband What's Up!.

In summer 2009, Saade hosted the Swedish music competition My Camp Rock, a camp inspirated by the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock. In the same year, he hosted the nationwide contest Julia's Shooting Stars.

Getter Jaani (born 3 February 1993 in Tallinn) is an Estonian pop singer. She represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with her entry "Rockefeller Street". Despite being an initial favourite and qualifying for the final, she finished in the penultimate position at 24th place.

Getter Jaani came to stardom on the third season of Eesti otsib superstaari, an Estonian version of Pop Idol, where she finished 4th which led her to the role of Sharpay Evans in "High School Musical" in Tallinn (2010). She has also taken part as herself in a popular TV series, called "Riigimehed", aired on ETV (2010).

Getter was born and raised in Tallinn where she continues her studies at the Centre of Vocational Disciplines to become a tailor-stylist. She also takes acting classes at the School of Fine Arts, led by Kaari Sillamaa who has written the Estonian lyrics for the Estonian Eurovision entries of 1996 ("Kaelakee hääl") and 1999 ("Diamond of Night").

On May 26, she presented the scores on behalf of Estonia for the grand-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Nadine Beiler (born May 27, 1990) is an Austrian R&B and Pop singer, who won the 3rd season of the Austrian casting show Starmania in 2007. On February 16, 2007, she released her first single Alles was du willst. Currently Beiler is attending high school in Tyrol, where she lives with her mother and her sister in Inzing. Beiler represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with her entry The Secret Is Love and came 18th.

Beiler grew up in Inzing, a village in Tyrol, one of the western states of Austria. Her parents both work in the health sector, her father as a medical doctor and her mother as a masseuse.

Early on in her life she started to pursue her hobby singing, partly by doing gigs at random parties but also by singing at weddings.

In the summer of 2006 Beiler attended the first round of castings for the Austrian television show Starmania in the casting event in Tyrol. The quality of her singing was both well received by the jury in the first and second round. In the third pre-final round, she gained a ticket for the main show alongside the female candidate she was competing with. Only 16 years old, she was the youngest of the finalists who made through to the final 18.