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LYS ASSIA (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Lys Assia (born 3 March 1926, Rupperswil, Aargau,
Switzerland) is a Swiss singer, actress and is the grande dame of
the German schlager. She was the winner of the very first Eurovision
Song Contest in 1956, and also appeared as a singer in several films
of the 1950’s.
Lys Assia was born as Rosa Mina Schärer in Rupperswil in the canton
Aargau, Switzerland, in 1924 (some sources she was born in Berne in
1926). She studied at a conservatory and at the art academy of
Zurich. At 16 she started her career as a dancer at the Corso-Palast
in Zurich. In 1940, she appeared with the Riva-Ballett for the
French army and in Nice she stood in for a female singer. People who
heard her singing liked it so much that she decided for a career in
front of the microphone. In 1942 she had her first record contract
with His Master’s Voice.
She had her breakthrough in Germany in 1950 with the hit song O mein
Papa from the Operetta Feuerwerk by Paul Burkhard. Other well known
songs of her were Moulin Rouge (1953), Schwedenmädel (1954), Jolie
Jacqueline (1955), Arrivederci Roma (1956), Was kann schöner sein
(1956), Deine Liebe (1957) and Mi casa su casa (1957). She sang in
such legendary venues as the Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Olympia in
Paris, the Plaza in New York and the Tropicana in Cuba.
On screen she appeared as a schlager singer in German films like
Palace Hotel (1952, Emil Berna, Leonard Steckel) with Paul Hubschmid,
Illusion in Moll/ Illusion in a Minor Key (1952, Rudolf Jugert)
starring Hildegard Knef, Schlagerparade/Hit Parade (1953, Erik Ode),
Ein Mann Vergißt die Liebe/A Man Forgets Love (1955, Volker von
Collande) and Die Beine von Dolores (1957, Géza von Cziffra) with
Germaine Damar. In the Italian drama Le Notti Bianchi/White Nights
(1957, Luchino Visconti) with Marcello Mastroianni she sang the song
Scusami.
Lys Assia was the winner of the very first Grand Prix d'Eurovision
de la chanson/Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. She sang the songs
Das alte Karussell and Refrain for Switzerland. She had also been in
the German national final of that year. For Switzerland she returned
to the contest in 1957, finishing eighth with L'enfant que j'étais,
and in 1958, finishing second with Giorgio.
She was married twice, from 1953 till 1957 to the Swiss businessman
Henry Kunz, and from 1963 till 1995 to the Danish general-consul and
hotel mogul Oskar Pedersen. In 1964 she retired from show business
and moved with her husband to Denmark. They opened hotels in Germany,
Denmark, Switzerland, Japan and South America. After her husband’s
death, she returned to Germany and renewed her singing career.
In 2007, at age 83, she appeared at the annual German-language
television song contest Grand Prix der Volksmusic, performing Sag
Mir Wo Wohnen die Engel (Tell Me Where the Angels Live) with her
18-year-old duet partner, Beatrice Egli. That same year, she also
posed nude for the Swiss magazine Annabelle, for a feature titled
Beauty with Age. Her most recent cd is Refrain des Lebens (2008) on
which she sings new songs and new versions of old hits like Oh mein
Papa and Refrain. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow she
handed Alexander Rybak the winner’s trophy. Lys Assia lives on her
estates in Cannes, France and Switzerland and still regularly
performs on tv and at galas.
Sources:
Dave Thompson (All Music Guide),
Lysassia.de,
Schulla.com,
Wikipedia, and IMDb. |
