Lys Assia

Eurovision Song Contest

In , she was the winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest, in which she sang for Switzerland with the song "Refrain". She returned to the contest again for Switzerland in with "L'Enfant que j'étais" and with "Giorgio" sung in Italian.

In , Assia performed at the Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest event.

In , together with the previous year's winner Dima Bilan, Assia presented the Eurovision trophy to that year's winner Alexander Rybak.

In September 2011, Assia entered her song "C'était ma vie", written by Ralph Siegel and Jean Paul Cara, into the Swiss national selection Die grosse Entscheidungs Show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The song came eighth in a closely fought national selection. She attended the event in Baku as a guest of honour.

In 2012, Assia again submitted a song to the Swiss national selection to represent Switzerland in Malmö, Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "All in Your Head" featuring the hip-hop rap group New Jack. This entry, however, was not chosen to compete at the national selection. There were rumours of Assia representing San Marino, but it was announced on 30 January 2013 that Valentina Monetta would do so. She later made a guest appearance during the contest's second semi-final. In 2015, at age 91, Assia attended the Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits special concert celebrating the contest's 60th anniversary. This was her last public appearance.

Personal life

Assia married Johann Heinrich Kunz on 11 January 1957 in Zürich. Kunz died just nine months later after battling a serious illness. In 1963, she married Danish businessman Oscar Pedersen, who died in 1995. She died on 24 March 2018 in Zürich.

References

References

1. "Lys Assia, First Lady of the Eurovision Song Contest, dies aged 94". Eurovision Song Contest.
2. (25 March 2018). "Eurovision's 'first lady' dies aged 94". BBC.
3. (28 February 2014). "«Oh mein Papa» - aus der Karriere von Lys Assia".
4. "Eurovision 1958 Switzerland: Lys Assia – "Giorgio"". eurovisionworld.com.
5. (25 March 2018). "Eurovision's 'first lady' dies aged 94". [[BBC News ]].
6. "First Eurovision winner Lys Assia submitted a song in the Swiss selection".
7. Teuber, Verena. (1 July 2012). "Eurovision weekend held in Berlin from 3 August-5 August".
8. "Switzerland: Lys Assia's 2013 entry previewed". escXtra.
9. Roxburgh, Gordon. (30 January 2013). "It's Valentina Monetta again for San Marino". EBU.
10. (24 March 2018). "Eurovision's first winner Lys Assia dies aged 94". Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
11. (2018-03-26). "Remembering Lys Assia: Twelve memorable moments".
12. "Lys Assia: Biografie der Schweizer ESC-Teilnehmerin".
13. "Lys Assia".
14. (24 March 2018). "Lys Assia ist tot".
15. Nerssessian, Joe. (24 March 2018). "The first ever winner of Eurovision, Lys Assia, has died aged 94". Independent Print Ltd..