Düsseldorf, Germany -  After an exciting voting in front of tens of thousands of people in a fully packed Düsseldorf Arena and millions of TV viewers all over Europe, it was finally Ell/Nikki from Azerbaijan who received the highest number of points from televoters and juries from the 43 countries participating in this year's edition of Europe's favourite TV-show! Ell/Nikki managed to gather 221 points altogether - followed by Raphael Gualazzi from Italy with 189 points and Sweden's Eric Saade who collected 185 points.

Europe experienced a breathtaking show live from the Düsseldorf Arena tonight with 25 acts from 25 countries giving their very best. 20 of these had qualified from the two Semi-Finals while host nation Germany and the rest of the so-called 'Big Five' - France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom - were automatically set for the Final. After all 43 countries had voted, it was Ell/Nikki from Azerbaijan who was the lucky winner with their song Running Scared, collecting 221 points altogether.

The dream to represent Azerbaijan in Eurovision has followed Nigar since 2000. That was when the Russian singer Alsou, highly popular in Azerbaijan, finished on the 2nd place in the Contest with her song Solo. Alsou’s success gave Nigar the hope that one day her dream of performing on the Eurovision stage may become reality. Last autumn, Nigar revived her dream of taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eldar Gasimov was born in Baku in 1989. Just like Nigar, Eldar has dreamt of performing on the Eurovision stage since 2000. He has passionately followed the Contest, particularly after Azerbaijan’s 2008 debut. Last autumn, Eldar decided to try himself in the national Eurovision selection. He was one of 77 contenders to represent Azerbaijan in Eurovision 2011. After preliminary castings and 7 pre-selection shows, which were broadcast by the ITV channel, Eldar went to the national selection final and became one of the two winners.

Just like in the last few years, a mixture of 50% televote and 50% jury was used. For this purpose, national juries consisting of five music industry professionals gathered in all 43 participating countries who ranked the songs in Eurovision Song Contest style, giving 12 points to their favourite song, 10 points to their second favourite, etc. The results of the five jury members were then added up and accounted for 50% of the country's votes. Those results were then combined with the televoting results.

From The Dress to That Kiss, we were all riveted by the Big Day’s biggest moments. But what was happening behind the scenes? Our reporter at the wedding Amy Williams brings you the inside stories on the event of the decade

It is an interesting moment to request a bacon sandwich and a cup of breakfast tea. It’s 11.06am on 29 April, the sartorial secret of the decade is out of the bag (or the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI), the future Duchess of Cambridge is en route to her Duke, and Eamonn Holmes is peckish. He was up at 4am and is well into an eight-hour stint anchoring Sky News’s coverage of the Royal Wedding. With the commentary baton passed to royal expert Alastair Bruce for the ceremony, this is his moment to sit back and, like his audience, watch history from the sofa.

I’m on a 12-hour shift, hanging out behind the cameras with the Sky team at Canada Gate, where a village of tiny TV studios has been created at the foot of Green Park offering the best views of Buckingham Palace – no camping required. You can’t move for stars of the small screen: Phillip Schofield, Fearne Cotton et al limbering up their smiles and their superlatives – they may be fighting for ratings, but they are all great chums. Eamonn and his co-presenter Charlotte Hawkins bump into the BBC’s Huw Edwards before he goes on air at 9am: they point out that he’s forgotten to remove the napkin tucked into his collar to protect his tie from his croissant and there follows much
good-humoured puffing as to who will be clocking up the most airtime. ‘I won’t have been in a TV studio this long since the 1988 Telethon,’ says Eamonn; but Huw will be presenting highlights at 10pm and wins.

Jobs don’t get much bigger than this – the nation, buoyant at daybreak and besotted by the afternoon, has an insatiable appetite for televised news, opinion and pictures. This is the gig of the century, and not one YOU intends to miss. 

THE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Hugo Burnand took the portraits inside the Palace.

‘My team and I cycled in because it seemed the safest option. I’d spent a total of 32 hours inside the Palace in the run-up to the wedding, planning for the 26 minutes we had to shoot the portraits. There was no guarantee we were going to get my favourite shot — the “informal formal” of the couple surrounded by their bridesmaids and pages. In fact, we had only 30 seconds to pull that off, just before the balcony appearance. My team all looked at each other: “Shall we go for it? Yes!” It was one shot, so what we got is each individual giving their best in that split second — and what a split second.‘

THE ABBEY GUARDSMAN

Sergeant Major Lochrie from the Headquarters Household Division — the Queen’s personal troops — was positioned at the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey. He greeted all of the royal guests and opened Catherine’s car door when she arrived at the Abbey.

‘I had the honour of being one of the first people in the world to see Catherine’s beautiful dress. The only hiccup came two minutes before the car arrived — a balloon burst in the crowd, which almost gave me
a heart attack, but luckily we quickly realised it was nothing serious. That aside, four months of military planning and rehearsal came together and everything went flawlessly. I was so proud of the
troops on parade during the day.’

THE HAIRDRESSER

Richard Ward was responsible, with James Pryce, for Kate’s hair, for the bridesmaids and the rest of the bridal party.

‘We started working on Kate’s hair at 7.30am at the Goring Hotel, though we’d reported to Clarence House at 5.45am — I’d set my alarm for 4.45, but I was wide awake at 4.15 willing it to go off! After waving Kate off from the side of the hotel with what felt like the entire hotel staff, I rushed to Buckingham Palace to await her return. We were offered champagne and sandwiches and allocated a suite for the morning — it’s a tough life! I’d lost my father the weekend before the wedding so it was an emotional day for me. Of course, it’ll all return to normal soon, and I’ll have to get back to actually cutting some hair.’

THE ROYAL HARPIST

Claire Jones, an official musician to the Prince of Wales, played throughout the lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace.

‘When you’re playing at a big event you can’t help but look around the room for the faces you might recognise, celebrities and so forth, but I remember at one point looking up from my spot in this huge reception room and realising everyone around me was royal. William came to thank me at 3pm when I finished, then Catherine joined him and I also spoke to Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Edward and Sophie, and Prince Harry. It seemed to mainly be a drinks do, I didn’t even see any canapés to be honest, but I like that — when you put a harp into a situation where there is food and cutlery people are likely to take far less interest in you or the music.’ 

THE FANFARE TRUMPETER

Senior aircraftman Jonathan Pippen (above, second from left) performed with the Central Band of the Royal Air Force inside Westminster Abbey.

‘Before the service I walked around the Abbey more or less straight into David Beckham. I said, “All right, mate?” and he said, “All right.” There we were, hanging out at the same wedding! Me and the boys had a pretty good view from high above the congregation. We couldn’t hear much, but when the crowds outside cheered we knew they’d said “I do”. When it was over our wing commander shared a bottle of port with us to celebrate — on a normal parade day you’d never find yourself drinking with a commander ranks above you. It was brilliant.’

THE CONDUCTOR

Christopher Warren-Green, music director and principal conductor of the London Chamber Orchestra who played during the wedding service.

‘We promised we’d keep the music under wraps and I was amazed it hadn’t leaked. The choices made utter sense when I saw the trees arriving in the Abbey during one of our last rehearsals — I understood then that this was going to be a wedding set in a green and pleasant land. So the choice of Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry over the more obvious Handel was perfect. William and Catherine were hands-on — at one of our meetings William was on duty in Wales and Catherine said, “Well, I love it, but I’m not seeing William till tomorrow, so I’ll see what he thinks and get back to you.” In the cab from the Abbey to the reception the cabbie was listening to “I Was Glad” on the radio, which we had just played. “I’ll have to get this CD,” he said, and I thought that was wonderful.’

Ever since she burst on the scene with her brand of pop and provocative outfits, Lady Gaga has forever been compared to the queen of the music scene, Madonna.

The similarities between the two divas have been considered so close, that the 25-year-old Born This Way star was even once accused of plagiarising one of the 52-year-old legend's famous tunes.

Now new evidence has emerged concluding the pair are in fact related. 

According to celebrity genealogist Chris Child, Gaga and Madonna are distant cousins.

'They are ninth cousins once removed,' the New England Historic Genealogical Society specialist told the Boston Globe.

After much research, Child reportedly provided proof of the findings, which showed  that the two had common ancestors in the form of a farming couple, who moved from France to Quebec in the 1600s.

'When I saw that Lady Gaga had French Canadian ancestry, I thought there might be something there,' he said.

Child tracked the French Canadian families 'back 200 years within minutes' .

Priests in Quebec would record all marriages between the 1600s and the 1900s.

Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, has compared herself to the Material Girl in the past.

'We’re both Italian-American women, we both started out in the New York underground scene - and we both became famous when we dyed our hair blonde,' she said.

'I think what Madonna and I share is that we’re both fearless, we both have a lot of nerve.'

Madonna has also made no secret of the fact she's a fan of Gaga's having been spotted at her show in New York with daughter Lourdes back in 2009.

The pair also appeared on a Saturday Night Live show together in October 2009, where they featured in a mock fighting skit before kissing and making up.

But their relationship may have possibly somewhat soured this year after the Bad Romance singer was forced to go on the offensive following claims her hit Born This Way was a rip off of a Madonna song.

She faced widespread accusations that she plagiarised the music veteran's Eighties hit Express Yourself.

Immediately Gaga branded the charge 'ridiculous' in an furious rant to British music magazine, NME.

'I'm a songwriter', Gaga told the publication. 'I've written loads of music. Why would I try to put out a song and think I'm getting one over on everybody?'

'What a completely ridiculous thing to even question me about. I will look you in your eyes and tell you that I am not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb enough or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody.

'If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that's been in disco music for the last 50 years.

'Just because I'm the first [expletive] artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means that I'm [expletive] smart.

The Paparazzi hit-maker then became upset at the thought her fans would think she copied Madonna.

'I just don't want my fans... I don't know. This is exhausting. I just don't wanna perpetuate that [expletive]. I'm sure you want to address it but it's just so ridiculous. I was just [expletive] shell-shocked by it', Gaga added.

Much like Madonna, Gaga has also courted controversy from the Catholic Church, especially over her single Judas, which was released ahead of Good Friday this year.

The song was scheduled for an Easter release much to the annoyance of many Catholics.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue told ABC News: 'It's all intentional. It's done to take a few shots at Catholics. We've been down this road before'.

'She mimics Madonna', Donohue said. 'Madonna has admitted to loathing the Catholic Church. I don't see the dame degree of vitriol on the part of Lady Gaga.'

For years, Madonna, who now practise Kabbalah, has also outraged the Catholic church with her provocative outfits and racy lyrics.

Lady Gaga is not the only pop star related to legend.

No Doubt's Gwen Stefani is also a distant cousin.

According to the 41-year old's IMDB page, her great-aunt's mother-in-law shares the last name with Madonna.

In 2004, producer Sean "Diddy" Combs returned with Making the Band 3, this time searching for the next female super group.^[4] With the help of choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, vocal trainer Doc Holiday and talent manager Johnny Wright, he set out on a multi-city search and chose twenty young singers out of almost 10,000 young women.^[4][5] While seven women remained, Combs became discontent with the level of talent remaining in the competition, and eventually decided not to form a band.^[4] He did, however, give a reprieve to three contestants he felt deserved another chance, including then-best friends Aubrey O'Day and Aundrea Fimbres, whose close bond originally formed early in the season.^[4] The three contestants became the first to appear in Season 2 of the show.^[4]

Afterwards, Combs once again pressed his team to audition new young women for the group.^[4] Finally, twenty young women were chosen and moved into a loft in New York City.^[4] Viewers had become invested in O'Day and Fimbres's friendship, naming them "the AUs" and "Aubrea" (portmanteux of their first names put together), as they watched the two compete all over again for positions in the group.^[4][6] As the competition's challenges increased, their friendship seemed to become the foundation upon which the group was being built.^[4] In addition, O'D ay emerged as the show's breakout star.^[4][5]

Just one week before he's officially sentenced following the plea deal he struck in the Rihanna case, Chris Brown appeared at ease as he joined Keri Hilson in Los Angeles on the set of what is apparently Hilson's next video, "Slow Down."

The pair were joined by plenty of musical company: Omarion, Monica, Polow Da Don and Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton were all also on set.