`Lucky Corinna' is prevented from losing Eurovision contest

After three frustrating years knocking on record company doors, everything appeared to be going right at last for Corinna May. The 28-year-old singer had just recorded her first album on the Polydor label when, two weeks ago, she was chosen to represent Germany at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem.

What made her success so special was that, besides being blonde, attractive and talented, Corinna May is blind.

The popular media went wild with excitement at the prospect of a blind singer representing Germany. "A blind blonde - for Germany in Israel, perfect!" gushed one newspaper.

More serious commentators mused on the singer's potential as a role model for other disabled people, who are under-represented in Germany's public life. Amid the general approval for the singer, few observers took much notice of her song, a humdrum ballad called Hor den Kindern einfach zu (Just Listen to the Children).

But the euphoria came to an abrupt end when it emerged that a version of May's Eurovision song had already appeared on a CD two years ago - a breach of the contest's rule that all entries must be original.

The song was disqualified and May's dream of singing in Jerusalem was shattered. The singer wept for hours when she heard the news but her sorrow turned to anger when she discovered that her manager, Dirk Munchow, had known all along about the earlier recording of the song.

When May calmed down, she decided against sacking Munchow, chiefly because she felt grateful to him for standing by her throughout her years of rejection by record companies that could not see beyond her blindness.

A prominent disabled activist accused Munchow of deliberately engineering the controversy and exploiting his client's blindness for his own commercial ends. May rejects the accusation as absurd, adding that it is more offensive to her than to her manager.

"I'm blind but I'm not dumb. Nobody ought to underestimate me. This guy doesn't know me but he characterises me publicly as a clueless little dope in need of protection. I can't listen to this sympathy trip any more," she said.

May's disqualification means that Germany will now be represented in Jerusalem by "Surpriz", a German-Turkish group from Munich. Its song, Reise nach Jerusalem (Journey to Jerusalem), was produced by Ralph Siegel, the man responsible for Germany's sole Eurovision victory, Ein bisschen Frieden (A Little Peace) in 1982.

At 53, Siegel is one of Germany's leading producers of middle-of-the-road music and he has been behind most of the country's Eurovision songs in recent years. He was outraged last year when the novelty singer Guildo Horn represented Germany at the Eurovision, a choice Siegel believed was trivialising the contest.

But Siegel now stands accused of breaking the rules himself by recycling one of his old numbers for this year's contest. The song Surpriz hopes to sing in Jerusalem sounds spookily similar to a tune that failed to make an impact a decade ago.

Song contest officials are investigating the charge, but if Surpriz is disqualified Germany may have difficulty finding a suitable replacement. The finalists in this year's national song contest included such choice titles as Ich habe meine Tagen, which translates as "It's my time of the month".

The inclusion of such satirical entries is part of a strategy by German television producers to engender interest in the Eurovision, which is derided throughout western Europe as a festival of bad taste. By acknowledging the contest's ridiculous side, the producers have attracted a new, young audience - swelling viewing figures for this year's national heat to 7.6 million.

Despite her disappointment, Corinna May is determined to carve out a career in pop music and she starts a tour next week.

"This sad story has a positive side too - I've had a huge amount of publicity. My career is going full steam ahead now," she said.

Music publisher Hans R. Beierlein estimates the value of May's free publicity as close to DM1 million and he believes that being disqualified from the Eurovision is the best thing that could have happened to her.

"Lucky Corinna," he said. "She has been prevented from losing."