Switzerland not only hosted, but won the first
Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956. Unfortunatly for the Swiss
they had to wait a long time for their second win when Celine Dion,
sang "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" to victory in Dublin in
1987. The recent Swiss receord in the contest has been very poor,
with only one Top 10 result since 1994.
This year Swiss television decided to have an
internal selection. The announcement of DJ BoBo's
participation was made in the middle of December, however we had to
wait until the song was revealed: "Vampires Are Alive" is
co-written by DJ Bobo.
DJ BoBo is the stage name of René Baumann born
January 5th, 1968. DJ BoBo made his international breakthrough in
1993 with "Somebody Dance With Me", a dance track typical
of the era. Taken from his first album, the song
"Everybody" was the summer hit of 1994. and his second
album, "There Is A Party", followed at the end of 1994
and spawned the smash hits "Let The Dream Come True",
"Love Is All Around" and "Freedom", all of
which went gold. In early May 1995, DJ BoBo went to Monaco to
receive the first World Music Award as World's Best Selling Swiss
Artist Of The Year. Once more, he celebrated a huge summer hit with
"There Is A Party".
On 14th January 1996, DJ BOBO kicked off his
Love Is The Price tour with an appearance on the popular Saturday
evening show "Wetten, dass...?" to present his first ever
ballad, also titled "Love is the Price". As Michael
Jackson's special guest on his "History" tour, DJ BoBo
& Crew warmed up the audience in Prague, Budapest, Bucharest,
Moscow and Warsaw. For DJ BoBo it was a childhood dream come true.
The release of the "World In Motion"
album at the end of 1996 broke all previous records, even going
platinum in Germany after it had sold 500,000 copies. In
Switzerland, the album caused a sensation by going straight in at
number one in the charts and eventually went double-platinum after
sales topped 100,000. DJ BoBo then went on a 20-day promotional
tour to Asia and was the first western artist to perform in
Guangzhou, China. The subsequent tour of South America took him to
Brazil, where he appeared on the nation's most popular TV show
before some 25 million viewers.
The "Magic" album was released shortly
after the new song "Where Is Your Love" had appeared in
March 1998. The subsequent "Magic" tour - a blend of
concert and magic show - was performed at 35 concert venues
throughout Europe and at five open air events. It was seen by a
quarter of a million people in total. In October 1999, DJ BoBo
released his sixth album, "Level 6", which immediately
entered the Swiss charts at number one and went platinum in
Switzerland and gold in Germany. The theme for the
"Mystasia" tour was given by stories presented in five
tableaux, featuring a rainbow spanning the Mystasia world, two
extraordinary earthlings, ten huge monsters and a flying DJ BoOBo.
November 2000 saw the publication of the book
"Gestatten, René Baumann", in which DJ BoBo for the
first time put forward his own perspective on his life and career,
his successes and setbacks. On his seventh album, "Planet
Colors" (2001), each song represented a different colour and
reflected the full spectrum of human emotion. In 2003,
"Chihuahua" was a number one hit for DJ BoBo around the
world. In France and Germany, the single became the theme song for
that summer, spending ten weeks at the top of the singles charts in
both countries. After releasing his first live CD, DJ BoBo
returned home to Switzerland and used the break to completely
refocus his various activities as a musician, show developer and
head of an independent record label. This period also gave birth to
the concept album "Pirates Of Dance", with which DJ BoBo
toured major venues in 2005/2006.
In 2006, there followed a world premiere for a
new team in international pop music. DJ BoBo and Sandra - known for
her musical successes during the 1980s - together recorded
"Secrets Of Love". In the same year DJ BoBo also issued
his first greatest hits album. In October 2006, DJ BoBo joined the
United Nation's World Food Program (WFP) as an Ambassador Against
Hunger.
DJ BoBo's cosongwriter on "Vampires Are
Alive" is Axel Breitung who has been a producer and songwriter
for around 20 years. To date, he has earned 66 gold or platinum
records and worked with 55 artists from around the world (including
Ace of Base, The gibson Brothers, Kim Wilde, N'SYNC, Rednex and
Sarah Brightman). For the last 13 years he has teamed up
successfully with DJ BoBo and together they have now written and
produced Switzerland's entry for this year's Eurovision Song
Contest.
From the moment the song was made public it has
been a favourite in fans polls, and with some foreign promotion,
the Swiss entry has also become the bookmakers favourite for
victory in Helsinki.
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SWITZERLAND @ EUROVISION