Love Shine a Light branch of the Samaritans. In a 1997 interview Katrina and the Waves lead vocalist Katrina Leskanich indicated that it was members of the Samaritans who opined that "Love Shine a Light" "was the type of song which would win the Eurovision Song Contest and [so] at the last minute, [Katrina and the Waves] submitted the song with our £250 [entrance fee]" for consideration to vie in the "", the national preselection round for the UK in Eurovision 1997. It was also reported that Carmina Cooper, the manager of Katrina and the Waves and the wife of Alex Cooper, met up
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997] in Dublin, Ireland. The Russian entry was selected internally by the Russian broadcaster Russian Public Television (ORT). Alla Pugacheva represented Russia with the song "Primadonna", which placed 15th and scored 33 points at the contest. ORT held an internal selection in order to decide the artist and song that would represent Russia. 53 songs were submitted to the production company Programma A, which selected the Russian entry by assembling a jury panel that included Yury Saulsky, Maksim Dunaevsky, Alexander Kutikov, Yuri Aksyuta and Sergei Arhipov.